Disciples will obey

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.

2 This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands.  1 John 5:2-3a

I have been reading through 1 John recently, and I have been truly surprised at how pervasive this message is in John's letter:

If you know God, you will obey God.

If you don't obey God, then you don't know God.

Take at look at these verses:

But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

3 This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn't keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: 6 The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us. 1 John 3:24

There are similar statements in 1 John 2:17, 2:24, 3:6, 3:17, and 5:18.

For some, the idea that obedience is so closely connected to our salvation can be uncomfortable. Salvation by grace through faith alone is a treasured, and biblical, doctrine. However, so many people memorize Ephesians 2:8-9 and completely ignore Ephesians 2:10. No, we are not saved by good works, but we are saved in order to do good works. Even more, one of the primary reasons why John wrote this letter is so that his readers could know they were in fact saved (1 John 5:13), and over and over again, he says that the evidence that you know God is that you obey Him. James goes so far as to say that we are "justified by works and not by faith alone" and that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:24,26). This is the culmination of an argument against those who "say" that they have faith but have no evidence of that in what they do (James 2:14). True, saving faith will demonstrate itself through obedience and good works.

For others, the very idea that we have to "obey" God is itself uncomfortable, perhaps even offensive. As an adult, I love my parents, but I don't "obey" them. That's no longer the nature of our relationship. However, I will always be a child needing to obey my Father in heaven. Moreover, when you confess Jesus as your Lord, your kurios in Greek, that means that you are His slave, His doulos in Greek. There is a lot of controversy around translating doulos as "slave". Most translations do not do that; they use the word "servant", or "bond-servant". It's one of the primary reasons why I use the HCSB; they translate doulos as slave. One of the reasons why others do not has to do with the historical baggage associated with the word in the minds of the modern reader. But Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, which is one of the most respected works on the meaning of each word in the Greek New Testament, says this of doulos:

“There is no need to trace the history of this word, there is no need to discuss the meaning of this word, it has never meant anything in any usage but slave.”

As slaves of our Lord and Master, we are not free to just do whatever we want. We are subject to a will other than our own, that of our Lord Jesus. His commands are not burdensome, but they are not optional either. If you want to read more on this topic of the relationship between kurios and doulos, I recommend John MacArthur's book, Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ.

As I wrote in a recent article on the teen ministry site Fervr.net, God takes obedience seriously. There is no foundation in Scripture for thinking you can have a belief in God that does not change who you are and what you do and then expecting that belief to save you. Romans 10:9 is absolutely true. All you have to do is confess Jesus as your Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved. But in that confession, you permanently and irrevocably pledge that your will, your life, your hopes and your dreams are no longer your own but are now subject to the will of your Lord and Master Jesus Christ. We do not work and obey in order to obtain our salvation, but true disciples do work and obey as a result of our salvation.

Disciples will obey, and those who claim to follow Christ and yet make a practice of regularly disobeying Him are deceiving themselves.

You are My friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14

Disciples will serve

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.  

For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. Galatians 5:13-14

In one sense, I have already covered this topic with Disciples will give. Giving encompasses time and talents as well as monetary wealth. But for many people, the personal nature of service is a hurdle even higher than that of giving money. Consider the following statements that I have heard about serving in the last few months:

• "Can't we set a time limit on it, like three months or something? That way people don't feel like we're asking them to serve forever."
• "So much focus on serving makes me feel like I'm just a warm body to fill a position."
• "I feel like 10% of the people do 75% of the work in the church."
• "We had eight people sign up, but when the first meeting came, only one person showed up."
• "Just try something a couple of times, like a test drive. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it."
• "Those people that are complaining the most about us not having that program anymore, they are usually the first ones to make up excuses when it's their turn to serve everyone else."

Why is serving so hard for so many Christians to embrace? Why are there some who "always make up excuses" when it is there turn to serve in a common program, while others think asking people to serve an hour a week for more than a few months is a completely unreasonable request? The end result in so many churches is that relatively few people end up doing most of the work and may have to fight back feelings of bitterness along the way. Obviously, everyone's situation is different, but I feel there are a few common factors in the American church that contribute to this mentality.

Sinful and unbiblical attitudes. Let's just get this one out the way up front. People are sinful, selfish creatures by nature, and in our flesh, we naturally default to whatever is best for us. We are busy all week, family comes first, and besides, we tithe every month. Why do they need our time as well?

We either forget or simply do not understand that of all the things that belong to God (Deuteronomy 10:14), perhaps the most valuable is our very lives. It is what Jesus shed His blood to purchase. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20); we are literally owned by God. (1 Peter 2:9). Too many in the Western church dwell so much on God as our Father that they neglect entirely that Jesus is also our Lord and Master (Jude 1:4). We were set free from sin in order to become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:18). When our Lord and Master tells us to do something, we are to obey, and as Galatians 5:13-14 says, we are commanded to serve one another.

"Professional" Christians vs. "Lay" Christians. One of the most significant downsides of the tradition of paid church staff is that it fosters the idea that they are the only ones who really need to serve because "that's what they are paid to do." Many have this idea that the rest of us are only "part-time" servants in the kingdom, and as such they leave the heavy lifting of kingdom work to the "full-time professionals." In contrast, however, Ephesians 2:10 says that we were each created in Christ Jesus to do good works, and God prepared those works even before we were saved so we could "walk in them". 1 Corinthians 12:7 says every single believer has been given a spiritual gift, a "manifestation of the Spirit", for the "common good." Every single one of us has a job to do, and we are all full-time servants in the kingdom of God. That is and always will be our first priority while we here on this earth (Matthew 6:33).

Extremely low expectations. On the other side of the equation, we have many churches who have surrendered so much ground on this topic. They do not teach and preach the harder doctrines of what it truly means to live the life of a disciple. In the area of service, many have set the bar so low on what service really is that it creates a downward spiral of desperate churches having to beg immature believers to do the simplest of tasks. Like shopping for a new shirt at a department store, they tell their members to just try something out a time or two, and if they don't like it, they can take it back for a full refund, no questions asked.

I would imagine very few people in America aspired to be garbage collectors, dish washers, or toilet cleaners when they were eight. Yet these are things that every household has to do, and all members of that household, down to the smallest and most immature, should be doing their part. By the time I was 12, thanks to the wisdom of my parents, I was doing my own laundry, making my own breakfast and lunch, taking out the family's garbage and mowing the family's lawn every week during the summer. I do not remember if I got an allowance for that or not. If I did, it certainly was not significant enough to outweigh the memory of working in my family simply because I was a part of that family. Even at 2 1/2, my wife and I are teaching our son "when you make a mess, you clean it up." Every night before he goes to bed, we make him clean up the toddler tornado of gratuitous chaos that he creates.

Being part of a church family is just like being part of a regular family in this regard. In the last couple of days, I swept up potting soil off a classroom floor after a Sunday school craft, helped to move ridiculously heavy tables back into many classrooms, and plunged a stopped up toilet full of someone else's poop. I did not do this because it was my "ministry" or my "calling"; it needed to be done and I was there and able to do it. If you are part of a church family, and every believer should be (Hebrews 10:25), support your family by doing your part of the "grunt" work that virtually no one enjoys doing. And churches, if you are paying "professionals" to vacuum your buildings' floors, wash its windows, clean its toilets or mow its grass, you are only perpetuating the problem. Train your members in the importance of serving by communicating the expectation that everyone will share in the common "chores", and then stand firm and follow through.

However, beyond these "menial" tasks, there is another level of service to which disciples are called. As I mentioned before, every believer has been given a spiritual gift, and these gifts are given for "the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7) and to "build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). Like any given part of a physical body, we each have a vital role to play that God has equipped us specifically to fulfill. God has you in your church for a reason, and if you are not using your gift to serve your church, then that church is not as healthy as it could be. Service that is your calling or ministry happens when you use your gift to meet a genuine need. God has specific good works He intends for each of us to do. If you don't know what your spiritual gifts are, talk to your church leaders and ask them to help you figure that out. Once you know, find a way to use that gift that will build up the body of Christ, encouraging your brothers and sisters on to greater Christ-likeness.

Disciples will serve, both out of love and obedience to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and out of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.

Romans 12:11

Disciples will teach

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  
Matthew 28:19-20

I love the phrase "teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you." In this one statement, Jesus issues a self-replicating command to the disciples to tell others to do everything Jesus commanded, including the telling of others to do the same. Paul issues a similar command to Timothy:

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

In 2 Timothy 2:24, Paul states that followers of Jesus must be "able to teach", and Peter tells his readers to always be ready to "give a defense" for what they believe (1 Peter 3:15), that is, to teach those who question the faith why it is true. In Colossians 3:16, Paul encourages believers there to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and the writer of Hebrews laments the fact that his readers are still struggling over basic doctrines and not already teachers themselves (Hebrews 5:12). Teaching others about Jesus and how to be like Him is at the very heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

Probably the biggest obstacle for most people in embracing this idea to be teachers is thinking that they don't know enough to teach others. If this describes you, I would encourage you to spend some time looking at 1 Corinthians 2, especially verses 10-14. The essence of these verses is that no one understands the thoughts and ideas of God unless the Spirit reveals that understanding, and no one is able to speak in such a way to bring understanding about spiritual things except by the Spirit. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you meet the only qualification necessary to explain to someone else what God has revealed to you: being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 

This doesn't mean, however, that one can speak "by the Spirit" apart from or contrary to God's Word. God says He will be found by those who seek Him will all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:13) and that the spirit of the "prophets", that is those who claim to speak on God's behalf, must be in line with or subject to the Prophets, in context meaning the Word of God (1 Corinthians 14:32). You cannot teach what you do not know, so spending time in the Word and living out what you learn is an important prequisite to teaching your understanding to others. But from the moment you read and understand anything of the Bible, by God's Spirit you are qualified to teach that new understanding to someone else.

As you seek God in both Word and deed, under the guidance of an older brother or sister, don't be afraid to be an older brother or sister to those not as far down the path of life and faith as you are. Paul not only learned from Barnabas, he taught Titus and Timothy and countless others. Timothy not only learned from Paul, he taught many others as well. The life of a disciple is never meant to be lived in isolation, and your younger brothers and sisters need you to teach them about your faith journey, both to follow in your steps to joy and avoid the paths you took that lead to hardships.

Disciples will teach, both as an act of loving obedience to the Father and as an act love to their siblings in the faith.

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Disciples will learn

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17

One thing that I have found it easy to fall prey to in my walk over the years is the idea that learning about God and the Bible solely for the purpose of having the knowledge and understanding is sufficient to make one Christlike. There was a time when I found it quite irritating when others did not share this passion, thinking their faith was somehow inferior because they only wanted the "practical application" of a given passage. Many years down the road of my faith journey, I understand now that there is great wisdom in always asking the question, "How should I change or respond based on what I have read here?" In fact, there is an entire book of the Bible (James) dedicated to this one simple truth:

If what you know and believe doesn't change who you are and what you do, 

then your faith is worthless and probably won't save you. 

A major theme in Paul's second letter to Timothy is holding fast to truth that changes you. At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul warns Timothy that in the last days, there will be those who "hold to the form of godliness but deny it's power." In other words, they conform externally without an internal change of heart and mind that only comes by the power of the Spirit. He also refers to women who are burdened with sin and led away by their own passions as ones who are "always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth."

In contrasting these people with Timothy, Paul encourages him in verse 10 by observing that he is one who "[has] followed [Paul's] teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance". Timothy not only learned knowledge from Paul, he applied that knowledge to change his behavior. And at the end of verse 17, Paul states that one of the main goals of learning and studying Scripture is to be "equipped for every good work." 

I had a conversation with my father-in-law last night about the high costs of seminary training. He graduated from his seminary with a Masters in Divinity, and stayed with a church for many years, eventually becoming the pastor. One comment he made that I have heard echoed in many other places is that there was so much lacking from his seminary training in the way of practical leadership and ministry in a church. In contrast, a former church of mine trains all of their leaders from within. The current teaching pastor was saved in college by the ministry of the very church he now teaches and trains leaders at some 20+ years later. 

That's how Jesus did it. He took twelve men under His care for three years, training them to take up the mantle of proclaiming the kingdom of God once He was gone. He taught them plainly what the needed to know (e.g. Matthew 13:36-43), and once empowered by the Holy Spirit, those around them marveled at the fact that these disciples had no "formal" education. Their training consisted of daily lessons at the feet of the Master teacher (Acts 4:13). And this was not simply knowledge transfer, but even more their training consisted of seeing and understanding this knowledge translated into the practical faith of caring for the poor, orphans, and widows that Jesus ministered to throughout His ministry.

As a follower of Jesus, I urge you to emulate the examples of the very first followers. Find someone who is further down the road of faith than you are and place yourself under that person's guidance and training. And as you search for this person, don't be content to only learn things about Jesus and His Word, but also seek to learn to be Jesus to those around you through the life of an older brother or sister who is doing the same.

Disciples will learn, not only for the sake of having the knowledge, but also to be equipped for every good work the Father has prepared for them.

For we are His creation, 

created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared ahead of time 

so that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

Disciples will give

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, 

and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith 

and pierced themselves with many pains. 

1 Timothy 6:10

The Church and money is a touchy topic for many people. The vocal and visible minority of money-driven "televangelists" and prosperity gospel preachers has combined itself with the inherent greed that many of us are predisposed to in our flesh to produce an idea in the minds of believers and unbelievers alike that "the Church is just after my money." Add to this the mountain of debt we are under as a nation and, for many of us, as individuals, and we see that money in general is a topic that if left unaddressed can skew, hamper, or even crush many people's faith.

Jesus understood this, and He talked a lot about money. Consider this quote from Howard Dayton:

Jesus talked much about money. Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions. In the Gospels, an amazing one out of ten verses (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions. (quoted from preachingtoday.com)

I am convinced that one change of attitude would positively impact so many people in this area. As I am fond of quoting, the way we are to be transformed in the likeness of Christ is by changing the way we think to be in line with how He thinks. That is the essence of Romans 12:2. And in this area of money, we desperately need to understand that nothing, nothing, we "own" actually belongs to us. It all belongs to God and comes from God.

The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. Deuteronomy 10:14

No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. John 3:27

Just like the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, we are stewards over the wealth God has given us, not owners, and He expects us to use that wealth to advance His kingdom, not to pursue our own pleasures or to do nothing at all.

One question I have faced a bit of late is whether this giving should be to worthy causes or ministries or to one's own local church body. There can be a hesitancy to simply "dump" your gift into a large pool that may or may not be used for ministry. Many of today's churches have a *lot* of overhead associated with buildings and debt, and if they are anything like my previous church, those buildings are 90% full only 10% of the time. This can be discouraging from an individual Christian's perspective. 

Effective use of church facilities is a whole other topic that I feel very much needs to be addressed in many, many churches. I encourage those who read this to have those kinds of conversations with their leadership. But in the meantime, I would have you consider this about giving to your local church:

7 “Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Hosts. But you ask: “How can we return?” 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!” You ask: “How do we rob You?” “By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions. 9 You are suffering under a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me. 10 Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. Malachi 3:7-10

There is much more here than just an "Old Testament command" that we "don't have to obey" because we are "no longer under the law, but under grace". That is an unfortunate attitude that many in the Church possess, especially about this verse in particular. However, God gives a very specific reason as to why He wants the Israelites to bring the entire tithe: "so that there may be food in My house". Why was it important that there be food in God's house? Among other things, those who were called of God for full time service to Him (the Levites) were given this tithe as their inheritance. It's part of what God intended to help support His priests (Numbers 18:21, Joshua 14:4). The tithe was also the means by which the poor, orphans and widows were cared for in Israel (Deut. 14:29). Every three years, the Israelites were to contribute the tenth to a common fund within each city's gates for the purpose of caring for the priests and the poor.

We see both of these paralleled in the New Testament: elders and those "who preach the gospel" being supported by the church (1 Tim 5:17-18, 1 Corinthians 9:1-14) as well as the poor and widows (Acts 6, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, Romans 15:25-28). A church cannot care for those that serve it full time and those who need to be served if its members are not contributing into a common fund administered by that church.

As a new friend of mine recently encouraged me, if you are struggling to give for this specific reason, or for any reason at all, I encourage you to be obedient to God and trust Him for the results.

Disciples will give where and when God leads them to give, trusting Him for the results, because they know that it all belongs to Him anyway.

Give to everyone who asks you,
and from one who takes your things
don’t ask for them back.
Luke 6:30

Honor the Lord with your possessions
and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
then your barns will be completely filled,
and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9-10

Disciples will love

This post is part of a series on what disciples of Jesus will look like.

12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. John 15:12-14

Anyone who has spent any time in the Bible at all knows that love is a popular topic. Famous verses on the topic include John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:16, John 13:35 and of course 1 Corinthians 13. I wrote a series about this passage last year. But when I think about following Jesus Christ as a disciple in the area of love, or what it means to love like Christ loved, John 15:13 is at the top of my list.

I so enjoy gaining new insight when I study the Word, especially from passages I consider familiar. And in gathering my thoughts for this post, as is my custom when studying the Word, I pulled up the context for John 15:13 to see the broader thoughts surrounding this famous verse. What I noticed that I had not really seen before is that verse 12 frames an entire line of teaching that Jesus is giving to His disciples, stating that He is commanding them to not only love one another, but to do so specifically as He has loved them. And the way He loved them, and us, is summed up in one simple yet potent word: sacrifice.

To be honest, the topic of love is really hard for me, not in understanding it from the Word, but in applying that understanding in everyday life. In one sense, I feel like I have it down. Every time I try to encourage my brothers and sisters to greater Christ-likeness, I am doing so motivated by a deep love for each of them that really can only be explained as coming from God. And no matter how many times I am rebuffed for whatever reason, despite the pain and frustration that usually causes me, I continue to persist in hope that the next time with the next person will be different. That is a sacrifice for me, as it would be so much easier to give up and just leave people alone. But every once in a while, my hope is rewarded, and I find no greater joy in my walk with God than those times when I can help my brothers and sisters take a step further down the path of becoming like Christ.

But from another perspective, I don't understand how to love people at all. As I wrote earlier, I have only just recently begun to realize that my complete lack of insecurity about myself and my total, unwavering trust in God seems to be the exception, not the rule. Like a broken arm or bruised rib, touching the wounded parts of people's lives to exhort them on in their walk with Christ requires extreme gentleness, a level of gentleness that is almost unimaginable to me. And like a gorilla trying to care for a wounded butterfly, more often than not what I leave behind is broken wings and fractured souls. I cannot even begin to express how much anguish I have felt over knowing the pain that I have caused so many people.

But still I persist, trying to learn from every interaction, failed or otherwise, believing that God will complete the good work He has started in me, that one day the love He has placed in my heart for my brothers and sisters will not be overshadowed by my clumsy, fat gorilla hands.

I imagine that those who read this have experienced times of being called to love when it's not easy. When you face those times, look to the example of Jesus. With every lash of the whip, every thorn in His brow, every clang of the nail, every labored breath on the cross, and every sin He took upon His sinless body, He was literally screaming I LOVE YOU! No hardship any of us face in loving those around us can even begin to compare to what He went through.

Disciples will love, even when it hurts, because that's what Jesus did.

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

Romans 5:8

Disciples will ...

Something my pastor said to me a month or so ago has infused itself permanently into my spiritual consciousness, which is rare considering how poor my memory is. I had in mind two ideas for ministries in our church that I wanted to build. One is a discipleship framework by which those who want to be discipled and those who want to disciple can be easily connected with one another. The second is an upgrade to the methodology of our current Involvement ministry. The Involvement ministry is responsible for teaching people the purpose of spiritual gifts, helping them to discover what those gifts are in themselves, and connecting them with service opportunities. Considering where we are as a church right now (a long story not for public consumption), he felt that it wasn't the right time to begin a brand new ministry. But seeing that I was approaching these two ideas as separate entities, he said three words to me that I believe have permanently altered my understanding of how best to teach, train, and exhort those around me to greater Christ-likeness:

Disciples will serve.

It is simple and yet profound, and I believe in that moment God was speaking through him to me. The point I believe he was making is this: Serving is a natural outgrowth of being a disciple, but it does not make one a disciple of Jesus. You can serve without truly following Jesus in your heart and your mind, but if you do truly follow Jesus, you will serve.

Of course, this got me to thinking, what else will a disciple do? The following is a list of what comes to mind, in no particular order:

Disciples will love. (John 13:35)

Disciples will give. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Disciples will learn. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

Disciples will teach. (2 Timothy 2:24-25)

Disciples will serve. (1 Peter 4:10)

Disciples will obey. (1 John 5:3)

I will be writing on each of these in the coming days and weeks. If I think of more, I will add them here as well.

For now, I do want to reiterate this point. It is possible to put on an outward approximation of each of these qualities and still not be one who is following Jesus. As you read through these, if you don't see one or more of these qualities in your life, pray and ask God to change your heart and mind to want to follow Jesus in that area. If your inward desire does not match your outward conformity, you will likely become discouraged and miserable very quickly. The goal is not to simply conform outwardly but to be transformed inwardly. If you truly submit yourself to Jesus in your heart and your mind, external conformity to His teachings will naturally follow and will be a joy, not a burden.

Do not be conformed to this age,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

so that you may discern

what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

Love: The More Excellent Way, Part 3

... love does not envy or boast, ...  (1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV)

This is an interesting pair of words here. Paul starts down a path of eight qualities that love does not possess, emphasizing the positive by highlighting the absence of the negative. Envy and boasting are referring to the same thing from two different perspectives. Envy desires what others have that it does not. Boasting exalts what it has that others do not. This can easily be applied to many broad-sweeping areas of our lives, but I would like to focus on the specific context that Paul was addressing when he wrote this.

1 Corinthians 12:14-15,21 So the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. ... 21 So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

Rather than using their gifts to build each other up (Eph 4:12, 1 Cor 14:4), the Corinthians were dividing and being divided over them. You can see that throughout most of chapter 12. Some with "lesser" gifts were debasing themselves to the point of saying they weren't worth being part of the body. Others with more "desirable" gifts were elevating themselves to the extreme, saying that they could be just as effective in ministry, if not more so, without the rest of the body weighing them down. 

God is the giver of spiritual gifts, and He gives them perfectly. One way that I look at spiritual gifts is God manifesting Himself in different ways through finite beings. No one finite person can fully express the character of an infinite God. All of the gifts He gives need to be present in a church body and being used for that church to reach its fullest potential. From the person putting rolls of toilet paper in the stalls to the one preaching the message on Sunday morning, no one should think that they are not needed, and no can claim that they don't need anyone. A body only functions at its fullest when all of its members are functioning at their fullest.

If you are a member of a church and are not serving in or through that church, that's a problem. Your church is not as healthy as it could be. Don't envy those who are in the spotlight or who have what you think are "better" gifts. Ask your church leadership to help you identify your spiritual gifts and then use them to their fullest potential. God wants to display His glory through you in a unique way. Go, use your gifts for His kingdom, and do so with love.

Am I Worth It?

I have noticed a pattern of late, one that I was able to extrapolate back to many of my past interactions and observations of people's behavior. Of the ones that I have observed, people tend to over-generalize specific behavior in others that causes them hurt, saying to the offending individual that he or she has a pattern of doing that to "people". They tend to make two assumptions about a person's normative behavior based on just a couple of very specific bad interactions with that person:

1. The person that hurt me always acts that way towards everyone.
2. Everyone else re-acts to that person's behavior the same way that I did.

There is also a very similar set of assumptions that I believe are based in the same set of underlying issues:

1. Everyone else would react the same way I did to this person's behavior.
2. Since this person has friends that seem to enjoy his or her company, this person must be treating me differently than he or she treats everyone else.

Now, it is entirely possible that these particular assumptions are in fact true for any given specific individual. But even if they are true, in the behavior I have observed in others, those assumptions haven't been based on observing how the offending individual has interacted with others outside the  hurt person's field of view. These people have jumped to these conclusions without sufficient evidence. And as I considered this pattern recently, I was forced to ask the question: Why? Why doesn't the hurt individual simply approach the one who hurt them and say "You really hurt my feelings" rather than "You are hurtful towards people"?

I see two possibilities, and they aren't mutually exclusive. There are probably more, but this is what I see.

One, in the eyes of those who are hurt, it is possible that such assumptions lessen or eliminate the responsibility they feel for their own reactions to the offending behavior. "Well, if he always does this to people, or if he is going out of his way to treat me this badly, then it is his fault that I feel like this. He is the one that needs to change." Do you see yourself in this statement? It may very well be true that the offending person needs to change, but that does not negate your responsibility to have Christ-like reactions when people hurt you. For more on this, see my post entitled Do not fail to extend grace.

The second possibility brings me to the heart of this post. In considering that question of why many people don't just come out and tell someone that person hurt them, I believe something like this may be running through their minds: "I am afraid that the person who hurt me won't value me enough as a person to care that he hurt me." Simply telling someone "you hurt me" requires reliance on the other person caring that he or she hurt you. That's a scary place to be for many people. Furthermore, for those who have been hurt, the initial hurt itself can easily contribute to that uncertainty of intrinsic worth in the eyes of the offending person. From there, it's a fairly logical step to say, "If they won't change for me, maybe I can convince them to see that this is a pervasive problem that they need to change for themselves." Understandable, but certainly not preferable.

Do you see yourself in the previous paragraph? First, I would have you understand that as one created in the image God, you are valuable as a person because God says so. If you are a disciple of Christ, your intrinsic value is magnified by the fact that Jesus paid a price that cannot be measured to redeem you from eternal punishment for your sins. Your value as a person is secure in God, independent of how any one person acts towards you.

Second, I hope you can also see that broad sweeping statements directed at a person's character, ones that are quite possibly not true, can cause just as much pain for them as they caused for you, possibly more. It's one thing for someone to act insensitively towards you in a singular moment or two. It is quite another for you to come back and claim that the person has the fundamental character flaw of being insensitive by nature.

You should always strive to live at peace with everyone, and do not fail to extend them grace when they hurt you (Hebrews 12:14-15 ESV). When you are hurt, tell the person plainly "You hurt me" rather than "You have a tendency to do this to 'people'". If you do see a faulty pattern and want to help that person correct the pattern, I urge you to spend time studying what it means to instruct with gentleness, especially checking your motivation in seeking to correct. If you are in the mode of "I want that person to feel sorry that they hurt me and change so that they will stop hurting me," you should probably not say anything in the vein of trying to correct a "pattern". If you truly want to see your brother or sister grow in Christ-likeness, proceed carefully in love.

Search me and know my heart

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalm 139:23-24

This was the youversion.com verse of the day today. The boldness of David's prayer here really struck me, especially in relation to the rest of the psalm.

In verses 1-18, David marvels at the greatness and all-encompassing nature of the knowledge of God. He starts in verse 1 with "You have searched me and known me." God knows all we think and all we do (Ps 139:2-3). He knows everything we are going to say (Ps 139:4). In considering this, David declares "This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it." (v. 6)

In verses 7-12, David proclaims that no place on earth is free from God's knowledge. I find a bit interesting the perspective from which he describes this knowledge. He starts with, "Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?" David professes the limitless scope of God's knowledge as if to say "I have tried to run away from God, and everywhere I went, He was there." In between this recognition of his inability to hide from God, David states that everywhere he goes, God is there, not to judge him, but to lead him; not to crush him, but to hold on to him. (Ps 139:10)

In verses 13-16, David turns his focus inward, and again he marvels at the depth of God's knowledge. He considers how he was made, how God "knit" him together in his mother's womb. Interesting thing about verse 14:

I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well. 

Most people that I've seen comment on this verse focus on the fact that David said "I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made." Most of these comments approach this verse as a place of comfort in knowing that we are special in the eyes of God. While I think the idea itself is supported elsewhere in scripture, I don't think that's what David had in mind here.

I see David again marveling at the all-encompass nature of the knowledge of God, in keeping with the the focus of the psalm up to this point. What I believe David was focusing on here was this:

I will praise You

because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made [by You, God].

Your works are wonderful,

and I know this very well.

God knows our inmost being, the bones He placed in our bodies, and the days He has planned for us. God's knowledge is so complete that He knows us even before we existed (i.e. formless, Ps 139:16). And after this inward focus, David again exclaims how far beyond us God's knowledge is (Ps 139:17-18).

Without carefully reading this psalm, Psalm 139:19-22 might seem out of place. But really, it is a natural progression of David's worship of God. Up until this point, David is saying, "God, You know me, You know everything about me, You everywhere I could go, and You even know how you put me together." At the end of all this, David focuses on his desires compared with God's desires. He recognizes the inherent war waged between his flesh and God's Spirit. 

And here at the end, we come to the boldness of David's prayer. After declaring the limitlessness of God's knowledge, he asks God to apply that knowledge to his own desires. And not just to know them, but to shape them to be in line with God's desires. David prays something similar in Psalm 86:

Teach me Your way, Yahweh,
and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.
Psalm 86:11

It is one thing to pray, "God, teach me Your ways and I will walk in Your truth." It is quite another to pray "God, shape my desires so that I will want to walk in Your truth."

Live with eternity in mind

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 And I say this, brothers: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

Paul writes this in the middle of a teaching about remaining in the circumstance of your life that you were in when you came to faith in Jesus. He is primarily addressing marital status, saying that those who aren't married shouldn't seek to be married, and those who are should not seek to be unmarried. He prefers that the Corinthians be unmarried as he is for the sake of devoting as much attention and time as possible to the service of the Lord. But in the middle of all this, he significantly broadens the scope of this principle's application in these three verses.

This world is passing away, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth that will exist for all eternity (Revelation 21:1). Tears will be wiped away, sin will be no more, and God will make everything new (Revelation 21:4-5). That is the joy that we have to look forward to.

To those who are married, the driving purpose of your life together should be bringing glory to God and advancing the kingdom of God. Don't be concerned about the relative triviality of the daily grind of your life together. That's not to say that you should neglect one another. There are numerous passages outlining how we as disciples of Christ should treat our spouses. For example, Paul provides some significant guidance regarding the nature of sex within marriage at the beginning of chapter seven. And in fact, the Word is clear that marriage here on earth is meant to serve as a symbol of the eternal marriage between Jesus Christ and His Church. But the overarching principle is this: your marriage is temporary (Matthew 22:30); God's kingdom is eternal.

Paul continues in verse 30 to say, are you weeping? Your tears will one day be no more. Your emotional pain is temporary, but God's kingdom is eternal. Do you find happiness in someone or something here on this earth? That temporary happiness is not even worth comparing to the eternal joy we will have in the presence of God and His eternal kingdom.

What do you buy with the money God has given you stewardship over? The things of this world are passing away, but God's kingdom is eternal. Do you find security in the apparent stability of the culture in which you live, in the retirement nest egg you are building, or the government programs that promise to take care of you? "This world in its current form is passing away," but God's kingdom is eternal.

Paul drives the point home in verse 32: "I want you to be without concerns." This world and everything in it is passing away, but God's kingdom is eternal. Don't be concerned with the temporal and relatively trivial things in this world that demand your time and attention. On the contrary, live your life with eternity in mind.

Live as you are, not as you were

Colossians 3:1-2 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.

This is a common theme in Paul's letters. And that tells me, among other things, that it is something  that is a common struggle amongst all believers. Being made Christ-like is a life-long process, and we must daily "put to death what belongs to our sinful nature" (v. 5).

• sexual immorality
• impurity
• lust
• evil desire
• greed
• anger
• wrath
• malice
• slander
• filthy language
• lying

If you have been saved by the blood of Jesus, you have been (past tense) "crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:19-20). Don't live your life as if you are still the old you. You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). As Paul continues in Colossians:

Colossians 3:12-15 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. 14 Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

You are a child of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, filled with the fullness of His power and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. You are not a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness. Live as you are, not as you were.