Lift Up Thine Eyes

Living above the Line

“Lift Up Thine Eyes”





2 Cor. 4:18 (ESV) As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

This verse contains two absolute truths. One truth talks about things that are seen and temporary, the other talks about things that are unseen and are eternal. A line exists between the two. Above the line is the unseen and eternal; below the line is the seen and temporary.

ETERNAL
Unseen
______________________________

Seen
Temporary

Now just for the sake of explanation, there really is not a physical line; these two realms coexist. The unseen and the eternal are going on in the midst of the seen and temporary. As Christians, we have the privilege of living an unseen and eternal life in the midst of this seen and temporary world. But, because we think in concepts, it helps to separate these two realities with the line to understand them better.

As 2 Cor. 4:18 indicates, the realm above the line is invisible and eternal. It is changeless and timeless. It is the realm of spirit and of God’s absolutes. It is the realm of ultimate reality, of the uncreated, of completeness and wholeness, it is where things are finished and settled. The eternal realm can be illustrated by the word “now.” It is the realm of I AM, where things simply “are.”
The realm below the line is visible and temporary. We call it the natural realm. The Apostle Paul called it “this age.” It is the created realm of matter, of substances and appearances. It has a beginning and an end. It is the realm of past, present, and future:… birth, life, and death are here, …. sowing, growing, and reaping are here. It is the realm of activity, process, and need. It is a realm where we often say, I want to grow in Christ.” It is a realm in which we see both good and evil. …Where as the unseen and eternal realm is the realm of “I AM,” the seen and the temporary is the realm of “I am becoming.”

Spirit “I AM” Ultimate Reality
Wholeness ETERNAL Changeless
Complete Unseen Timeless

_______________________________________________________________


In Progress Seen Time-based
Need Temporary Changing
Matter “I am becoming” Appearances


Now, hear me, I’m not talking about a belief in which one realm, the realm of spirit, is pure and all important, and the other realm, the physical, is un-clean and unimportant, or even unreal. Both realms are crucially important to God, because He made both of them. The seen and temporary is a true realm and is important. We live in the seen and temporary realm. But, we are simply acknowledging what Paul says, that there are two realms, and that one is greater than the other. And we, as Christians are to focus on the eternal realm.

Many Scriptures illustrate the difference between the two realms. When Moses asked God His name Ex 3:14, God replied, “I AM WHO I AM”. He told Moses to tell the Hebrews that “I AM” had sent him. God’s very name indicates the changeless, timeless, eternal, present-tense nature of His being. Jesus used the same language to refer to Himself: John 8:58 “I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” The writer of Hebrews said Heb13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Our God is the unseen, eternal, timeless, changeless One.

At the appointed time, however, I AM came down below the line and entered the seen and temporary realm that HE had created. And John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us... . The changeless, timeless One became a seen and temporary man. As a man, Jesus experienced all that we experience below the line, except sin. He had a past, a present, and a future. He experienced growth both as a child, (Luke 2:40) and as an adult (Heb 5:8). He had needs just like us.

In a very similar way, we as God’s children live both above the line and below the line. The verse that best illustrated this is Hebrews 10:14: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. God has already perfected those of us who are in Christ. We are complete in Him Col 2:10. We are His righteousness 2 Cor 5:21. We are Holy, and blameless and beyond reproach. Co 1:22.

These are all already true of us above the line, in the unseen and eternal realm, in God’s Kingdom, in our spirit. These are the eternal, unchanging truths of our identity as new creatures, as sons and daughters whom God has birthed John 3:3-6.

Below the line, however, in the seen and temporary realm, we are in the process of being sanctified. We have needs. Our emotions fluctuate. Our behavior changes. And through it all we experience growth.

We live in both realms but what is important, is where-our-eyes–are-focused!

Now this distinction between the two realms is vital to us for three reasons.

First, in the here and now, God has designed His Kingdom to work by faith. God could have placed the eternal in the visible realm. His eternal kingdom would then be plainly seen. But if He had done that, there would not be any faith. Everything would, in fact, be exactly as it appears to be, and faith would be pointless.

But the whole universe operates on faith. We in particular, were designed to operate by faith. We have the privilege of looking through the seen and temporary to the unseen and eternal. … By the Spirit of God, living in us, Christ in the man, we discern what, from God’s perspective, is taking place in the seen and temporary around us.

That is how Jesus lived. He saw the seen and temporary around him, but when the man stretched out his withered hand, Jesus did not see the withered hand as ultimate. When the people brought Jesus five loaves and two fish, He did not see them as insufficient. When they took him to the dead girl, He did not see death as ultimate. In each case Jesus saw beyond the outward appearance to what His Father was doing. He lived in another Kingdom. He lived in another realm. And He invites you and me to do the same.

Your cancer, your heart disease, your handicap, is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. Your current financial situation is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. Even your death, is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. And it does not have to be for you ether. It is all a matter of where your eyes are fixed my friends. This life is a vapor. What is real is above the line in the eternal realm. God wants you to lift up your eyes beyond what’s here and now, look up Christian, look to the Heavens, cast your eyes upon Jesus.

Second, the distinction is important because it enables us to understand our true identity in Christ.

As Christians, our failures, sins, and shortcomings---all things below the line, are realities, and constantly confront us. They are right in our face. Unless we understand that our true identity lies above the line in our spirit (which is the identity God gave us when we were reborn, our new birth), unless we understand that our true identity lies above the line in our spirit we will draw our identity from our below the line performance, whether good or bad. Our focus will be on trying to clean up our act and to look good enough for God to accept.

That is where most Christians are living: (and it makes me want to scream out, just what Jesus did, He said tear it down and in three days I will rebuild it. They did and He did. If my getting a bull dozer and tearing down this building would help you understand this I would) Christians are trying to become something they already are. We have it backwards.

See, in God’s system, in the seen realm we become because in the unseen realm we already are. In the eternal realm we are ether eternally lost or eternally saved, and we cannot live in the seen world differently that we are in the eternal realm. Christians are saved but they are still living as though they need saving.

As we know and rest in the unseen and eternal truth, God manifests that truth in the visible realm. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. In the unseen and eternal realm, God has already perfected us. ….In the seen and temporary realm, God is bringing that perfection, or completion, into view.

That is why we can say we are a complete and a new creation while simultaneously, in the seen and temporary realm, a process is going on. From God’s point of view, in the unseen and eternal realm, we are a finished product. At the same time, in the seen and temporary, He is continuing to work the truth deeper into us and He is continuing to conform us to His image.

Third, the distinction between the two realms is important because God has designed us so that we can find fulfillment only in the unseen and eternal realm.

The seen and temporary realm offers many pleasures that God has provided, but none of them ultimately satisfy. That is why Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst John 6:35. Hear me; there is not anything below the line, no matter how beautiful, no matter how touching, no matter how true, that equals true Life. And we only find true Life above the line, in God. He and He alone is Life!

God has created each of us with a thirst that only He can quench. The French philosopher, Pascal, called it a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only He can fill. Or as the early church father Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in thee.” Man is forever seeking. To whatever degree we do not know the unseen and eternal realm; we seek answers in the seen and temporary. We look for eternal answers among temporary things. But we discover again and again that they cannot and never will provide them.

We are programmed for failure if we are looking for ultimate answers in a non-ultimate realm, a realm that is partial, fragmented, and incomplete. We end up worshipping the creation rather than the creator. We can do that as Christians too. I’m not talking about just houses and cars and boats and jewelry; we worship buildings and music and clothes and heat and air and soft pews. The ultimate answer is a Person …Jesus Christ. It is part of God’s program to make us dissatisfied with what the temporary realm offers, that’s why so many people do nothing but complain, they think they know what they want but what they need is Jesus, and more of Jesus. God’s makes us dissatisfied with what the temporary realm offers so that we will seek Life in Him.

What kind of life; a life of faith, it is our true identity, and fulfillment in life is all based in the unseen and eternal realm. Our problem is that we cannot see that realm or learn of it through our own observations, or experiments, or experiences. Presently, right this moment God’s unseen and eternal kingdom is within us, …but we can only understand the things of that realm if God reveals it to us. Look at 2 Cor 2: 14,10,12 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. But 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

We are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.

To whatever degree the Holy Spirit of God has revealed to us the unseen and eternal realm, we live in it. So, to whatever degree we do not understand by revelation the unseen and eternal realm of God’s kingdom, we are locked into living in the seen and temporary realm. And, to whatever extent you greave and quench the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit of the eternal realm you condemn yourself to life in this realm of the here and now, below the line.

God makes known to us the eternal, unseen, spiritual realities of His own domain by revelation. He breaks through into our consciousness and reveals eternal truths not discernable in the realm of appearance. And we respond when we close our physical eyes and open up our hearts eye and say “Oh God, I see!” …I was blind God, but now I see, I see You God, I see You Jesus, I see heaven coming down and this realm is passing away, I see the Holy City God, coming down from You, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I hear Your voice saying Your dwelling place is among man. You dwell in them, and they are Your people, You God, our true God, are with us. You want to wipe away our tears; You want us to see God that death is no more, there is for Your children no more mourning, no more pain for us if we will lift up our eyes. That which is below the line has all passed away. ….Thank You God!

And what has happened? … Revelation has met with faith on our part, and when revelation encounters faith, it produces an inner knowing. …. Unfortunately for us this happens to us progressively. Some seek it, some give up, some think what they received on the day they received Christ is all there is to be had in this life.

One of our first revelations is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World. The natural man does not know that. He cannot know it, even if he hears it over and over. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to him the reality of Jesus Christ. If this has yet to happen to you, you are lost. You are a captive, a prisoner of the temporary realm, below the line.

Once then we place our faith in Christ, the next revelation is that our sins are forgiven. That is an unseen and eternal truth. Nothing in the seen and temporary tells us that. The Holy Spirit reveals it. As is my testimony, I lived primarily on that revelation for 27 years. But thank God He continued and still continues to reveal unseen and eternal truths to me that expanded that basic spiritual understanding. And at the age of 37 I came to understand the truth I share with you today, the life of unspeakable joy.

As Christians, we live below the line, but we are not a below the line people. We are of God’s Kingdom. But we live in a realm of temporary appearance that differs from what Gods sees in the unseen and eternal. Spiritual Growth is a process of replacing temporary appearances with eternal reality, and then living it out. See, once one knows inner life, the Life of the Spirit; one cannot help but live it.

Generally speaking, except for brief excursions, we are almost always constantly living out what we believe. We cannot escape it. We do not do anything but what we believe. So, the more we understand the unseen and eternal realm we will live it, and as we live it, we become less and less oriented toward the seen and temporary. It exercises less control over us.

Paul in Romans Chapter 6 tells us that we died to sin and are free from it. That is an unseen and eternal truth, about which I will say more another time. Sin no longer has any power over us. But if we do not know that unseen and eternal truth, sin still exercises power over us. That is because we are caught in the trap of trying to become something we already are: what is that, we are free from sin.

We will never know abundant life until the unseen and eternal realm is home to us in our everyday experience. Until then, we will be living according to appearances, and appearances will never lead us deeper into the life of God. Only faith will. God wants to bring us to the point where we say, “I live by what God says about things in my life, …situations, people, and even myself. Then we see what He sees, that situations are not as they appear to be,… but that God’s absolutes are operating in the realm of appearance. We are at rest then in the unseen and eternal realm, and we experience His fullness within us.

In our daily lives as Christians,… the most important thing we can know from the unseen and eternal realm is that we and God are one, we are in union. That sounds heretical, but it is exactly what the Bible says: 1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

God has permanently joined Himself to your spirit. Your spirit and He are one. The two then operate as one spirit. When we begin to know and live out of that truth, all the promises of the New Testament Covenant, suddenly become real. We realize that there really truly is no more separation. No more God up there and us down here. We stop trying to get closer to God. We stop asking, How do I reach God. Give me a program, give me a plan, and give me a way.

Instead, we live out of what is already true. We live in union. God and we are one. In the seen and temporary, He operates as us. And we rest in Him.

Where you live and where your eyes are can easily be determined by your understanding of my next statement, ….Every one of us who has received Christ is complete in Christ (Colossians2:10). We are already Holy Col 3:12. There is nothing else to be done.

As we see that, we will live it, and God will make what is true in the unseen and eternal, above the line, a seen and temporary experience here below the line.

Living Above The Line Intro

Colossians 1:27, 3:4,11 says When Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory; Christ in you, the hope of Glory. (In fact Christ in us is our only hope of eternal Glory), for here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all.

The union of the believer to Christ is a topic I never truly understood as a Christian until I was older. It is a topic we as Baptist are a bit afraid of. When we begin to talk about matters of the spirit some Baptist get very uptight.

Galatians 2:20 says It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. No other verse captures the truth of the indwelling Christ, living in us, through us, as us, so well.

Jesus Christ living in us and through us, as us, is the only hope we have of experiencing the Glory God intends for our lives. I want everyone; I want to help everyone, to enter into Christ’s fullness in their life.

Now there is a flip side to “the hope of Glory,” Yes, Christ in us is our only hope of experiencing God’s glory ourselves. But we must understand that it is also the way that God has chosen to eternally manifest His glory. By living His life in and through a host of sons and daughters God has chosen to eternally manifest His glory. I want to begin this emphasis with a discussion of not the Glory we receive from God, but the glory He receives through us.

If we do not begin from God’s point of view, we end up with man at the center. That is true even in the way we approach the Word of God. For instance we often begin our study of the Bible with the fall of man into sin. We then perceive that after mans fall the entire Bible is a chronicle of God’s redemption of man. That is true, it is. It can appear however and is often preached, that God’s ultimate purpose is the rescue of man. So the whole matter focuses on us.

But if we just back up, and begin as the Bible does with before the foundation of the world, before Gen. 1:1, we start from another point of view. We start with the question: what is God’s intent? Galileo and Copernicus discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe, or at least not our little solar system. The Sun is. My dear friends IM here to remind you today we are not the center of the universe. The Bible says the Son is. (And I don’t mean the Sun.)

But, it is very easy to live as if we are the center of the universe. We would not ever say it, or even think it consciously, but it is easy to live as if God is here for us. That sort of teaching has in fact become very popular the past few years. That God is here to bless you that we ought to be wealthy and prosperous. We are due it, we are owed success, owed getting ahead. That God must respond to our faith. God has obligated Himself to bless us if we just do the right things. All of which means we are the center of the universe.

But if we start before the foundation of the world, we discover that God has a plan, a plan conceived before time began. Paul revealed God’s plan I think most clearly in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Is it God’s intent to bless us? Yes, that is an absolute fact. In fact, He has already blessed us with every possible blessing in the heavenly realm.) V.4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world God had a purpose for us before the foundation of the world. (He chose us for that purpose. that we should be holy and blameless before him.) In love V. 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, (Gods plan involved having many sons and daughters who would be holy and blameless in His sight. Through the subjection of the Son to the cross, God intended to bring many children into glory. Why? Paul continued), … according to the purpose of his will, V. 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

And just to make sure we do not miss the point, he repeated it six verses later: V. 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. And again two verses later V. 14 the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

See here, we exist for the praise of His glory. God works all things according to the council of His will, v.11, to accomplish that purpose. And what exactly is it that glorifies God? What has He set out to accomplish from before the foundation of the world? V. 8-10 he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Gods Plan

God’s plan was to bring into being many sons and daughter whom He would indwell; through whom He would live and manifest Himself; and in and through whom Christ would reign supreme. We Christians are the beneficiaries of that plan. God, in His love and grace, has made us a part of His plan. But…we are not the center of it; Jesus is. We are participants in the plan, participants whom God loves and cherishes, and nourishes, as a husband does his bride. (Eph 5:25-32)

We are God’s inheritance. We tend to focus on what we inherit in Christ. We are God’s inheritance: V.18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

His inheritance is His body—the Body of Christ—accomplishing His purpose. And though the Bible records mans fall, that disaster has not done one thing to delay or change God’s purpose. His intention was always to have a vast family of sons and daughters. The fall did not deter that plan. God incorporates our redemption into that plan, but the plans goal is still the same. We are here for the praise of His glory. Romans 11:36 says this so well, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

From-Everything comes from God.
Through – By means of God.
To—The ultimate end is unto God. Not Him unto us, but us unto Him.

Everything we need to know for experiencing God’s abundant life is found in the cross of Christ. We look at the cross and see what God did for us there. I praise God for this truth. That was Christ’s work on our behalf.
Even more than that though, the cross was God’s work on His own behalf. Through the cross God accomplished what He needed to fulfill His own eternal purposes, so that all things might be summed up in Christ.

Christ in us, the Hope of Glory is primarily His glory. Christ lives in us to manifest His life through us, but His plan encompasses more than just that. He is working toward His own ends, and we are the vessels through which He works. We are the visible manifestation of what God is doing, with Himself as the ultimate goal, what is it, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28)

That is why the Father wants us to be filled up to the fullness of God. And that is what this emphasis, Living above the Line is all about; our being filled to all the fullness of God, to the praise of His Glory

God Of This City /Mexico

A rare opportunity...missed?

Giving shortfall risks Southern Baptists' opportunity to re-engage closed country

8/20/2009

By Don Graham

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--A rare opportunity to place missionaries in a highly restricted Central Asian country may soon slip through Southern Baptists’ fingers due to a serious shortfall in missions giving.

The country — which can’t be named without risking missionaries’ chances of obtaining a visa — is home to more than several million people, mostly Muslim. Only about 2,000 are believed to be evangelical Christians.

Shane and Melanie Johnson* were on track to become the first Southern Baptist personnel to serve inside the country in nearly a decade. But now that plan is in jeopardy.

On July 10, the Johnsons received word from IMB (International Mission Board) that their missionary appointment had been put on hold.

“It hurts,” Melanie said. “It’s really sad that in times of crisis [giving to] the church and charities is the first thing to go.”

“We want to go to one of those places on the map of lostness that’s totally black, where there is nobody there,” Shane said. “We know the Bible is clear about the Great Commission. We are to make sure that someone from every tribe, tongue and nation bows before the throne of God and praises His name.”

The Johnsons are among 69 long-term missionary candidates who are being delayed because of a lack of funds to send them to the field. That’s in addition to an estimated 350 short-term candidates who also are on hold.

In May IMB announced it would severely limit the number of missionaries sent in 2009 due to reduced giving through the Cooperative Program and a $29 million dollar shortfall in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. More than half of IMB’s annual budget comes from the Lottie Moon offering, 100 percent of which is used to send and sustain more than 5,600 Southern Baptist missionaries serving overseas.

The goal for the 2008 offering (which funds the 2009 budget) was $170 million, but only $141 million was received, $9 million less than last year.

But even if there were no shortfall, getting the Johnsons inside that Central Asian country won’t be easy.

Southern Baptist missionaries began spreading the Gospel there for the first time in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But by the year 2000 all missionaries had been asked to leave. That left behind 500 new Christians and a young church struggling to survive under intense persecution.

Since that time missionaries have been painstakingly training and discipling national believers by flying them in and out of the country. Though that strategy has seen success, it’s also slow, cumbersome and expensive, which is why IMB wants personnel living in country again.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Kris Plummer* leads Southern Baptists’ efforts to spread the Gospel in this area of Central Asia, including the country where the Johnsons want to serve. Once inside, he said their goal will be to lay the groundwork for IMB to re-establish a presence there.

Before they were delayed, the Johnsons planned to arrive in early 2010. But due to the financial shortfall, that isn’t likely to happen until that summer— at least a six-month delay. Plummer said the longer they wait, the risk is the situation may change.

“Right now we have a window of opportunity to try and place them in [the country],” he explained. “But we don’t know how long that window’s going to be open. … We’re ready to take advantage of this opportunity, but if this delay stretches out too long the window may close on us.

“It’s a disappointment because we’ve been trying to get back into [this country] for so long. … When we got the word the Johnsons were delayed, it’s just one more barrier to cross. And it’s a barrier that really shouldn’t be there.

“It’s not a question of Southern Baptists having money — even in this financial crisis Southern Baptists have money,” concluded Plummer. “It’s more of a question of what’s their priority for spending that money.”

Maybe even rarer than the window to enter the country, Plummer said, are missionaries willing to pioneer the work there — alone.

“Like most things in Central Asia, you never know until you try, and even when things look very wide open they can slam shut very quickly,” he said. “The glorious thing is we’ve got somebody like the Johnsons who are willing to try. Those kind of people don’t come around every day, and I want to take advantage of their heart and desire.”

PERSONAL HARDSHIP

Besides risking their chance to enter the country, the Johnsons say the delay is also causing them significant personal hardships as well.

They’ve both just graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and were planning to transition straight to the mission field. But now, without jobs, they’ll have to live with Melanie’s family in order to save money.

“Because of the delay we’ve rescheduled our whole plan for the next eight or nine months,” Shane said. “It was tough to come to terms with but it’s water under the bridge at this point.”

Adding to their stress is the impact the delay will have on their growing family. Midway through the application process the Johnsons found out they were pregnant with their first child. They were counting on IMB salary and medical benefits by the time the baby arrived, but the delay makes that impossible. They have some health insurance available through GuideStone Financial Resources, but the rest will have to come from Medicaid and their savings.

“The bottom line is that God has always provided for us,” Shane said. “We’re not in debt at all; we’ve made it through seminary … He’s going to take care of us just like He always has.”

TRUE COST OF DELAY

The greatest impact from the delay, the Johnsons said, will be on the peoples of Central Asia that God has asked them to serve.

“We’ll never know what the time we missed overseas might have resulted in as far as yields for the Gospel,” Shane said. “Even one believer can multiply exponentially and have a tremendous impact for the Gospel. … That’s the true cost [of the financial shortfall], and we’ll never really know what that is.”

*Names changed.

Don Graham is a writer for IMB.

It truly is a time for humility and thanks.

FIRST PERSON: A time for humility and thanks

8/6/2009

By David Steverson

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Times like this call for humility and thanks.

While individuals, families and churches across the country are struggling with the realities of an economic downturn, we at IMB (International Mission Board) are struggling, too.

We are dealing with the sobering reality of a shortfall in last year’s Lottie Moon offering — we did not make our $170 million goal. When the final total of $141 million was counted, it fell $9 million short of what we received each of the past two years.

This has a profound effect on the work of Southern Baptist missionaries overseas. Every dollar from the offering goes to support their efforts — none is ever used for administration or promotion.

Also, the Cooperative Program funds from which we derive the rest of their support have been down from last year. Imagine sitting in my chair, as IMB treasurer, and looking at these numbers and knowing what they are telling us.

We’ve had to take drastic measures. We’re not sending the number of missionaries to the field we normally do. It means that some who are called, gifted and ready cannot go. We have canceled or scaled back short-term missionary programs knowing the results from some present work will not be realized.

Once again, imagine sitting in our last board meeting and watching our president and the chairman of our board openly weep when the motion was presented to curtail appointments.

The money is simply not there.

In such times it is easy to embrace the darker side. The economy still stutters. Many of our fellow Southern Baptists are out of work and struggling. A sense of recovery feels lost in an uncertain future. The dollar is struggling around the world, which also has a tremendous effect on our budget.

But with all of the negative, I prefer to look at the brighter side.

In one of the worst economies in decades, Southern Baptists gave the third largest Lottie Moon offering in our history. The Cooperative Program remains one of the best tools anywhere to support missions at all levels. Even in hard times, Southern Baptists continue to produce more people who are called and committed to going onto international mission fields than we have yet found ways to fund. Most importantly, God is still on His throne and remains in control of all we do.

It’s a wonderful challenge to have.

Our funding is less, but on the grand scale of things … not that much less. When I look across America’s corporate landscape we look pretty good.

And then there is the larger body of the church. The special offering taken at the Pastors’ Conference during the annual Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, the $100,000 gift from Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the reports of additional offerings — large and small — from churches of all sizes across the convention and the prayers and concerns expressed by so many speak well of our health as part of the body of Christ.

I am humbled by the care and concern of many and their willingness to dig deep rather than turn their backs when the well is shallow. I give thanks for who we are as this people called Southern Baptists and what the Lord has given me the great privilege of being a part of.

There is much to celebrate.

If there are concerns, it is for the long view. It is wonderful that we are willing to give to send folks to the field now. But the December Lottie Moon offering comes again soon. The question is: Will we continue to sustain them so they will be there next year, the year after that … 10 years from now?

Each dollar we receive will be used to further the cause of Christ in other lands. But these funds must be from the deeper dig and not at the expense of other kingdom enterprises.

State and associational mission offerings and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions cannot be sacrificed or we are merely shuffling resources from one hand to another. While we at IMB are focused on the uttermost ends of the earth, we can’t ignore our Jerusalem, our Judea and Samaria. All parts of the body must be cared for.

Thank you, Southern Baptists, for being a people committed to the cause of Christ both here and around the world.

It truly is a time for humility and thanks.

David Steverson is IMB treasurer and vice president for finance. Before coming to Richmond, Va., he and his wife, Judy, served as missionaries for six years in Southeast Asia where he was business manager and treasurer.

"It’s time for a gut check. Are we serious about reaching the world or not?”

Lottie Moon shortfall limits Gospel access, leaves missionaries on hold

8/14/2009

By Don Graham

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--They had said goodbyes to their neighbors, friends and church family. They had sold their home and furniture. They had resigned from their jobs. They had even given away the family dog, a miniature collie named Q-tip.

When Tim and Audrey Shepard* decided to answer God’s call to share Jesus in Asia as Southern Baptist missionaries, they knew there could be obstacles. But the couple never expected that the obstacle would be lack of funds from Southern Baptists.

The Shepards are two of the 69 candidates in the pipeline to serve as long-term missionaries through IMB (International Mission Board) who have been told they can’t be sent to the field at this time. That’s in addition to an estimated 350 short-term candidates who also have been turned away from missionary service this year.

In May IMB announced it would severely limit the number of missionaries sent in 2009 due to reduced giving through the Cooperative Program and a $29 million dollar shortfall in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. More than half of IMB’s annual budget comes from the Lottie Moon offering, 100 percent of which is used to send and sustain the more than 5,600 Southern Baptist missionaries serving overseas. The goal for the 2008 offering (which funds the 2009 budget) was $170 million, but only $141 million was received, $9 million less than received for the 2007 offering.

The Shepards previously served 15 years with IMB but left the field in 2004 and moved to Jacksonville, Fla., so their daughter, Nora,* could attend high school in the United States. They planned to return to the mission field when she entered college and began that process in the fall of 2008. They were on track to arrive in Asia by the end of 2009 to partner with another IMB missionary couple working to spread the Gospel among some of Asia’s minority people groups.

But all that came to a screeching halt July 27 when an IMB representative called the Shepards to explain that their missionary appointment had been put on hold because there wasn’t enough money to send them.

Audrey says the news has left the family discouraged and confused.

“You feel sort of directionless — we really don’t know what to do now,” she says. “It’s tragic that money is holding back God’s work around the world. … There are people dying every day that are not going to have the opportunity to hear about Jesus because so many missionaries are being held up.”

So far the Shepards haven’t been given a firm date when they will head to the mission field. Spring 2010 has been mentioned, but no promises have been made. That means the Shepards will be on hold for at least six months. Right now they don’t know where they’ll live or what they’ll do. They’ve decided to stay temporarily in their church’s mission house. They’re not even sure where to register their 8-year-old son, Eric,* for school this fall because that depends on where they’ll live.

There’s a chance Tim and Audrey will be able to keep their jobs in Jacksonville, but since they didn’t renew their contracts, there’s no guarantee. Tim taught middle school math and science; Audrey was a school psychologist.

“We’re ready to go to the field,” Tim says. “My mind is already on ministry and going back to secular jobs just to pay the bills doesn’t excite us too much.”

The Shepards’ delay also is having serious repercussions in Asia, at least for the team they were set to join.

Sam and Elizabeth Hughes* are Southern Baptist missionaries on the edge of exhaustion. They run a handful of ministries focusing on 24 minority people groups, 18 of which are untouched by the Gospel. Without the Shepards, that’s more than a million lost people divided between one husband-and-wife team with three young children at home.

Sam was counting on the Shepards’ arrival to provide some much-needed relief — helping with ministry logistics, training national partners and following up with new believers or those who’ve expressed an interest in learning more about Jesus. God has blessed the work to the point where it is more than Sam can handle alone. He says news of the Shepards’ delay — and of the Lottie Moon offering shortfall — hurts morale.

“It’s time for a gut check. Are we serious about reaching the world or not?” he says. “I’ve got a list as long as I am tall of things I need them (the Shepards) to be doing.”

Though it’s a serious inconvenience and fraught with logistical nightmares, the Shepards say the delay hasn’t subdued their passion for reaching Asia. In fact, they’re so committed to their calling to be Southern Baptist missionaries they’re considering moving to Asia on their own dime so they can start learning the language and be more prepared when they begin their assignment.

“Communism has destroyed souls of the people — there’s no hope,” Audrey says. “We want to be a part of sharing Christ where there are so many who are dying without Him.”

The Shepards say that if their delay, and the delay of 67 others in going to the mission field, helps Southern Baptists realize the importance of lost souls overseas, “so be it.

“I’m happy if that’s what will come of this,” Audrey says. “That people wake up and realize that they need to give their money to support missions.”

*Names changed

Don Graham is a writer with IMB.

Missionaries On Hold

Lottie Moon shortfall limits Gospel access, leaves missionaries on hold

8/14/2009

By Don Graham

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--They had said goodbyes to their neighbors, friends and church family. They had sold their home and furniture. They had resigned from their jobs. They had even given away the family dog, a miniature collie named Q-tip.

When Tim and Audrey Shepard* decided to answer God’s call to share Jesus in Asia as Southern Baptist missionaries, they knew there could be obstacles. But the couple never expected that the obstacle would be lack of funds from Southern Baptists.

The Shepards are two of the 69 candidates in the pipeline to serve as long-term missionaries through IMB (International Mission Board) who have been told they can’t be sent to the field at this time. That’s in addition to an estimated 350 short-term candidates who also have been turned away from missionary service this year.

In May IMB announced it would severely limit the number of missionaries sent in 2009 due to reduced giving through the Cooperative Program and a $29 million dollar shortfall in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. More than half of IMB’s annual budget comes from the Lottie Moon offering, 100 percent of which is used to send and sustain the more than 5,600 Southern Baptist missionaries serving overseas. The goal for the 2008 offering (which funds the 2009 budget) was $170 million, but only $141 million was received, $9 million less than received for the 2007 offering.

The Shepards previously served 15 years with IMB but left the field in 2004 and moved to Jacksonville, Fla., so their daughter, Nora,* could attend high school in the United States. They planned to return to the mission field when she entered college and began that process in the fall of 2008. They were on track to arrive in Asia by the end of 2009 to partner with another IMB missionary couple working to spread the Gospel among some of Asia’s minority people groups.

But all that came to a screeching halt July 27 when an IMB representative called the Shepards to explain that their missionary appointment had been put on hold because there wasn’t enough money to send them.

Audrey says the news has left the family discouraged and confused.

“You feel sort of directionless — we really don’t know what to do now,” she says. “It’s tragic that money is holding back God’s work around the world. … There are people dying every day that are not going to have the opportunity to hear about Jesus because so many missionaries are being held up.”

So far the Shepards haven’t been given a firm date when they will head to the mission field. Spring 2010 has been mentioned, but no promises have been made. That means the Shepards will be on hold for at least six months. Right now they don’t know where they’ll live or what they’ll do. They’ve decided to stay temporarily in their church’s mission house. They’re not even sure where to register their 8-year-old son, Eric,* for school this fall because that depends on where they’ll live.

There’s a chance Tim and Audrey will be able to keep their jobs in Jacksonville, but since they didn’t renew their contracts, there’s no guarantee. Tim taught middle school math and science; Audrey was a school psychologist.

“We’re ready to go to the field,” Tim says. “My mind is already on ministry and going back to secular jobs just to pay the bills doesn’t excite us too much.”

The Shepards’ delay also is having serious repercussions in Asia, at least for the team they were set to join.

Sam and Elizabeth Hughes* are Southern Baptist missionaries on the edge of exhaustion. They run a handful of ministries focusing on 24 minority people groups, 18 of which are untouched by the Gospel. Without the Shepards, that’s more than a million lost people divided between one husband-and-wife team with three young children at home.

Sam was counting on the Shepards’ arrival to provide some much-needed relief — helping with ministry logistics, training national partners and following up with new believers or those who’ve expressed an interest in learning more about Jesus. God has blessed the work to the point where it is more than Sam can handle alone. He says news of the Shepards’ delay — and of the Lottie Moon offering shortfall — hurts morale.

“It’s time for a gut check. Are we serious about reaching the world or not?” he says. “I’ve got a list as long as I am tall of things I need them (the Shepards) to be doing.”

Though it’s a serious inconvenience and fraught with logistical nightmares, the Shepards say the delay hasn’t subdued their passion for reaching Asia. In fact, they’re so committed to their calling to be Southern Baptist missionaries they’re considering moving to Asia on their own dime so they can start learning the language and be more prepared when they begin their assignment.

“Communism has destroyed souls of the people — there’s no hope,” Audrey says. “We want to be a part of sharing Christ where there are so many who are dying without Him.”

The Shepards say that if their delay, and the delay of 67 others in going to the mission field, helps Southern Baptists realize the importance of lost souls overseas, “so be it.

“I’m happy if that’s what will come of this,” Audrey says. “That people wake up and realize that they need to give their money to support missions.”

*Names changed

Don Graham is a writer with IMB.