Giving Up All We Have

Recently I read Luke 14:33 which says, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”  As I’m sure many other people have, I’ve struggled with this verse over the years.  It’s really hard to come to terms with the idea of giving everything away in order to follow Christ.  It’s always difficult to part with the stuff in my life.  What can I say; I’m human, and by my very nature I’m pretty materialistic.  I have an innate craving for comfort that’s hard to part with.

Today, though, I read this verse in a whole new light.  While I still believe that in some ways Jesus was talking about material things, I think he meant that following him means much more than that.  Jesus doesn’t just want your stuff; he wants your heart.  He wants you.  When we come to Jesus it means we’ve come to the end of ourselves, and we’re ready to surrender all the things in our lives that have kept us from really knowing him fully.  Christ calls us to let go of our very selves so we can be filled with God’s very presence. 

Think about the things that make it hard for you to have a relationship with God.  Things like pride, selfishness, anger, worry, fear, and sin make it difficult, if not impossible, to know him.  In essence, it is our self that gets in the way.  The self is always concerned with being comfortable or seeking its own pleasure.  We often put the desires of the self on a pedestal, and in a certain sense we will do anything to get what we want.  When we follow the callings of our self we naturally slip into sin.  These are the things Christ is asking us to leave behind at the foot of the cross.  It’s like the scene in “Pilgrim’s Progress” when the character Christian leaves his burden of sin at Jesus’ feet and is finally free to walk with God.  In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  We always tend to think in terms of giving up all the things we have that we want, but Jesus wants all the bad stuff in our lives that we hold on to.  He wants us to give him our sinfulness and our brokenness so he can make us whole.   

Meditating on this idea has been freeing.  God has allowed me to have a way of peeling away all the awful things in my life and handing them over to him.  He’s allowed me to experience the freedom of forgiveness, and the joy of being given a fresh start.  And it’s not about giving him my nice house or my money.  It’s about giving him my whole heart.  Once you do that, nothing else even seems to matter!

Do Your Personal Devotions Affect More More People Than You?

In the US today, thousands of personal devotional books have been written for every occasion and “brand” of Christian.  Over time, the vast volume of these resources (many of which are very good) have led us as Americans into believing that we should interpret the Bible by saying, “what does this passage mean for me”.  This individualistic approach in turn has led us into the lie that says our personal devotional time is for us only and has no affect on anyone else.

The truth is, that while reading scripture with a self-application mindset is a great way to do devotions, this approach is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how we should be reading and understanding Scripture.  Recently I have been thinking and talking with fellow believers about how our personal devotional time affects so many more people than ourselves. 

The quiet time that we have with God throughout the day is a primary way in which we speak to and hear from God, discerning his will and growing deeper in relationship with him.  This truly is personal!  What is critical to remember is that how “in tune” we are with God in our personal lives affects our behavior towards the people around us.  When we have open ears to what God is telling us we are aware of when he is telling us to act for his purposes, whether it is to walk across the room to talk to someone, or to move around the world to be a missionary. 

Pastor Mark Oshman has been known to say that our prayer and meditation of the Word with God is personal but not private.  What he means is that our private relationship with God affects our relationships with other people.  A perfect example is George Müller who well known for his extremely close walk with the Lord through daily prayer and Scripture reading.  He said,

“The result of this (morning prayer and meditation) is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, either very soon after or at a later time, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.”

Throughout his life, Müller gave thousands of orphans homes, schooling, and food through the simple act of praying in support.  Undoubtedly, his personal prayer life led to tremendous impact on each of those orphans and consequently their families later in life.

We see a much greater and more powerful example as we read through the gospels and learn of Jesus’ continual private times of prayer and meditation.  Undoubtedly, if Jesus spent so much time in private prayer when he had nothing to confess, how much more should we!

We have no difficulty in imagining a church where none of the members has any personal time with God and consequently are not in tune with how they should be serving the Lord.  We can also imagine a church where each member lovingly prays and worships the Lord and meditates on Scripture each day.  We can have no doubt that God will powerfully use this second church as a body in powerful ways because of their daily personal communion with him. 

As we consider how we are serving the Lord today and where God is leading us, we must remember that we are part of the body of Christ and that our daily walk with God is about more than just ourselves. 

PRS

"Am I my Brother's Keeper?"

I just finished listening to a sermon by Dr John MacArthur about believers confronting each other and holding each other to holiness. He started with the question that he says many Christians use when responding to a fellow believer's sin: "Am I my brother's keeper?" MacArthur in his sermon states an emphatic "YES" to this question. He walks through the story of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) to show how serious God takes sin (in this case, lying to the Holy Spirit) and then begins breaking down Matthew 18 showing how God uses other believers to help a brother repent. What struck me the most was as he was talking about the context of believers confronting each other in Matt 18 he mentions that this does not always take place in a large church setting and gave the example of missionaries on the mission field who may not have an established church yet. I thought of our little group preparing to go overseas and serve the Lord. I realized that all the preparations I have been thinking through and working on have all included things that I will do or need to learn, etc. They have not been about who I need to BE and how that needs to happen. Of course I know that God calls us as believers to holiness, but to realize that if we truly believe the Word of God we will be really pushing each other to pursue holiness (and confronting each other's sins) even more!

This is my prayer for us as a team and for future team and ministry partners: that we would pursue holiness and not be afraid to obey by confronting each other's sins, and that we would receive each other's corrections with humility and joy as well. Please, fellow believers, help be my keeper!

SEF

Missional Mothering

I have been asked more in the last few weeks than any other time in my life this question: “so, what do you do all day?”

I know people who would take a lot of offense at that question... and I was tempted to a few times as well (you want to come over and watch me all day? I’ll even let you wash out some poopy underwear) but it actually caused me to really think about what is it that I, as a mother, follower of the Lord, and woman who desires to be a missionary, do. What is it that my daughter would say that I do all day? Does she see me as a somewhat crazy person, running around cleaning, cooking, driving places, calling people, emailing, trying to frantically get things done? Do I seem just like any mother in the US? Or does she see Christ in me? This is the most important question. It doesn’t really matter what I am actually doing all day, though I am tempted to think it does. What matters is if I am glorifying the Lord and really pointing to Him, in everything! Every poopy diaper, every email, every dish washed and dog vomit clean-up. 

I was talking to a friend recently who is very interested in going on the mission field. She is single and without children and she asked what I would be doing over there. Good question! I thought for a short moment and replied “well, I guess the same thing I do here!” Though I had not thought about that before saying it, I think it is such a good way for us as women to look at being a mother on the mission field. Yes, there may be a new language to learn, yes some new cultural things and customs, yes my floor may be constantly covered in dirt and I will be without a good washer and dryer. But really, will my life be any different? Should it be different when we are overseas? I don’t think it should. If we as moms are loving our children and our husbands, wanting to keep a safe and homey home, feeding everyone, being hospital, and most importantly walking in the joy of knowing Christ and living in light of the gospel then really there is nothing different to do there than here. This is freeing and helps remind me that I am on mission NOW and what I do daily matters for the kingdom. What I do today spills over into what I do in a place where they do not know Christ. 

“and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”   -- Col 3:17

This was not only written to people who seem to be doing the important work in missions or the church. It wasn’t to the people who had a great job and felt fulfilled in everything they did. It was to the whole church then and today. Paul (through the Holy Spirit) had in mind mothers too! And this is not a suggestion, but rather a command. 

So, pray for the missionary moms around the world today! That we would all have wisdom from above for the craziness in our homes... but mostly that we would love and rely on Christ minute by minute and do all this for His glory! 

SEF

The American Perspective

When Americans go overseas they face a host of cultural challenges.  Although there are other countries (mostly European) that have a similar culture, the majority of the world lives, acts, and communicates differently from the United States. 

In his book, “Ministering Cross-Culturally”, David Lingenfelter describes a method for measuring an individual’s cultural values.  Through a series of questions, a person is able to learn their personal tendencies within their culture.  As a whole, people from western civilizations tend to be more time than event oriented, more dichotomistic (black and white) thinkers than holistic thinkers, more task than relational oriented, more individualistic than group oriented, and more achievement than ascribed status focused.

Each of these categories can be serious sources of stress and miscommunication if not properly addressed before interacting with other cultures.  As western Christians, we are prone to interpret the Bible through our own cultural lens.  In addition, western missionaries have been known to teach the Bible solely from their own cultural perspective and even at times insist that everyone view Scripture through western eyes. 

However shocking it may be, western society is not a reflection of the cultural values and perspective we see in the Bible.  Too often, western Christians view other cultures as being inferior.  Whenever we start to experience these feelings, we must immediately turn and look to Jesus as our example. 

Jesus provides the perfect example of contextualization of the gospel.  Jesus purposely came to earth and was born into a lowly family.  As he grew, he adopted the language and culture of the people he was born.  From scripture, we see Jesus following the customs and traditions of his people, and respecting the earthly authorities.  Jesus clearly fought against sin, but not against the culture itself.  We must remember that Jesus lived in an event, group, and relational oriented society that often valued status over achievement.  This leaves very few similarities with our own culture today.  The way Jesus interacted with people through his teachings and travels demonstrate that he held the same basic cultural values as the culture in which he lived. 

As Disciples of Christ, we are commanded to go to the nations and preach the good news of the gospel!  We must remember that God is able to work in all cultures, and that the gospel is not limited by worldly cultural norms.  No culture is perfect, but the beauty of the gospel is that if changes in a culture are needed, the truth of the gospel with the work of the Holy Spirit will cause conviction and change to be made.  Through Jesus, the gospel has been brought to the world for all people and we must never be a hindrance to people experiencing the gospel by insisting their perspective on time, relationships, and status match our own! 

Four Compelling Reasons to Be on Mission with God: Reason #1

1. God’s Command is Clear

Imagine you are in the military and your General came to you, called you to attention, and told you clearly, “this is what I want you to do with your life...this is your #1 mission...whatever else you do falls under this clear, direct order I am giving you today?”  HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?  ...Apathy?....Hesitation?....Skepticism?....Obstinacy?  

Well we have that direct order from God Himself.  There are many places where God clearly commands his people to be a missionary people.  The most well known is commonly called The Great Commission:  Matthew 28:16-20  

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 I think sometimes we get used so used to thinking of God in terms of the gracious salvation and merciful blessing that he gives us that we forget that Jesus is not just our Savior, He is our Lord and King.  And as King He issues commands that He expects to be followed!  God is not pleading with us, pandering with us, begging us to Go.  HE IS ON THE THRONE COMMANDING US TO GO!  Yes, the Great Commission is an invitation to join God on His Magnificent Mission, but before it is an invitation, it is a command.  This command isn’t just for extra credit Christians...it is inseparably part of what it means to be a Christian.  God is a missionary God.  God’s people are a missionary people

This should be the most motivating Reason to be on Mission - GOD COMMANDS YOU TO BE.  

But God doesn’t just give us a command and leave us to ourselves to figure it out, although He has every right to do that.  But in His grace and love and wisdom He makes His command to proclaim His Gospel to the Nations into an invitation to join Him in His Spectacular Plan.  We'll look at that in the next post.