Repeat

It’s hard to see, but we are often creatures of routine. Unkept calendars and schedules often become a redundant prison that keeps us contained until death, and to top it off, the older you get the faster time goes by. We often hear the Christian life is an adventure. Christian literature paints pictures of lives that appear so foreign to our own yet we rarely stop to ask ourselves why. When we read the Bible, we can look past the lives of the historical figures on the page to mine for meaning beyond the words; nuggets of knowledge that will allow us to feel good about ourselves for the time being. The alarm goes off; it’s morning. Time to wake up and do it all over again.

Disconnected

Do you have a routine? For me, the routine starts when my phone begins beeping. I get up and let the dog out to do her business. Then it begins… a series of choices. Repeat or renew? Before we get into this, I need to warn you. A life that is moving forward with God has to indeed be “with God”. Honestly, I think this is the key issue when it comes to truly living. But for most of us our schedules do more of the driving than God. It’s not His fault but ours.

Many Christians attempt to live disconnected from God and instead go by what they know or believe or think. They believe they already know what God would want, they just need to do it. It’s like our lives are a Rubik’s Cube puzzle that we just need to solve and so we start twisting it until we make all the colors match. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s prayer but its superficial, generalized, and riddled with requests for God to bless things; things we already know we want or have already set in motion. It’s more like speaking wishful words into the air than having a real conversation. I hear the words of Paul echoing, “…having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?”

Alas, living like this keeps us imprisoned. We’re not moving forward. You’re not living your life, your life is living you. And what makes it worse is that people can’t see there is something missing in the equation. So, they look deeper into the Bible to make sense of who they are while missing the point.

John 5:39 says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…” Listen, Jesus said this to the Pharisees. Are you a Pharisee? Doing rather than being makes us unintentional Pharisees. Living lives trying to do a level best to stay on track for heaven. Nothing more. The alarm goes off; it’s morning. Time to wake up and do it all over again.

Reset

Have you ever been working on a computer, things seem to move along well when all of a sudden everything locks up? If you forgot to save your work it’s a real pill. Thankfully, hours of IT Crowd has taught us that we need to try turning it off and on again; hit the reset button. When we do, things seem to go much better. How do we reset as Christians? It’s simple math. First of all, we need to come to terms with the fact that 6 + 0 does not equal 7. Well of course, right? Yet it seems this is the equation we are trying to make work every day with our lives. We count our fingers and use calculators to try to make 6 + 0 equal 7… it never does. The alarm goes off… you get the idea.

Our spiritual lives are incomplete without the missing integer. You + Nothing does not equal “moving forward”. It only equals “incomplete”, “perpetual motion”, “repeat”. What am I saying? You and I can only “move forward with God”… with God. Oh, how we try to do so without him, don’t we? The only way to break the repeat cycle is by including God. If your life has been on repeat, start with repentance. Imagine how the Christian life would be so different for us if we learned to repent to God (with words) instead of trying to manage or control our sins!

From there, talk to God more about your life. Are you angry or bitter at someone? Talk to God about it. Do you have plans for your family? Talk to God about it. Are you wondering how to handle a person you work with? Talk to God about it. Don’t just operate like you know what He would have you do… remember, God is the one who told Joshua to march around Jericho playing music for 7 days. That’s not exactly the most sensible battle plan. God chose David, a weak little boy among strong brothers, to defeat Goliath. He does amazing things, indeed, but both Joshua and David were people who talked to God. They moved forward because they included him in the equation.

Renew

For 2019 and beyond, I encourage you to stop living your life on repeat. It’s time we make changes in our day to actually converse with God… connect with him about what’s actually happening in our lives… include him and commune with him regularly. Maybe we drop the superficial prayer altogether and get away on Saturday mornings once in a while just to hear him better, and seek to put him first conversationally when we make plans for our future and our days. Perhaps we pause more often to listen for his voice. You + God = Moving Forward. When you do that, your life will begin to look more like Peter James and John and less like a redundant prison. The Pharisees had no functioning relationship with the one they referred to as “Father”. That was their error. Don’t make the same mistake. Get alone with God and be renewed day by day.

Well, that was fast! 2018 was here and gone overnight it seemed. The church, and its pastor, is another year older and a year closer to home. I don’t know that I have gained any wisdom like that of Solomon, but I have garnered some of the same attitudes and cynicism.  Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” Yes old king…there really is “nothing new under the sun!”

After nearly 30 years a part of this fellowship, I have noticed that time so often has a way of repeating itself. I often remark from the pulpit that life is so very fast and fleeting…that we all get but “one pass” through it…and we need to make our time count, with zeal and thankfulness. What I usually get back is “blank stares” of seeming “blank understanding.” You know that body pain you felt this year that you never felt before? That’s what I’m talking about.  Ahhh, “tick-tock, tick-tock….”

As Paul sat chained in a Roman prison, waiting for his imminent execution, he wrote to Timothy saying “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6–8)

Paul was confident as he neared the end of his life that he had finished well. Sadly, however, just a few sentences later he had to write concerning one of his coworkers saying “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10).

So two men who had ministered together — Paul and Demas — mentor and mentoree, both finishing very different than the other.  One endured and finished the race and looked forward to the crown of righteousness. The other man peeled off, deserted his mentor, and was never heard from again. Demas was apparently a promising young man with a promising future, yet as far as we know he did not make it to the end. May we note that the stumbling point was that Demas “was in love with this present world.” Yes…that’s the killer punch…that’s the toxic poison that gets us every time.

I do not pretend to have some magic answer on this issue. But I do know that our walk in Christ cannot ever be static… cannot ever be “level.” Unless we are growing, maturing and advancing today in our discipleship and faithfulness, we are most assuredly slipping backward! We are fighting or we are retreating. We must be more and more in love with Jesus, or we will fall more and more in love with this world.

And so very many folks have ignored those warnings until it was too late and are now essentially wandering around Menomonie like spiritual derelicts… no place to go, no place to call home, and nothing to do accept clutch white-knuckled to their pride. It’s a sad thing to watch as their lives melt away and all that is left is a memory of what used to be! But I do not speak of such with any kind of elitist attitude or an incredulous spirit, but rather with a personal “fear and trembling,” as I know I too must continue to “work out my own salvation.” (Philippians 2:12)

What will 2019 hold for you personally? Will you broaden your world? Reaching out beyond your comfort zone and take on new challenges and therefore new blessings? Pastor John Piper says that he has come to the conclusion that there are four fundamental actions that a person can take to help them finish well. They are:

1. daily time of focused personal communion with God
2. daily appropriation of the gospel
3. daily commitment to God as a living sacrifice
4. daily firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God

Note that the key word here is “daily.” That’s appropriate, because whenever we speak of time, there is no tomorrow, just “today.” 

My desire for JFB as well as all the souls who make up its community is that we boldly step into the next year… excited and zealous to live large for Christ, and always packed and ready to catch that final flight home…

Php 3:13  “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…”

Pastor Tim

“31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  -Ephesians 4:31-32

What’s up with all the Sin?

One thing I have learned from reading and studying the bible is that the writers of the epistle letters spent an awful lot of time talking about problem sins in the church. There is so much practical direction given in these letters. It was eye-opening for me to realize that the reasoning wasn’t primarily so that churches and Christians could establish a code of doctrine to run the church by. What I mean is, when Paul addressed lying and immorality in his letters, it wasn’t just for the sake of writing a how-to manual on church management. People were actually committing these sins in the church.

It was no shock to the Apostles that sinners would, well… sin… and sin badly sometimes! So, they wrote the letters to help correct these issues. See, sin is expected from church people, but sin is not excusable and the writings clearly convey that sins in the church need to be corrected for the sake of the people and for righteousness and growth. If you have a heart for God, you will be thankful for the instructions in the bible.

I have a dang good reason!

In the scripture we’re looking at, Paul conveys a switch of progression for us that I think we have a hard time with. He tells us to let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander be put away along with malice. I don’t know about you but all of these things can really puff me up inside and they have NEVER produced positive results. It is interesting that something so evil as this list of emotions and feelings is something we so easily allow. We defend our right to feel these feelings because it’s possible we had been unfairly treated or have had our rights infringed upon. At any rate, we allow these feelings and emotions to pressurize in us slowly over time.

“He can’t talk to ME that way! Who does he think he is?”
“How is it I am ALWAYS overlooked when the church is picking someone to help with _________”
“All the guys seem to fawn over THAT girl? if they only knew what she really was like.”
“Did you hear about SO-AND-SO? Something bad happened to them and it’s about time!”
“They didn’t ask for my help. They must think something bad about me.”

The Time-Bomb

We often feel justified in the way we think. When you harbor sinful feelings like these, they don’t remain controlled. They will eventually rupture into other attitudes and reactions. When we give in and leave space for our hearts to be devilish, something gets altered inside. We begin to accommodate the darkness in us. Where this leads in time is isolation. Consider this scenario: if there is a brother or sister you begin to feel this way about, you will begin to avoid them. When other brothers and sisters don’t feel the same as you, you separate from them. When sermons and the Bible convict you, you separate from it. Then you begin to feel like there is a secret vendetta; covert meetings and discussions organized to set you aside.

Over the years I have observed that people in melt-down mode have one commonality between them. All of them have it in one degree or another: isolation… disconnection. Eventually, that person will explode, no holds barred, writing off and tarnishing every friendship and relationship they once held dear. I have seen people even do it to their own spouses and children.

Nothing Good Will Come of It

Wake up, guys. Big explosions like these are always fueled by this crop of permitted feelings inside: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. James adds in his first chapter, “19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The anger of man does produce something: self-righteousness. That’s about it.

In my past and even in the present but to a much lesser degree, I would go through dark times in my life where rough feelings would stew within. I would become cynical and suspicious about what people were doing around me. It drove me to feel like I couldn’t trust anybody. Isolation was the result and I felt like everyone around me was trying to stick it to me in some way or that they just didn’t care about me. I still get duped by my emotions today but the presence of the Holy Spirit and the practical thinking of the Bible offer help to re-focus… dispel the pressure… disarm the bomb.

What’s a person to do?

Paul in Ephesians 4 gives us something simple to do. He says to “let” these feelings and emotions “be put away.” It’s like he is saying “turn it off!” and that’s not easy, right? He doesn’t stop there (because Paul is not a moron). He knows it requires a change of mind; correct perspective. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us to replace destructive thinking with correct thinking. He goes on to instruct us to “be” something else. He says “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving.” Here’s where Paul’s direction amps up, and follow me by assessing your life with these questions:

Are you a sinner? -yes. Are you born again by the grace of Christ? -yes. Before salvation, where you aimed for hell? -yes. Did you do vile things? -yes. How vile? -Extremely vile. Did you think vile things? -yes. Often? -yes! So, listen… we are to use that measuring stick (how much God forgave us in His kindness and tenderheartedness) to measure our kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness toward others. When you contemplate how much God forgave you, you cannot help but to humbly forgive those around you. The side effects of this are unity, fellowship, and love. Inclusion… family… connection. The death of Christ for each of us should level us… it disarms us… to humbly love.

We’re Called to Make Disciples, Not Converts

Has a culture of convenience and consumerism changed the way we preach the Gospel?

(Tyler Edwards, Relevant Magazine, November 24, 2017)

What if I told you that Jesus didn’t want us to win converts? What if I said that in all of Scripture we are never told to convert anyone? What if I proposed that people accepting Jesus into their life does not fulfill our mission?

We may share the Gospel, but it’s not always the same Gospel Jesus shared. Our version can be a little softer. It can be easier. The message, too often, has been watered down. Many of us don’t want to be called radicals. Many of us take the message of Jesus, and we omit some of the more intense parts because they might scare people away.

An Inconvenient Truth

Out of our desire to win converts we’ve often tried to make Jesus more convenient. That’s what our culture is all about. So watering down the Gospel to reflect the culture can be an easy trap to fall into.

We often make following Jesus comfortable and easy, reducing the expectations: You don’t have to do anything different. Just believe.

Carrying our cross has been reduced from a radical relationship of self-sacrificing love and humility to cheap advertisements with bracelets, jewelry and bumper stickers. We turned following Jesus into little more than eternal “fire” insurance. In so doing we made Him something He is not: safe.

What happened to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”?

The Consumerism Gospel

When we sell people on a Jesus who is easy to follow, can we really blame them for bailing out or drifting off when things don’t go smoothly?

It shouldn’t be surprising living in a consumer-based culture, that many times people bring the same attitudes into church: It’s my way, my preferences, my desires that are important. If I don’t get my way, I’ll take my business elsewhere.

In watering down the Gospel we have taken what is all about Jesus and made it all about us.

Jesus is a part of our lives when He should be our life. He is life. Following Him requires all our life. The disciples ate, drank, sweat and slept ministry from when Jesus called them to the day they died. Jesus wasn’t a part of their lives. He was their life.

We all are guilty of putting things above Jesus. Whether it’s health, wealth, comfort, causes, dreams, hobbies or interests, we all come to Jesus with expectations of what He will do for us. We all have our passions and causes.

But Jesus didn’t come to take sides. Jesus came to take over.

Disciples vs. Converts

Many people come to Jesus thinking it is enough to believe, to stand on the sidelines and root for Him. Jesus isn’t looking for cheerleaders. He is seeking men and women who will follow Him whatever the cost. He is looking for radical devotion, unreasonable commitment and undivided dedication.

Jesus isn’t looking for converts. He’s looking for disciples.

Converts are new believers. We all start as converts. Too often we stop there. We make Christianity all about what we believe. Converts aren’t bad or wrong. They are like babies. There’s nothing wrong with being a baby. The problem comes when that doesn’t change. When a baby acts like a baby, it’s cute. When a 35-year-old does, it’s sad. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

For years churches have worked to get people to make a decision to accept Christ, which is a great thing. It’s important. But what happens next? Where’s the follow up? How do we train up new Christians?

Our mission isn’t to win converts; it’s to make disciples. So what is the difference?

1. Converts are believers who live like the world. Disciples are believers who live like Jesus.
2. Converts are focused on their values, interests, worries, fears, priorities, and lifestyles. Disciples are focused on Jesus.
3. Converts go to church. Disciples are the church.
4. Converts are involved in the mission of Jesus. Disciples are committed to it.
5. Converts cheer from the sidelines. Disciples are in the game.
6. Converts hear the word of God. Disciples live it.
7. Converts follow the rules. Disciples follow Jesus.
8. Converts are all about believing. Disciples are all about being.
9. Converts are comfortable. Disciples make sacrifices.
10. Converts talk. Disciples make more disciples.

A disciple is someone who whole-heartedly follows the life and example of Jesus, who makes His mission their mission, His values their values, and His heart their heart.

A disciple is someone who desperately seeks to be like Jesus. A disciple is someone so committed to the cause of Christ that they would follow Him through the gates of hell and back.

A disciple is someone who finds their entire identity, purpose and meaning in Jesus. Jesus is the center of their lives. They are all in, fully committed.

Not only is a disciple willing to die for Jesus, but they are dedicated to living every day of their life for Him.

A Change of Heart

Jesus doesn’t call us to be converts or to win converts. Jesus calls us to make disciples.

Jesus offers us grace and love without condition, but not without expectation. When we try to water down the message by saying things like, You don’t have to give up sin. You don’t have to change. You don’t have to be transformed. You don’t have to die to yourself. You just need to believe. In doing this, not only are we depriving people of the truth. We are denying them access to a real, transforming relationship with the almighty God.

Christianity isn’t just a system of belief. It isn’t a lifestyle. It’s a life transformed by Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t call everyone to leave everything every day. He calls us to be willing to give up everything at any point.

His call for each of us is different. He has uniquely gifted every person to carry out a unique and valuable function in His kingdom. While what we are called to may be unique, the call is an extreme standard: Jesus must be greater than everything else.

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Tyler Edwards is a pastor, author, and husband. He currently works as the Discipleship Pastor of Carolina Forest Community Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He is passionate about introducing people to and helping them grow in the Gospel. He is the author of Zombie Church: breathing life back into the body of Christ. You can find more of his work on Facebook or you can follow him on Twitter @tedwardsccc.

Read more at relevantmagazine.com