Thursday, March 25, 2010

Something to think about

I find the subject of “leadership” absolutely fascinating. I have read hundreds of books and articles on the subject and still find it interesting how people can’t even define or agree on the definition of the word. Some people make the definition of “leader” as simple as anyone who has a following. Those people say that Jesus was a leader and Hitler was a leader, the only difference being that Jesus was a good leader and Hitler was a bad leader. Believe me, there is much more to authentic leadership than that.

Margaret Wheatley has great insight into leadership. I recently saw one of her quotes which reads, “If, as leaders, we fail to encourage unique and diverse ways of doing things, we destroy the entire system’s capacity to adapt.”

Are we church leaders trying to pull society back to the traditional ways of doing church and living life, or are we looking for ways to be relevant to a society that is changing and adapting?

If we are trying to pull society back to the “good old days” then we will become increasingly irrelevant to the very people we need to be reaching.

If however, we get out in front and show them a better way of living life then we become leaders who lead people to discovering how they can have a relationship with God.

Think about it!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

What Are You Living For?

If we can get past all the fancy language, get beyond all the arguments, and get to the heart of the matter, we are all living for one of two things:

  1. We are living for what this life can offer us, which we cannot take with us, or
  2. We are living for what is beyond this life, something this life can’t take away from us.

There really are no other options. You may be young and you may argue that you’re living for the day you get married. I say “Great! Then what?”. You may then reply that you’re living for the day you graduate college, get the great job, have children, watch them grow up and get married, the day you become a grandfather, and then the day you retire. Great! Then what? And in the end, like every other person, you die. Great! Then what? And only what you and I have done for eternity will last.

What am I living for today?

What are you living for today?

Someone once wrote “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Each of us is either living for this life or for what is beyond this life, but we can’t life for both. Either we invest in this life or we invest in eternity, but not both.

In Matthew 6:20 Jesus told us to store up treasure in heaven, and then He said that our heart, our affections, are drawn to where we put our treasure. Wow! Sounds like Jesus is telling us that we have a gauge to measure where our primary focus is.

Where is your focus today? Is your focus on something you will be leaving behind, or is your focus on something you will enjoy after this life?

Think about it!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Are We Missing It?

Here is a thought that has been nagging at the back of my mind for the past week.

In John 14:15 we read where Jesus said that if we love Him we will keep His commandments, and then in chapter 15 verse 9 He tells us to abide in His love. From this and the entire context of chapters 14-17 it seems obvious that it is the Lord’s plan for us to fall so deeply in love with Him that we obey His commandments.

So I must ask myself:

  • How do I fall more deeply in love with the Lord Jesus? In the Old Testament we find the commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then we find this same commandment repeated in three of the four gospels, and Jesus said this is the greatest commandment of all.

Jesus then tells His disciples that the greatest love is to give one’s own life for his friends, and then He goes and demonstrates this very thing.

Remember that at this point Jesus has already told His disciples to remember His broken body and spilled blood every time they the break bread and drink the cup, and to do this until He returns.

That leads to these next questions:

  • Could it just be that the very purpose of the Lord’s Table is to help us learn to love Jesus so deeply that we keep His commandments?
  • Could it be that the key to loving Jesus, to abiding in Him, and thus to obeying His commandments is remembering His sacrifice for us?
  • Could it be that we need to remember our Lord and His sacrifice more often so that we can fall more deeply in love with our Savior, to the point where we obey His commandments, abide in Him, have close fellowship with Him, have our prayers answered, experience a fruitful life, and thereby live the abundant and joyful life He promised us?
  • Could it be that our desire to keep the Lord’s Table from becoming commonplace is actually hurting people and keeping them from falling deeply in love with the Savior and obeying Him?

Matthew 26:26-30 - While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Mark 14:22-26 - While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. "Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Luke 22:17-20 - And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes." And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

Acts 2:42 - They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The breaking of bread is done with a frequency of “continually”, the same as devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, and prayer.

Acts 2:46 - Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

The breaking of bread is done “day by day”, and it was done in the context of sharing a meal.

Acts 20:7 - On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

On the first day of the week they were gathered for the purpose of breaking bread.

Acts 20:11 - When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

It appears they broke bread and had eaten a meal.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 - For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

How hard is it to live the Christian life?

Do we make the Christian life too hard?

In John 14:15 Jesus said that if we love Him we will keep His commandments.

Jesus said that all we need to do is to fall in love with Him, and if we do that all the rest will fall into it’s proper place.

Is it any wonder that we are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? (see Deut. 6:5)

When the religious leaders asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, they were asking Him a loaded question. In essence they were asking where the focus of teaching God’s Word should be? Should the focus be on the Ten Commandments, on the sacrificial system, on the laws of cleanliness, on observation of special days, or what? And had Jesus lifted out a single commandment as the most important they planed to accuse Him of de-emphasized the others. Except that there is one most important commandment, and Jesus pointed that out to them. (see Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27)

Have you and I become like the Pharisees? Do we focus so much on teaching all sorts of things about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible that we are neglecting to teach people how to fall in love with the Savior?

Jesus is telling His disciples that all they need to do is to fall deeply in love with Him.

Look at the result of our falling deeply in love with Jesus: For starters, 1) Jesus shows up in our lives (14:21); 2) our fellowship with Jesus and the Father becomes so close that it’s like that of people living together (14:23); 3) we fulfill our God-given purpose (15:5); 4) our prayers are answered (15:7); 6) life becomes fulfilling and satisfying (15:11); and 7) we don’t stumble back into our old lifestyle (16:1).

I remember my good friend Dwight Hendrick telling me that the Christian life is really simple. He put it like this: “Love God and do anything you want”.

Let’s focus on falling so deeply in love with Jesus that we obey His commandments. Then we can do anything we want.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Pathway

I’ve spent the past weeks studying John 14-16 and here are some observations I thought I’d pass on.

Loving Jesus is the pathway to:

1) Answered prayer – John. 14:14;

2) Jesus showing up in our lives in a powerful way (manifesting Himself to us) – John 14:21

3) Close fellowship with the Jesus and the Father – John 14:23

4) Peace in our hearts – John 14:27

5) Fruitfulness is our lives – John 15:4-5

6) Power in our prayer life – John 15:7

So how do we love Jesus more deeply?

Jesus said in Mark 12:31 that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

How do we do it?

I’m working on some answers, but how about you sending me some feedback on this one. I’d love to know someone reads these postings, and I’d love to know how to make them even more meaningful to you.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Real Life Change

Love is proven by obedience: Have you ever wondered why some people who come to know Jesus as their Savior experience dramatic life change, while others seem to continually fall back into their old lifestyle? I’ve been pondering that recently as I’ve watched some people soar to entirely new lives, while others have repeatedly falling back into their old destructive lifestyles.

Jesus addressed that very subject right before He was arrested and killed. That means He must have considered it pretty important, knowing that He was about to die and was giving His final instructions.

Jesus said that our obedience is directly related to our love. He could not have been more straightforward. If we love Him we will obey His commands, and if we aren’t obeying His commands it’s because we don’t love love. Pretty clear.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;” John 14:21

”If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” John 14:23

“He who does not love Me does not keep My words;” John 14:24

Those who love Jesus experience a dramatic life change because they obey His commands, but those who do not love Jesus do not obey His commands and experience that life change. Obedience to Jesus is directly linked to one’s love for Jesus.

Answers to our prayers are based on our love for Jesus: We also see that answers to our prayers are based on our obedience to Jesus. If we live life for the purpose of bringing glory to Jesus then God answers our prayers, but if we are living our lives for our own personal gratification then we are wasting our time asking for more stuff that will distract us even more from what God put us here to accomplish.

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13

“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:14

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.” John 15:10

Jesus promised to answer our prayers if we live for His purposes in the same way that He lived for His Father’s purposes.

Being fruitful is based on our love for Jesus: God’s plan is for us to bring glory to His name by spreading His great message of faith, hope, and love to all mankind. Jesus plainly says we can’t do that on our own. He tells us that we must have His power in our lives if we are to be successful.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” John 14:12

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” John 15:4

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” John 15:8

So not only are answers to our prayers dependent on our obedience to Jesus, but our ability to do anything worthwhile for God is also directly proportional to our loving Jesus and obeying His commands.

Living in joy is based on our love for Jesus: And if we are going to enjoy life, meaning that we really live a life that’s worth living, then that too is tied to our love and obedience to Jesus.

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:11

There is no other way to have a successful life, to live out that dream in our hearts, to experience the thrill of doing what God designed us to do. Only God can make the dreams in our heart come true, and it only happens when we love Jesus, obey Jesus, and are tied to Him so that His purposes become our purposes.

Example of the greatest love: By this time I hope you’re asking how you can really love Jesus. Jesus gave the answer to that too. If you and I want to truly understand great love then we need to understand what Jesus did.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13

Wow! No wonder Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s when we learn to love God with all our being that we obey Jesus, His power is made real in our lives, our prayers are answered, and we experience the joy that comes from doing what God designed us to do.

Do you really want to love Jesus?

If you do then invest ten minutes every day for the next thirty days to read the gospel accounts of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. In your mind walk through what Jesus went through, and ponder so that you begin to understand what Jesus went through just for you. Ask God to help you really understand His love and what Jesus went through just so that you could have a relationship with Him.

Note: All scripture passages are taken from the 1995 update of the New American Standard Bible.