Life in the Church

Sharing Jesus Part Three

Sharing Jesus Part 3

Real Discipleship

Over the course of the last six weeks, we have been laying a foundation for our future together as a congregation. We talked about prayer being the center of how we face forward and move in accordance with Holy Spirit’s guidance as we follow Jesus. For two weeks we talked about the inspiration, authority, interpretation, and application of the Bible in our lives. The Bible is the supreme authority to guide our lives and our ministry. Since it was written by God through the work of people, we can have assurance that the Bible will never lead us astray. However, we must read the Bible in the correct historical context to the people it was originally written to based on the original language it was written in before we ever think about how it applies to our own lives. When we read the Bible and study it, we always, always, always start with “what does the Bible say?” We do not get to read our own ideas, our own standards, our own presuppositions into what the Bible says. We don’t read our politics, traditions, or preferences into the Bible either. We start with this is what the Bible says, and if we don’t understand what it says, we can use resources to help us understand. We never get to say, “the Bible says, but…” We need to keep our butts our of it.

We have two guiding principles. We are never called to condemn anyone. Jesus came to save the world because the world is already condemned, we are here as his hands and feet to share Jesus love for humanity that they may come to him to be saved. Even when we use the scriptures to bring correction into the lives of fellow believers, we never use the Bible as a weapon. We do everything in love. Love is the rule of the day. Love God, Love others, Love one another are the three great commandments. It is only in the context of our relationship with God as our Father, Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as our guide that we live our lives according to God’s standards, not the world’s standards. The Bible itself should shape our entire worldview, so that we live lives that are set apart as a beacon to draw people to Jesus, not drive them away.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the command that we have to make disciples, our Great Commission, Jesus said

‘Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’

Matthew 28:18-20

He had also said in Acts 1:8 after telling his disciples to expect Holy Spirit to come,

‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”’

Acts 1:8

Part of what we discussed last week is the fact that Holy Spirit is with us whenever we are talking about our faith experience with another person, so we rely on him for the words to speak. However, it is usually far better to listen than to speak. If someone knows you care and you are listening attentively, you might be very surprised about how much they really end up sharing with you. Talk about a great opportunity to share how God has been walking with you in your life!

We over complicate how we witness, give testimony, or share our faith so much in our minds that many times it causes us not to try at all. Remember, sharing how God has walked with us through our lives can be as easy as sharing the details of eating at your favorite restaurant. If you have walked with God for any period of time, you have a story to tell of God’s faithfulness. My friend, Rick Grace, just last weekend called these your pivotal circumstances. My story may seem extraordinary to some, or your story may seem uneventful to you, but there is a story there if you take the time to reflect on it.

However, making disciples goes far beyond just getting someone to believe in Jesus. Making disciples is about teaching and instruction, about walking a path of faith, about living a life that reflects God’s glory as we become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. Roman 8:28-29 says,

‘And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.’

Romans 8:28-29

Our purpose is to be conformed to the image of Christ through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Right doing through right learning about who Christ is and what, within the context of our relationship with Him, God expects from his people is what being set apart is. Over and over again through the scriptures God gives instruction and direction about how his people are set apart by how they act.

Jesus said,

‘“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ‘           

John 13:34-35

Paul says to us,

‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ‘

Romans 12:1-2

And he told Timothy,

‘But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’

2 Timothy 3:14-17

Through the power of the Spirit we learn to live lives set apart for God through the instruction of his Word. Our actions and attitudes are what define us before people, so it is our actions and our attitudes that become conformed to the way God wishes us to be living out godly lives in accordance with Christ’s righteousness covering us. All of this is gained through proper discipleship, as we make disciples by teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded his apostles.

            True discipleship is not what happens on Sunday morning or even at the our Bible study groups. True discipleship is a one-on-one personal walk with another believer who is more mature than we are or those who are mature spiritually walking and teaching someone newer or less mature in the faith. A prime example of what discipleship in the church should look like is the relationship between a sponsor and a sponsee in a twelve-step program like AA. In AA, a sponsor is someone who has worked the 12-steps, is continually sober, and living in such a way as to be a good example of sober living. It is a person the sponsee wants to pattern their life after. This is what a disciple of a rabbi in the Jewish culture did. Jesus’s core disciples lived with him, worked with him, ate with him, slept near him, watched everything he did and taught, and tried to pattern their lives after him. His disciples experienced true discipleship walking with Jesus. Discipleship doesn’t happen on our own or in a vacuum.

            According to the book, Biblical Discipleship, a disciple is a person who places him or herself under the instruction of an expert or master with the goal of becoming like the person they are following. There are four key elements to biblical discipleship…

  1. Discipleship is a process that happens to a person, it takes place at the individual level.
  2. Discipleship requires a relationship with someone else.
  3. Discipleship requires an expert teacher. The Expert Teacher is Jesus himself and we have his indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one we are following, and we need a growing understanding of who he is, what he taught, and what he expects from his followers. We find all this in the scriptures.
  4. Discipleship has a defined goal or destination. Jesus expects his follower to grow in their obedience to him until they finally become like him.

This is what Paul meant when he told the believers in Ephesus,

‘when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ‘

Ephesians 4:21-24

As we grow in our knowledge, love, and obedience toward Jesus as our Savior, we are being active in our path of discipleship. As we move forward as a congregation, following the Lord’s will for us making disciples throughout our community and engaging in or supporting opportunities to make disciple throughout the world, these are the actions we need to be taking in actively making disciples of those already here and those who are coming.

            Maybe through the course of the last few weeks, you’ve realized you aren’t following Jesus quite the way you thought you were, or maybe you need to recommit to following Jesus closer, or maybe you have yet to commit your life to Jesus and start the process of discipleship. or maybe you’ve been a mature Christian for a while now, but you have not been active in making disciples. However, maybe you have been active in making disciples and now you are looking for ways to help others to learn from your experience. Pray for God to bring you in step with what his Holy Spirit is doing, so you can be a part of building his kingdom.

Sharing Jesus Part Two

Sharing Jesus Part Two

Do we really think about the fact that every person we encounter is potentially going to spend an eternity in hell if they don’t first hear and then believe the Gospel? We also talked about the top 6 reasons most believers are hesitant about sharing their faith in Jesus with others. When it comes to asking people to decide in their own lives regarding faith, it becomes a bigger wall for many people. We can sometimes do okay telling people how God has worked in our own lives but asking them to commit their life to God is an insurmountable task for us. As I said before, not every believer is an evangelist in the sense of Billy Graham or the apostle Paul. However, it is the job, the Great Commission, of every believer to make disciples. Making disciples starts with sharing our faith wherever and whenever we have or create an opportunity. Those opportunities are most effective within our one-on-one relationships with people.

Speaking of one-on-one relationships with people, do you know Jesus and Moses spend a lot of time together now. They are really great friends. One day while walking on the beach, Moses said to Jesus, “You know what really moved me?” “What?” Jesus replied. “It’s when you walked on water. That’s when I came to understand that you were truly the Son of God. Do you remember that?”

Jesus replied, “How could I forget? It was my most famous miracle. It made ALL four Gospels!” Moses asked if he could do it again and Jesus easily obliged.

But after getting a way off from the shoreline, he started sinking. Never needing to learn how to swim, He desperately thrashed about using all his energy to stay afloat and just barely make it to the shore alive. With Jesus gasping for breath, Moses ran up to him and frantically asked, “My Lord! My Lord! What happened?”

Jesus replied, “Last time I didn’t have these holes in the bottom of my feet.”

When it comes to sharing our faith in Jesus and asking others to make a commitment to faith in him themselves, the most important part is what we are asking people to believe. It’s what exactly we are asking them to have faith in.

Paul says,

‘For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

To make it very simple, what we must believe is who Jesus was and what Jesus did.

         I told you last week we would be looking at how the biblical writers shared their faith. As we read the Gospels, the historical biographies of Jesus’s life and ministry, we find a common theme. Matthew starts in chapters 1 through three talking about identifying who Jesus is before he begins talking about anything Jesus did or taught. Mark only spends the first 11 verses of his Gospel talking about who Jesus is, but the pattern holds. Luke spends his first three chapters plus part of chapter four building on the idea of who Jesus is. John uses his first 34 verses to identify Jesus, but in his very first verse he makes a very clear point…

John 1:1 “’In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.’

From identifying the Word as fully God, John then builds up to the fact the Jesus is the Word and the Word is God, but John doesn’t actually mention Jesus name for the 1st time until verse 17.

         The point is, with every Gospel writer, who Jesus was is the first point about Jesus every one of them makes. For each of them, building Jesus identity by what he did up to the point of his death, burial, and resurrection is the stamp of authenticity on the Gospel message. Why? Because Paul tells us that without the Resurrection, the final proof that Jesus is truly the Son of God, our faith is useless. It is only the fact that Jesus was himself God the Son that gives his death any meaning at all. There are millions of people who have sacrificed their lives for one cause or another since the beginning of time. There are many who have died for their friends, what Jesus calls the ultimate act of love in John 15:13. Only the Resurrection gives Jesus’s death any meaning, because through Jesus’s Resurrection we are given an eternal relationship with God the Father through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit covered by Jesus’s righteousness and forgiveness before God.

         Answering the questions of faith, It really comes down to two things: who he is and what he did. In their book, “The Path” some dear friends of mine, including one of my mentors Dr. Daniel Goepfrich, phrase the answer of faith this way…

To call Jesus “Lord” or “Christ” is to acknowledge that he is the one sent from God to rescue humanity and that he did that through his death and      resurrection – nothing more, nothing less.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” Colossians 1:19-20

In another conversation, Paul used the word “repent.”

“Although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he

now commands all people everywhere to repent , because

he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in

righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31

To “repent” means to “reconsider and act.” In order to believe the truth, we must honestly consider it…the truth about ourselves and our sin, about Jesus and his death and resurrection. God wants us to change our beliefs based on the truth.    Believing in Jesus alone for salvation means that we have reconsidered our position; we have “repented,” accepting the truth. We accept that only God can rescue us from sin and hell, and we embrace it.

Naturally, the first step in sharing our faith with others is to have that kind of faith ourselves. If we don’t have a firm foundation in the faith that we have, we’ll have a really hard time trying to articulate any of that to someone else.

         However, there are some great benefits to sharing our faith. When we overcome our fear, get over the excuses that we don’t have experience or haven’t practiced, realize that every believer in Jesus as Savior is fully qualified to share the Gospel, rely on God to walk us through it knowing that we can’t screw it up, put sharing our faith at the top of our priority list in our relationships, and develop the ‘want to’ attitude to at least plant the seeds for someone to come to have eternal life the benefits become:

  1. It increases our own faith to share our faith with others
  2. Sharing our faith brings us deeper into the Presence of God
  3. It naturally makes us more aware of Holy Spirit working in our lives
  4. Our love for others will grow tremendously
  5. We are partaking in God’s Great Commission to make disciples
  6. Sharing our faith also protects us and prepares us for battle against the spiritual forces of darkness that rule this world.

Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 6 starting in verse 10,

‘Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.’

Ephesians 6:10-20

When we are sharing the good news of our salvation through Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the leader of our lives, we are engaging actively in spiritual warfare. Some time, we’ll do an entire series on the Armor of God, but Paul is making a point here that as we live in Christ and share our faith following the Great Commission to make disciples; we will experience the attacks of the enemy.

         We need to pray for one another as Paul asked the believers of his time to pray for him. We pray that we may be given the message when we begin to speak to confidently make the Gospel clear, and that we may be able to speak boldly about the faith that we have.

Sharing Jesus part one

Sharing Jesus part one

There was a red convertible roaring down the highway. The guy driving saw the local pastor standing on the side of the road holding a sign saying “the end is near.” What an idiot the guy thought… Up ahead, he saw the Catholic priest with a sign too. It said, “turn around before it’s too late.” This time the driver honked his horn and flipped the priest the bird. What a prick, he thought… The priest and pastor watched as the car went flying around a bend and then they heard screeching tires, a crash, and a loud splash. The priest walked up to the pastor and asked, “do you think we should change our signs to say the bridge is out?”

How often, when trying to share about our faith with someone, do we find ourselves misunderstood or not being able to really communicate with those we are trying to reach? How often do we struggle to go outside of our comfort zones? How often are we afraid to get asked a question that we don’t know the answer to? Especially in this country, for the longest time, we have been told that it is impolite to discuss religion and politics at the dinner table or in any other type of polite social event. In recent times, discussing spirituality has become more acceptable during and post-COVID, but we are a relativistic post-Christian, post-modern society in the United States, where anything you want to believe goes and saying there is only one way to approach God can be considered hate speech. The loudest voices we hear in our culture and in the media are the ones shouting to drown out or twist the message of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and grace that is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even our own churches end up drowning out the message that God so loved the world by condemning the secular culture and screaming about abortion, homosexuality, addiction, sanctity of marriage, the Ten Commandments, and social justice or injustice depending on your viewpoint.

Romans 1:18-20 says,

‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. ‘

Just looking around at the state our world is in through the will of what mankind has done, the unrighteousness of the world and the pain it causes is evident. What do we do?

Peter says,

But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

1 Peter 3:14-17 NLT

We typically hear verse 15 in this way,

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

Many pastors will use this as a plug to tell you that you need to memorize as much of the Bible as possible. If you could quote chapter and verse from Genesis to Revelation, that would be best. That way you always have an answer, right?

There was a story of a great orator, and he was putting on a show in front of a couple thousand people. Being a conservative crowd, he chose to memorize and dramatize Psalm 23, you know, that passage about the Lord is my shepherd. As he began to speak, the crowd fell silent; as he finished, he received a round of applause. As the crowd was clapping, a little old man, grizzled and frail, walked up to the podium. As he began to speak, the crowd fell silent. He also recited Psalm 23. As finished, there was not a single dry eye in the crowd, some people were crying hard, then the entire crowd rose in a standing ovation. Afterward, a reporter went up to the orator and asked him what had happened. They had both recited the same words, and he was a professional, why had the crowd reacted so differently to the old man’s words. The orator said, “I knew the words of Psalm 23 and spoke them well, he knows the shepherd.”

The people we meet, the ones we try to invite to church, the folks we invite to lunch or talk to passing in the grocery store; don’t need to hear a bunch of memorized lines. They need to hear your personal story of your personal relationship with God and how he has walked with you through thick and thin. Do you know the shepherd, or do you know the words? Will they ask us questions we don’t know the answers to, sure. It’s also just as important they know that we have faith and hope, without knowing all those answers. But we can always try to find those answers, preferably together…

While there are many commands given to believers throughout the New Testament, there is one given that is certainly near the very top of the list,

MAKE DISCIPLES.

The imperative command to make disciples is found in Matthew 28:18-20. It is also the only imperative command in that passage. To not be making disciples is to be directly disobedient to the calling every believer has in our relationship with Jesus.

The passage is this:

‘Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore going and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’

Matthew 28:18-20

Going, baptizing, and teaching are continuous actions that convey means and method of what it entails to make disciples. However the command is to make disciples. Not just make believers, not just preach the Gospel, not just running around the planet, not just baptizing as many as possible in the lake at one time…to make disciples is a lifelong process that starts with the unbeliever coming to believe in Jesus and then learning to obey EVERYTHING that Christ commanded his early followers and for us EVERYTHING that the New Testament writers through Holy Spirit’s power command to us. The process of discipleship starts each of us sharing our faith and with those who have yet to believe hearing of the Gospel.

Over the next few weeks, I want to dive into the way some of the New Testament writers shared their faith to teach people what a relationship with God through Jesus is like. First, take a look at this youTube short…it’s titled, “The Gospel in a Nutshell.” It’s an example of one of those elevator speeches. If you haven’t heard of those, I’ll explain that in a minute.

Don’t worry, my mom already chastised me for recording that while driving. I did do all the editing after I got home though.

If you search youtube for the words gospel in a nutshell that pops up as the 7th result on the second page of the search. So number 17… It has had six views and two likes. If you search gospel in a nutshell about 259,000 results. I did find pretty good video called “How to share the Gospel in 5 minutes” by John Benzinger. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw0vth8zY5c) In 15 months, his video has had almost 5,200 view and 196 likes. But how effective do you think either of these methods actually are?

I would say, not very effective.

Statistics say that personal evangelism, one-on-one conversations, are the best and most effective way to share your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. If we truly believe that the scriptures are written by God through men, if we truly believe that through faith in Jesus is the only way to get right with God, if we truly believe that the world already stands condemned before God and anyone who chooses not to believe in Jesus as their Savior is going to spend eternity in hell, if we truly believe that a fulfilling, purposeful, contented, joyful, loving life can only be found in a relationship with our heavenly Father the Creator on all things through forgiveness and the righteousness of his Son, Jesus, in the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit; shouldn’t we want every single person on the planet to have that kind of life as well. Do we really think about every person we come in contact with is potentially going to spend an eternity in hell if they don’t first hear and then believe the Gospel?

There are dozens upon dozens of resources that teach people how to share their faith. Hundreds and hundreds of messages have been preached on the subject. If you Google, “what is the gospel?” there are over 233,000,000 million results. So, what excuses do we have for not sharing our faith?

Last Saturday, at the Biblically Bold men’s conference, Pastor Fred from Faith Covenant, shared his top six reasons he thinks people don’t share the Gospel. I agree with these, but I really think it all boils down to the last one.

6.      We just don’t want to…

5.      It is not toward the top of our priority list.

4.      We think somehow we’ll screw it up and blow it.

3.      We think we are not qualified to share the Gospel.

2.      We don’t have any experience and have never practiced.

1.      It all boils down to fear!

There is a resource out on the welcome desk from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on Simply sharing Jesus. But I want you to know, it all starts our own personal experience of growth in our knowledge and love of God. If we are not living out our faith, any testimony we give is ruined by our own hypocrisy. Fortunately, we have the mercy, grace, forgiveness, and righteousness of Jesus covering us and Holy Spirit’s indwelling power helping us. When we live out loud in the love of God and show that love to each and every individual we meet following the three greatest commandments, Love God, Love People, Love One Another. Then our personal relationships with others will give us a one-on-one platform for sharing our faith.

Guide our Steps

Guide our Steps IFCOG 7/24/22

I want to share some of my heart with you today.

In my life, I have struggled with discernment when it comes to God’s will. Have you ever felt that way?

I have listened to wise council, followed the open doors, tried to make wise decisions, then ended up nowhere near where I thought the Lord was leading me. Somewhere along the line, I fell out of step and started down a different road. I left the path, and I never realized it. There are other times when I took the more attractive road, the easier road, the road that lead where I wanted to go, instead of the path that was laid out for me. Has any one here ever experienced something like that?

There is a principle Andy Stanley calls the Principle of the Path. Direction determines destination.

We understand it when it comes to driving, but we miss it in other areas of our lives. If we plan a trip to Florida, we pack our bags, we tell all our friends, we hire the neighbor kid to watch the house and take in the mail, we make all our plans and preparations, but when we head out of town with the car fully packed and drive north on 231, we aren’t going to get to Florida. It’s our direction, not our intentions, that determine our destination. In fact, many of our congregations have missed this vital principle.

I am broken-hearted for many of the congregations throughout the United States. Many of us would like to blame COVID for the decline of the church, when in fact, the church started declining before COVID, it’s after COVID that we really noticed the change because many who had wanted to leave for a long time, just didn’t go back. Many of us would like to blame culture for the decline of the church, when in fact, the church failed to respond to the shifts in the culture. People who study societies have determined that under usual circumstances, society shifts every 7 years, but in 2020, in one year, society made an entire shift. Some congregations were able to respond because they had already been preparing, others haven’t reopened. Some congregations are trying to build on the changes they had to make to reach out, while others are gratefully trying to go back to what they were doing. Not even realizing what they were doing had already stopped working, except for them.

What does the Bible say about it all? Does the Bible say anything about church growth? Does the Bible say anything about responding to change? Does the Bible give us direction on what to hold on to, and what to let go?

I am not going to be showing you anything you may not have seen before, but I may tie them together for you in ways you haven’t thought of. God has laid out a direction for his Church. He has given us our marching orders. He has given us examples of what to do and not do.

Let’s start with the most basic… Whose job is it to grow the Church?

In Matthew 16:13-18 it says,

‘When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.’

When Jesus says on this rock I will build my church, some churches will teach that Peter is the rock that the Church is built on. Others will say it is Peter’s confession of faith the Church is built on. The language used would suggest both of those answers are wrong. Petros, Peter, is one kind of rock. Petra is something different. It is also translated as stumbling stone in some other passages.

Earlier in Matthew 7:25, later in 1 Peter 2:8, 1 Corinthians 10:4, Romans 9:33 all refer to this kind of petra, and each time it is associated with Jesus himself is the rock that the Church is built on, and Jesus says he will build his church. Jesus has not stopped building his Church. If our congregations stopped growing, it’s because we fell out of step with him.

Next question, what is the mission of the Church, if Jesus is the one building his Church? Matthew 28:18-20 says,

‘Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’

Our job is not to build the church, our job is to make disciples. Wait, what is the difference between building the Church and making disciples?

Building the Church is his Holy Spirit bestowing grace upon people who hear the Word of God to incite them into having faith in the saving work of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. To make disciples, wherever we are going, as we invest in relationships with people, share the Gospel, but also baptizing them and just as importantly, if not more so, teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded to us. When the disciples went out sharing the Gospel, they also baptized the new believers and immediately began teaching them. The ones that heard the disciples teaching then went out and taught others, who went out and taught others, on and on down to today.

The early church taught everything, and taught obedience. Our churches today teach less and less of everything and leave out much of the obedience even to what we do teach. However, there are always extremes, aren’t there. Some hyper focus on obedience to the point of legalism, others turn the sanctuary into a seminar lecture hall, some turn grace into free license to do and act however they want.

What we do hold tightly to frequently is our traditions. We confuse holding tightly to the Word of God and correct doctrine, with holding on tightly to the order of worship, the Gaither hymns, the position of the altar, a few of the congregations I have been to have special cushions in certain pews where the same person sits week after week. One week someone asked, who moved the cushions? We make ourselves comfortable and make any outsiders totally uncomfortable.

What did Paul say?     

‘For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law. To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law. To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some. I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.’

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

He was willing to adapt himself to make those around him more comfortable so that he could advance the Gospel among them. He did not sin to make sinners more comfortable, but he did speak to people and interact with people on their level. The same way Christ relinquished the rights of his deity to live as a man among humans.

There are certain things, as the church, we need to be willing to do to advance the Gospel so that we are on the path marked out for us to arrive at the destination God intends for us to.

  1. Pray, it should be obvious, but far too often it becomes our last resort rather than our first response.
  2. Hold tightly to the authority and inspiration of the scriptures by proper interpretation and application.
  3. Trust the Lord of the harvest to lead and guide us
  4. Expect God’s provision to act according to his will
  5. Make disciples wherever we are going, by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything we have been commanded
  6. Christ did not come to condemn the people of the world; he came to save them. So, we are here to build loving relationships to encourage unbelievers to be convicted by his Holy Spirit.
  7. We must love one another as a demonstration that we are Jesus disciples using scripture to teach, encourage, admonish, correct, and train one another in righteousness.
  8. We must seek unity and reconciliation wherever possible
  9. Be relevant, with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, address the needs within our community and in the world
  10. Every believer should be discipled into maturity and begin discipling someone else. We need to have sages, mentors, accountability partners, and proteges along every stage of the walk of faith

I believe we should be doing these things as the Body of Christ, and if we are doing them, God will honor his promise.

2 Peter 3:9 says,

‘The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.’

While we wait for the Lord to fulfill his promise, we need to do the work he has set before us.

A huge transition

Greetings and salutations all,

Our family has started a huge transition in our lives. I accepted the call to pastor Idaville First Church of God starting August 1st, 2022. My family and I are in the process of moving from Decatur, IL to Idaville, IN.

Accepting the call at ifcog.com is a huge step of obedience for me as an individual, stepping out in faith that the Lord is going to do great work in this community in need.

Please be united with me in prayer that our transition goes smoothly, that our ministry here will be God glory, and that we will make a huge difference in the lives of people who desperately need a relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Pastor Joe

Gospel in a Nutshell

Retirement versus Legacy-building Part Two

When I spoke at Winebrenner Memorial, a couple weeks ago, we talked about Paul’s plight while writing to the church at Philippi. Paul was at the end of his rope, if you remember. Paul said,

‘For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more vital for your sake that I remain in the body. And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress and joy in the faith, so that what you can be proud of may increase because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.’ Philippians 1:21-26

Let’s review the Pastor Joe paraphrase.

For me, living is doing what Christ has left me here to do, while dying is getting the heck off this planet and spending the rest of eternity in heaven on my all expense paid retirement plan. If I have to stay here, I need to be productive doing God work, but I’m not sure I want to. Matter of fact, I really want to retire and go hang out with Jesus on the golf course, which is a lot better than being stuck here. But it’s more important for me to stay here with you and since I am sure that’s what God wants, I will stay and continue to build a legacy of faith in all of you, so that you can be proud of me.

Because Paul knows he is still alive and breathing, he knows God has something left for him to do. God’s retirement plan doesn’t kick in until we have breathed our last breath. In the meantime, our job to build a legacy of faith, to build up the big C global and eternal Church, continues on. I gave you homework before I left two weeks ago. Find one person that you can pour your experience, strength, and hope, your knowledge and wisdom of living a life of faith, into. I won’t ask for a show of hands how many have their homework done. Only about 30% of my middle school students get theirs turned in on time, and I usually end up extending due dates, like I did with my most recent assignment…hahaha.

We know how Paul felt now, as he was coming to the end of his earthly ministry. We can estimate that he lived, at most, ten years past this point; probably far less. Now I want to turn to Jesus. Jesus, the night he was betrayed, hours before his trial, torture, and death, just days before his resurrection, and only about 45 days before he ascended into heaven, was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. John recorded his prayer for us in John 17. There are three things Jesus focuses on in his final prayer. Jesus prayed that we understand what eternal life really is. He prayed that his disciples, those he had worked with and taught during his earthly ministry, would be set apart in the truth and remain set apart from the world as they go out into the world to proclaim the Gospel.  Finally, he prayed that all believers, everyone who comes to believe in him through the work of his disciples, would be one with each other, just as he was one with the Father.

While we know from history that his early disciples did remain set apart once he brought them back together again, and preached the Gospel, lighting a fire of faith that has continued to burn until this day. The other two: Jesus has not truly gotten his heart’s desire. We still constantly misunderstand what eternal life is, and the church has never been more divided in its entire history. Not only that, but the divides in the church also started within the lifespan of his disciples. It is my belief that a big part of the divide is caused by our misunderstanding of eternal life as well.

But what can we few, here and now, do about any of that? What can we do about problems that have existed for 2,000 years? We start small. We start with our own understanding of eternal life and then, through prayer, reconciliation, love, and more prayer build our own spiritual legacy while we yet have breath in our bodies.

Jesus said,

Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. John 17:4

1st– We need to live in the knowledge and power of God. We do that through God’s very own Holy Spirit that Jesus asked his Father to send to us as a comforter, teacher, and empowerment for us to perform his work as his Body here on earth.

2nd– We need to pray, pray before we start, pray as we go, and pray some more. When Paul shared the secret of joy and contentment in Philippians chapter 4, he told us:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’

He continues on to say in verse 13

‘I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.’

If we are going to continue to live building our legacy of faith, we are going to need God’s strength and power. We only find that strength and power through prayer.

3rd– We need to live set apart but in unity and love. Our lives cannot look like the rest of the world lives. But Jesus said he didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it. Unfortunately, the world frequently sees the church as judgmental, hateful, and standoffish. We try to force those who do not know Christ as Savior to live as if they have a relationship according to the same understanding and commands that we have. It becomes even worse when the outsider world sees those within the Body of Christ fighting amongst ourselves. Living in unity and love is only possible if we reconcile with those whom we have had differences. Within the Body, we need to live according to those things we can hold in common, and love each other enough to follow Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4:1-6, he says…

‘I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’  Ephesians 4:1-6

When we can do these three things; live in the strength and power of the eternal life we have right now through God’s Holy Spirit, pray, and live set apart in reconciliation and love; we can build our legacy of faith one friend, acquaintance, neighbor, parent, child, grandchild, great grandchild, and stranger at a time. That is living out the Great Commission, our purpose and the mission Christ left us with.

A Reflection on Reconciliation

Before we remembered our Lord’s death and resurrection by taking communion together, I wanted to share a little bit about reconciliation with the congregation I was serving last week. I want to share with you as well.

Jesus said,

‘So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift.’ Matthew 5:23-24

Author Howard Zehr says,

“When and why do people seek reconciliation? If individuals or communities value a relationship, then it becomes imperative for them not to let a wound fester. Sometimes, reconciliation becomes necessary as the individuals need to share same social space. A human being is not merely collection bones, liquids and chemicals. A human being is also a collection of memories. Our memories (good, bad, pleasant and painful) determine our actions and approach to relationships. Reconciliation is a mechanism of addressing memories which are not pleasant and healthy.

Often, in the daily usage, the word ‘reconcile’ is deployed to mean that an individual(s) or community(ies) should accept the state of affairs as they are and must learn to live with it. To subsist with pain caused by broken relationships indicates a life not fully lived. Therefore, to reconcile should mean something more than to plough through life with a collection of painful memories.”

In the biblical context, reconciliation is equated more to a financial transaction. If someone has something against you, a slight or resentment, believe you owe them some sort of debt, emotional, spiritual, or physical, if you are taking space in someone’s brain rent-free. Clean up your side of the street. Offer what amends you can, whether it’s really your fault or not, do your part to restore the relationship. Forgive, as you have already been forgiven by God. The rest is up to Him to work on the other person’s heart. But sometimes, through our own behavior, we become someone else’s stumbling block before they approach God.

We need to try to be reconciled and represent our Lord and Savior so as to be a light to draw people to Him, not a putrid stench to drive them away.

Define Love, Divine Love

Define Love, Divine Love

If you have been a Christian for any period of time, or even if you are not a Christian and you have been around Christians very often, there are a few things you have heard. You have heard John 3:16, or maybe you remember Tim Tebow putting the reference in white on his black sun block. You may have even been one of the millions of people to Google the reference to find out what it was.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

You have heard Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27; points back to Deuteronomy 6:4-5

You may have even noticed that the board right here in our church says, “love God, love others.”

We see signs and hear phrases everywhere… Live, laugh, love. For love of dog. I’m lovin’ it. Love of my life. Love is blind. All is fair in love and war. Love-hate relationship. Make love, not war. Falling in love. Puppy love. Love will find a way. For the love of all things… And one of my personal favorites, a face only a mother could love…!

Not to mention all the things we love… I love coffee. I love my dog. I love my friends. I love Chick-fil-a. I love racquetball, golf, and fishing. I love my kids. I love my wife. I love spending time with some people, but not everyone obviously. I love steaks on the grill, not to mention, ribs and brisket on the smoker! I love being a pastor, but God hasn’t put me in a position to do that full-time. I love teaching, but I don’t really love my job. I love it when I get to sleep in, but my body hardly ever lets me and I always feel hungover when I do sleep in. I love that I have been clean and sober for almost 25 years…! I love GOD!!!

Do these all mean the same thing??? Obviously not! Or if they do, there is something definitely more wrong with our society than we can even imagine. Maybe that is why the world has gone crazy. We really don’t know what love actually is!!!

I believe there is much more truth to that statement than we truly understand.

In the time Jesus was walking on the earth, the Greeks had at least three different words with an idea translated and defined as love in our culture today. But those three words they used had three very different meanings. And that is part of our problem today, how do we define love? On dictionary.com, the word love has 22 different entries under its definition. 14 of them are used as nouns, 6 as verbs (or actions) with an object, 1 has a verb without an object, and 1 as a verb phrase. No wonder we are confused!!!

This confusion leads to all sorts of misunderstandings too. Who do you love, how do you love, when should you love, what shouldn’t you love, why should you love, do you love at all, shouldn’t I be able to love who, how, or whatever I love, who are you to say I shouldn’t love this, that, or the other?

So many questions and yet we as Christians are commanded to LOVE. The two greatest commands Jesus tells us are to LOVE. God is LOVE.

How we define LOVE is extremely important if we are going to LOVE the way  God has commanded us to LOVE and if we are going to teach others to LOVE as he has commanded us to teach others to obey his commands. Friends, we have gotten ourselves into one heck of an ever-lovin’ mess!

Why don’t we see how God, who is love, and who created love, defines love. Instead of 22 definitions of love, and instead of 3 definitions of love, we are going to focus on just ONE definition of love and what that LOVE looks like.

The love we are going to look at in Greek is agape. ἀγάπη In every one of these passages I am going to reference, the same root word agape, is used. So we are only talking about one kind of love. We are talking about what Divine Love really looks like.

When we look back at what Jesus said in the context of Matt. 22; Mark 12; and Luke 10 when he was repeating the Hebrew Shema and adding to it, Jesus used this word agape: to love. We must love God and love others. He told his followers to love one another in several other passages. Same love. When God so loved the world, it’s the same love. This is agape love.

John, the apostle whom Jesus loved, writes this for us.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:7-10 NET

John goes on to tell us…

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.

1 John 3:18 NET

We find that although love, agape, is being described, love is in every way described as an action. God’s divine love is an active love. But when we are talking about active love, we are not talking about the activity of what we call ‘making love’ we are talking about putting our money where our mouth is and actively doing something when we love God and love people. Paul helps make this even clearer for us. Because God is love, a facet of the fruit of the Spirit of God is love.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 NET

To combat lawlessness, all the acts and desires of the flesh that are contrary to walking by the Spirit: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy and murder; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Paul says we need to walk by the Spirit and that first in the list of the facets of the fruit of the Spirit is love. Divine love, God-like love, unconditional love; along with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is the fruit that Holy Spirit produces in our lives. And in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul illustrates for us that love is a spiritual gift. 1 Corinthians 12-14 is the longest dissertation on spiritual gifts and the use and practice of the gifts within the context of worship in the New Testament, and Paul says this right in the middle of it about love.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. ‘

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NET

We very frequently hear verses 4-7 taken out of context and read at weddings as instructions to a husband and wife how they should love one another. However, this love, this agape love, this divine love, this is how love should act toward all those around us. The people we like, the people we love, the people we minister to, Jesus even said we should love, agape, our enemies…

Now, you’re going to ask, “Well, Pastor Joe, you’ve given us a whole lot of lip service and description of love; divine, agape, biblical love. But what am I supposed to do if divine love is an action?”

Well, figure it out for yourself…just kidding. Here are 5 ways to show God’s love to others.

Number one:

Show God’s love by actively listening to others.

Don’t just hear what people are saying, but really listen to them.

Number two:

Show God’s love by praying with others and for others.

Don’t just tell someone you’ll be praying for them. Offer to join with them in prayer, right then, if they’ll let you. If not, that’s okay, but make sure you do include them in your prayers…don’t just say it and forget it.

Number three:

Show God’s love by being generous.

Not just generous with your money. Although that is a great way to be generous, but also be generous with your time and with your talents as well.

Number four:

Show God’s love by encouraging others.

Especially encouraging them to continue to walk the path of faith when times are hard and life is disappointing.

Number five:

Show God’s love with acts of kindness.

Especially acts of kindness where God receives all the glory. Anonymous good deeds are awesome. Paying for someone’s meal or drink behind you in the drive-thru. But doing an act of kindness with the message that God loves them and is concerned for them, leaving yourself out, is always best. If anything, God lead me to do this for you is a great way to go as well.

Lastly,

No matter who they are and how much you may have against them personally or them against you because of some kind of bias…

It’s possible to show God’s love to anyone.

And showing God’s love to everyone is exactly what Jesus came here to do and what he left us behind to do.

Jesus came to the world to love it and save it, not to condemn it, because the world already stands condemned.

We don’t have to condemn the world. We have to show the world God’s love, because we are Jesus’s body left here on earth.

 May you be a blessing and representative of God’s love to someone.

Pastor Joe

Masks, vaccines, governments…and God’s Glory!

If you don’t like wearing masks, I heartily agree with you. However, I do it. I have been a middle school teacher now for about a year. As a full-time sub, now with a full license. I hate masks! I hate making students wear masks. I hate having parents complain about me about penalties in participation for constantly needing to tell certain students to wear masks. It bothers me most when parents undermine the school, and my classroom, telling students masks don’t matter.

Honestly, I don’t care about politics in this regard. My wife reads all the medical stuff and debates through me with a pediatrician friend of mine about masks and vaccines. Truth be told, I am vaccinated. Not necessarily because I believe or don’t believe this or that… It was my get out of quarantine and masks free card. Now, in Illinois, it’s not! That sucks.

So? Why bother? Why enforce it? Why wear masks in Walmart and Kroger? Why force my students to wear their masks properly?

1. Many sick and unvaccinated people ignore the signs about masks. Exercise their right to be stupid and come to the store sick. My mom has fought cancer for two years. I don’t want to give something to her or my students.

2. My doctor friend, whom I trust, recommends it. He does it. I do it as a good example to my children and my students.

3. In my opinion, most importantly, the authorities over me, particularly my principal and the diocese my school is a part of have decided to honor the state’s authority and enforce masks. Why is that more important? Biblical authority tells me to honor, respect, and obey those authorities over me. Period.

If it’s not against God’s precepts, obey.

Do I agree? No. Do I like it? No.

Does it violate God’s law? No. So, do it.

Hopefully, over the next few years, politically people will elect new authorities. Hopefully, as soon as possible, the medical field will straight this out. If they don’t, my job is to glorify God and respect, honor, and obey the authorities over me to bring glory to God.

Do you disagree that’s fine? However, before you argue to vehemently, read these passages of scripture and decide. Am I obeying and glorifying God with all this arguing and bickering? Or, am I doing as God has told me in his Word?

The biblical view and precepts regarding the authorities over us. Whether government, employment, or some others…

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Romans 13:1-7 NIV

 

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

1 Peter 2:13-17 NIV