Who am I? Who are you?
Personal identity has attracted much public attention lately. Thieves have found it very lucrative to actually steal peoples' personal identities through credit card frauds and computer scams. Identity theft has become big business.
However, I believe an even greater problem exists in that many people don't even realize their identity has been stolen, because they don't even really know their true identity in the first place. Many fall through the cracks of life, merely passing through, but never coming to a knowledge of who they are.
Unfortunately, we have become human doings rather than human beings.
The medium has become the message. True, we can send a message around the world in a micro-second, but what value is it if it merely communicates a burp, a grunt or even worse?
We have become mesmerized with our own hype.
We have lost touch with the truly vital intrinsic realities of this life. Our identity has become lost in a sea of information and misinformation of questionable value.
I spent years searching for my identity. I also attempted running away from who I was, or at least, who I thought I was. Lack of identity can be a very frustrating experience.
One day some friends told me I needed to meet someone who could help me find this elusive identity; someone who knew everything about 'heart' issues. My friends said that if I met their mutual friend, it would bring an end to my search. After all, had I not spent years trying to solve the eternal questions and was still none the wiser?
How could this be? I did not think such a person really existed. Who could possess such knowledge and then be able to give it to someone else?
They set up opportunities for our introduction, but I missed many appointments.
I was too busy and couldn't make them. However, they didn't give up on me.
They persisted and persevered and finally, one day I met Him.
I gave up the pursuit of knowledge and found the love of the Lord Jesus Christ!
I discovered that my true identity had been stolen in a garden by a serpent many centuries ago, but Jesus had since paid the price on the Cross and won it back for me.
He also showed me that if I truly wanted to find my identity and real life, then I needed to in turn lose it. Paradoxical?!
Through faith in Christ I am now a child of God. That was 35 years ago.
Not once have I found Him to be a liar. Jesus is always true to His word. That is a very precious commodity in today's world: someone who will agree from his heart to do something and not forget or go back on his word. Such a one is secure in his identity.
Our 'Who am I?' questions find their answer in 'Who do you say that Jesus is?'
Some say He is a man, others a wise teacher, others still a prophet or guru. Some believe the stories about Him are merely fabricated myths or lies.
But the Bible reveals that the mystery is resolved in a Revelation of Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
None of us are complete in ourselves. Our identity is fully involved with Our Creator and Redeemer. Satan stole our identities and has lied to every generation. We have swallowed these lies and wandered this world without meaning or identity. Until we renounce the counterfeit, idolatrous images we have substituted for God, we are condemned to continue this frustrating journey. Only in Christ is the Father's pure love revealed and we are restored to His image, secure in the knowledge that we are His.
Do you know you also have an arranged appointment with this Jesus?
This year it became required for all Canadians to have passports in order to cross the border into the United States. Even moreso, we need our new real identity in Christ revealed that we might cross over spiritual barriers to enter and enjoy new life in His kingdom. Please don't miss your appointment because you're too busy on this other side.
Besides, this is only the beginning. Introduction leads into Relationship.
God-forgiven Identity releases into God-given Destiny.
**Let the Lord fulfill your new Identity in Jesus Christ below
Check each in the Word; then let the Holy Spirit verify + release His life in you!
Take at least 1 of these to heart each day like spiritual vitamins + grow!
Remember: the devil comes seeking whom he may devour;
let Jesus' answer be yours: 'he has nothing in me' (Jn 14:30)
.... I am in Christ!'
WHO AM I ???
“ in CHRIST JESUS ... ”
I am the salt of the earth. Matt 5:13
I am the light of the world. (1Thess 5:5) Matt 5:14
I am of priceless value. Matt 6:26
I am a child of God; I have a Father who loves me. Rom 8:16; Gal 3:26,28
Jn 1:12; 1Jn 3:1-2
I am set free. Jn 8:31-32
I am the Good Shepherd’s sheep; I can hear His voice and follow Him. Jn 10:4,10
I am a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life. Jn 15:1, 5
I am Christ’s friend. Jn 15:15
I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit Jn 15:16
I am filled with joy! Jn 16:33
I am One with the Father and Son and all believers. (1Cor 6:17) Jn 17:22-23
I am Christ’s witness. Acts 1:8
I am a slave of righteousness to God. Rom 6:18, 22
I am free from all condemnation. Rom 8:1-2
I am a son of God, spiritually adopted by my Father God.(Gal 3:26,4:6) Rom 8:14-15
I am a joint-heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance. (Gal 4:6-7) Rom 8:17
I am inseparable from His love. Rom 8:35
I am more than a conqueror, an overcomer. (1Jn 5:4-5) Rom 8:37
I am a temple/home of God; His Holy Spirit dwells in me. 1Cor 3:16; 6:19
I am washed, sanctified and justified. 1Cor 6:11
I am not my own; I have been bought with an incalculable price. 1Cor 6:19
I am a member/part of Christ’s body. 1Cor 12:27
I am transformed into Christ’s image by faith from glory to glory. 2Cor 3:18
I am a new creation; a totally new person. 2Cor 5:17
I am reconciled to God and an ambassador of reconciliation to others. 2Cor 5:18-19
I am the righteousness of God. (Eph 4:24) 2Cor 5:21
I am crucified with Him: dead to sin and alive to God. Gal 2:20
I am redeemed from the curse. Gal 3:13
I am a saint, blessed with all spiritual blessings. (Phil 1:1) Eph 1:1-3
I am totally accepted/chosen in The Beloved. (Col 3:12) Eph 1:6
I am completely forgiven by His Grace. Eph 1:7
I am sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Eph 1:13
I am alive, saved, raised up and seated in the heavenlies. Eph 2:5-8
I am God’s workmanship, created to walk in good works. Eph 2:10
I am a member of God’s family, secure in His foundation. Eph 2:19-21
I am a prisoner of Christ. Eph 3:1,4:1
I am confident He will complete what He has begun in me. Phil 1:6
I am a citizen of heaven and seated in His throne right now. Phil 3:20
I am delivered from darkness and translated into Christ’s kingdom. Col 1:13
I am absolutely complete. Col 2:10
I am hidden with Christ in God, my life is kept of God. Col 3:3-4
I am not afraid, but filled with power, love and a sound mind. 2Tim 1:7
I am never alone. Jesus never leaves me nor forsakes me. Heb 13:5
I am of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a unique people 1Pet2:9-10
I am an alien, stranger and pilgrim in this world I temporarily live in. 1Pet 2:11
I am an enemy of the devil,; the devil cannot touch me. 1Jn 5:18
I am His Bride. Rev 19:7
I am not the great “ I am” (Ex 3:14; Jn 8:24,28,58)
but “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1Cor 15:10)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
There Must be a Better Way
A short word before this next article:
I first wrote this just before US forces moved into Iraq in 2003; however, I find it addresses a perspective still out there in the contemporary 'Christian mindset' that needs to be challenged.
What are your thoughts?
Preparations for war have filled our minds and newscasts.
Soldiers pack up their gear, embrace their children, kiss their wives. “We just want to get the job done, get it over with and get back home!”
Thousands fill the streets of New York, London, Rome, Istanbul; 35,000 protest in Vancouver and even Abbotsford hears the cries, “No blood for oil!” The images contrast as sharply as the opposing battle lines in the desert.
Days and nights of constant bombardment have now left much of Baghdad in ruins.
Our TV screens explode with “Shock and Awe!”
but do we realize men, women and children are dying while we watch the fireworks?
Then the next photos: close-ups of the injured and maimed lying in blood-soaked bandages in ill-equipped hospitals; or even worse, the dead lying in the streets after the battles.
Even closer to home, a Maryland father thrusts his slain son's picture into the camera's eye. “Take a look, George Bush. This is my son, my only son, and you killed him!”
Sons, fathers, soldiers, civilians...all casualties of a world that has definitely lost its way...again.
Survivor Baghdad has become the ultimate Reality TV show.
A chorus of hearts cries out: “There must be a better way!”
The debate intensifies:
“Saddam's a monster, a foul dictator, a virtual anti-Christ. He slaughters his own people. Replace him and we'll make the world a safer place!”
“Bush is no better. Who does he think he is: the world's policeman? imposing his brand of 'Christian' democracy, bullying Moslems and the entire Arab world?”
“Terrorism, biological and chemical weapons must be countered with ten times more force. These are threats to world security and must be preemptively neutralized.”
“But by reacting this way, haven't we become what we say we oppose?”
Over 3000 died in the World Trade Center disaster.
How many will have to die in the retaliation?
United Nations diplomacy proved ineffective.
Canada teeters somewhat smugly on the fence, officially uninvolved, but cautiously cheering on the Americans, anxiously concerned about effects on our economy and comfortable way of life.
There must be a better way.
It's amazing how we can piously mouth Jesus' teachings, “Turn the other cheek, Walk the second mile, etc.” on a personal, individual and family level, but fail to relate them on the wider community, national and international stages. The words sound good on an ethereal, spiritual plane, but they don't really apply to the 'real world'.
How easily we sentimentalize 'Blessed are the peacemakers', but resort to waging war when our 'real' interests are threatened.
Indeed, a 'Christian brother' once tried to enlighten me by proving that The Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount will only come into effect in some future Millenium!
What happened to The Cross?
Shows you how strongly your end-time beliefs can determine your present-day attitudes and actions.
The problem with Christ and His teaching is not that they have been tried and found wanting; it's that they have not been really tried!
We so-called 'Christian' nations have not truly sought to put them into practice when it comes to resolving problems.
“Be realistic,” some counter.
Jesus was and is.
He understood that what we sow we ultimately reap:
sow violence, reap violence;
sow love, reap love;
live by the sword, die by the sword.
Don't be overcome by evil (the forces of this world that are bent on destruction),
but overcome evil with good.
Gandhi was not a Christian, but he sought to follow Christ's non-violent approach, and he ultimately led India to independence.
Martin Luther King dreamed of his people's freedom from racism and inspired them by Jesus' faith.
South Africa has been spared a bloodbath because they chose to forgive past inhumanities by both whites and blacks rather than resort to vengeance.
The Berlin Wall did not fall to tanks and missiles, but to the prayers of believers who not only filled a Dresden church night after night, but then let their light shine in the streets until the communist darkness could stand no longer.
Jesus said, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, and by so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (Romans 12:20)
I always interpreted this to mean that God would ultimately execute fiery retribution on my enemies. But my heart motive was all wrong. Rather than calling down judgment on your opposition, this verse alludes to the nomadic custom of transporting fire coals from camp to camp in baskets on their heads. If someone's fire went out between camps, others were to give them some of their own.
Rather than retaliate, rekindle.
Jesus tells us to bless and not curse; heal rather than wound; help, not destroy ...and not just when it's personally convenient. Thousands of Iraqi children have died over the last 10 years' embargo on goods, including proper medical and food supplies.
What if: rather than pound them with missiles, we bombarded them with mercy and the skies rained down relief packages rather than death?
“Traitor! Naive! Impractical?"
But the real gospel in action has worked miracles and fostered much more goodwill than self-centred evil. We really do have so much here in the West. God has blessed us with such abundance. Rather that retaliation, why not break the cycle of violence by faithfully following the One whose Death and Resurrection forever broke the power of sin and death … hatred and war?
I am convinced: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is A Better Way!
I first wrote this just before US forces moved into Iraq in 2003; however, I find it addresses a perspective still out there in the contemporary 'Christian mindset' that needs to be challenged.
What are your thoughts?
Preparations for war have filled our minds and newscasts.
Soldiers pack up their gear, embrace their children, kiss their wives. “We just want to get the job done, get it over with and get back home!”
Thousands fill the streets of New York, London, Rome, Istanbul; 35,000 protest in Vancouver and even Abbotsford hears the cries, “No blood for oil!” The images contrast as sharply as the opposing battle lines in the desert.
Days and nights of constant bombardment have now left much of Baghdad in ruins.
Our TV screens explode with “Shock and Awe!”
but do we realize men, women and children are dying while we watch the fireworks?
Then the next photos: close-ups of the injured and maimed lying in blood-soaked bandages in ill-equipped hospitals; or even worse, the dead lying in the streets after the battles.
Even closer to home, a Maryland father thrusts his slain son's picture into the camera's eye. “Take a look, George Bush. This is my son, my only son, and you killed him!”
Sons, fathers, soldiers, civilians...all casualties of a world that has definitely lost its way...again.
Survivor Baghdad has become the ultimate Reality TV show.
A chorus of hearts cries out: “There must be a better way!”
The debate intensifies:
“Saddam's a monster, a foul dictator, a virtual anti-Christ. He slaughters his own people. Replace him and we'll make the world a safer place!”
“Bush is no better. Who does he think he is: the world's policeman? imposing his brand of 'Christian' democracy, bullying Moslems and the entire Arab world?”
“Terrorism, biological and chemical weapons must be countered with ten times more force. These are threats to world security and must be preemptively neutralized.”
“But by reacting this way, haven't we become what we say we oppose?”
Over 3000 died in the World Trade Center disaster.
How many will have to die in the retaliation?
United Nations diplomacy proved ineffective.
Canada teeters somewhat smugly on the fence, officially uninvolved, but cautiously cheering on the Americans, anxiously concerned about effects on our economy and comfortable way of life.
There must be a better way.
It's amazing how we can piously mouth Jesus' teachings, “Turn the other cheek, Walk the second mile, etc.” on a personal, individual and family level, but fail to relate them on the wider community, national and international stages. The words sound good on an ethereal, spiritual plane, but they don't really apply to the 'real world'.
How easily we sentimentalize 'Blessed are the peacemakers', but resort to waging war when our 'real' interests are threatened.
Indeed, a 'Christian brother' once tried to enlighten me by proving that The Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount will only come into effect in some future Millenium!
What happened to The Cross?
Shows you how strongly your end-time beliefs can determine your present-day attitudes and actions.
The problem with Christ and His teaching is not that they have been tried and found wanting; it's that they have not been really tried!
We so-called 'Christian' nations have not truly sought to put them into practice when it comes to resolving problems.
“Be realistic,” some counter.
Jesus was and is.
He understood that what we sow we ultimately reap:
sow violence, reap violence;
sow love, reap love;
live by the sword, die by the sword.
Don't be overcome by evil (the forces of this world that are bent on destruction),
but overcome evil with good.
Gandhi was not a Christian, but he sought to follow Christ's non-violent approach, and he ultimately led India to independence.
Martin Luther King dreamed of his people's freedom from racism and inspired them by Jesus' faith.
South Africa has been spared a bloodbath because they chose to forgive past inhumanities by both whites and blacks rather than resort to vengeance.
The Berlin Wall did not fall to tanks and missiles, but to the prayers of believers who not only filled a Dresden church night after night, but then let their light shine in the streets until the communist darkness could stand no longer.
Jesus said, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, and by so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (Romans 12:20)
I always interpreted this to mean that God would ultimately execute fiery retribution on my enemies. But my heart motive was all wrong. Rather than calling down judgment on your opposition, this verse alludes to the nomadic custom of transporting fire coals from camp to camp in baskets on their heads. If someone's fire went out between camps, others were to give them some of their own.
Rather than retaliate, rekindle.
Jesus tells us to bless and not curse; heal rather than wound; help, not destroy ...and not just when it's personally convenient. Thousands of Iraqi children have died over the last 10 years' embargo on goods, including proper medical and food supplies.
What if: rather than pound them with missiles, we bombarded them with mercy and the skies rained down relief packages rather than death?
“Traitor! Naive! Impractical?"
But the real gospel in action has worked miracles and fostered much more goodwill than self-centred evil. We really do have so much here in the West. God has blessed us with such abundance. Rather that retaliation, why not break the cycle of violence by faithfully following the One whose Death and Resurrection forever broke the power of sin and death … hatred and war?
I am convinced: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is A Better Way!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Something Greater
Something greater than the Iraqi and Afghan war, terrorist acts or Canadian and American elections is now happening in our world. The kingdom of God, greater than any election platform, is presently sweeping the earth. The greatest movement in world history is now changing the face of the earth! Are you a part of it?
People are turning to Jesus and discovering His words are true.
“Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have life and these testify of me (Jn 5:39)
“All the Scriptures…things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27)
must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”(Luke 24:44)
Spiritually hungry people do not accept counterfeits; they turn to Jesus!
A few years ago, my wife and I visited many ancient sites of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean world. These cities had once known vibrant churches, but the ravages of apathy, war, and time have taken their toll and their once-strong congregations are no more.
In Spain, we found church buildings full of gold plundered from Aztec and Inca empires, but empty of people. In Assisi, we found St. Francis’ simple church, but now smothered beneath an overwhelming edifice. In Greece, St. Paul’s powerful words seemed silenced amid all the noisy Olympic preparations.
The seven churches of Revelation were merely empty ruins in Turkey, a 99% Muslim nation. Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, once the largest church in the world, was now only a shell of a museum.
However, we found something even more remarkable. Although the outer vestiges of ‘Christian faith’ are no longer as prevalent as they had once been, an even more powerful movement is now sweeping these lands, especially in the hearts of the younger generation. Hearts are hungering for the real Jesus and will accept no substitutes.
Our young Italian friend was born and raised in the church, even served as an altar boy, but the church’s hypocritical practices had turned him away. Their large, cold marble buildings no longer impressed him and he now looked for heroes elsewhere. I challenged him and his counter-culture group of friends to look to the original Jesus, the only perfect man who has ever lived. “Why continue to look for ideals of perfection when He has already come?”
He acknowledged that Jesus’ life uniquely demonstrated truth in action, in spite of all man’s external religious embellishments. But it's hard to find the real Jesus through all the religious embellishments...the crap!
One afternoon in Ephesus, just outside the ruins of the church where St. John lay buried, we stopped to talk with a young carpet-seller. The topic turned to the emptiness of religious buildings and observances and we encouraged him to seek the head of the living church, Jesus Christ. Suddenly he remarked, “You’re just like those other people who were here this morning and shared this same message with me. And you’ve got that same joy in you! You are filled with joy and radiate life just like them! Is that Jesus?”
Then he told us how he had begun to read the New Testament (Injil) in his own language so he could find out these things for himself.
Later that evening in our hotel, Achmed, our 18-year-old night watchman, watched his new ‘Jesus’ video all they way through on the very first night he'd had it. In the morning, he was so very excited about what he had seen and had all sorts of questions about this Jesus.
In Cappadocia, our young Turkish tour guide led us through labyrinthine underground cities, nine or 10 stories deep, 150 feet below the surface, where Christians had fled to escape Roman persecutors and later Muslim invaders. We marveled how they had survived and prospered for centuries and gazed at their wonderful frescoes and mosaics. But there’s more to life than old paintings, murals and books –and as we drove to the next site, she wondered out loud about what we were seeing. Our topic of conversation turned to Jesus. Rather than argue concerning religious dogma, I asked her what Islam said about Jesus.
“He is a prophet,” she replied.
“But much more.” I added. “The Koran speaks of Jesus as the Judge at the last day. Surely, if even the Koran esteems Jesus so highly, don’t you think it’s most important for us to know Him as He truly is now, seeing we are all going to stand before Him as judge on the last day?”
That opened more questions.
Other nominal Muslim friends of hers had gone to the theatre to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ because they’d heard it was anti-Semitic, but the movie had now turned them and their thoughts to examine who this Jesus of the Passion really was.
In Istanbul, another young Turk stood in a nightclub doorway, his red and black T-shirt emblazoned with Che Guevara's picture on the front and “We want a revolution!” on the back. I couldn’t resist and stopped to ask what kind of revolution he wanted.
“Do you want to have a real revolution or just replace the present batch of scandalous politicians and ideas with others? What about revolting against the world’s greatest tyrant?”
“Who’s that?”
“Self! Do you want a real revolution of the heart? Have you considered the world’s greatest revolutionary?”
Who’s that?”
“Jesus! He turned the world right side up!”
He chuckled.
Che Guevera had good intentions, but he was a very imperfect political revolutionary and is now very dead.
Jesus alone dealt with the greatest threat to freedom: self.
And He is very much alive: He is risen! He alone offers a revolution of the spirit.
While the world’s philosophers and politicians argue – ‘esteem yourself, free yourself, empower yourself! Jesus invites us to “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”
Charee (his name in Turkish means ‘called’) heard theJesus' call that day.
Not to ideas, but a Person.
Not to dead forms, but resurrected life.
Not to religion, but a faith relationship, personally and directly from Jesus Himself to be then shared together with others.
Jesus has given us life. Not dogmatic systems or learned responses. Not buildings or programs. God is looking for those who will simply respond out of their heartfelt need. He draws those who are honest in their reality.
It is only a matter of time: His kingdom is filling all the earth.
People are turning to Jesus and discovering His words are true.
“Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have life and these testify of me (Jn 5:39)
“All the Scriptures…things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27)
must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”(Luke 24:44)
Spiritually hungry people do not accept counterfeits; they turn to Jesus!
A few years ago, my wife and I visited many ancient sites of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean world. These cities had once known vibrant churches, but the ravages of apathy, war, and time have taken their toll and their once-strong congregations are no more.
In Spain, we found church buildings full of gold plundered from Aztec and Inca empires, but empty of people. In Assisi, we found St. Francis’ simple church, but now smothered beneath an overwhelming edifice. In Greece, St. Paul’s powerful words seemed silenced amid all the noisy Olympic preparations.
The seven churches of Revelation were merely empty ruins in Turkey, a 99% Muslim nation. Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, once the largest church in the world, was now only a shell of a museum.
However, we found something even more remarkable. Although the outer vestiges of ‘Christian faith’ are no longer as prevalent as they had once been, an even more powerful movement is now sweeping these lands, especially in the hearts of the younger generation. Hearts are hungering for the real Jesus and will accept no substitutes.
Our young Italian friend was born and raised in the church, even served as an altar boy, but the church’s hypocritical practices had turned him away. Their large, cold marble buildings no longer impressed him and he now looked for heroes elsewhere. I challenged him and his counter-culture group of friends to look to the original Jesus, the only perfect man who has ever lived. “Why continue to look for ideals of perfection when He has already come?”
He acknowledged that Jesus’ life uniquely demonstrated truth in action, in spite of all man’s external religious embellishments. But it's hard to find the real Jesus through all the religious embellishments...the crap!
One afternoon in Ephesus, just outside the ruins of the church where St. John lay buried, we stopped to talk with a young carpet-seller. The topic turned to the emptiness of religious buildings and observances and we encouraged him to seek the head of the living church, Jesus Christ. Suddenly he remarked, “You’re just like those other people who were here this morning and shared this same message with me. And you’ve got that same joy in you! You are filled with joy and radiate life just like them! Is that Jesus?”
Then he told us how he had begun to read the New Testament (Injil) in his own language so he could find out these things for himself.
Later that evening in our hotel, Achmed, our 18-year-old night watchman, watched his new ‘Jesus’ video all they way through on the very first night he'd had it. In the morning, he was so very excited about what he had seen and had all sorts of questions about this Jesus.
In Cappadocia, our young Turkish tour guide led us through labyrinthine underground cities, nine or 10 stories deep, 150 feet below the surface, where Christians had fled to escape Roman persecutors and later Muslim invaders. We marveled how they had survived and prospered for centuries and gazed at their wonderful frescoes and mosaics. But there’s more to life than old paintings, murals and books –and as we drove to the next site, she wondered out loud about what we were seeing. Our topic of conversation turned to Jesus. Rather than argue concerning religious dogma, I asked her what Islam said about Jesus.
“He is a prophet,” she replied.
“But much more.” I added. “The Koran speaks of Jesus as the Judge at the last day. Surely, if even the Koran esteems Jesus so highly, don’t you think it’s most important for us to know Him as He truly is now, seeing we are all going to stand before Him as judge on the last day?”
That opened more questions.
Other nominal Muslim friends of hers had gone to the theatre to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ because they’d heard it was anti-Semitic, but the movie had now turned them and their thoughts to examine who this Jesus of the Passion really was.
In Istanbul, another young Turk stood in a nightclub doorway, his red and black T-shirt emblazoned with Che Guevara's picture on the front and “We want a revolution!” on the back. I couldn’t resist and stopped to ask what kind of revolution he wanted.
“Do you want to have a real revolution or just replace the present batch of scandalous politicians and ideas with others? What about revolting against the world’s greatest tyrant?”
“Who’s that?”
“Self! Do you want a real revolution of the heart? Have you considered the world’s greatest revolutionary?”
Who’s that?”
“Jesus! He turned the world right side up!”
He chuckled.
Che Guevera had good intentions, but he was a very imperfect political revolutionary and is now very dead.
Jesus alone dealt with the greatest threat to freedom: self.
And He is very much alive: He is risen! He alone offers a revolution of the spirit.
While the world’s philosophers and politicians argue – ‘esteem yourself, free yourself, empower yourself! Jesus invites us to “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”
Charee (his name in Turkish means ‘called’) heard theJesus' call that day.
Not to ideas, but a Person.
Not to dead forms, but resurrected life.
Not to religion, but a faith relationship, personally and directly from Jesus Himself to be then shared together with others.
Jesus has given us life. Not dogmatic systems or learned responses. Not buildings or programs. God is looking for those who will simply respond out of their heartfelt need. He draws those who are honest in their reality.
It is only a matter of time: His kingdom is filling all the earth.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The 8th Letter of Revelation
“And to the angel of the Church in _______(fill in the name of your city) write…”
What if Jesus added an eighth letter to His 7 Letters to the Churches of Revelation and sent it to the Church of your city today?
What would He talk to us about? What would be its highlights? Affirmations? Corrections? Warnings?
To whom would it be addressed? Who would receive it? Would we receive it?
It’s recorded in history that the church of Laodicea did not receive its letter. They could not accept that its contents described their church’s actual situation. They instead insisted that things were just fine.
The letter was wrong; they weren’t. “It’s addressed to the wrong church. That’s not us!”
The letter asserted they were self-sufficient, in need of nothing, not even God. Their refusal to accept God’s view of themselves ironically affirmed that God’s judgment was indeed correct.
A few years ago my wife and I visited Turkey and some of what are left of the 7 Churches of Revelation. Nothing remains of Laodicea today: neither the city nor the church. Its waters were neither cold not hot, but lukewarm. True to Christ’s Word, it has been spewed out, vomited, left desolate and in ruins. It is an amazing testimony to how we need to hear and receive God’s prophetic messages to us in our day or suffer the consequences.
In fact, the only church still functioning is in Smyrna (now called Izmir), the Suffering, Persecuted Church. Of the 7, Smyrna (along with Philadelphia) received no rebuke and it is the only one which still has a present congregation of worshipers today.
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev 2:10)
I believe one of the things Jesus would highlight in His letter to the church in our city is
‘keep the unity of the Spirit.” (Eph 4:3) He does not say 'strive to attain', but 'keep', which reveals we already possess this unity through Christ. We are one body. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, Baptist nor Charismatic in Christ's eyes. You cannot 'keep' what you don't already have. Moves of the Spirit have impacted the body of Christ throughout history, but their full effect, value and legacy are ultimately realized in how they relate to building the kingdom of God and not their own little kingdoms. The church is one and we need to acknowledge this, value our unity and act in who we are in Christ already.
Jesus prayed, “That they may be one just as We are one.” (John 17:22)
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was privileged to teach in the first Bible school opened in Ulyanovsk, birthplace of the father of Russian communism, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin. God has a sense of humour: our Bible school classes were held right in The Communist Hotel! Every morning I would pass one of Lenin’s few still-standing statues in Russia and sarcastically greet him,
“Good morning, Mr. Lenin. You don’t look very well today. You seem to be tilting a little more each day?!”
Towards the end of my two weeks there, I was invited to sit in on one of the first unity meetings of a group of pastors in Ulyanovsk. My interpreter kept me informed on what was happening, but the pastors’ body language and my limited Russian conveyed a clear enough message. They were enjoying their new freedoms, but old suspicions, rivalries and prejudices still surfaced as the different denominations struggled to find common ground together. They were trying to decide on holding their first public meeting together to celebrate Christmas, but….
they couldn’t even decide on a date…should it be on the Western December 25th or the Eastern Orthodox in January?
Who should speak? Some felt the Orthodox priest should, but the Lutheran pastor said that if the priest spoke, many of his parishioners would not attend and he wasn’t sure he even would.
The Pentecostal pastor objected; still another objected more because the Methodist pastor was a lady. It was starting to get uncomfortably hot in the room.
I watched and prayed and felt the Holy Spirit tug on my heart.
I asked my interpreter if I might share something with the group and they agreed.
I spoke: “I understand from the Bible that God views His church quite differently from how we see ourselves and one another. When He addresses His church, He writes to either His universal body, a specific ‘church in your house’ or the city church, that is, in Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, etc. As long as you continue to see yourselves divided into different denominations, you will remain fragmented and ineffective.
You need to see yourself the way God sees you, as His one church in the city of Ulyanovsk.
You will not be able to do what He has called you to do until you see yourselves as you truly are, the way God sees you….as one body and one church in this city.”
There was silence in the room and I nervously wondered if the message had been clear, had they even understood what I was trying to say, let alone accepted it.
However, the silence ended, the contention broke, and they began sharing along more positive lines. They even started serving tea and enjoying one another’s company!
I heard a few months later that they had indeed held their unity service and God had blessed their coming together.
I could not help but think of our own city.
Our City of ___________needs the Church of ____________ (fill in the blanks) to see itself the way Our God sees us and respond accordingly.
We need to be, stand and walk together in a kingdom mindset, in His unity, freedom, love and purpose.
We need to take to heart and demonstrate our oneness in prayer, faith and action.
We need to put away our petty, divisive distinctions and embrace the fullness of who we are in Christ…together, for Christ’s sake.
The alternative is clear: just try to find Laodicea today.
What if Jesus added an eighth letter to His 7 Letters to the Churches of Revelation and sent it to the Church of your city today?
What would He talk to us about? What would be its highlights? Affirmations? Corrections? Warnings?
To whom would it be addressed? Who would receive it? Would we receive it?
It’s recorded in history that the church of Laodicea did not receive its letter. They could not accept that its contents described their church’s actual situation. They instead insisted that things were just fine.
The letter was wrong; they weren’t. “It’s addressed to the wrong church. That’s not us!”
The letter asserted they were self-sufficient, in need of nothing, not even God. Their refusal to accept God’s view of themselves ironically affirmed that God’s judgment was indeed correct.
A few years ago my wife and I visited Turkey and some of what are left of the 7 Churches of Revelation. Nothing remains of Laodicea today: neither the city nor the church. Its waters were neither cold not hot, but lukewarm. True to Christ’s Word, it has been spewed out, vomited, left desolate and in ruins. It is an amazing testimony to how we need to hear and receive God’s prophetic messages to us in our day or suffer the consequences.
In fact, the only church still functioning is in Smyrna (now called Izmir), the Suffering, Persecuted Church. Of the 7, Smyrna (along with Philadelphia) received no rebuke and it is the only one which still has a present congregation of worshipers today.
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev 2:10)
I believe one of the things Jesus would highlight in His letter to the church in our city is
‘keep the unity of the Spirit.” (Eph 4:3) He does not say 'strive to attain', but 'keep', which reveals we already possess this unity through Christ. We are one body. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, Baptist nor Charismatic in Christ's eyes. You cannot 'keep' what you don't already have. Moves of the Spirit have impacted the body of Christ throughout history, but their full effect, value and legacy are ultimately realized in how they relate to building the kingdom of God and not their own little kingdoms. The church is one and we need to acknowledge this, value our unity and act in who we are in Christ already.
Jesus prayed, “That they may be one just as We are one.” (John 17:22)
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was privileged to teach in the first Bible school opened in Ulyanovsk, birthplace of the father of Russian communism, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin. God has a sense of humour: our Bible school classes were held right in The Communist Hotel! Every morning I would pass one of Lenin’s few still-standing statues in Russia and sarcastically greet him,
“Good morning, Mr. Lenin. You don’t look very well today. You seem to be tilting a little more each day?!”
Towards the end of my two weeks there, I was invited to sit in on one of the first unity meetings of a group of pastors in Ulyanovsk. My interpreter kept me informed on what was happening, but the pastors’ body language and my limited Russian conveyed a clear enough message. They were enjoying their new freedoms, but old suspicions, rivalries and prejudices still surfaced as the different denominations struggled to find common ground together. They were trying to decide on holding their first public meeting together to celebrate Christmas, but….
they couldn’t even decide on a date…should it be on the Western December 25th or the Eastern Orthodox in January?
Who should speak? Some felt the Orthodox priest should, but the Lutheran pastor said that if the priest spoke, many of his parishioners would not attend and he wasn’t sure he even would.
The Pentecostal pastor objected; still another objected more because the Methodist pastor was a lady. It was starting to get uncomfortably hot in the room.
I watched and prayed and felt the Holy Spirit tug on my heart.
I asked my interpreter if I might share something with the group and they agreed.
I spoke: “I understand from the Bible that God views His church quite differently from how we see ourselves and one another. When He addresses His church, He writes to either His universal body, a specific ‘church in your house’ or the city church, that is, in Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, etc. As long as you continue to see yourselves divided into different denominations, you will remain fragmented and ineffective.
You need to see yourself the way God sees you, as His one church in the city of Ulyanovsk.
You will not be able to do what He has called you to do until you see yourselves as you truly are, the way God sees you….as one body and one church in this city.”
There was silence in the room and I nervously wondered if the message had been clear, had they even understood what I was trying to say, let alone accepted it.
However, the silence ended, the contention broke, and they began sharing along more positive lines. They even started serving tea and enjoying one another’s company!
I heard a few months later that they had indeed held their unity service and God had blessed their coming together.
I could not help but think of our own city.
Our City of ___________needs the Church of ____________ (fill in the blanks) to see itself the way Our God sees us and respond accordingly.
We need to be, stand and walk together in a kingdom mindset, in His unity, freedom, love and purpose.
We need to take to heart and demonstrate our oneness in prayer, faith and action.
We need to put away our petty, divisive distinctions and embrace the fullness of who we are in Christ…together, for Christ’s sake.
The alternative is clear: just try to find Laodicea today.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
WANTED! STRONG CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES
God wants to take you through a process that will brand the image of Jesus Christ right in your innermost being (Rom 8:29). Through His fiery dealings, God wants to make you a strong Christian disciple because it’s His desire to forge His character in your very life, making you into a man/woman fully mature and equipped for His purposes.
God is completely committed to this end and He is looking for those who are just as committed—believers who are wholly devoted to Him. Essentially, if that level of dedication is beating in your heart, then you are marked as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
FIRST A DISCIPLE, THEN AN APOSTLE!
So what does ‘disciple’ really mean? To begin answering this question, let’s examine Matthew 10:1-2a:
“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these . . .” (emphasis mine)
First of all, we see that in verse 1, the twelve were called ‘disciples,’ but in verse 2, ‘apostles.’ Which is it? Are they disciples or apostles? There is a distinction here: it’s important to note that when Jesus called the twelve disciples to Himself, the Bible says, ‘He gave them power … and then they were called apostles.
This power was given over a period of time in testing and proven faithfulness, before they became apostles. But these days there appears to be a lot of confusion about this.
Look at Mathew 28:19:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis mine)
Jesus didn’t say to go and earn brownie points, or get people to say your version of the sinner’s prayer; definitely not to get another notch in your new converts’ belt! He didn’t call us to make converts with head-knowledge formulas—“Yeah, I said the sinner’s prayer once,” or “I spoke in tongues once.” He said, “Go and make disciples...”
The Greek word for ‘disciple’ is ‘matheetes’ which means ‘follower, student, learner.’
Jesus called us to be disciples who make disciples who will make disciples!
Sometimes Christians have a mentality expressed like this: “I got saved ten years ago and five years ago I made Him Lord.”
I’m amazed! ... You got saved 10 years ago, but you only made Him Lord 5 years ago?!
If I read my Bible correctly, He’s already Lord. It just took you 5 years to catch on and catch up! Disciples are called as whole-hearted followers of Christ from the start, from ‘the very get-go’!
DOUBLE STANDARDS
After Jesus gave the disciples power, He called them ‘apostles’, or in the Greek: ‘apostolos’ – ‘sent ones, someone who is sent.’ Now you cannot send yourself.
In other words, you can get in the envelope, but you can’t lick it!
You must be sent from somebody by somebody to somebody. Someone else has to send you! That’s where many miss the mark. They are trying to be an apostle in their own eyes, raising their own self-called ‘apostolic’ ministry. You do not tell others you are an apostle. If you are sent by God to them, He will let them know. Either they recognize you and receive you as an apostle, or you are not an apostle to them. People somehow think that if they just call themselves ‘apostle’ they actually are one. We really are too position-oriented sometimes! You cannot get your personal or ministerial value, worth and measure from whatever labels you try to wear. You cannot tack apples on an orange tree and call it an apple tree. Too many people confusingly chase positions to find their identity within the church and not in Christ.
There is one particular denomination in which my wife grew up that does not let women speak or do anything because they take ‘women keep silent in the churches’ (1Cor 14:34) literally. This is an amazing misinterpretation and twisting of Scripture!
Philip the evangelist had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9).
Where do you think they prophesied? Out in the field? In the outhouse?
They prophesied in church, in the assembly of the saints!
The Early Church had no problem like some denominations do today.
One day we went back to my wife’s former church and I just happened to pick up a brochure that listed all the missionaries sent out into the field from that denomination. They were out in the jungles of Ecuador, New Guinea, etc. and 75% of these ‘missionaries’ were…women!
I began to question: “I think I smell hypocrisy here. These women can’t speak in their churches here in Canada . . . but they send them out among the head-hunters, to the uncomfortable, uncivilized areas of the earth where no man would go. It is acceptable for them to speak, preach and establish churches there, but they can’t speak in church here?!”
Aha! here lies blatant hypocrisy! They were ‘sent out’ by churches here; that is, they fulfilled the ‘aspostolos’ calling, but their church called them ‘missionaries’, not‘apostles’.
‘Behold!’ (The Bible uses this attention-getter, in other words: “Look at this!.. closely!) ‘Missionary’ is simply the Latin form of the Greek ‘apostolos’: ‘one sent on a mission’. Both words have identical meanings, only in different languages. It’s like pro-abortionists arguing that a ‘fetus’ does not become a real person until it’s born and only then it’s a real baby. But they’re ignorant of this fact: ‘fetus’ is Latin for the English ‘baby’. Either in or out of the womb, a ‘fetus’ is a ‘baby’, with all the parts and rights of life. Legalistic semantics only confuse when proper distinctions are not made. Often they are no more than lies hiding behind obscure terms.
We also have hypocritical, double standards in church because we are often locked into forms.
In that particular denomination’s history, authorities at one time defined ‘leader’ in a certain way that excluded women. Isn’t it ironic that women can be called ‘missionaries’ (Latin), but not ‘apostles’ (Greek), when the terms essentially mean the same things?
Some think women can’t be sent, but God sends them anyways.
He sent Mary Magdalene to tell his ‘apostles' (?). The ones who should have been sent were hiding in fear and unbelief. The first one who was in all practical terms ‘sent’ (apostolos) by the risen Christ was a woman.
God has already broken down walls by the gospel, but many traditional mindsets and limiting perceptions need yet to fall! So here’s a word of encouragement to women. You’re not second class! We are all one in the body of Christ!
What’s more, this is not just about women; these roots touch all sorts of other issues too. We have wrong concepts because we often have a wrong view of the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the One who has broken down every wall! We are all His disciples, regardless of our background or natural position. We all share in the same call. In Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free. That equality was a revolutionary revelation in Early Church context (Gal. 3:28).
Actually, do you know which social group most readily received the gospel first preached by the apostles? Slaves! 75% of the population in Athens then were slaves. What a revolutionary message for them! Think about life back then and relationships between slaves and masters. If you were a Christian slave-owner, you might one day suddenly discover one of your slaves worshipping beside you in church! Put yourself in Philemon’s shoes! His slave, Onesimus, ran away from him, but Paul appealed to Philemon (on Onesimus’ behalf) to take him back —
“For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
no longer as a slave but more than a slave--a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” (Philemon 15-16)
Don’t you think we need some adjustments on how we look at ourselves and one another?
When Jesus calls ‘disciples’, there is no hierarchy based on rank or status.
BEING SENT MEANS GOING WITH A MESSAGE
Eventually, through this process of maturity, disciples of Jesus reach a point of release when you are actually sent. But you must be ready and not race off prematurely. You can probably think of examples of those who have run to do great exploits with great haste, but were not truly ready. Let’s learn how not to run by studying the lesson in 2 Samuel 18:19-32.
The context of this passage is: King David is fighting to save his kingdom in the face of his son Absalom’s rebellion. During the climactic battle, an accurate message about the battle’s outcome needs to be conveyed to the king. Ahimaaz, (the son of the high priest, Zadok) approaches Joab (David’s army commander) pleading,
“I am a runner, I want to run. (ie. I am an apostle. Can’t you recognize it?)
I need to be sent; send me! I just really want to go into my apostolic ministry right now.”
But Joab said, “No, not now. Step aside. You haven’t got any message.” (my paraphrase)
Next, Joab called a Cushite. He charged him to go tell David what he had seen on the battlefield. So that messenger started running; he had the message!
But Ahimaaz appealed to Joab again, even begging, “Let me run!”
Still, Joab did not permit him.
However, Ahimaaz didn’t know how to take ‘No!’ for an answer and he pressed Joab further: “But I’m a runner. Pleaasse! I want to run! I have to run! Let me run!” (again my paraphrase). So Joab finally relented and off he ran, running and running, even outrunning the Cushite, and reached the king first.
“Is Absalom safe?” David asked.
Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about.” What an empty answer! Unfortunately, that's the picture of a lot of so-called ministry today.
David could only say: “Turn aside and stand here.” He had no message! He was only sent by his own vanity and so he was ultimately turned aside and the one with the message was heard!
Disciples need to grow and mature into apostles. That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything till then, but you come to the place where you clearly hear the Father’s voice and obey. You hear the Master’s voice, but you don’t just run and chase after anything. It’s like a dog owner who throws a stick and calls out “Go, fetch!” to his dog. At his master’s voice, the dog runs and retrieves the stick. Likewise, we must know and hear our Master’s voice and at His call, go and do what He says. ‘The other guy’ is out there throwing sticks at random and we could well end up running after any old stick if we chase every stick that’s thrown.
Furthermore, an ability to run fast doesn’t mean you’re called and chosen. We need to be sure we are in God’s right timing and under His direction! Otherwise, all our super-gifted speed only serves to take us further away from our true destination all the more quickly. That’s a sobering thought. So we must get the message and timing so clear in our heart that we know the Father’s voice releasing us, “Go for it! Now! I send you! You’re on my mission! I’ve sent you with my message to these people. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Be strong and courageous!”
GOD WANTS TO MAKE YOU THE MESSAGE
Not only does God want to give you the message, He also wants to make you the message. For example, Old Testament prophets themselves and their children became the very signs of their ministries. They even named their children prophetically. The prophets became their message. Isaiah and Ezekiel not only spoke, but lived out their prophecies. Hosea not only reproved Israel for its idolatry, but married a faithless prostitute to show Israel’s unfaithfulness to her Lord. Francis of Assisi proclaimed, “By all means preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”
Do you want to become His message? I ask you this directly because God clearly wants to make you His message—the message becomes you. He’s seen the desire and the intent of your heart and He wants you to know your true identity in Christ. He is calling you and you are still wrestling with what this means and what it will look like. But when Christ calls, He also takes responsibility Himself to make this effective: “Okay, I am going to do something in and through you, that’s going to be revolutionary! I will make you fishers of men!”
Take John the Baptist for example. He was revolutionary! He was a prophet and an apostle, one of the first apostles, in the true sense of the word. But after he baptized Jesus, there came a testing time when his disciples reported more people going to Jesus than John to be baptized. “Aren’t you upset that the new kid on the block seems to be upstaging you?”
“Not at all,” John replied.
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, I have been sent before Him.” (John 3:26–28)
John knew he was God’s forerunner. He knew both his identity and destiny: who he was and what his mission was. He wasn’t jealous of Jesus; he knew his mission was complete when he pointed others to The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did not have to have his own following. His ministry had been fulfilled: it had all been to point others to Jesus and now He had come. This is the heart of a true disciple, a true messenger who becomes an apostle.
Then John goes on to say: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v 30). The order here is crucial: 1st, He (Jesus) must increase; 2nd, I (John) must decrease. Get filled with more of Jesus and your selfish ambitions will fade and fall away. John not only embodied his message, but faithfully ran and communicated it to its end fulfillment. As he stepped from the world stage, he added this testimony to their intimate relationship.
“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (vv. 35, 36)
He glorified the Lord. He gave the glory to his Master and did not keep it for himself. Isn’t that what being a disciple is all about? Knowing Christ intimately and glorifying Him. But it’s a process, a uniquely personal process for each one and God is completely committed to this process because He knows and loves us so deeply. Ponder this love and let His heavenly dew drench you today. Step in close to God and completely surrender yourself to Him.
I urge you: Today, hear and answer Jesus’ call, “Follow me!”
God wants to take you through a process that will brand the image of Jesus Christ right in your innermost being (Rom 8:29). Through His fiery dealings, God wants to make you a strong Christian disciple because it’s His desire to forge His character in your very life, making you into a man/woman fully mature and equipped for His purposes.
God is completely committed to this end and He is looking for those who are just as committed—believers who are wholly devoted to Him. Essentially, if that level of dedication is beating in your heart, then you are marked as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
FIRST A DISCIPLE, THEN AN APOSTLE!
So what does ‘disciple’ really mean? To begin answering this question, let’s examine Matthew 10:1-2a:
“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these . . .” (emphasis mine)
First of all, we see that in verse 1, the twelve were called ‘disciples,’ but in verse 2, ‘apostles.’ Which is it? Are they disciples or apostles? There is a distinction here: it’s important to note that when Jesus called the twelve disciples to Himself, the Bible says, ‘He gave them power … and then they were called apostles.
This power was given over a period of time in testing and proven faithfulness, before they became apostles. But these days there appears to be a lot of confusion about this.
Look at Mathew 28:19:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis mine)
Jesus didn’t say to go and earn brownie points, or get people to say your version of the sinner’s prayer; definitely not to get another notch in your new converts’ belt! He didn’t call us to make converts with head-knowledge formulas—“Yeah, I said the sinner’s prayer once,” or “I spoke in tongues once.” He said, “Go and make disciples...”
The Greek word for ‘disciple’ is ‘matheetes’ which means ‘follower, student, learner.’
Jesus called us to be disciples who make disciples who will make disciples!
Sometimes Christians have a mentality expressed like this: “I got saved ten years ago and five years ago I made Him Lord.”
I’m amazed! ... You got saved 10 years ago, but you only made Him Lord 5 years ago?!
If I read my Bible correctly, He’s already Lord. It just took you 5 years to catch on and catch up! Disciples are called as whole-hearted followers of Christ from the start, from ‘the very get-go’!
DOUBLE STANDARDS
After Jesus gave the disciples power, He called them ‘apostles’, or in the Greek: ‘apostolos’ – ‘sent ones, someone who is sent.’ Now you cannot send yourself.
In other words, you can get in the envelope, but you can’t lick it!
You must be sent from somebody by somebody to somebody. Someone else has to send you! That’s where many miss the mark. They are trying to be an apostle in their own eyes, raising their own self-called ‘apostolic’ ministry. You do not tell others you are an apostle. If you are sent by God to them, He will let them know. Either they recognize you and receive you as an apostle, or you are not an apostle to them. People somehow think that if they just call themselves ‘apostle’ they actually are one. We really are too position-oriented sometimes! You cannot get your personal or ministerial value, worth and measure from whatever labels you try to wear. You cannot tack apples on an orange tree and call it an apple tree. Too many people confusingly chase positions to find their identity within the church and not in Christ.
There is one particular denomination in which my wife grew up that does not let women speak or do anything because they take ‘women keep silent in the churches’ (1Cor 14:34) literally. This is an amazing misinterpretation and twisting of Scripture!
Philip the evangelist had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9).
Where do you think they prophesied? Out in the field? In the outhouse?
They prophesied in church, in the assembly of the saints!
The Early Church had no problem like some denominations do today.
One day we went back to my wife’s former church and I just happened to pick up a brochure that listed all the missionaries sent out into the field from that denomination. They were out in the jungles of Ecuador, New Guinea, etc. and 75% of these ‘missionaries’ were…women!
I began to question: “I think I smell hypocrisy here. These women can’t speak in their churches here in Canada . . . but they send them out among the head-hunters, to the uncomfortable, uncivilized areas of the earth where no man would go. It is acceptable for them to speak, preach and establish churches there, but they can’t speak in church here?!”
Aha! here lies blatant hypocrisy! They were ‘sent out’ by churches here; that is, they fulfilled the ‘aspostolos’ calling, but their church called them ‘missionaries’, not‘apostles’.
‘Behold!’ (The Bible uses this attention-getter, in other words: “Look at this!.. closely!) ‘Missionary’ is simply the Latin form of the Greek ‘apostolos’: ‘one sent on a mission’. Both words have identical meanings, only in different languages. It’s like pro-abortionists arguing that a ‘fetus’ does not become a real person until it’s born and only then it’s a real baby. But they’re ignorant of this fact: ‘fetus’ is Latin for the English ‘baby’. Either in or out of the womb, a ‘fetus’ is a ‘baby’, with all the parts and rights of life. Legalistic semantics only confuse when proper distinctions are not made. Often they are no more than lies hiding behind obscure terms.
We also have hypocritical, double standards in church because we are often locked into forms.
In that particular denomination’s history, authorities at one time defined ‘leader’ in a certain way that excluded women. Isn’t it ironic that women can be called ‘missionaries’ (Latin), but not ‘apostles’ (Greek), when the terms essentially mean the same things?
Some think women can’t be sent, but God sends them anyways.
He sent Mary Magdalene to tell his ‘apostles' (?). The ones who should have been sent were hiding in fear and unbelief. The first one who was in all practical terms ‘sent’ (apostolos) by the risen Christ was a woman.
God has already broken down walls by the gospel, but many traditional mindsets and limiting perceptions need yet to fall! So here’s a word of encouragement to women. You’re not second class! We are all one in the body of Christ!
What’s more, this is not just about women; these roots touch all sorts of other issues too. We have wrong concepts because we often have a wrong view of the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the One who has broken down every wall! We are all His disciples, regardless of our background or natural position. We all share in the same call. In Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free. That equality was a revolutionary revelation in Early Church context (Gal. 3:28).
Actually, do you know which social group most readily received the gospel first preached by the apostles? Slaves! 75% of the population in Athens then were slaves. What a revolutionary message for them! Think about life back then and relationships between slaves and masters. If you were a Christian slave-owner, you might one day suddenly discover one of your slaves worshipping beside you in church! Put yourself in Philemon’s shoes! His slave, Onesimus, ran away from him, but Paul appealed to Philemon (on Onesimus’ behalf) to take him back —
“For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
no longer as a slave but more than a slave--a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” (Philemon 15-16)
Don’t you think we need some adjustments on how we look at ourselves and one another?
When Jesus calls ‘disciples’, there is no hierarchy based on rank or status.
BEING SENT MEANS GOING WITH A MESSAGE
Eventually, through this process of maturity, disciples of Jesus reach a point of release when you are actually sent. But you must be ready and not race off prematurely. You can probably think of examples of those who have run to do great exploits with great haste, but were not truly ready. Let’s learn how not to run by studying the lesson in 2 Samuel 18:19-32.
The context of this passage is: King David is fighting to save his kingdom in the face of his son Absalom’s rebellion. During the climactic battle, an accurate message about the battle’s outcome needs to be conveyed to the king. Ahimaaz, (the son of the high priest, Zadok) approaches Joab (David’s army commander) pleading,
“I am a runner, I want to run. (ie. I am an apostle. Can’t you recognize it?)
I need to be sent; send me! I just really want to go into my apostolic ministry right now.”
But Joab said, “No, not now. Step aside. You haven’t got any message.” (my paraphrase)
Next, Joab called a Cushite. He charged him to go tell David what he had seen on the battlefield. So that messenger started running; he had the message!
But Ahimaaz appealed to Joab again, even begging, “Let me run!”
Still, Joab did not permit him.
However, Ahimaaz didn’t know how to take ‘No!’ for an answer and he pressed Joab further: “But I’m a runner. Pleaasse! I want to run! I have to run! Let me run!” (again my paraphrase). So Joab finally relented and off he ran, running and running, even outrunning the Cushite, and reached the king first.
“Is Absalom safe?” David asked.
Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about.” What an empty answer! Unfortunately, that's the picture of a lot of so-called ministry today.
David could only say: “Turn aside and stand here.” He had no message! He was only sent by his own vanity and so he was ultimately turned aside and the one with the message was heard!
Disciples need to grow and mature into apostles. That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything till then, but you come to the place where you clearly hear the Father’s voice and obey. You hear the Master’s voice, but you don’t just run and chase after anything. It’s like a dog owner who throws a stick and calls out “Go, fetch!” to his dog. At his master’s voice, the dog runs and retrieves the stick. Likewise, we must know and hear our Master’s voice and at His call, go and do what He says. ‘The other guy’ is out there throwing sticks at random and we could well end up running after any old stick if we chase every stick that’s thrown.
Furthermore, an ability to run fast doesn’t mean you’re called and chosen. We need to be sure we are in God’s right timing and under His direction! Otherwise, all our super-gifted speed only serves to take us further away from our true destination all the more quickly. That’s a sobering thought. So we must get the message and timing so clear in our heart that we know the Father’s voice releasing us, “Go for it! Now! I send you! You’re on my mission! I’ve sent you with my message to these people. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Be strong and courageous!”
GOD WANTS TO MAKE YOU THE MESSAGE
Not only does God want to give you the message, He also wants to make you the message. For example, Old Testament prophets themselves and their children became the very signs of their ministries. They even named their children prophetically. The prophets became their message. Isaiah and Ezekiel not only spoke, but lived out their prophecies. Hosea not only reproved Israel for its idolatry, but married a faithless prostitute to show Israel’s unfaithfulness to her Lord. Francis of Assisi proclaimed, “By all means preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”
Do you want to become His message? I ask you this directly because God clearly wants to make you His message—the message becomes you. He’s seen the desire and the intent of your heart and He wants you to know your true identity in Christ. He is calling you and you are still wrestling with what this means and what it will look like. But when Christ calls, He also takes responsibility Himself to make this effective: “Okay, I am going to do something in and through you, that’s going to be revolutionary! I will make you fishers of men!”
Take John the Baptist for example. He was revolutionary! He was a prophet and an apostle, one of the first apostles, in the true sense of the word. But after he baptized Jesus, there came a testing time when his disciples reported more people going to Jesus than John to be baptized. “Aren’t you upset that the new kid on the block seems to be upstaging you?”
“Not at all,” John replied.
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, I have been sent before Him.” (John 3:26–28)
John knew he was God’s forerunner. He knew both his identity and destiny: who he was and what his mission was. He wasn’t jealous of Jesus; he knew his mission was complete when he pointed others to The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did not have to have his own following. His ministry had been fulfilled: it had all been to point others to Jesus and now He had come. This is the heart of a true disciple, a true messenger who becomes an apostle.
Then John goes on to say: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v 30). The order here is crucial: 1st, He (Jesus) must increase; 2nd, I (John) must decrease. Get filled with more of Jesus and your selfish ambitions will fade and fall away. John not only embodied his message, but faithfully ran and communicated it to its end fulfillment. As he stepped from the world stage, he added this testimony to their intimate relationship.
“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (vv. 35, 36)
He glorified the Lord. He gave the glory to his Master and did not keep it for himself. Isn’t that what being a disciple is all about? Knowing Christ intimately and glorifying Him. But it’s a process, a uniquely personal process for each one and God is completely committed to this process because He knows and loves us so deeply. Ponder this love and let His heavenly dew drench you today. Step in close to God and completely surrender yourself to Him.
I urge you: Today, hear and answer Jesus’ call, “Follow me!”
Monday, June 22, 2009
WANTED! STRONG CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES! PT II
REAL PROGRESSION IS FROM GLORY TO GLORY
So what happens when someone turns from his own ways to follow Christ, the real Way?
Christ called, “Follow me!” and then invited disciples to “Come and see!” (Jn 1:39)
Step out, see where and how Jesus really lives! Beckoning, exciting, adventurous…
dangerous words! When we give ourselves wholly to Him, the resulting transformation will be beyond comprehension, exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think! Take a look!
How many times is ‘disciple’ used in the Gospels?…230.
How many times ‘apostle’? …8.
Jesus calls and relates with followers today the same way He did then: as His disciples.
Then in Acts, changes happen when the gospel is put into action in and through us.
Jesus’ followers gathered to Him and were ‘sent out’ into the world.
Here they are called ‘disciples’ 30 times and ‘apostles’ 30 times -- equally balanced!
However, in the Epistles, the emphasis changes again: they are ‘apostles’ 40 times,
but never ‘disciples’! Not one time, no, not at all, nada - 0!
What happened! Their identity in Christ had been transformed! They had moved into a further glory from the stage of student disciples to released apostles! They were first called ‘disciples’, but once Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits to heal the sick, they were sent ‘apostles.’ There is progression here and it’s from glory to glory!
Furthermore, when Jesus sent His disciples in His power, they were commissioned to make more disciples. (Matt 28:19) In other words, His ‘seed’ produced like kind. Think about this: believers are to be prime examples of godly character, reproducing in those to whom we minister. As we pour out our lives, we’ll be like ‘gifts that keep on giving’.
FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY IS TEAM GOVERNMENT
One of Christ’s major emphases in this discipleship process is transforming us from egocentric, self-absorbed individuals to selfless team players.
Unfortunately, self subtly motivates and marks much ministry today.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit can effectively expose, unmask and deny self an opportunity to lie hidden among ministry’s baggage. He wants to freely minister to and through us; He wants us to be free so He can do this! Ministry is not something we do ourselves; it’s what He does through us. Ministry is the overflow of Jesus’ Presence in and through us; so let’s get full of Him and let Him overflow!
There are a few pitfalls that exist in church structure today; however, when unearthed can reveal further foundational truth about apostolic government. In most denominational churches, government order and structure is very pastoral, centered on the leader, most often called ‘pastor.’ Pastors today have so many responsibilities and things to do that many of them ‘burn out’. Why? It seems strange to me that ‘burn-out’ is so rampant among ministers today when it’s not even mentioned in Scripture! Perhaps much of our present-day ministry focus is so out-of-focus that Scripture doesn’t even recognize its legitimacy? Perhaps so much so-called ‘pastoral’ ministry is not really pastoral at all, but administrative book-keeping and bureaucratic paper-pushing that ultimately consumes pastors who are not really administrators, but only gifted people trying to do something they’re not called to.
God does not equip you for what He has not called you to.
I believe that’s one of the main reasons why so many ‘pastors’ burn out. They are stuck in offices day after day, not relating with people (where their true gifting lies), preoccupied with maintenance, not able to give themselves to “prayer and ministry of the Word.” Yet they are also expected to come up with weekly messages that please the people, nourish the flock and maintain the church. It’s this maintenance-mentality that kills church life and burns out ministers. The goal of Christian church life and ministry is not keeping the flock comfortable, trying to keep as few as possible from leaving church.
When this becomes a ministry’s focus, it drains and depresses.
It’s not easy being in a rat race! But, I ask you, what are sheep doing in a rat race? If the rigors of pastoring burn pastors out, perhaps we need some ‘foundational forms’ of pastoring challenged and changed! Actually, I would think the leaders caught in this kind of abusive system would be the first ones to call for and embrace reforms to the ‘form’.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
(Eph 4:11, 12)
God’s answer to 1-man burn-out is team ministry!
The work of the ministry is based on the call of God. If you don’t have the call, you aren’t cut out for the work. Relationship also is essential to fulfill the call —intimate relationship with both God and other leadership giftings in order to flow in your call together. Learning to work together as a team to equip others to do the work is God’s way, or we ourselves will be wasted.
It’s 5-fold ministry with this purpose: ‘edify’ means ‘build up’ and ‘edifice’ = ‘high structure’;
together: ‘build up the church’, a body bigger than your own self or ministry. In one little word like this, we can see that God is not just building a bunch of individual bungalows or personalized mansions for us to glory in. His church is to be an ‘edifice that edifies others and glorifies Christ.’ We are to build one another up in faith and the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we need to ask God to breathe His life in and through us. His breath brings life to the work of the ministry ‘for the edifying of the body of Christ’. His ministry may burn us up, but not out.
Now who is supposed to lead this? The pastor? No! ‘Pastor’ is only one of 5 offices.
God gave 5-fold ministry and by its very nature, this is an apostolic team: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. The 5-fold ministry is not just one person. It functions out of relationship to take the pressure off just one person. We are not supposed to do the work individually; we are supposed to be built and build together: working as a team, training up members of the body, releasing and sending them to do the work.
The true proof of a pastor is not that he pastors a large, ‘successful’ church himself, but he so cares for his flock that he raises up more pastors who in turn care for this ever-growing church. An evangelist is not just one who preaches the gospel, but one who raises up other evangelists.
A prophet is one who inspires other prophets in truth to answer and proclaim the call of God.
A teacher stirs students’ hearts to seek and teach others also.
Apostles are fathers who raise up next generations of mature sons and daughters.
PARADIGM SHIFT BRINGS A KINGDOM VISION
Sometimes, however, church is anything but relational, and we foolishly compare ourselves and our ministries on performance-based competition. 2Cor 10:12 clearly states this is not wise, so why do we do this? I’ve been to pastors’ conferences and the first question after basic introductions is invariably: “How many people are in your church?” Sometimes it varies: “How big is your church?” or “How many does your church hold? The latter is so evidently ridiculous: churches should raise up and release people to the call of God, not hold them!
I remember when our church got hit by Renewal and grew from 100 to 35 in about 3 weeks. Not exactly the successful model which church growth seminars extol! Nor what many ministers accept as a legitimate growing experience. Here is what happened: I was seated for lunch at one of these pastors’ gatherings. The pastor on my right asked the inevitable first question and when I told him ‘35’ (the truth at that time), he abruptly (and, I would add, quite rudely) turned away from me and started talking with the pastor on his opposite side! I thought news was out that I had the plague and perhaps some similar leprous ‘growth’ would hit his church if he talked with me any longer. Shaken by what had just happened, it took me a while to recover. But recover I did and I resolved to be ready for the next ‘fellowship luncheon’. Sure enough, at a similar scenario a few months later, my opportunity came.
The inevitable first question…but this time I was ready.
“Oh, anywhere from 6 to 8 thousand!” I answered.
My surprised colleague gasped noticeably.
With great difficulty, I sought to maintain a serious composure.
“Really?” he replied, choking on his salad.
“Oh yes!” I continued to feed him, "6 to 8000!" enjoying the unfolding irony immensely .
In good conscience, I was not lying. I had clearly enunciated 6 to 8,000 (and if all who had ever been at our church during the previous years had decided to show up on one particular Sunday, I’m sure we would have exceeded even that size of crowd). But depending on what the questioner wanted to hear (fuelled and conditioned by his greed, gullibility and pride), he heard 6,000 to 8,000 rather than the more humble, singular ‘6’ I had clearly spoken.
After playing with him a while longer, I mercifully clarified my response and the pastor embarrassingly turned a beet red. He apologized, saying he felt sorry for me.
I smiled and said I was sorry too …but for him and that totally un-Christian attitude, sadly all too prevalent among ‘Christian leaders’.
False images will always be exposed and deposed by the Holy Spirit. These not-so-subtle idols in our hearts must fall. I used to teach a class entitled ‘Church Leadership’, but I refuse to call it that anymore. It seems many Christians can’t handle the ‘leader’thing; something weird goes off in their brains and they immediately begin competing for control, arguing over who is greatest in the kingdom of God, vying for authority to lead.
Really they just want to tell everyone else what to do.
I changed the name of the course to ‘Christian Stewardship & Serving.’
Amazingly, that changed the spirit of the entire class!
We judge others externally by what we think we see. In response, God rightly challenges these pet concepts and prejudiced perspectives. We need a paradigm shift in our hearts and minds in order to have real kingdom vision, kingdom mentality, kingdom concepts, and kingdom world view! That was the first message Jesus delivered — “the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mk 1:15) He continued with: “Repent and believe in the gospel,” and when He saw Simon and Andrew He called out, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (v17)
When Jesus gathered His disciples, their view of God’s kingdom was a whole lot different than His! Their preconceived ideas needed to be sifted, separated and discarded if they were going to truly become Jesus’ disciples. And those ideas were challenged and dropped! Likewise, our pet idols need to fall so we can be true disciples and future apostles of Christ. Really, that’s the heart of a disciple—a student and learner, someone teachable, willing to be molded and changed into His image. Not someone who takes Christ’s name, but continues in his own agenda.
Furthermore, many of our concepts are really centered in self rather than God and His kingdom. We often read the Word of God to suit ourselves; we have our own favorite passages. We take our spiritual scissors and cut out what is not comfortable to us. That’s what Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, did. He actually cut out passages in his Bible that revealed Jesus as God or any miraculous, supernatural signs and wonders beyond what he could accept as reasonable. His Bible is in the Smithsonian Institute today. It’s not your regular Holy Bible; it’s just a Bible with holes in it!
Yet, we mentally clip the Word of God too. That’s NOT what it means to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)! God’s Word is the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) and a sword is meant to penetrate. Let it penetrate your heart first!
Only if you lose your life (and the limitations of what you think are reasonable) will you find it.
Learn to be a disciple in the kingdom of God. Learn purity, integrity and humility from the One who is all of these.
If you want to be a leader, then learn to be a follower.
If you want to be a boss, learn to be the best employee.
Want to be a teacher? learn to be a student.
How about a father? learn to be a son or daughter.
Do you want to be great in the kingdom of God? then learn to be like a little child. (Matt 18:3)
That’s the journey God calls us on so our natural bent will be truly transformed; we will be His strong disciples sent out as true apostles.
Advancing daily, you will progress much further than the narrow, performance-oriented limitations of your own ministry. Instead, God will give you supernatural grace to first realize your identity in Him and His destiny in you. After all, He made us to be human beings, not human doings.
Jesus the Good Shepherd leads us. He sees us as God created us to be. He didn’t call His disciples “dirty old fishermen;” He called them ‘fishers of men,’ and they became great apostles, winning thousands to Christ.
Your destiny is released when you actually realize who you are.
And your identity releases your destiny.
Discovering who you are is not complicated when you learn to just trust, walk hand in hand with Jesus and enjoy His simplicity. Abide in Christ, He abides in you.
Don’t focus on your presumed destination.
God alone is your destination... to be like Him from glory to glory.
Jesus calls you to an intimate personal walk of friendship and wants you to enjoy the adventure!
‘Follow Me’ leads to ‘Come and See!’ It’s His call and He will make the necessary changes —
“Be confident of this very thing, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.”
(Phil 1:6)
REAL PROGRESSION IS FROM GLORY TO GLORY
So what happens when someone turns from his own ways to follow Christ, the real Way?
Christ called, “Follow me!” and then invited disciples to “Come and see!” (Jn 1:39)
Step out, see where and how Jesus really lives! Beckoning, exciting, adventurous…
dangerous words! When we give ourselves wholly to Him, the resulting transformation will be beyond comprehension, exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think! Take a look!
How many times is ‘disciple’ used in the Gospels?…230.
How many times ‘apostle’? …8.
Jesus calls and relates with followers today the same way He did then: as His disciples.
Then in Acts, changes happen when the gospel is put into action in and through us.
Jesus’ followers gathered to Him and were ‘sent out’ into the world.
Here they are called ‘disciples’ 30 times and ‘apostles’ 30 times -- equally balanced!
However, in the Epistles, the emphasis changes again: they are ‘apostles’ 40 times,
but never ‘disciples’! Not one time, no, not at all, nada - 0!
What happened! Their identity in Christ had been transformed! They had moved into a further glory from the stage of student disciples to released apostles! They were first called ‘disciples’, but once Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits to heal the sick, they were sent ‘apostles.’ There is progression here and it’s from glory to glory!
Furthermore, when Jesus sent His disciples in His power, they were commissioned to make more disciples. (Matt 28:19) In other words, His ‘seed’ produced like kind. Think about this: believers are to be prime examples of godly character, reproducing in those to whom we minister. As we pour out our lives, we’ll be like ‘gifts that keep on giving’.
FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY IS TEAM GOVERNMENT
One of Christ’s major emphases in this discipleship process is transforming us from egocentric, self-absorbed individuals to selfless team players.
Unfortunately, self subtly motivates and marks much ministry today.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit can effectively expose, unmask and deny self an opportunity to lie hidden among ministry’s baggage. He wants to freely minister to and through us; He wants us to be free so He can do this! Ministry is not something we do ourselves; it’s what He does through us. Ministry is the overflow of Jesus’ Presence in and through us; so let’s get full of Him and let Him overflow!
There are a few pitfalls that exist in church structure today; however, when unearthed can reveal further foundational truth about apostolic government. In most denominational churches, government order and structure is very pastoral, centered on the leader, most often called ‘pastor.’ Pastors today have so many responsibilities and things to do that many of them ‘burn out’. Why? It seems strange to me that ‘burn-out’ is so rampant among ministers today when it’s not even mentioned in Scripture! Perhaps much of our present-day ministry focus is so out-of-focus that Scripture doesn’t even recognize its legitimacy? Perhaps so much so-called ‘pastoral’ ministry is not really pastoral at all, but administrative book-keeping and bureaucratic paper-pushing that ultimately consumes pastors who are not really administrators, but only gifted people trying to do something they’re not called to.
God does not equip you for what He has not called you to.
I believe that’s one of the main reasons why so many ‘pastors’ burn out. They are stuck in offices day after day, not relating with people (where their true gifting lies), preoccupied with maintenance, not able to give themselves to “prayer and ministry of the Word.” Yet they are also expected to come up with weekly messages that please the people, nourish the flock and maintain the church. It’s this maintenance-mentality that kills church life and burns out ministers. The goal of Christian church life and ministry is not keeping the flock comfortable, trying to keep as few as possible from leaving church.
When this becomes a ministry’s focus, it drains and depresses.
It’s not easy being in a rat race! But, I ask you, what are sheep doing in a rat race? If the rigors of pastoring burn pastors out, perhaps we need some ‘foundational forms’ of pastoring challenged and changed! Actually, I would think the leaders caught in this kind of abusive system would be the first ones to call for and embrace reforms to the ‘form’.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
(Eph 4:11, 12)
God’s answer to 1-man burn-out is team ministry!
The work of the ministry is based on the call of God. If you don’t have the call, you aren’t cut out for the work. Relationship also is essential to fulfill the call —intimate relationship with both God and other leadership giftings in order to flow in your call together. Learning to work together as a team to equip others to do the work is God’s way, or we ourselves will be wasted.
It’s 5-fold ministry with this purpose: ‘edify’ means ‘build up’ and ‘edifice’ = ‘high structure’;
together: ‘build up the church’, a body bigger than your own self or ministry. In one little word like this, we can see that God is not just building a bunch of individual bungalows or personalized mansions for us to glory in. His church is to be an ‘edifice that edifies others and glorifies Christ.’ We are to build one another up in faith and the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we need to ask God to breathe His life in and through us. His breath brings life to the work of the ministry ‘for the edifying of the body of Christ’. His ministry may burn us up, but not out.
Now who is supposed to lead this? The pastor? No! ‘Pastor’ is only one of 5 offices.
God gave 5-fold ministry and by its very nature, this is an apostolic team: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. The 5-fold ministry is not just one person. It functions out of relationship to take the pressure off just one person. We are not supposed to do the work individually; we are supposed to be built and build together: working as a team, training up members of the body, releasing and sending them to do the work.
The true proof of a pastor is not that he pastors a large, ‘successful’ church himself, but he so cares for his flock that he raises up more pastors who in turn care for this ever-growing church. An evangelist is not just one who preaches the gospel, but one who raises up other evangelists.
A prophet is one who inspires other prophets in truth to answer and proclaim the call of God.
A teacher stirs students’ hearts to seek and teach others also.
Apostles are fathers who raise up next generations of mature sons and daughters.
PARADIGM SHIFT BRINGS A KINGDOM VISION
Sometimes, however, church is anything but relational, and we foolishly compare ourselves and our ministries on performance-based competition. 2Cor 10:12 clearly states this is not wise, so why do we do this? I’ve been to pastors’ conferences and the first question after basic introductions is invariably: “How many people are in your church?” Sometimes it varies: “How big is your church?” or “How many does your church hold? The latter is so evidently ridiculous: churches should raise up and release people to the call of God, not hold them!
I remember when our church got hit by Renewal and grew from 100 to 35 in about 3 weeks. Not exactly the successful model which church growth seminars extol! Nor what many ministers accept as a legitimate growing experience. Here is what happened: I was seated for lunch at one of these pastors’ gatherings. The pastor on my right asked the inevitable first question and when I told him ‘35’ (the truth at that time), he abruptly (and, I would add, quite rudely) turned away from me and started talking with the pastor on his opposite side! I thought news was out that I had the plague and perhaps some similar leprous ‘growth’ would hit his church if he talked with me any longer. Shaken by what had just happened, it took me a while to recover. But recover I did and I resolved to be ready for the next ‘fellowship luncheon’. Sure enough, at a similar scenario a few months later, my opportunity came.
The inevitable first question…but this time I was ready.
“Oh, anywhere from 6 to 8 thousand!” I answered.
My surprised colleague gasped noticeably.
With great difficulty, I sought to maintain a serious composure.
“Really?” he replied, choking on his salad.
“Oh yes!” I continued to feed him, "6 to 8000!" enjoying the unfolding irony immensely .
In good conscience, I was not lying. I had clearly enunciated 6 to 8,000 (and if all who had ever been at our church during the previous years had decided to show up on one particular Sunday, I’m sure we would have exceeded even that size of crowd). But depending on what the questioner wanted to hear (fuelled and conditioned by his greed, gullibility and pride), he heard 6,000 to 8,000 rather than the more humble, singular ‘6’ I had clearly spoken.
After playing with him a while longer, I mercifully clarified my response and the pastor embarrassingly turned a beet red. He apologized, saying he felt sorry for me.
I smiled and said I was sorry too …but for him and that totally un-Christian attitude, sadly all too prevalent among ‘Christian leaders’.
False images will always be exposed and deposed by the Holy Spirit. These not-so-subtle idols in our hearts must fall. I used to teach a class entitled ‘Church Leadership’, but I refuse to call it that anymore. It seems many Christians can’t handle the ‘leader’thing; something weird goes off in their brains and they immediately begin competing for control, arguing over who is greatest in the kingdom of God, vying for authority to lead.
Really they just want to tell everyone else what to do.
I changed the name of the course to ‘Christian Stewardship & Serving.’
Amazingly, that changed the spirit of the entire class!
We judge others externally by what we think we see. In response, God rightly challenges these pet concepts and prejudiced perspectives. We need a paradigm shift in our hearts and minds in order to have real kingdom vision, kingdom mentality, kingdom concepts, and kingdom world view! That was the first message Jesus delivered — “the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mk 1:15) He continued with: “Repent and believe in the gospel,” and when He saw Simon and Andrew He called out, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (v17)
When Jesus gathered His disciples, their view of God’s kingdom was a whole lot different than His! Their preconceived ideas needed to be sifted, separated and discarded if they were going to truly become Jesus’ disciples. And those ideas were challenged and dropped! Likewise, our pet idols need to fall so we can be true disciples and future apostles of Christ. Really, that’s the heart of a disciple—a student and learner, someone teachable, willing to be molded and changed into His image. Not someone who takes Christ’s name, but continues in his own agenda.
Furthermore, many of our concepts are really centered in self rather than God and His kingdom. We often read the Word of God to suit ourselves; we have our own favorite passages. We take our spiritual scissors and cut out what is not comfortable to us. That’s what Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, did. He actually cut out passages in his Bible that revealed Jesus as God or any miraculous, supernatural signs and wonders beyond what he could accept as reasonable. His Bible is in the Smithsonian Institute today. It’s not your regular Holy Bible; it’s just a Bible with holes in it!
Yet, we mentally clip the Word of God too. That’s NOT what it means to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)! God’s Word is the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) and a sword is meant to penetrate. Let it penetrate your heart first!
Only if you lose your life (and the limitations of what you think are reasonable) will you find it.
Learn to be a disciple in the kingdom of God. Learn purity, integrity and humility from the One who is all of these.
If you want to be a leader, then learn to be a follower.
If you want to be a boss, learn to be the best employee.
Want to be a teacher? learn to be a student.
How about a father? learn to be a son or daughter.
Do you want to be great in the kingdom of God? then learn to be like a little child. (Matt 18:3)
That’s the journey God calls us on so our natural bent will be truly transformed; we will be His strong disciples sent out as true apostles.
Advancing daily, you will progress much further than the narrow, performance-oriented limitations of your own ministry. Instead, God will give you supernatural grace to first realize your identity in Him and His destiny in you. After all, He made us to be human beings, not human doings.
Jesus the Good Shepherd leads us. He sees us as God created us to be. He didn’t call His disciples “dirty old fishermen;” He called them ‘fishers of men,’ and they became great apostles, winning thousands to Christ.
Your destiny is released when you actually realize who you are.
And your identity releases your destiny.
Discovering who you are is not complicated when you learn to just trust, walk hand in hand with Jesus and enjoy His simplicity. Abide in Christ, He abides in you.
Don’t focus on your presumed destination.
God alone is your destination... to be like Him from glory to glory.
Jesus calls you to an intimate personal walk of friendship and wants you to enjoy the adventure!
‘Follow Me’ leads to ‘Come and See!’ It’s His call and He will make the necessary changes —
“Be confident of this very thing, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.”
(Phil 1:6)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wanted! Strong Christian Disciples Pt III – Come and See!
When Jesus called His disciples, He made a first impression like none other. Whether or not they had previously met, when He said, “Follow me!” they immediately obeyed and left everything else behind: their nets, boats, fathers, and even more than they realized: their old self-identity.
I don’t think they fully understood what they were doing right away, but something intrigued them about this Rabbi. He definitely was not like the others.
Was it His compassion that drew them, the authority in His voice, His gracious manner? Whatever it was, the fishermen became the fish and Jesus dangled this curious bait before them and then added: “I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 4:19)
He didn’t give them all the details and that was part of His fascination.
He didn’t fill in all the data info blanks.
He didn’t appeal to their reasoning.
At heart, the call of God is very unreasonable.
When John the Baptist directed two of his disciples to now follow Jesus instead, they approached the Lord and asked, “Where are you staying?” A very dangerous question. Sometimes like them, I think we don’t understand what we fully ask God. If we did, we’d probably never ask.
Jesus understood their quest. They were looking for answers:
Who is this ‘Lamb of God’? How does life go with You? What do Your words mean?
What’s so different about You? Why did John send us to You?
Jesus’ response was simple and disarming: “Come and see!” (John 1:38-39)
What an invitation!
He didn’t try to draw them with promises or convince them with arguments. He stirred their curiosity, stimulated a hunger and desire within their hearts for more. That’s what the truth will do: it’ll stir you to want more! Not make you satisfied with just a two- dimensional answer, but cause you to seek the ‘exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think’ heights… and depths!
In the natural, the more you eat and drink, the fuller you get and the less you want. However, in the spiritual realm, the opposite is true. The more you eat, the hungrier you get. Healthy babies are always hungry and thirsty; new life desires to eat, drink and take it all in! Jesus stirred that same inherent desire. In fact, those are the basic requirements of any discipleship training centre: Are you hungry and thirsty?
Proverbs 22:6 counsels parents to,
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Religion interprets this in a couple of ways.
The Jesuits paraphrased it: “Give us a child till he’s 7, and we’ll make him a Catholic for life.” Discipline by this order then becomes the means of conforming young people to their mold and image through obedience to legalistic, military-style rules and regulations. Some Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, take a rather pessimistic slant and this verse becomes more like: “Do your best as parents to instill Christian values in your children when they’re young, because in their teens they will rebel and turn from you and God; but sometime later on, if you pray hard enough, they’ll come back to their faith.”
Both of the above explanations fall far short of what I believe the Word of God here promises. First of all, ‘train up’ does not mean parents have a responsibility to raise their children under harsh discipline, breaking undesirable behaviour patterns and employing hard restrictions to conform them to their faith.
The Hebrew here means ‘to narrow, initiate, touch the palate’ and paints a very different picture: one of a mother weaning her child from breast-feeding, coaxing it to take solid food. Her toothless infant cannot yet chew its own food; commercial baby food or processing blenders were not yet available, so the mother bites off a piece of food, chews it in her own mouth first, then pushes it into and up against the roof of the baby’s mouth to ‘touch its palate’. This action stimulates the baby’s digestive juices; it hungers, swallows, feels good in its tummy and…
soon wants some more! The experience so satisfies the baby that he/she is gradually trained to eat solid food by this process of stimulating inherent desire!
As in the natural, so in the spirit. Jesus’ call touched the disciples’ palates. They desired to know more of Him and followed. The Lord began and continued His process of discipline in this way. He constantly gave them more of Himself. They took His Words to heart, drank in His Spirit and grew over the next 3½ years. Gradually, they changed from their former ‘selves’ to more resemble the One they followed. Jesus didn’t give them legalistic rules to follow; rather, He imparted His life, His very Person to them, appealing to their desire and challenging their will so they would respond to His faith and love. Peter later showed he had come to understand this manner of discipleship when he exhorted the church to spiritual growth in 1Pet 2:2:
“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.”
That’s how the Lord had drawn him and taught him to walk. Though he often stumbled, he learned to call out, let God lift him up, wash him off and set him on his feet again.
Jesus calls us into an intimate personal relationship. “Follow Me!” is not a 7-step magical formula, philosophical theory or predictable program. It’s a walk, a journey through life with the Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ Himself: 1 on 1, master + disciple; pilgrims, travelers experiencing life with Him, never just spectator-tourists!
And He’s the One who takes on personal responsibility to make the necessary changes in our Identity (name, heart desires, motives) to realize our true Destiny (function, direction and destination) in Him. Frankly, when we are naturally born on the face of this earth, we have no idea of what’s involved with the air we breathe, the food we eat or the milk we drink. We simply breathe, eat and drink …and cry; those things come naturally, spontaneously! Likewise, when we are born again spiritually, Our Father has provided everything: His Life, Word and Spirit and we simply need to grow in desire and obedience to breathe, eat and drink … and sing praises in His Presence.
We need to be trained His way. We need clarity in our Identity first: who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us, before we run off to fulfill our Destiny-ministry to remake the world for Jesus! If this is not clear, we will sadly end up merely projecting and imposing our false image on others. That’s nothing but another ‘spiritualized’ form of dead religion.
Ministry is not just something you learn to do; it’s an overflow of Jesus’ presence within you.
Get filled with His fire and others will come to watch you burn!
You won’t have to come up with gimmicks and fancy entertainments to catch their attention. Be real. Too much so-called ‘ministry’ conducted by today’s North American Church ‘in the name of Jesus’ is very far removed from the Lord Himself.
It’s cloaked in manipulation, bogged down in administration, stifled in bureaucratic programs.
It lacks the Lord’s seal, His Identity, His Presence!
It presumes gifting and charisma are sufficient and does not cultivate an accompanying character to witness “It is the Lord!” Rather, it’s still a masquerading ‘Self”.
Amazingly, the world often discerns this discrepancy more readily than much of His church.
We need a greater hunger and thirst for God Himself, not just His accompanying goodies.
We need more than a new passion for Jesus; we need the Passion of Jesus!
We need His Face, not just His Hand.
Otherwise, we remain disobedient sons and daughters, no more than spoiled brats. And when we’re spoiled, we’re good for nothing: the verdict on the Laodicean church. We are no longer capable for His effective use. When we are not His Light, we do not shine. We don’t have it in us. But when we have Christ and Christ has us, the Light of the world truly shines forth from us regardless of our circumstances, in spite of the challenges, through even the darkest of times!
Jesus takes this responsibility upon Himself: He told those fishermen brothers on the shores of Galilee He would make them fishers of men. He did not expect them to know what that all meant or how to fulfill it immediately. But something in His call intrigued them. They were tired of smelly fish and wanted to touch this offered, beckoning life…
to make a difference in hearts, an eternal difference with their lives in the lives of others. Somehow whoever this stranger was, He knew them and had chosen to use them. They could refuse or follow, render excuses, continue to mend their nets and fish all night for nothing or??? exchange their fish for men!!!
Their answer was immediate: they left all and followed Jesus.
They were never again the same.
How about you? What nets are you holding on to? Let go.
His call is ever true. Let Him touch your palate. Come and see!
PS. A few years ago, I compiled a 30-page booklet along this theme,
‘Jesus says, Come, Follow Me. A New Believer’s Guide to Faith in Christ.’
It’s meant to help disciples walk in the Spirit step-by-step by the Word. If you would like a copy for your own walk or to help others in theirs, please contact me at henryerica604@gmail.com
See you on the road!
I don’t think they fully understood what they were doing right away, but something intrigued them about this Rabbi. He definitely was not like the others.
Was it His compassion that drew them, the authority in His voice, His gracious manner? Whatever it was, the fishermen became the fish and Jesus dangled this curious bait before them and then added: “I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 4:19)
He didn’t give them all the details and that was part of His fascination.
He didn’t fill in all the data info blanks.
He didn’t appeal to their reasoning.
At heart, the call of God is very unreasonable.
When John the Baptist directed two of his disciples to now follow Jesus instead, they approached the Lord and asked, “Where are you staying?” A very dangerous question. Sometimes like them, I think we don’t understand what we fully ask God. If we did, we’d probably never ask.
Jesus understood their quest. They were looking for answers:
Who is this ‘Lamb of God’? How does life go with You? What do Your words mean?
What’s so different about You? Why did John send us to You?
Jesus’ response was simple and disarming: “Come and see!” (John 1:38-39)
What an invitation!
He didn’t try to draw them with promises or convince them with arguments. He stirred their curiosity, stimulated a hunger and desire within their hearts for more. That’s what the truth will do: it’ll stir you to want more! Not make you satisfied with just a two- dimensional answer, but cause you to seek the ‘exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think’ heights… and depths!
In the natural, the more you eat and drink, the fuller you get and the less you want. However, in the spiritual realm, the opposite is true. The more you eat, the hungrier you get. Healthy babies are always hungry and thirsty; new life desires to eat, drink and take it all in! Jesus stirred that same inherent desire. In fact, those are the basic requirements of any discipleship training centre: Are you hungry and thirsty?
Proverbs 22:6 counsels parents to,
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Religion interprets this in a couple of ways.
The Jesuits paraphrased it: “Give us a child till he’s 7, and we’ll make him a Catholic for life.” Discipline by this order then becomes the means of conforming young people to their mold and image through obedience to legalistic, military-style rules and regulations. Some Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, take a rather pessimistic slant and this verse becomes more like: “Do your best as parents to instill Christian values in your children when they’re young, because in their teens they will rebel and turn from you and God; but sometime later on, if you pray hard enough, they’ll come back to their faith.”
Both of the above explanations fall far short of what I believe the Word of God here promises. First of all, ‘train up’ does not mean parents have a responsibility to raise their children under harsh discipline, breaking undesirable behaviour patterns and employing hard restrictions to conform them to their faith.
The Hebrew here means ‘to narrow, initiate, touch the palate’ and paints a very different picture: one of a mother weaning her child from breast-feeding, coaxing it to take solid food. Her toothless infant cannot yet chew its own food; commercial baby food or processing blenders were not yet available, so the mother bites off a piece of food, chews it in her own mouth first, then pushes it into and up against the roof of the baby’s mouth to ‘touch its palate’. This action stimulates the baby’s digestive juices; it hungers, swallows, feels good in its tummy and…
soon wants some more! The experience so satisfies the baby that he/she is gradually trained to eat solid food by this process of stimulating inherent desire!
As in the natural, so in the spirit. Jesus’ call touched the disciples’ palates. They desired to know more of Him and followed. The Lord began and continued His process of discipline in this way. He constantly gave them more of Himself. They took His Words to heart, drank in His Spirit and grew over the next 3½ years. Gradually, they changed from their former ‘selves’ to more resemble the One they followed. Jesus didn’t give them legalistic rules to follow; rather, He imparted His life, His very Person to them, appealing to their desire and challenging their will so they would respond to His faith and love. Peter later showed he had come to understand this manner of discipleship when he exhorted the church to spiritual growth in 1Pet 2:2:
“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.”
That’s how the Lord had drawn him and taught him to walk. Though he often stumbled, he learned to call out, let God lift him up, wash him off and set him on his feet again.
Jesus calls us into an intimate personal relationship. “Follow Me!” is not a 7-step magical formula, philosophical theory or predictable program. It’s a walk, a journey through life with the Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ Himself: 1 on 1, master + disciple; pilgrims, travelers experiencing life with Him, never just spectator-tourists!
And He’s the One who takes on personal responsibility to make the necessary changes in our Identity (name, heart desires, motives) to realize our true Destiny (function, direction and destination) in Him. Frankly, when we are naturally born on the face of this earth, we have no idea of what’s involved with the air we breathe, the food we eat or the milk we drink. We simply breathe, eat and drink …and cry; those things come naturally, spontaneously! Likewise, when we are born again spiritually, Our Father has provided everything: His Life, Word and Spirit and we simply need to grow in desire and obedience to breathe, eat and drink … and sing praises in His Presence.
We need to be trained His way. We need clarity in our Identity first: who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us, before we run off to fulfill our Destiny-ministry to remake the world for Jesus! If this is not clear, we will sadly end up merely projecting and imposing our false image on others. That’s nothing but another ‘spiritualized’ form of dead religion.
Ministry is not just something you learn to do; it’s an overflow of Jesus’ presence within you.
Get filled with His fire and others will come to watch you burn!
You won’t have to come up with gimmicks and fancy entertainments to catch their attention. Be real. Too much so-called ‘ministry’ conducted by today’s North American Church ‘in the name of Jesus’ is very far removed from the Lord Himself.
It’s cloaked in manipulation, bogged down in administration, stifled in bureaucratic programs.
It lacks the Lord’s seal, His Identity, His Presence!
It presumes gifting and charisma are sufficient and does not cultivate an accompanying character to witness “It is the Lord!” Rather, it’s still a masquerading ‘Self”.
Amazingly, the world often discerns this discrepancy more readily than much of His church.
We need a greater hunger and thirst for God Himself, not just His accompanying goodies.
We need more than a new passion for Jesus; we need the Passion of Jesus!
We need His Face, not just His Hand.
Otherwise, we remain disobedient sons and daughters, no more than spoiled brats. And when we’re spoiled, we’re good for nothing: the verdict on the Laodicean church. We are no longer capable for His effective use. When we are not His Light, we do not shine. We don’t have it in us. But when we have Christ and Christ has us, the Light of the world truly shines forth from us regardless of our circumstances, in spite of the challenges, through even the darkest of times!
Jesus takes this responsibility upon Himself: He told those fishermen brothers on the shores of Galilee He would make them fishers of men. He did not expect them to know what that all meant or how to fulfill it immediately. But something in His call intrigued them. They were tired of smelly fish and wanted to touch this offered, beckoning life…
to make a difference in hearts, an eternal difference with their lives in the lives of others. Somehow whoever this stranger was, He knew them and had chosen to use them. They could refuse or follow, render excuses, continue to mend their nets and fish all night for nothing or??? exchange their fish for men!!!
Their answer was immediate: they left all and followed Jesus.
They were never again the same.
How about you? What nets are you holding on to? Let go.
His call is ever true. Let Him touch your palate. Come and see!
PS. A few years ago, I compiled a 30-page booklet along this theme,
‘Jesus says, Come, Follow Me. A New Believer’s Guide to Faith in Christ.’
It’s meant to help disciples walk in the Spirit step-by-step by the Word. If you would like a copy for your own walk or to help others in theirs, please contact me at henryerica604@gmail.com
See you on the road!
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