Category: Discipleship

Everybody Has Six Basic Spiritual Needs

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I recently read about George Gallup, who years ago delivered a speech at Princeton Theological Seminary where he shared six basic spiritual needs of all people. This is from the famous survey and research guy…

1. The need to believe that life is meaningful and has purpose – The success of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life may be evidence that people really are searching for meaning and purpose in life.

2. The need for a sense of a deeper community and deeper relationship – The church is not a building but a community of like-minded people, uniting in the common bond in Christ. Look at the development of sports clubs and civic leagues that often will compete with the church for members’ time and loyalties.

3. The need to be appreciated and respected – Jesus broke the mold with His stance on women and the outcasts of society. God is no respecter of persons and each person is created in the image of God and deserving of dignity and respect. There is no joy in life if we do not feel appreciated at home, work, school or in the church.

4. The need to be listened to and heard – In this communication age where blogging is so prevalent, this may be more true than ever. “Can you hear me now?” No one wants to be voiceless!

5. The need to feel that one is growing in faith – All living things grow. The lack of growth means the living thing is either not a living thing or it has died! If we are alive in Christ, made into a new creation, how can we not continue to grow in our faith? I’m not saying it’s easy, but the Christian life takes effort to develop our relationship with God. How many so-called Christians have settled for the status quo of a mediocre life?

6. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith – That is why the community of faith is so important in the Christian life. Without community, we are left to die cold and alone! It’s like a bonfire where a log has rolled away from the flames. The only way for that smoldering log to be re-ignited is to throw it back on the pile. The body of believers (called the church) is this fire of community that offers practical help from the Bible for developing one’s faith.

Enemies of Relationship Building

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We may agree that building relationships is essential to the mission of Christ and the evangelization of the world, but what are the barriers to our building relationships? Jay Dennis suggests these six “enemies” and I challenge authentic followers of Christ to find ways to overcome them:

1. Past hurts – Everyone has been hurt in a relationship before. How will we overcome that hurt and risk getting involved with others in a meaningful way?

2. Pride – How often do you tell yourself that you will not make the first move in relationship toward someone?

3. Prejudice – There is a hidden enemy that creeps in to all of us that says, “I’m not going to build a relationship with that person” for whatever reason.

4. Guilt – Perhaps you have said something or done something wrong against a person and that holds you back.

5. Busyness – We all have 24 hours in a day and need just a little bit more time to build relationships. We make time for what is important to us.

6. Selfishness – If I am going to take the time to build relationships, I’ll have to give up something else. Choices can be tough. We must decide what is important and what is urgent.

So, which enemy is holding you back?

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Building Relationships Jesus’ Way

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If Christianity is nothing else, it is about relationships; with God and with others. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s pretty direct yet ambiguous as to how to do it, but a great foundation.

Jay Dennis gives some good insight in his book, The Jesus Habits: Exercising the Spiritual Disciplines of Jesus:

1. Jesus took the initiative to build relationships – the woman at the well (in John 4) is a great example of taking the initiative.

2. Jesus didn’t allow prejudice to affect his building a relationship, (her being a lower-class Samaritan). This tells me that He was cross-cultural in His mission.

3. Jesus demonstrated that sharing a meal is one of the best relationship builders – like the invitation of Zaccheus (in Luke 19). Hospitality is such a great way to serve others in the name of Christ.

4. Jesus didn’t give up on building a relationship with someone – like the woman caught in adultery (in John 8). It’s as if He’s telling her that He will not give up on her.

5. Jesus confirmed that relationships are more important than structures and organizations – like when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath Day and took grief for it (in John 5).

6. Jesus even built relationships in the last moments before His death – like the thief on the cross next to Him (in Luke 23).

If authentic Christianity is going to spread throughout our city and the rest of the world, it will be done through relationships. I’m not against religious broadcasting, but adding people to the kingdom will not reach the world in time – multiplication is needed. We need to teach people how to become disciples of Jesus, yes, but it is more important to develop people into disciple-makers.

Disciple-makers are able to take the good news they received and invest it into the lives of others, who in turn will invest their lives into others. Paul set the example in his letter to his younger disciple, Timothy (2 Timothy 2:2). Let’s start small by finding a few people who have potential to become disciple-makers, and then invest time and effort into them!

How? I like this quote from Dale Carnegie, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” People are not notches on your belt! Your interest must be genuine.

Being Missional Vs. Missions Involvement

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Gary Chapman of the Southwest Virginia Christian Leadership Network reminded me of the recent movement termed “missional.” To me, this makes sense:

You’ve likely heard the term, “the missional church”, in conferences and conversation.  Simply put, it is a call to churches to be biblically faithful to be Christ’s presence in their local community.  In Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and David Putman, the authors make the following statement:

It may sound uncharitable, but we don’t mean it to be so. But . . . many will say that these shifts, and a book like this, do not matter.  They are convinced if you just “preach the gospel” and perhaps “love people” that your church will reach people. They are wrong, and their ideas hurt the mission of the church. Communities across North America are filled with churches led by loving gospel preachers—most of whom, if statistics are true, are not reaching people.

You cannot grow a biblically faithful church without loving people and preaching the gospel. But loving people means understanding and communicating with them. Preaching the gospel means to proclaim a gospel about the Word becoming flesh—and proclaiming that the body of Christ needs to become incarnate in every cultural expression.

So, practically speaking, what would it mean for the church to become “missional?”  This list is from Dan Kimball’s book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church and explains what Stetzer and Putman are suggesting:

  • Being missional means that the church sees itself as being missionaries, rather than having a missions department, and that we see ourselves as missionaries right where we live.
  • Being missional means that we see ourselves as representatives of Jesus “sent” into our communities, and that the church aligns everything it does with the missio dei (mission of God).
  • Being missional means we see the church not as a place we go only on Sunday, but as something we are throughout the week.
  • Being missional means we understand we don’t “bring Jesus” to people but that we realize Jesus is active in our culture and we join him in what he is doing.
  • Being missional means we are very much in the world and engaged in culture but are not conforming to the world.
  • Being missional means we serve our communities, and that we build relationships with the people in them, rather than seeing them as evangelistic targets.
  • Being missional means being all the more dependent on Jesus and the Spirit through prayer, the Scriptures, and each other in community. 

Authentic followers of Christ would seem to be missional in their mindset as described here. It’s more than being involved in missions activities; it’s a way of life! Check out this image…

On a wider level. people just might consider the claims of Christ or at least view Christianity with some mention of respect if they could just see more people actually living out what they profess to believe. A lot of people may be into spirituality but they are certainly not into the church. How can we grow into authentic followers of Christ? How can we embrace what it means to be missional?

“An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

Life in the Slow Lane

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I just saw ABC World News and another installment of their weeklong feature on time management called The Lifetime Crunch. They report that some businesses are embracing a slow-down at the office in order to boost employee productivity.

Thinking they are getting more done, many people trying to multitask tend to take twice as long or make twice as many errors! Google actually allows their employees to do whatever they want for 20 percent of their day! One employee says that it is a chance for your brain to breathe.

At home is no different. Another employee who is connected through e-mail, cell phone and Blackberry has decided to turn everything off one night a week! She says it is sort of like a re-engagement with the world and it renews her sense of how time passes… “that life just works better when you have time to think.”

So why write about this report? Think about how God has created this world and why he instituted his fourth commandment…six days you shall labor and on the seventh you shall rest. Certainly not a new phenomenon but today I see how it is thoughtfully incorporated into the modern day workplace, with amazing results! God does have a plan that works pretty good, if only we will allow it and seek ways to put it into practice.

I Finally Saw "I Am Legend"

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A lot of great movies come out but I don’t usually see them until they come out on DVD, and Netflix told me from the start that I had a very long wait! To my surprise, the film came this week and I loved it.

Being a follower of Christ, I found in the film some amazing parallels to the mission and work of Christ… not sure that was the intent of the writers and producers, but I see it. The main character, Robert Neville, finds himself all alone in the world, immune to a disease that, if it did not kill you right off, turned you into humanoid-type beasts. This is a type of Christ, one who is sinless in our sea of humanity.

The beasts feared the light, so nighttime was pretty scary; (the Bible mentions men love darkness more than the light – John 3:19), but Neville was working on a serum that could cure the disease, and transform the beasts back into regular people.

He later finds out that he is not alone; there are other people who are immune to this disease, which he finds it hard to believe. The woman tells him that she was sent by God because he is going to save the world. Imagine that, a savior of mankind. Even though he prays out loud early in the film, a time comes when he is very doubtful that there even is a God, exclaiming loudly, “There is NO God!” A heavy scene but it is understandable since Neville has seen a lot of suffering over the past three years, (earlier he reminds us that “God did not do this, we did” referring to the “cure” for cancer mentioned at the beginning of the film, which turned out to be the cause of the disease).

After much experimentation, he finally appears to be successful. His latest captured beast is becoming more human, so the serum works. But the beasts are attacking his lab and are breaking through into the strong room. He pleads with them that he has found the cure, he can save them, but they refuse to understand or listen. He takes a vial of blood and sends the woman away. Then Neville sacrifices himself so she can get away from the beasts.

The woman arrives at her destination, which could represent heaven in a way. There are huge gates that need to be opened. She brings the vial of blood so it can save the human species. As the gates open the first thing one sees is a church at the end of the little road.

At the end, the narrator mentions that Robert Neville will become a legend, the one who gave his life for the salvation of mankind. If that is not our story, what is?

How can we help people to know and understand that there is a Savior who came to cure them, to set them free from sin? But men love their darkness more than the light and refuse to acknowledge the Savior. They want to try self-medication to find their own cure. The road to destruction is broad but the way to life is a narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14). Scripture promises that the seeker of truth will find God when they search for him with all of their heart (Jeremiah 29:13). As the old song goes, “there’s power in the blood.”

Now for the parts where the parallel breaks down:

  1. Neville often looked at the beasts as less than human, (possibly, we too are less than human when we are enslaved to sin).
  2. Neville killed a lot of beasts throughout the movie, (whereas Jesus doing the same seems appalling).
  3. Neville seemed to seek a cure out of a sense of guilt, (more so than out of love).
  4. Neville took out several beasts when he sacrificed his life, (the very beasts he wanted to save).
  5. Neville is dead and became a legend, but he is not a resurrected Lord (unless they intend to make “I Am Legend 2”).

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Who Decides Proper Christian Theology?

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This YouTube video (the Church of Oprah Exposed) is tremendously disturbing. Is this video representative of what happens when the group or community gets together and decides proper theology? Rex Miller indicates we should trust our people to be on a hero’s journey searching for truth and significance in life (my interpretation of what I heard at a recent conference), but what happens when influential people like Oprah with her “experts” and credibility redefines who Jesus is? Is there no standard anymore within the Christian community?

I see this like Dan Brown and his Da Vinci Code confirming in the minds of skeptics that Jesus really is the charlatan they always thought he was; because “now we have proof – Dan Brown’s research claims its truthfulness right on page one.” When is the print media of the Bible a true standard in this generation? Or is proper theology lost and we just have to keep diversifying the church (liberal vs. conservative, infant baptism vs. believers’ baptism, health and wealth gospel vs. theology of the cross, cheap grace vs. costly discipleship, gay bishops vs. homosexuality is a sin, etc.). While denominationalism divides the church (often times for good reason regarding non-essentials or preferences) we still can agree on who Jesus is in our foundational beliefs.

In Beauty and the Beast, the village is storming the castle in order to kill the beast. The cartoon musical has a great line, “a hundred Frenchmen can’t be wrong, so kill the beast!” Just because a larger group gets together and says Jesus is NOT only one way to get to God, doesn’t make it proper or acceptable Christian theology.

I read this article this morning in Our Daily Bread:

In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil Postman warns us of the danger of a world of information overload. He reminds us of a chilling futuristic vision—Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, which describes a world thoroughly flooded with information. But that data is manipulated so that none of it has any significance.

A glance at the Internet or a magazine rack hints that we are living in just such a culture. We’re drowning in a sea of information often marketed by the unscrupulous. We need discernment to choose wisely whom we will listen to.

In John 6, Jesus delivered His “I am the bread of life” message (v.35). It was a sermon so controversial that, at its conclusion, many of His followers went away and stopped following Him (v.66). They chose to stop listening to the voice of Christ. When Jesus challenged His disciples as to whether they would also walk away, Peter wisely responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (v.68).

In a world swamped with confusing and contradictory information, we can, like Peter, turn to Christ for wisdom. He cuts through the words of confusion with words of life.  — Bill Crowder

So, here we are in the information age, so much information we often find ourselves in information overload (24 hour news, thousands of magazine choices, more web pages than Google can count, non-stop commercials telling us what we need in order to live a satisfying life). I wonder if the church needs to be more in the business of helping people make sense of the world around them; we need interpretation more than additional information.

Read what my friend Chuck Warnock has written on the topic.

What is a Christian?

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I read a Homelife Magazine article this week by and about Tullian Tchivijian (Billy Graham’s prodigal grandson who admits defeat) called a magnificent defeat at the hand of God. He discusses that as a teenager he rebelled against all he knew to be right and was sucked into sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll… now jump to the present, he is currently founding pastor of New City Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

 

As I read, my first question was… “What?” Did this guy know who his grandfather was? Did this not influence him at all? Billy Graham was/is God’s ambassador to sitting presidents, heads of state as well as the common people all over the world, who preached the message of the resurrection to more people than the apostle Paul could ever had hoped for. Yes, he knew; and that’s why his life went awry.  

 

A great quote from the article: 

 

“The problem between knowing about God and knowing God is as massive as the Grand Canyon. That distance, that separateness, is something that must be resolved.” 

 

That’s why his life was bankrupt. Now back to my original question, “What is a Christian?” We have all heard various definitions: 

o    One who believes in the resurrection of Christ

o    One who trusts in Christ for his salvation

o    One who believes a certain set of propositional truth

o    One who participates in an organized church

o    One who follows the teachings of Jesus or the Bible

o    One who tries to live by the Ten Commandments

o    The list goes on…

 

Another amazing quote from the article: 

 

When my kids ask me, “Dad, what’s a Christian?” I always answer, “A Christian is one who can say, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, 0 God. My soul thirsts for God”‘ (Ps. 42:1-2). A Christian is someone who hungers for God more than anything else; more than health, wealth, status, good looks, or a spouse. Make no mistake: What we love is a surer test of who we are than what we say. Actions are much easier to fabricate than affections. 

 

That’s the point of HeartQuest 101, to love God more than anything else; to find that pearl of great price and risk everything to get it; to risk getting out of our comfort zones; to step out of our boats of mediocrity and experience water-walking with Jesus (a story from Matthew 14).  

 

This lifelong journey is a quest of the heart, to actively search for God in order to bring a sense of meaning and purpose to this life, then to bring honor and glory to our Creator and Sustainer of this world. So, how does your life reveal the love of your life? If we claim Christ has that number one spot, how does life lived out back up our affections?

The Historic St. Patrick

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Today, we are all supposed to be Irish, wearing green, displaying the shamrock, looking for leprechauns or pots of gold at the end of rainbows, drinking green beer and eating Lucky Charms… it all appears to be just another excuse to party, and we don’t have to wait for the weekend. So, what’s it all really about? Who was this Patrick fellow anyway?  

Robert Morgan writes (in Amazing Stories About Saints, Martyrs and Heroes) that Saint Patrick died March 17, 461, a day that has since borne his name. Patrick was born about 389 in Britain. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. Roman protection of England had deteriorated, and bands of Irish invaders tormented coastal areas, pillaging farms, slaughtering villagers, kidnapping teens. Patrick was taken at age 16. The Irish farmer who bought him put him to tending sheep, and somehow through all this Patrick found Christ. “The Lord opened to me a sense of my unbelief, that I might be converted with all my heart unto the Lord.” 

Following a daring escape at age 22, Patrick returned home to joyous parents who prayed that he would never again leave. But Patrick’s heart burned for his captors, and one night he dreamt an Irishman was begging him to return and preach. After several years of Bible study, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary. The Irish were almost wholly unevangelized at the time, worshiping the elements, seeing evil spirits in trees and stones, and engaging in magic, even in human sacrifice, performed by the druids. “It very much becomes us,” he said, “to stretch our nets, that we may take for God a copious and crowded multitude.” And so he did, planting 200 churches and baptizing approximately 100,000 converts, despite a dozen attempts against his life and violent opposition from civil authorities. In his Confessions, he wrote, I am greatly a debtor to God, who has bestowed his grace so largely upon me, that multitudes were born again to God through me. The Irish, who had never had the knowledge of God and worshiped only idols and unclean things, have lately become the people of the Lord, and are called sons of God. 

Think of the love this man had for God and also for his captors. Patrick would sense the call of God to a foreign land to share the good news of Christ with those living in darkness. He thought of others more highly than himself. He was willing to get out of his comfort zone and step out into a risky future. So, on this day of Irish celebration, how is God leading you to get out of your comfort zone? How will you take a risk for God and allow Him to work through you? Peter was called to step out of the boat and walked on water for a while (Matthew 14). How is God leading you? Remember, Peter would never had experienced the thrill of walking on the water had he not stepped out of the boat!

What we experience here in America on March 17 is a far cry from what I read about the real St. Patrick.

Heisman Winner Has Priorities in Order

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I found a great article about this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow, having his priorities in order. He’s an MK (missionary kid), a committed follower of Jesus and a faithful member of First Baptist Church Jacksonville, Florida.

In a profile aired on ESPN during the Heisman award ceremony, Tebow said his priorities are: “number one, my faith in God; number two, my family and my relationships with my family; number three, academics; and number four is football.”

His mother, Pam Tebow, in the profile, said she declined the advice of a doctor to get an abortion after she became seriously ill and dehydrated when pregnant with Tim, her fifth child while living overseas. Bob Tebow said his son is a “miracle baby and so we have reminded him that hundreds of times.” He was homeschooled but allowed to play high school football thanks to a Florida law.

There are several quotes from his pastor, Mac Brunson, about the entire family’s commitment to Christ. 

“I think who he is is a great tribute to his mom and his dad, in fact the whole family,” Brunson said. “It’s a family that’s incredibly dedicated to the Lord, dedicated to missions. They walk the walk. They just don’t talk about it; they really walk the walk. It’s a close family, and you have to admire the family, not just Tim, but the entire family as well for their commitment to the Lord and the Lord’s work.

“They are really an example of what a family can be under Christ because all of them are so gifted in so many different ways,” Brunson continued. “He’s got a brother who is an incredible athlete. He has a sister who is an incredible teacher. His mother speaks, his dad preaches and has this mission effort in the Philippines. They’re all just talented, gifted. They’re close. They’re a great example of what a family can be when Christ is Lord of everyone’s life.”

Mac Brunson was a Tidewater area pastor several years ago, serving at South Norfolk Baptist Church.

I liked this article because Tebow sets an example for students today, standing up for what he believes in, as well as excelling in academics and athletics; a real role model. Not just a guy who crosses himself after a great play, but a young man who can be at the top of his game and still be faithful in his relationship with Christ. The world has plenty of people who talk a good game. Living it out can communicate to others that what we believe really is something significant.

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