The Purposes of the Church–Winning Souls

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Proverbs 11:30  “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”

God desires his children to be wise in the way they live.  It pleases God when we ask Him for wisdom.  When God told Solomon to ask for anything he wished, Solomon asked for wisdom and it pleased God.  We know that God wants us to ask Him for wisdom.  James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

So when I ask God for wisdom, I must look in Scripture to see what the Lord is telling me.

In Proverbs 11:30, God is telling me “he who wins souls is wise.”

Have we forgotten today that God is pleased with us and with the church when we are involved in “soul-winning?”

It is His desire that we be a witness for Jesus Christ and that we share the Gospel, which is the Good News that Jesus came to earth to die for our sins and that through Jesus we are saved.  We are given eternal life through Him.  We are reconciled to God through the blood of the Lamb.

This is one of the purposes of the church, to be involved in bringing others to Christ.  To be involved in winning souls for the Lord is of supreme importance.

But we have to question whether the church is an effective witness for Christ today.  We see the church placing importance on so many other things than on sharing the Gospel and winning souls for Christ.

Why is the church not effective in winning souls for Christ?  Why are we not seeing many come to Christ for salvation?  What makes our witness for Christ weak today?  Why should we be concerned?

First, I might ask whose responsibility is it to share the Gospel?

Some of us may say, “The pastor is responsible, let him share the Gospel.”

Another may say, “Oh, the missionary is responsible to share the Gospel.”

The Bible tells us plainly that it is the Christian who has the responsibility to share the Gospel.  We are to be a witness for Christ to those who are lost.  Sharing the gospel is God’s method of saving souls, and we need to do our best in carrying this out.

Let’s look at 1 Peter to learn more about our witness for Christ, to learn more about winning souls for the kingdom.  Peter was concerned that believers understand who they were in Christ.  The Gospel message is a central theme in this letter from Peter.  Here are some of the basic thoughts in the Gospel message as expressed in 1 Peter:

1 Peter 1:3-5  ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:18-19  ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

1 Peter 1:23  ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

So we have this great hope, but why is it that the church is weak in our witness for Christ?

Why are we weak in sharing the Gospel?  Let’s look at some possible reasons:

1.  We get discouraged by the trials we face.  1 Peter 1:6 says that the Christians suffered grief in all kinds of trails.  We need to remember the purpose of trials.  1 Peter 1:7

2.  We struggle with being holy.  1 Peter 1:15-16  How can I live a holy life?  I Peter 1:13-14

3.  We lack unity in the church.  I Peter 2:1  How do we fight against hypocrisy, envy, deceit?  I Peter 2:2-3

4.  We are disobedient.  I Peter 2:8  How do we deal with disobedience?  Focus on who we are as His people.  I Peter 2:9-10

5.  We are not submissive.  We need to learn to serve one another.  I Peter 2:13-17

6.  Our marriages are not an effective witness.  How to be a better witness?  I Peter 3:1-2, 7

7.  We are not prepared to share the message of the Gospel.  1 Peter 3:15

8.  We are not living for God.  1 Peter 4:3   Live for the will of God, 1 Peter 4:2

9.  We lack love in the church.  What is the picture of love in the church? 1 Peter 4:7-11

10.  We lack humility, we are proud.  1 Peter 5:5-6

We are His people, we are His witness, we are to be faithful in sharing.

Some sow, some water, but God brings about the fruit.

Where are you today in your witness for the Lord?

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Do Christmas in Remembrance of Him

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Sunday was an unusual day.

We celebrated the Lord’s Supper at church and by doing so we celebrated the death of our Savior.

On the other hand, this is the beginning of December and we begin preparing for our celebration of Jesus’ birth.

So we are caught in between two important events, the death of our Savior and the birth of our Savior.

When the disciples gathered with Jesus for the Last Supper in the upper room, they ate the bread and drank from the cup.  At this time Jesus instructed them to “do this in remembrance of me.”

But is there anywhere in Scripture where Jesus told people, “Remember my birth?”  We celebrate Christmas each year but we don’t have specific instructions about this in the Bible.

So is it necessary that we observe the birth of Jesus each, celebrating His birth?

I say absolutely yes.  We must remember His birth as much as we remember His death.

And I believe the Bible supports this.

Let’s look at some reasons from Scripture why it is important to remember Jesus’ birth this time of year.

1.  First, we should not forget that when Jesus was born God became flesh and dwelt among men.  Jesus was God incarnate; He came in the flesh and became one of humanity.

We tell the Christmas story often, we love hearing about the manger, the shepherds, the angels, the star, the little town of Bethlehem.

But all of these parts of the story are not the most important part.

The most important part of the story, and the most amazing, is that when Jesus was born God became man.

This was foretold more than 600 years before His birth but the prophet Isaiah.

Read Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6.

This one fact, that God became man, is what makes Christianity unique compared to the other religions of the world.

Since Jesus Christ was God, does that mean he existed before He was born at Bethlehem?

The answer is yes.

John said it this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Paul explained this further to the Colossian church.  Read Col. 1:15-20

Jesus made the claim that He existed before coming to earth in the flesh.  He said this to the Pharisees, “Before Abraham came to be, I am.” (John 8:58).  This was a claim to his existence before Abraham and also a reference to His claim to be God in the flesh.

If you look throughout history, many have denied the deity of Christ.  Even today several groups deny that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.

Many people today say that Jesus

Was a great teacher

That He was a great man

That He was a good man

That He was a wise man.

But they will not say that He was God the Son.  They deny the authority of Scripture and say that Jesus never claimed to be God.

This Christmas let’s remember first and foremost that the birth of Jesus meant that God came to earth, and Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost.

2.  So let’s go back to our original question—why celebrate the birth of Jesus?

Here is another reason;  the Christian life is not just about death, it is also about birth, about new life.

We often talk about the Christian life as “dying to ourselves.”  We quote Gal. 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

But becoming a follower of Christ involves a birth also.

2 Cor 5:17 says it this way, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come.”

We have “new life” in Christ, we have a new likeness.

In fact, we have been born again into a new family.

Jesus told us that we must be “born again” to be a part of this family.

Read John 3:1-8 where Jesus explained the new birth.

It is especially important during this Christmas season to remember that Jesus was born so that we could be born again.

3.  One other reason why we should celebrate Christmas, remembering the birth of our Savior, is that it gives us the opportunity to share the Gospel, to share the Good News.

Because of Jesus’ birth and his death, and what this has accomplished for us, we are to bear witness.

What better time to bear witness than at Christmas time when we focus on the birth of our Savior.

The Bible tells us that we should bear witness of our Savior.  Jesus gave these instructions to His disciples in Matt. 28:18-20.

The facts of His birth strengthens our witness for Him.

The Bible says that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

In fact, the name given to the baby born in the manger tells us why He came.  Matt. 1:21 “She will give birth to a Son and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save people from their sins.”

This Christmas, let’s remember these things.

Remember that God became flesh.

Remember that because Jesus came, we also may be born again.

Remember that others need to hear our witness about who Jesus is and why He came.

Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again.  He also told him that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Do you have that life today?  You can by placing your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Why not make this Christmas season the most special of all by remembering why He came and trusting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

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Healthy People Give Thanks

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This is the time of year that we pause to give thanks.  It is one of my personal favorites of all holidays because we share with our families and friends one of life’s most precious commodities:  our time.  No presents, nothing but our time.  Of course, some great meals are thrown in there too.

Typically, we are reminded to give thanks by our pastors as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday.  It is a practice that Christians should engage in regularly.  It is good for our spiritual health.  Just this past week my pastor shared the account of a man who came to him for counseling a few years ago.  This man suffered under a load of troubles.  His marriage, his money, his mental health, all was in turmoil.  My pastor counseled him to turn his attention to something for which he could be thankful.  The man said he couldn’t do it.  The pastor took a piece of paper and led this man through a few ideas about things he could express thanks.  When finished, they had come up with about fifty things.

The next year my pastor met with this man.  Some time had passed and this man seemed transformed.  He said that of all the things he was counseled on, the one thing that helped him the most was making the list.  This man kept the list and referred to it regularly.  The focus on thankfulness transformed this man’s life.

Today, I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal on the health benefits of saying thanks.  I quote, “A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being.   Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.”

God knows this, so why don’t Christians listen?  Here’s what Scripture says:  “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  Christians ought to be the most thankful people on earth.  Christians should remind themselves that it is God’s will.  Christians should have the corner on the market of thankfulness.

Giving thanks honors the Lord.  It should not become a cliché.  It is an opportunity.  It is good for our health.  It is good for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

This is the one ingredient we do not want to leave out of our Thanksgiving recipes.  I encourage you today to pause, to thank God for all your blessings and hardships, and to tell others how thankful you are for them.  Thank you Lord for this opportunity to share something that I hope will transform someone’s life today.  Amen!

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Post-it Notes, Tweets, and God’s Word

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I love Post-it notes.  They could probably be one of the most useful inventions of the 20^th century.

These little colorful pieces of paper can be found all over the place in my stuff.  We use them for bookmarks; maybe even tear in half to be mark two books.  I take notes with them when I find an interesting thought to record for future reference.  They really come in handy when you are doing research and need to mark spots you will need to go back to later.  Of course, we use them to write little notes to each other, particularly sweet little love notes.  Look on the refrigerator or the inside door of a kitchen cabinet and most likely you will find a sticky note with some wise or thoughtful remark.

I have wondered how many characters of text a Post-it will hold, the traditional-sized one.  Then I thought about “tweets.”

Twitter, the social networking and microblogging platform, limits their tweets to 140 characters.  I can picture a tweet fitting on a Post-it.  I have not tested this, but you can imagine it would fit.

According to some stats from June 2010, there are about 750 tweets sent each second of each day.  That is over 65 million Tweets posted each day!  If they average 100 characters per tweet, that would be over 6.5 billion characters tweeted per day—amazing!  And probably most of it only carrying meaning for the followers.

Well, guess what?  You followers of Christ have a better option than Post-its or tweets.  We have God’s Word provided for us, not in tweets or Post-its, but in book form.   I read somewhere that there were over 4 million characters in the text of one version of the Bible.  Imagine the task of setting the text for the Gutenberg Bible in the mid-1400s!

Now this thing about sticky notes, tweets, and the Bible.  Sticky notes, over time, lose their stickiness.  They fall out of place and get lost.  Tweets are nothing more than electronic urges given the form of a line of text.  They are tweeted and then dissolve into space somewhere.  Yes, you can keep a record, but who wants to keep records of urges?

The Bible remains sticky, it is not the urge of a man but the inspiration of God.  We follow complete thoughts and spiritual wisdom rather than limiting ourselves to a set number of letters or characters.  If you have a printed Bible, it can always be booted up without a battery and relies on the charge of the Holy Spirit.

What if God waited until this age to give us His written Word?  Would it come to us in the form of sticky notes or tweets?  If so, could we follow the reasoning, the thinking, the mind of Christ through brief aphorisms?  We try to do this today with our many paraphrases in books and other Christian writings, but does this really capture the mind of God like the Bible does in its present form?

I think these are questions worth asking.  Jump into reading the Bible and check it our for yourself.  God might just speak to you in a way you have never experienced.  Don’t resist this urge.

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A Resurgence of Interest in Reading the Bible?

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A friend gave us a compilation of the writings of Gordon H. Clark and we have enjoyed thinking through some of the arguments for biblical authority.  “The Bible alone is the Word of God,” says Clark, underscoring his commitment to the hallmark of evangelical theology.  I like this other thought expressed so well by Clark, “The biblical doctrine of inspiration demands that we view language as a divinely-appointed tool for the communication of thought.”

Now on to the question, is there currently a resurging interest in reading the Bible?  Maybe.  Take for example the New York Times bestseller Radical by David Platt.  Radical reached as high as number 10 as a NYT bestseller back in May or June.  Platt talks a lot about areas around the world where believers gather to read and study God’s Word in secret church meetings.  He started a “secret church” at the church he pastors.  Then, at the end of the book, he challenges Christians to do 5 radical things for one year.  One of the radical things, number 2 on the list, is to systematically read through the Bible over the course of the next year.

Many ministries and pastors have encouraged plans to read through the Bible in a year.  But Platt combines it with other radical challenges in a formula that would stir the American churchgoers to consider more deeply what it means to follow Christ.  I do pray that this challenge does not go unnoticed, and that pastors from all pulpits in the U.S. would issue a similar challenge.  I believe God wants us to hear from Him and He gave us His Word for this purpose.

The other challenge I see that might indicate God’s people are being drawn back to His Word comes from The Seed Company, the Bible-translation wing of Wycliffe.  It’s called the Blank Bible Challenge.  For 353 million people in the world, the Bible is a blank book.  They have no Scriptures in their language.  On the flip side, 66% of American Christians never or rarely read their Bibles.  So the challenge is this: spend 28 days opening up God’s Word and reading.  Also, listen to Bible storytellers on The Seed Company website and other inspirational web videos.   Through this exercise, they hope to develop interest in funding the translation of the Bible into the final 2200 languages where the Bible is unavailable.

All of this encourages me.  There must be a resurgence in reading God’s Word so that we know and do God’s will.  We must pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest and maybe this resurgence in Bible reading will help encourage those who are being led in that direction.

Look around your day-to-day life and see if you need more of God’s Word in it.  Learn how to study it, to treasure it, and to make it a priority.  The Lord wants us to seek Him and being in His Word is a wonderful way to carry this out.

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Three Minutes a Day

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You say you are a follower of Jesus Christ.  You say you pray to our Heavenly Father.  You have 3 or 4 Bibles lying around your dwelling.  You attend church somewhat regularly.  You hang around other Christians.  You say you want to know God’s will and to do God’s will.

How much are you reading Scripture?

This question presupposes that you believe the Bible to be God’s Word, inspired and useful for teaching and training in righteousness.  If this is your belief, why not spend more time reading God’s Word?

I heard a quote recently that alarmed me, that Christians spend only an average of 3 minutes a day reading the Bible.

I can think of many things that we do each day that takes more than 3 minutes and we gladly do many of these things without thinking.  So why is it so hard to spend more time in reading Scripture?

The quote comes from Dr. Paul Negrut, President of Emanuel University and Pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church in Oradea, Romania.  Dr. Negrut is no stranger to persecution.  He tells fascinating accounts of the lives of Believers in an oppressive Romania pre-1990.  In these accounts, one thing that comes up over and over again is the power of God’s Word.  Men gave their lives and their strength to smuggle Bibles into Romania during these years.

I love Romania.  The Romanian Christians are some of the most genuine Believers I have ever met.  Their prayers are fervent, their churches are blessed, and their outreach is productive.  They give God’s Word a special place in their lives and their hearts, spending much time reading and studying during their Sunday services.  The preaching and teaching of God’s Word receives great emphasis.  They require a person to read the entire New Testament before they are baptized.

Three minutes a day?  Revelation 1:3 says “Blessed is he one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”

I believe there is blessing in reading God’s Word.  It is nourishment to our soul and it is guidance for our lives.  Pause, stop, take time to dwell longer than 3 minutes today.  You will find something happens in your heart and your hunger to know God will increase as you seek Him in His Word.

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The Last American Evangelical

Look around and see if you can find one.  They used to carry some weight with their notions of redemption and righteous living that they wanted their American neighbors to embrace.  It was a few elections ago that their influence carried a President into office.  They supported missions, protected the unborn, and rejected liberal thought.  The books they read reflected the concerns of their modern Christian lives: books on family, raising strong-willed children, how to honor God with your money, keeping your life pure and clean, finding out your love language, men’s issues, women’s issues, teens issues, how to be happy, how to be happy at your job, how to be happy at home, how to have a happy family, etc.  Their Bibles provided a resource for answers, but the questions arose from selfish motives.  God’s Word conveniently supported their positions on issues and gave them brief devotional messages to start or end the day.  “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it,” wowed them enough to want to be glad no matter what the day brought.

These were the American evangelicals.  They sought refuge with each other in their pursuit of the good things of life yet may have moved away from their purpose, or should I say God’s purpose for them, to evangelize.  Some may say this is indicative of the post-modern day we live, however the roots go deeper than we can imagine and may indicate some challenging days ahead for the evangelical churches in America.

Why the alarm? First look at Christian leaders.  They seem to be rejecting the label of evangelical in favor of other labels.  Probably the most popular label today is “reformed.”  We have so much emphasis placed on this particular issue today that even the most earnest pastors and Christian leaders want others to know first and foremost that they are reformed in their thinking and their theology.  You don’t have to go far to see this.  Just visit the blogs of some of these leaders like Al Mohler, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney, and others to see that being reformed is trumpeted as their prime theological position.  It is hard to find these guys talk about being evangelical.  They even have conferences to help pastors understand that they are really reformed in their thinking.

Second, biblical literacy is perhaps at an all-time low among average American Christians.  Check out Barna on this.  Just engage in a conversation about doctrine and you’ll see that the average American Christian can’t tell you about the major doctrines of the faith even in layman’s terms.  Their small groups get into certain lifestyle topics and take a Christian slant by basing their discussions on one or two relevant Bible verses, but they have difficulty expressing thoughts about God, man, salvation, Jesus, the church to others.

Third, look at the decline in giving to missions in the mainline church and perhaps even decline in memberships at these churches.  This is especially evident if you look at giving over a period of time in constant dollars.  There is talk about the inability to send new missionaries to the field.  Those missionaries already on the field are concerned.

And what about declines in memberships at mainline churches?  Some of this may reflect the de-emphasis of what it means to be a part of the local church.  You see this particularly in the venues where pastors are referred to as “great speakers” and where music and worship receives major emphasis.  Yes, baptisms are down but we sure do know how worship!  Some of these churches don’t even keep lists of regular attenders.

I hope this is not beginning to sound too cynical, but I do think we are seeing a monumental shift in church life that is moving us away from the old ways of doing church.  And with this maybe we are seeing the term “evangelical” being shuffled back into a closet with all the old hymnals and choir robes.  One thing is for certain—we can reconcile evangelism and the sovereignty of God, remembering that we as Believers must bear the responsibility of evangelism while understanding God’s sovereign role in the salvation of man.   Let’s strive together to make sure we are not one of the last American evangelicals.

Oswald Chambers, Uncertainty, and the New Year

Many thoughts run through my mind at the beginning of this New Year.  There has been one thought, however, that captured my attention and is worthy of deeper meditation.  It comes from Oswald Chambers and appears in his biography written by David McCasland.  This wonderful biography provides vignettes of Chambers’ service in Cairo during World War I with the YMCA.  Soldiers relished their time under Chambers’ ministry.  War equals uncertainty, and Chambers helped these men deal with the uncertainty they faced day in and day out.

In the year 1916, Mr. Chambers made a statement when questioned about what he might do after the war.  His response came in the form of a simple truism, “Trust God and do the next thing.”  We often want to boil things down to a simple, memorable maxim to carry with us throughout life and Chambers seemed to always excel in this task.  This was his advice to all who were facing uncertainty, “Trust God and do the next thing.”

What does this mean to us as we start the New Year?  I think it means a great deal, and it is a statement that will carry us through the many uncertainties we face.  After all we are His children and we can trust Him when all else on earth fails us.

As I contemplated this statement, I broke it down into two parts.  The first, “Trust God,” calls to mind the nature of our Heavenly Father.  Don’t put you faith in man who will fail you, put your trust in God.  He is worthy of trust because of His nature.  I can trust Him because He is faithful, He is present, He is Holy, He is just, He is worthy, He is loving.  I always think of the “omni” words when describing the nature of our God:  omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.

Trusting God also calls to mind Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all you ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.”  Often we get into trouble by relying on our own wisdom in certain matters.  Ask God for wisdom, trust in Him fully.  We trouble our lives when we rely on our wisdom or another man’s so-called wisdom.

Back to the second phrase of Chambers’ maxim, “Do the next thing.”  Don’t we often wring our hands worrying about what to do next?  If the entire path is not mapped out we refuse to move.  This type of “business” thinking has invaded the lives of too many Christians.  Sure, plans fail for the lack of counsel and when we plan to build something we must consider the costs, but should we expect from God the complete picture before we do anything?  This is where the believer gets into trouble and gets into a state of inactivity that God cannot use him to accomplish God’s purposes.

I think of the Israelites leaving Egypt under the leadership of Moses.  Here is an example of how to “do the next thing” under God’s leadership.  Read Exodus 14.  We see here how Pharaoh and his army pursued the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea, an impossible place of escape militarily speaking.  In their terror, they cried out to God.  God instructed Moses to remind the people He was with them and that they need not be afraid.  He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, why would He not deliver them now?  We see that God told Moses and the Israelites to “move on.”  Moving on is the same as doing the next thing.  Trust God and do the next thing meant moving toward the sea.  I can just picture the scene that as they took the steps toward the sea, God provided a way out by driving the waters back so they could cross on dry ground.  Not only did He provide a way of escape, He provided His presence with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

Are you in a place this New Year where you are uncertain about your future?  Maybe a job change, maybe a relationship issue, maybe a physical challenge.  These all are happening under the eyes of our Loving Heavenly Father.  He cares for us and we can trust Him.  I am thankful that Oswald Chambers reminded us to “Trust God and do the next thing.”  Let’s face the New Year with this one thought in our hearts and mind.

George Lucas and Effective Bible Training

In a special advertising section of the October 6 Wall Street Journal, several CEOs and “thought leaders” share perspectives on rejuvenating the business sector.  George Lucas chimes in as an “expert” on the educational needs of a future generation.  His answer?  Return to the basics.  Hurry, all you education gurus out there, go back to educational practices that are centuries old and discard all your current experiments in effective teaching and learning.

Lucas says this is the best way to deal with mountains of information produced especially during this digital age.  He explains, “Over the years, the oldest forms of learning seem to be the most effective forms of learning.”  What are these oldest forms of learning?  He divides this into two parts.  The first is the Aristotle/Plato form of a teacher engaging and encouraging a small group of students, and the second is the hands-on “artisan school of learning.”  According to Lucas, “Once we got into the Industrial Revolution, those two forms of learning got swept aside.”  Amen George.

He goes further to state that this type of education significantly improves the character of the people engaged in it.  Character comes from working in small groups, Lucas surmises, where members of the group learn to work together on projects and share in the success of the outcomes.  This must be an extension of the lessons of Star Wars where character counts and develops in the context of a group of galactic heroes.  Yoda and the Jedi had it right all along.

Let’s leap from these thoughts into the context of effective biblical training.  A teaching philosophy determined to be effective with pastors and church leaders is the use of a traditional classroom setting with a mentor and several apprentices.  The assimilation of practical knowledge and skills is an outcome of this philosophy.  Students are personally involved with the teacher/mentor over a period of time where they learn to apply basic and then complex knowledge.  The teacher combines lecture, question-answer, and discussion to insure productive interaction in a culturally relevant manner.

This sounds an awful lot like what Lucas espouses.  It also makes one think of Jesus and the disciples spending time together.  The disciples learned from the Master and they had direct contact with Him.  Inept at seeing spiritual matters, the disciples stayed close to the Master for instruction.  Jesus involved the students in order to enhance their abilities and skills.  This was all in preparation for when He left them.

In this digital age, let’s reconsider the need for this type of training among believers.  When you see a younger generation, and sometimes your own peers, using an I-Phone to read the Bible a verse at a time you have to wonder if they get the application.  There is a connectedness that is missing from this type of learning.  The body is cut off from the Head.  We need to understand how to live the life as a believer and the effective way to get this understanding is to be a part of a body of believers where learning is a priority.  Yes, there are times in life when we need to spend time alone with God, meditating on His word.  But there are also times when we need the context that we can only get from being involved with others.  Thank you George Lucas for reminding us Christians of this.  May the Force be with you!

The Disciple’s Dilemma—Jesus is Too Radical to Follow

If you’re not having a dilemma in following Jesus, I would question whether you are a true disciple.

Disciples get in that curious place where they respond to the leader and then try to figure it all out by themselves.  It’s a good thing we don’t have every conversation of Jesus and the disciples recorded in Scripture because we would likely drive ourselves crazy trying to emulate the disciples instead of our Lord.

I thought as I got older it would be easier.  It’s not so far.  And I should not expect it to be.  Jesus lived radically.  The Son of God lived and breathed and died on this earth like all of us do.  But He lived such a consecrated life that the attempts to follow Him leave us followers to our own wits to figure out how to balance things.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I can talk about surrender with the best of you.  I know what it means to submit.  I know what it means to follow.  But I don’t always want to do because of the difficulty.  You may say it’s easy.  I would beg to differ.  Following is messy business.

I ran across a book recently that I want to reread entitled Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli.  Here is a description from the book flap, “If you’re haunted by your personal inconsistencies, doubts, addictions, failures, by all the things you think exclude you from God’s pleasure, then Messy Spirituality not only will encourage you and perhaps even shock you—it will also free you from your holy hang-ups to embrace the high and low adventures of real-life faith.”

Translated:  Real-life faith is messy, so don’t get hung up about it.  When the disciples faced their dilemma to follow, they cut the trail for us who would later follow.  We saw their victories and their failures as recorded in Scripture.  We don’t have much on some of them, but others we have some pretty good pictures of the messiness of their followership.  We need to remember that God can turn messes into masterpieces.

I like the way the author Yaconelli put it on page 17 of the book, “Messy spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life ruined by a Jesus who will love us right into his arms. Jesus is not repelled by us, no matter how messy we are, regardless of how incomplete we are.”  We are only complete in Him.  We need to quit relying on ourselves for that completeness.

It’s time for the church, today’s disciples, to get honest.  You are flesh and blood, your life is a vapor before God, the days come and go with some victories and some failures.  Be radical like Jesus.  Spiritual disciplines are important.  But the next time you don’t feel so disciplined, don’t beat yourself up over it and run into the arms of Jesus your Lord for His companionship.  Jesus loves sinners.