Minimizing me…making much of Jesus

Church, if God is blessing your body with fruitfulness, do not let your guard down. Whatever you notice, the enemy of Jesus also notices.

The simplest way to take down an otherwise healthy body is a kidney punch to your ONENESS. The enemy can destroy your body if he can poison your UNITY – your singleness of mission, vision, and focus on Jesus.

Many assemblies of professing christians need not worry…the enemy has seen to it they’ve never really experienced a ONENESS of God’s Spirit that needed to be guarded.

But the body of Christ that is UNITED by the Spirit of God in mission, passion, love for God and love for His creation must be ever on guard against the not-so-random assault on UNITY — whether it be unbridled gossip, attitudes of dissension over teachers/preachers or disagreement over pet doctrines and private interpretations of Scripture or whether it be pure jealousy and arrogance permitted to fester like cancer in the hearts of God’s people.

Be on guard. Be vigilant. Be proactive. Expose the work of the enemy – call it out and name it for what it is. This is not your church. This is not “their” church. This is God’s church and He is worthy of the fight for UNITY and ONENESS.

Proverbs 18:13 One who gives an answer before he hears, It is foolishness and shame to him.

The lazy fool doesn’t want to listen or consider truth but simply speaks his/her opinion as fact. Many people ignorantly pass on talking points that ignorant people have handed them. How do you avoid this?

(1) Begin with believing the best of what you’ve heard that doesn’t agree with what you believe.

(2) Get the facts before speaking on a matter; take some time to investigate before you speak. Be responsible and careful.

(3) Go to the source. Don’t gossip and theorize with 3rd parties that know no more about the source than you do.

(4) be open to thoughts that you may not have considered based on your own bias and cultural filters.

(5) make sure you hear both sides of any story before making judgments. Seek additional information.

This is called discipline and diligence – the opposite of being a lazy fool, particularly with your mind and your mouth.

It’s difficult work, but it avoids bias and prejudice. Don’t judge before getting the facts.

However, if all you want to do is slap others in the face with the display of your superior opinion and biased understanding and signal your virtue to the masses, then by all means, continue down the path of a shameful, lazy fool.

Disagreeing with you about God’s design, God’s will, God’s Word, and/or the work of God’s Spirit is not equal to HATE or ABUSE. It’s just that…disagreement. I do not hate you for disagreeing with me any more than you should hate me for disagreeing with you. Our disagreement should never be interpreted as HATE or ABUSE.

BUT, the repentant, regenerate, redeemed follower of Jesus is most certainly going to view God’s world through God’s lens, AND those who reject God and/or reject His Spirit and His Word are going to view this world thru their own lens.

Simply put:

God’s disapproval = agreement from His followers

disagreement = disagreement

disagreement ≠ hate

disapproval ≠ hate

“Trigger” is a buzzword used in the psychology and counseling community. It’s something that you see or hear that “triggers” an emotional or physical response from you, often based on a previous experience.

Triggers are everywhere. Everybody has a trigger or ten or twenty. For some, a trigger can be debilitating. For others, everything is a trigger. For some, a trigger is just an excuse to behave poorly.

The Bible would call these snares, entanglements, temptations, allurements, or enticements. They are intended by the enemy to distract and derail, and disable.

It is amazing the contrast between how pop psychologists, self-soothers, and narcissists would differ from Biblical instruction in dealing with triggers.

To spend no time in the Word of God is a tragedy of epic proportions. To elevate career, family, and self-centered endeavors, hobbies, interests, etc., to the extent that they choke out time in God’s Word is idolatry, plain and simple.

To only consume the Word of God in solitude for a “quiet time” or “daily reading” is to forfeit the richness for which the Holy Scriptures were designed. To meme it and not live it is hypocrisy.

To consume and walk in the Word of God with other followers of Jesus, to converse over it, study it, meditate on it, and apply it to all of life in the context of Christian community is to thrive in it and be nurtured and fulfilled by it.

As followers of Jesus, we need to be comforted and reminded of things from time to time…things that sometimes fall out of view as we navigate a broken, self-centered world. These reminders come from God’s Word and from lovers of God who dwell in God’s Word and are filled with the Spirit of God Himself.

When the flesh is overcoming our mind, emotions, and maybe even our physical condition, it IS important to remind ourselves and be reminded by others that God is at work through our tough circumstances and our pain (sometimes self-inflicted)…this is comforting. He IS in CONSTANT care for and ABSOLUTE rule over all of His creation, for HIS glory and the good of HIS people. We NEED that reminder that it’s for the GOOD of His people.

But, it’s critically even more important as Spirit-filled believers to remember that the FLESH will always drive us to think about OURSELVES…OUR pain, OUR hurts, OUR circumstances, OUR tough times, OUR well-being, what WE need, what WE want, what WE deserve, etc. We also NEED the reminder that our story is for HIS glory.

The Spirit who FILLS us with HIS presence, HIS fruit, HIS power — this HOLY Spirit indwells us to walk according to HIS will, HIS plan, HIS purposes, “HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Even as Christians who are indwelt by HIS Spirit, if we don’t crucify the flesh daily and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, we can still make it all about us. We must align our minds and hearts with the Holy Spirit and His Holy Word, and we need friends and community that will do the same.

It’s not about me…it’s ALL about HIM!

Hey church (wherever you gather with a local body, your pastor would say “amen” to this):

Whether it’s a church gathering, class, small group, prayer meeting, or event – before you decide to participate or not participate in something based on what you’d get out of it or whether you “feel” like attending…

…I’d challenge you to consider that it shouldn’t only be about what you want or need out of it but maybe about what you can share or what someone in your household may need or should be sharing.

As a member of the body of Christ, your responsibility is to the whole body, not yourself. Think about the organs of your own body. Nearly all the organs of the body protect, nurture, fight infection, and supply the needs of the other organs…HARDLY AN ORGAN IN THE BODY IS PURPOSED TO SERVE ITSELF. Your body NEEDS you and you NEED them.

Hear what I’m saying…not what I’m not saying. That’s not to say that you should go to EVERYTHING and participate in EVERY ministry and group. That’d be ludicrous and impossible. That’s not to say that you should show up ill and spread disease or that you should abandon your family in a moment of crisis. Again, that’s just stupid.

What I’m suggesting is this, if God has intentionally connected you to the church body, then you should be consistently and actively participating in the things designed for the whole church body. If God has intentionally connected you to a Group/Missional Community, then you should be consistently and actively participating in the things designed for that Group. If God has intentionally connected you to a Ministry Team, same…so on and so forth. You get the gist.

If you’ve said “I’m in…count on me” to the church, to a Group, or to a Ministry Team, then that’s exactly what should be received from you, whether you think you want to or need to be there or not.

I have found myself having this discussion a lot lately, so I thought it might be good to share.

The Holy Scriptures – God’s authoritative, sufficient Word – is given for the complete equipping of every saint of every age for every good work.

In this Holy Bible, we find things that are PRESCRIPTIVE for the church and every act of obedience by the believer to walk in Spirit-driven holiness as we are being transformed into the image of Jesus. These would be the things that God through His inspired prophets, scribes, and apostles has instructed and prescribed His creation to follow. These would be principles, commands, examples,etc, some with promise and some with warning. In short, these are the things that God prescribes for us to do.

We also find things that are PERMISSIVE actions demonstrated or illustrated in Scripture. These are not necessarily things that God has commanded of all men, everywhere at all times. Some of these things would not even be God’s design or desire, but in some cases, He allows them…or permits them under certain conditions. However, just because God permits a thing or action does not mean that God has prescribed that thing or action.

Still yet, in the confines of Scripture, we do find many things that God says are PROHIBITED. To act on these is an offense to God’s design, God’s character, and God’s existence. We know these actions to be morally wrong or in disobedience to God’s design.

Today we hear many influencers that confuse, conflagrate, and interchange these three, which is a violation of Scripture itself. With God’s wisdom and discernment, we must know the difference.

Often in relationships (marriage, family, friendships, etc.), a person can become hurt by changes or distance in the relationship.

When we find ourselves in this situation, we have to ask ourselves, “Who changed? Who stopped doing what they once did? Who left the conversation? Whose tastes, interests, values, or principles changed and left the other one behind? Is this a bad thing? Is it a good thing?”

Maybe one open to God’s chiseling and molding outgrew the one who refused God’s refining fire. Maybe one ceased being themself and became somebody else. Maybe it was the providential hand of God protecting one from the other. Maybe it was meant to be an awakening for one of you.

Aside from the “til death do us part” covenant of marriage, not every lost relationship is meant by God to be a loss. God sometimes brings healthy growth by pruning dead branches. God sometimes has to make room for new blooms by removing dead foliage. Carrying your dead becomes a heavy, futile burden.

On the other hand, be careful not to set the bar so high for others to be in a relationship with you that no one, including you, could enjoy a sustainable relationship with you.

If your children sleep ten hours a day (which is a stretch), go to school seven hours a day for 180 days a year, and your family attends church one service a week every week of the year but two (which is above the average of 40 times a year)…

Parents are responsible for 3800 waking hours a year (represented by the big tower of orange ping pong balls) to teach their kids about Jesus. The church, on the other hand, has an average of about 50 hours a year (represented by the small vase of ping pong balls) with a child to teach them about Jesus.

Parents – we can’t rely on the times we show up to the church to be the only place our children hear about the character and nature of God, learn the disciplines and precepts of God’s Word, and see the models of a Jesus-centered life that has been transformed by the Gospel!

Our activity choices matter.

Our school choices matter.

Our entertainment choices matter.

Our extracurricular choices matter.

Our playtime/free time/family time matters.

How are you leveraging WHO you are and WHAT God has entrusted to you to reach your home with Gospel-centered ministries of mercy so they might come to know, love, and follow Jesus into His kingdom?