1. An Experience from Heaven

When God wants to do something great in a city, he does it by long preparation and deep foundation.   In 1994 a diverse group met to pray for revival from 6a.m. to 6 p.m. over seven consecutive days (January 1 – 7).  Jesus then revealed the direction of his plans for this city and state,   “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7).

On the last day of prayer, during a period of desperately difficult intercession, with only a remnant remaining in the building, the Lord focused my attention on Acts 3:19- 21.
“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.”

I had never realised before that we are in the time of universal restoration.  As this truth entered more deeply into my heart I had a profound revelatory experience.  In it the Lord was in his ascended position in heaven (Acts 1:11), below him were discernible all the spheres of society and culture (e.g. politics, business, arts, education, media, health and so on), he was active from heaven restoring all of these spheres of life to their original created purpose, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14)

I have been seeking to serve this vision ever since, Marketplace Connect is the latest means I see God raising up to fulfill this great purpose of restoration.

Once recognized, this theme burst out of other scriptures, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Eph 4:10).  The purpose of Jesus is to fill all things – offices, homes, schools, sports arenas, factories…with his glorious presence.  How does he do this?  Through the church making Christ present everywhere.

2. The Role of the Church

Paul is the great expositor of this truth.  What Jesus described as the disciping of nations (Acts 28:19), the apostle describes in a Christ- centred way.  “And he (God) put all things under his (Jesus) feet and gave him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:22- 23).

The primary purpose of the church is not to meet once a week and bring more and more people into our assemblies, it is to be so filled with Christ’s Spirit that through us Jesus’ life penetrates everything.  As Abraham Kuyper, theologian, Dutch Prime Minister and founder of the Free University of Amsterdam exclaimed, “There is not a square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’”

To embrace this vision calls for a radical restructuring of our priorities on the scale of the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago.

3. Marketplace Connect

The restoration of all things in Christ is the scope of the vision of Marketplace Connect.  No Christian in this state is excluded from participation in this vision, simply because there is no space in Western Australia that does not belong to Jesus.

How will this work out in practice?  Very simply, cells of mutually supportive Christ- centred believers meet together for prayer in all the spheres of existence seeking the coming of the kingdom of God with power in their specific places of marketplace service.  Eventually, the whole of our state is saturated with a lattice of prayer, and the reign of Christ comes with power – legislation becomes godly, school disciple is upheld, crime rates drop, corruption is removed, masses turn to the Lord, churches are planted in schools, offices, homes, factories …and so on.

Biblically, the role of the network is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph 4:12) in all the spheres of life and culture, “he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor 15:25).  We are at your service in supplying resources, connecting you with others in your field, raising and prayer and helping in any way we can.

In JESUS

Dr. John Yates yatesone@iprimus.com.au

Jeremiah 23:3-4

In many of today’s farms sheep have become little more than a commodity. They exist merely for the purpose of making a profit and while their health is cared for it is more to do with ensuring a good return than it is out of genuine concern for their welfare. Without stretching our metaphor too far, it is sadly true that we can make a comparison between the sheep of the modern farm or station and the sheep of God’s pasture. Whether these ‘sheep’ are in the congregation, workplaces or elsewhere in community they are often perceived as a means to an end rather than the end in itself.

What church pastor isn’t asked ‘how big is your church’ at gatherings of other pastors? Which businessman doesn’t evaluate his or her employees on the basis of their utility value to the company? Where is the football or sporting club that isn’t concerned with the number of its supporters, irrespective of their individual need or circumstance? In each of these examples the sheep have become numbers or commodities, they cease to have any value except in so far as they provide some sort of return. It is true that pastor’s measure themselves and their success on the basis of the number in their congregation, the bigger the flock – the more effective the shepherd. The sad fact is that while the number of sheep that come into the gate of the fold may grow it is often at the expense of those who have gone over the back fence. Many of these sheep have become lost and once more wander in the wilderness.

Recently I sat with a lady on an international flight, in the course of conversation she mentioned that she used to attend a church in the city in which she lived. Unfortunately she found the style and emphasis of the pastor difficult to accept and so she had left. Since she had gone no one had visited her and probably were not even aware that she was no longer there. She is not an isolated case. Everyday men and women are leaving congregations because they are not cared for, and many of these are no longer part of the fold. In Jeremiah’s day the shepherds were condemned because they had not tended to the sheep, instead they had caused them to scatter. In our program driven society it is difficult to remember that the fundamental task of the shepherd is to care for the sheep, our own driven ness in achieving the goals we have set for our congregations and ourselves has all too often driven the sheep away. This is true too in the workplace, our drive to succeed, to make more profit and achieve our goals sometimes causes us to see our employees as a means to an end, just another resource to be used in filling our business plan. Employees performance may deteriorate because of personal issues but because we are so preoccupied with the bottom line we fail to notice and do not stop and care for them.

God is raising up a new generation of shepherds. He will place them in congregations, businesses, community groups and politics. These shepherds will have compassion for those in their care. They will remove fear and give a sense of security and they will be genuinely concerned for the welfare of those that God has entrusted to them. The day is coming when God will raise up elected officials who will shepherd their nations, business leaders who will put the spiritual welfare of their employees above their profit margins, community representatives who will genuinely look after the needs of their community and pastors who will know the names and condition of their sheep and who will commit themselves so fully to their God given call that not one will be missing.

God has promised he will do this, and by his grace will you be one of these new breed of shepherds? Will you declare today that you will fully commit yourself to the sheep that he has entrusted to you and trust him to give you the grace, favour and strength you need?

Micah 2:12

While it is true that not all sheep are in the fold, or indeed any fold, this is the ultimate purpose of seeking them out. The fold that the sheep need to become part of is God’s fold, and Jesus is it’s chief shepherd. The fact that he is chief shepherd suggests that there are other shepherds of less authority; that’s where you and I come in. All of those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can be said to be part of God’s fold and under the care and protection of the Good Shepherd, but this fold is made up of smaller folds scattered throughout the nations all of which have shepherds or pastors to care for them. Some folds are known by church names, while others are formed in households or business places, still others may be made up of groups that share a common identity such as surfies, bikies or athletes but they all have some things in common.

A fold that belongs to God will always have Jesus at its centre. It may assemble in different places and conduct itself in different ways, but Jesus will always be the focus. There is no right or wrong way that determines how a fold should organize itself, there are certainly some Biblical principles but they stop short of giving a prescription that has to be followed. What is certain however is that all sheep need to be brought into the fold. They need the protection and guidance that comes from God appointed shepherds. Predators easily pick off a sheep that does not have the security of the fold; those that wander the wilderness alone are obvious targets.

As you minister to men and women in the marketplace, it will be your desire to bring them into the fold and it may be that there is readily available a group of like minded people that will accept the new sheep. Unfortunately however this is not always the case and you might experience difficulty in finding a ‘fold’ that is right for them. Of course like any metaphor we can push the sheep and the fold illustration too far. You and I suffer something of an identity crisis in that we are both sheep and shepherds at the same time. We identify with fellow sheep and may enjoy the company of others in the same fold as them, but at the same time we are fulfilling our role as shepherds to the sheep God has made us responsible for. We are part of a fold, and indeed we must be if we want to flourish in our Christian life, but those we shepherd may not become part of this fold, what then should we do? Should we start new little folds wherever we go or do we take the new believer into an established fold somewhere else, often uncertain about how they will be treated? This is a tough question and there is no easy answer.

It is certain however that the sheep must be in the fold and it may be that in the short term (or even longer term) that the fold they become part of is a small group with you as the shepherd leading them along the first steps of their Christian life. This group may form in your workplace, your home or amongst other like minded people in some other place but like the first believers after Pentecost you will want to enjoy fellowship, learn together from the Word of God and worship. Your role as a shepherd in the marketplace will include bringing the sheep into the fold. It is possible that you are part of a worshiping community that your new sheep will comfortably fit into and your task will be simply to make the connection, but increasingly it seems that this is not the case and there needs at least to be a place of transition for the new believer. As the shepherd of these sheep you will lead them into good pasture and keep them safe from the wolves that will try to devour them.

God does not intend that his sheep be scattered on the hillside, he wants them safe in the fold. He has appointed shepherds in the marketplace to lead and care for them and this is the ministry to which you have been called.

John 10:1-29

In the days that the gospel was written the role of the shepherd was different from what it is now. In Australia today sheep stations can often be more than a million acres in size and the shepherd carries out his duties by motorbike or even helicopter. A flock of sheep consists of thousands of animals, but in Jesus’ day a flock was small enough that the shepherd would know everyone of them and they would recognize his voice. The sheep got to know the voice of the shepherd because he spent every waking minute with them; he fed them, led them to water, protected them from harm, attended their needs and even assisted in the birth of lambs when necessary.

Jesus was able to claim that his sheep would know his voice and would follow him anywhere. He was so intimately acquainted with his flock that they could tell his voice from others that might try to steal them or lead them astray. He was so concerned for his sheep that he was prepared to lay down his life for them. These are the same examples that we should follow.

Of course this suggests a number of things, in the first place the flock that we minister to must be small enough for us to know intimately. In these days of mega churches where the emphasis is often on numbers rather than intimacy of relationships the congregational pastor is more like a modern day rancher than a shepherd. He attends the needs of the sheep by remote control and calculates what are the acceptable losses that the business of sheep farming can bear. The idea of leaving 99 to fend for themselves while going to search for one that is missing would be laughable. What a far cry from the shepherds of Jesus’ day.

You are not called to be the shepherd of every sheep, just those that the father has given to you. There is a flock that you are responsible for and it is these sheep that you must answer for. Jesus was able to say that no one would ever snatch his sheep from him because he carried the authority of his Father in heaven and he is greater than any who would try to snatch his sheep from him. While you are not responsible for the salvation of the sheep in your care, or their eternal destiny, you do carry that same authority from your heavenly Father and you are expected to care for and protect them. Do you know who your sheep are? Paul instructed the elders at Ephesus to take heed to the condition of their flocks, what’s the condition of yours?

As you show compassion to the sheep in your flock, praying for them, meeting their needs when you can and extending mercy and grace out of the treasury of God they will come to recognize your love and genuine concern for their welfare. They will begin to recognize your voice and will follow you when you lead. There is an old adage that a shepherd leads the sheep, but a butcher drives them. A butcher is not concerned for the welfare of the animals he is about to slaughter; they are just a means to an end for him. They are the stuff of business, the more he kills and processes the more profit he will make – so he drives them to the slaughterhouse. On the other hand the shepherd is concerned for his sheep’s welfare, it matters to him if they get sick or lame. He leads them gently along the way that they should travel; he feeds and nurtures them. The sheep in our care need to be led, not driven. Their welfare is important. Do you drive your sheep so that your profits increase, or do you lead them into good pasture?

Do your sheep know your voice? Do they trust you to care for them even more than you care for yourself? Will you put their welfare beyond your profit margin; will you put aside your busy program to meet their needs? If you do, then God will enlarge your flock.

Hebrews 5:1-3

The great example to shepherds, as in all things, is the lord Jesus Christ. He is the model on which to base all that we do, and this is no less so with his role as chief shepherd. Jesus combines the role of shepherd and Great High Priest in a way that we cannot because it is he who became the sacrifice that satisfied God’s demand for justice and took away the penalty of sin. It is in his role as High Priest that he mediates this sacrifice and secures salvation for all those who exercise faith in him. But we are all called to be priests and to exercise this office in a pastoral way.

A priest makes representation to God on behalf of those that he or she is responsible for. This applies especially to those who are not yet in the fold. In other words those people that have yet to come to faith in the lord Jesus Christ do not have access to the father and they need someone to pray on their behalf. The priest also speaks to the people on behalf of God. In this way the priest mediates between God and his people. The writer to the Hebrews explains that a priest was ‘taken from among men on behalf of men in things pertaining to God’. It was their responsibility to take a stand for those who did not have access to God and to act on their behalf. In your part of the marketplace there are many men, women, boys and girls who have not yet come to faith in the lord Jesus Christ, they need someone to intercede on their behalf. More than that they need someone who understands their needs and their weaknesses, someone who is just like them.

When the person who prays for someone else comes from the same circumstances and background as they do they understand and can treat them and their needs gently. The priest that is taken from among men can ‘deal gently with the ignorant and the misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness’. As a priest in your part of the marketplace you are God’s representative – it is your responsibility to speak on his behalf to those in your care. You are to extend his mercy and love to those who stand in need, offering healing and relief to the broken and sick and giving guidance and direction to the lost. But you are also the representative of the people. It is up to you to bring the needs, hurts and burdens of the people to God and ask on their behalf. You stand in the gap between God and them.

God has chosen you because you understand the needs of those in your community; you have suffered the same pain and frustration. You know what it is like to be rejected and hurt. You have experienced lack of direction, confusion and loss. You have faced similar temptations and trials and you can empathise with those around you. Because of this you can treat them gently and pray on their behalf. You will not be quick to judge because you know that except by God’s grace you would be in the same situation. God can use you because you have experienced his mercy, love and grace and now you have hope you can offer it to others. God also depends on your ability to make his word clear to those you care for and he places confidence in your ability to make his good news plain.

This is why you are in the place you are, as a shepherd of God’s sheep he has given you a priestly role. He has chosen you to act on behalf of the men, women and children in your world and to speak to them on his behalf. He has appointed you to intercede for them so that they will receive mercy and help in their time of need. You are there by Divine appointment, God knows that you are able to be a witness to his grace and is relying on you to make him known in you marketplace.

Ezekiel 34:2-10

The words spoken through Ezekiel are very harsh; they make for uncomfortable reading for those who consider themselves to be shepherds. And of course this means you and me. God condemns the shepherds of Israel for the things they had not done and finished up by telling them that he had rejected them. We must remember that the things that apply to shepherds apply to all of us in our responsibility to the sheep in our care, whether this is in ‘pastoral’ ministry, the workplace or as mothers and fathers.

The shepherds are first of all condemned for feeding themselves while not looking after the flock, they had not only provided for their own basic needs but in fact had lived luxuriously while failing to care for those in their charge. For those in business this is a serious message, how dare we live in luxury while denying reasonable income to those who work for us? How can we enjoy the pleasures of life while those from whom our profits are derived struggle to make ends meet? The judgment goes further, these shepherds had failed to look after the sick, bind up the broken, bring back those that had gone astray or seek for those that were lost. In fact their severity had caused some of the sheep to go astray and become prey to those that would feed on them.

From this list of offences it becomes clear what sort of things that God expects of his shepherds. They are to look after the sick, help to alleviate emotional and practical needs, assist some to find their way and provide help to those in need. They are to do this in the context of justice and mercy. The shepherd was to care for his sheep before he looked to his own needs. A good shepherd would not go to sleep at night until he was certain that all of his sheep were safe and in the fold. And if there was danger, he may not go to sleep at all.

God looks out at our communities and marketplaces and he expects to see shepherds caring for the sheep. I suspect that too often he will see pastors who are more concerned about their personal needs, salary levels and creature comforts than the lives of the people they are responsible for. And while I do not refer only to paid ‘pastors’ I do not exclude them either. Too often pastors in congregations are more concerned about their budget, buildings and the numbers who turn up on Sunday than they are the personal and spiritual needs of the people in their charge. They work ‘business’ hours and surround themselves with the trappings of office that often make it difficult for hurting people to even get an audience. Pastors in the marketplace do likewise. They are so consumed about the bottom line that they fail to see the hurt in their employee’s faces. The size and furnishing of their offices reflects their image and position while the workers struggle for reasonable facilities to eat in. The manager’s office is air-conditioned but the factory staff swelter in unrelieved heat, dust and dirt.

God demands better from his shepherds. He has appointed them to lead his sheep into good pasture and to keep them safe. Whether those sheep are in the congregation, the community or the marketplace it makes no difference, the shepherd’s responsibility is the same. Who are the sheep that God has entrusted to you? Start with your family, then your neighbourhood, the part of the marketplace you are engaged in, either at work or as you carry out your day-to-day activities and if you pastor a local congregation, then those as well. But remember not all of the flock are in the fold, some are outside and need to be brought in, others have gone astray and need to be brought back. Wherever you are you have sheep to care for, their needs are greater than yours, God has given them to you because he trusts you to look after them – but if you don’t he will take them from you and give them to somebody else!