So You’re a Priest: Keeping Healthy Boundaries

I struggled with today’s sermon text until I realized that this passage is closely related to the e-mail from Gary Benedict, President of the C&MA regarding cuts in missionaries and the missionary budget. I had been planning to pass this e-mail on to you anyway, for our financial woes at church are part of a larger problem nationally and internationally.

2 Corinthians 10:7-18

Commentary

v7-11 This section is an extension of Paul’s previous defense of his apparent timidity. Humility to Christ is divine power, although on the surface, it may not look like much.

v12 themselves. The word appears 5x in this single verse. The criticism of Paul appears to originate among a group of people who are saying, in effect, "Look at me! I am doing it the right way whereas Paul is all wrong!"

v13 field. The word appears 2x in this single verse. Is it possible that Paul has been assigned a field—an area of responsibility—while his detractors from v12 have been assigned a different field? Is it possible that Paul’s detractors are Judaizers, Jewish Christians who measured their piety in terms of their ability to adhere to Torah?

v13-17 boasting. Although generally the word has negative connotations of self-pride, here boasting can refer to anything which is a source of confidence. In these 5 verses, what is the reason for confidence—for better or worse—in each.

Application

What reasons do we have for confidence? v13-17 lay out a spectrum of possibilities. On one hand, priggish religious devotees take pride in themselves (v12); they imagine that their conformity to a certain religious standard proves that they are making the grade. On the other hand (v17), ultimately we know that the without Jesus in our lives, we have no basis to be confident in anything. These ends of the spectrum, however, are the "Sunday School answers"—anyone with a wit of sense knows this much.

Jesus says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you & appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last" (John 15:16). That fruit, typically, is found in the context of relationships, in the kingdom of God simultaneously touching the lives of us and those around us. We have each been given a field in which to be fruitful (v13), a field of family, friends, and strangers. As the fruit multiplies, often our fields will change (v15-16). The question for each of us is, "What relationships has God assigned to me and what fruit am I seeing?"

However, Paul also talks about working another person’s field (v16b). Frequently, churches and individuals, each with an overweening sense of themselves, intrude into a field being working by another. If God is speaking to a somebody through another person (or church), who am I to think that I can speak on God’s behalf better than the person (or church) that God has sent?

Points to Ponder

In v17, Paul refers to Jer. 9:24. Read Jer. 8:4-10:16. What do you think Jeremiah would say to Paul?

Budget Woes at the National and International Church.
From: Gary Gary Benedict, President C&MA
To: International Workers
Date: March 16, 2009

Dear Colleague,

In my previous updates, I shared about declining revenues and the resultant budget implications.

At the Board of Directors meeting in February, the budget for next fiscal year was set at $37.5 million, which is a decrease of $3.2 million from the present budget. I have been working with the team in Colorado Springs to make the appropriate adjustments. As difficult as it is, we are at the point of personnel reductions. This is an agonizing experience for leadership and the workers affected. The first week of March, personnel reductions were made at the National Office.

To meet the reduced budget target of $1.8 million less in International Ministries, plans have been made for a 5 percent reduction in missionary personnel above normal attrition. This represents 30 people. The International Ministries team, including field, regional, and National Office leaders, has poured itself out on a number of fronts to deal with the financial realities. Included have been focused times of prayer and fasting, initiatives to increase revenues, capping new appointments, additional cutbacks in field budgets, careful use of reserves, and selling of some assets to provide additional revenue streams. Many of the people who are working on this are present and former missionaries who have felt deep anguish over all of this.

The decline in GCF revenues, inflation in many nations, and increasingly high costs to support an international worker have all contributed to this difficult decision. We are committed to having a smaller number of missionaries who are adequately funded rather than a larger number without the needed resources to get the job done. Our present revenue streams cannot sustain the number of fully funded personnel. For the first time in recent memory, four missionary units up for appointment were not approved by the Board of Directors at the February meeting due to financial limitations.

We have diligently sought the Lord’s leading in every decision. Our faith is unreservedly in the Lord for His wisdom and courage to make appropriate decisions. With whatever He generously supplies, we will embrace biblical principles of stewardship and best practices for a Christian nonprofit organization. We must live within the means the Lord supplies. As painful as it may be, reducing the number of personnel is prudent at this time for the overall vitality and effectiveness of C&MA ministries.

Within the next five to seven days, some of our colleagues will receive the news that they are part of the reduction in personnel. This will be a gut-wrenching experience for the worker and for the ones communicating the decision. Many of our U.S. C&MA churches and other Christian organizations are going through this stinging experience as well. Recently, one of the three pastoral positions was cut at the church where I am a member.

My prayer is that we will have expanded capacity to receive God’s amazing grace as He pours it out on every Alliance worker, especially the ones who receive hard news. We’re working diligently on multiple fronts to help those who will be returning home, desiring a "soft landing" for them. We want to extend compassionate care and dignity at an incredibly difficult time. I trust that home churches and districts will be havens of rest for those directly affected.

We know the Lord is sovereign and has laid out the boundaries for each of our lives and the ministry of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. He is now lovingly carrying us through these times to refine, strengthen, and prepare us for additional sacrifice leading to growth at home and overseas. This has happened in the past as experienced during the Great Depression. We are being crowded to Jesus and forced to think creatively, discovering new wineskins for carrying out the Great Commission. There can be no retreat from this mandate. While I’m not sure how the future will develop, I trust Him when He says,

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God . . . (Isaiah 43:1-3).

Paul’s statement also brings perspective to us:

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But ONE THING I DO: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12b-14).

I count it a privilege to be serving with you in Great Commission ministries. God bless you.