Allow It

Allow It:

Personal piety (holiness) is something that we use as a substitute for the authentic LORDship of Christ in our lives. The idea of striving to be good enough in God’s eyes apart from complete and total immersion in His authority/will, obedience, power, and presence is the deepest contempt we can have for God.

John the Baptist had people literally “flocking” to him at the Jordan to be baptized (Matt 3:5), then when Jesus came “to be baptized by him” (3:13) - not for repentance but one of experiential obedience - we read, “John tried to stop Him…” (3:14).

In our sin-state we consider things through a skewed, twisted, tainted, and distorted lens. It seems good to act as John did in trying to stop Jesus as we feign humility saying, “I am unfit to take off His sandals,” but Jesus says “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness” (3:15).

Jesus’ baptism wasn’t one of repentance, but rather one of experiential obedience. God allowing Himself to be immersed 100% in human form, in the brokenness of the world we wrecked through our autonomy, in order to not merely repair our relationship with our Creator - but to REDEEM it and make it PERFECT.

We, like John the Baptist, often feign humility and thus hinder obedience to the VERY THING Jesus needs to do in our lives because we try to stop Him. Jesus says, “Allow it.”

Until you baptize Jesus in your life… until you take Him into your Jordan… put your hands on Him… take Him under the water and realize that the REALITY of who He is - His very LIFE in your life is in your hands…  Until He rises as Sovereign…  until the heavens suddenly open, the Spirit comes down like a dove, and the voice of the Father proclaims Him as Son in your life…  then you, like John the Baptist, are feigning obedience, faking humility, fabricating relationship and authenticity by trying to stop Him.

Jesus says, “Allow it… this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Will you?

Blessings,

-Kevin

When Things Stink

When Things Stink:

About a year ago friend of mine shared an embarrassing experience with me. He called it an "epic Dad fail." He followed it up with saying how there was "a lesson to be learned." I recently had an "epic Dad fail," which resulted in my son needing 7 stitches.

We often have similar "epic fails" in faith. I know because I've been there - many times.  When things stink our default response is to question God's faithfulness...  "How could You (God) let _______ happen God?"

The nation of Israel wandered in the desert so that God could test them and reveal what was in their hearts.  

In Deuteronomy 8:3 we read, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you... to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

-Deuteronomy 8:3

When those times of testing come, be encouraged! Be encouraged in the wilderness, for just as gold is purified through the refining fire... so we too are being conformed into the image of Christ.

Blessings,

-Kevin

USE IT

USE IT:

I recently started a new “job” at my church here in Forney, Texas. I say “job” because serving the Bride of Christ is no job at all, but my privilege and absolute pleasure! Recently one of my supervising pastors (who is coaching me on public speaking and sermon preparation) offered the critique that I need to make my sermon introductions personal and not just about someone I know or knew, but rather about MY experiences in life.

He offered up that point because getting the audience to engage and relate to the story you’re telling translates into their relating to the speaker’s presentation of the gospel message. If you don’t engage the audience with “your story,” then folks will probably remain disconnected when you start sharing God’s story.

My first thought was, “I’ve not really been through anything in life - certainly not anything like that young lady who traveled to China to rescue baby girls from being snatched up into the sex-trade” (See my recent blog titled “DISCIPLE” for more on that).

Then I realized what I was doing...  I was putting up a layer of insulation between me and the audience. I was protecting myself by telling a story about someone else and THEIR experience; that way if people criticized it they wouldn’t really be criticizing me...

It’s rather funny / ironic that I would give a sermon titled “Having Been Brought Through” and use someone else’s story to introduce it. So this morning I woke up with these thoughts running through my head: “What has God brought ME through? What has God been preparing ME for in life to define my service, ministry, and to obey His command “DISCIPLE?” So I started writing them down:

• shy kid who has always dealt with insecurity
• always being picked on in school
• the death of my BEST friend at age 12
• growing up disconnected from my dad
• feelings of perpetual inadequacy from my mom
• betrayal by people I thought were my friends
• an epic fail in opening my own business
• ongoing financial stress because of that failure
• a decade of anger and rage in my 20’s
• failed relationships in dating
• finding out my girlfriend was a drug dealer (long story!)
• feelings of failure and defeat in being 40 and never married
• marrying a woman at 42 who was abandoned by her ex-husband
• becoming an instant dad to two little girls
• another failed business venture - more financial stress
• years of rejection in ministry
• twelve months of unemployment...

And that’s just some of what I came up with in about 5-10 minutes.

I’m blogging about this because “having been brought through” by God is exactly what Jesus was telling those 11 disciples to consider in Matthew 28:19. Jesus is NOT saying “Go and make disciples!” Our Risen LORD was telling them (and is telling us) to “DISCIPLE!” But in order to do that we have to 1) stop and 2) reflect back on "having been brought through." We have to become incredibly and intimately involved in God’s story in OUR OWN lives in order to become intimately involved in God’s story of redemption.

Unless you see God’s intimate grace, mercy, compassion, justice, patience, and love in YOUR story - then you can't “DISCIPLE” anyone - because YOU haven't been discipled.

What you can do without looking back is spin your wheels ranting about do’s and dont’s... you can waste time teaching your kids, family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about a religious system (people called those people "hypocrites!" in the New Testament)... You can be self-righteous and judge others for not sharing your subjective personal beliefs... you CAN do lots of things that amount to heaping piles of dung, but what you CANNOT do is fulfill Jesus’ summary IMPERATIVE COMMAND: “DISCIPLE!”

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So what’s the takeaway? What’s the ACTION STEP for you today? If you really are a follower of Jesus - a redeemed child of God - then your exclusive vocation in life is exactly what Jesus called you to be: His disciple. Our occupations vary, but as followers of Christ there is but one vocation: DISCIPLE. That exclusive vocation has one exclusive summary imperative command: “DISCIPLE!” Disciples of Christ have that one objective this side of eternity.

If you’re someone who is struggling with questions regarding faith, Christianity, and Jesus: then I’d like to encourage you to stop, look back at your life, then simply ask Jesus to help you to truly know HIM - not a religion, not useless ceremonial rituals, not synthetic garbage about do’s and dont’s, but to know HIM. When Jesus answers that authentic prayer from the depths of your broken heart (and He went to the Cross in order to answer that exact prayer!) remember what He brought you through - then use it to fulfill His summary imperative command, “DISCIPLE!”

If you’re someone who has already been redeemed by Christ, but you’ve never engaged in anything much more than being a spectator or commuter Christian, i.e. sermons, Bible study, and maybe a fish sticker on your car... then I’d encourage you to look back at what God has brought you through in life and consider how you can use those experiences for His glory and “DISCIPLE!”

In closing, I’ll leave you with this: In Mark’s gospel we read about Jesus saving a demon possessed man (5:1-20).

After Jesus has cast the demons out we read:

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Why did Jesus “deny” this man’s request to follow Him? The answer is: Jesus didn’t. The 12 disciples had not yet “been brought through” anything like this demon-possessed man had been brought through by God. This man (who had spent weeks, months, maybe even years suffering from the pain and oppression of bondage in sin and intense internal spiritual warfare) was ready and had nothing left to learn - he was ready. The 12 still had a long journey before them... and one (Judas) would never get there.

Jesus knew that because of what this demon-possessed man had “been brought through” he was ready to “DISCIPLE!” So that’s exactly what Jesus told him to do:

“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Jesus’ exclusive summary imperative command for His authentic followers is exactly that “Go and tell people how much the LORD has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” Jesus’ command is NOT to attend a church ceremony, to attend another Bible study, or to accumulate information that never translates into obedient action. It is not about hearing another sermon so you can feel convicted, improved, holy, sanctified, or “connected to God.” It’s not about you.

Like that girl who was raped in China while on a mission trip, like that man who was possessed by demons and rescued by Jesus, and like... me; use the betrayal, loss, and stuff Jesus has brought YOU through to do the only thing He asks, compels, requires, and commands His disciple to do... “DISCIPLE!”

Use it,

-Kevin

Behold Immanuel

Behold Immanuel!

In light of what those 11 men had been brought through during their three years together with Jesus, which had culminated in this moment standing before the RISEN CHRIST; Jesus then issues His imperative command, “disciple all the peoples..."

Jesus then sheds light on what “disciple all the peoples” looks like, i.e. “...baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The verb form is not “baptize,” but “baptizing.” This is significant because baptize it is not the primary/central verb. The emphasis is still on “disciple.” Baptizing does not refer primarily to water baptism (as most people believe), but instead (as a present active participle) it should be understood as an ongoing process.

We certainly are called to participate in a one-time water baptism as a public symbol of our ongoing intimate unity with Christ in His death (see my previous blog DEATH BY SYMBOL). But baptizing must be perpetually present and active - AND - “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” So what exactly does that mean? Are those just words the pastor recite as part of the ceremony during our one-time water baptism - or is there a profound meaning there?

Throughout the Bible God is always Elohim - the eternal God of commUNITY as Holy Trinity. God the Father always represents authority & will; God the Son always represents simple obedience; and the Holy Spirit always represents power and presence.

So when Jesus continues, “...baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” He is NOT telling us words to memorize as part of a one-time aquatic religious ceremony. He’s telling us that the MANNER (attitude) with which we are to DISCIPLE (central verb) is in “baptizing,” i.e. total immersion in the authority of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

MANNER is very general as our attitude - while METHOD refers to a specific technique or way of doing something. So when Jesus continues, “...and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” He is telling us that the METHOD (way/technique) we are to use for baptizing in order to fulfill His command “disciple” in light of “having been brought through” (insert your testimony of what God has brought you through) is TEACHING.

Preaching isn’t discipleship - teaching is. Preaching is heralding a message. Teaching involves dialogue - questions and discussions as we walk through life together. Jesus preached a few sermons, but the VAST MAJORITY of His discipleship process was teaching His friends what baptizing/immersing yourself in the authority/will, obedience, and power/presence of God looks like... Jesus. Putting others first, dying to self, being one in spirit and purpose, and the Cross.

We Christians love the idea of being united with Christ in His resurrection, but we deny, resist, fight, complain, grumble, and avoid being united with Him in His death (Rom 6:5). When God tries to bring us through something to refine our character... we crumble like a toddler being told it’s bedtime - completely blind that our Father wants what is best for us and in obedience the Holy Spirit’s power and presence will carry us through. We like the idea of a one-time magical baptism, but we cringe at the idea of dying to self daily and picking up our cross to follow after Him.

The prerequisite of having been brought through by God puts us in a place where we are able to fulfill Jesus’ imperative command “disciple.” The MANNER of discipleship is “baptizing” - an ongoing process (for self and others) of living in community as God intended - under the authority of the Father, in the simple obedience of the Son, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. The METHOD of discipleship is “teaching,” which requires intimate involvement, getting dirty in doing life together, confessing our sin, exposing our weaknesses, and wiping away the facade of having it all together, etc.

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As this passage closes Jesus says to these 11 ordinary men, “...and behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

The Greek language uses the imperative verb (disciple!) as the central/primary verb of this passage. Then at the end Jesus uses the indicative mood, which is the presentation of certainty, to say “I am with you always to the very end.” See, when we’ve been brought through (whatever God has brought us through) and we use that for His fame and glory to DISCIPLE others by baptizing/immersing ourselves in the authority/will of the Father, simple obedience of the Son, and the power/presence of the Holy Spirit... Then we truly are “teaching” them to obey everything Jesus commanded in the way we live our lives.

When we live like that we truly are fulfilling Jesus’ imperative command “disciple all the peoples,” and in doing so His response to us is “Behold! I am with you always to the very end.”

Pretty amazing that God Almighty brings us through, invites us to participate, and in our participating - baptizing - associating - identifying with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus then says, I am (YAHWH - the LORD) with you (Immanuel - God with us) to the very end.

Every day we choose to live like THAT - Jesus’ advent is adorned and truly made manifest in our lives. Then we become like those shepherds on the first Christmas morning who ran through the streets joyfully heralding “Today a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

So what has God brought you through in life?

How are you using that to disciple others?

Are you doing it in community as God created you?

Are you under the authority and will of the Father, the simple obedience of the Son, and through the power and presence of the Spirit?

Are you using it to teach others to obey everything Jesus commanded - not rules and regulations, but to experience community, eternal life, and authentic love?

If so, then Jesus says to you, “and behold, I am with you always to the very end!”

Blessings,

-Kevin

Disciple

DISCIPLE!

The past few days have been crazy. I started working at a local church recently and have been putting in 12+ hour days. I know many of you probably do that on a regular basis - and my hat is off to you. On top of that my wife is traveling this whole week so I'm juggling 3 kids with no back-up. On top of that our 3 year old crawled into bed with me last night (since Mama is gone) and in the middle of the night he rolled out of bed and ripped his chin open on the nightstand... 7 stitches later, our baby is now officially a little boy. All that is to say that I'm sorry for promising my follow-up post to Matthew 28:18-20 "Having Gone Through" a couple days ago, but not delivering on that promise...

Hopefully your take away from the last blog entry "Having Gone Through" was that Jesus was not commanding the 11 remaining disciples to "Go and make disciples," but instead to understand that His emphasis was on what those 11 men had been BROUGHT through over the past 3 years - The Great Filtration. 

Please don't mistakenly twist what I'm saying here to assume I'm diminishing the biblical imperative for evangelism and global mission. Those things are IMPERATIVE, but that's not what Jesus is emphasizing in Matthew 28:19. Jesus is emphasizing the fact that what these 11 men have been BROUGHT THROUGH (remember poruomai is the Greek verb where we get the English word porous from) is the foundation, genesis, starting point, and prerequisite for the CENTRAL verb of this entire passage - "Disciple."

With that in mind...

Been Brought Through

Been Brought Through:

At the end of Matthew’s gospel - after Jesus “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” had spent three years teaching His friends about what it REALLY means to love God and neighbor (NOT about a superficial and/or synthetic religious system), after Jesus’ was brought before Pilate, the whole Barabbas fiasco, after Judas hangs himself, after Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and glorious resurrection on that first Easter morning... after ALL this we read in Matthew 28:18-20:

“Having drawn near to them Jesus said, ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, having been brought through - disciple all the nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; that is teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And in doing so, surely I am with you always to the very end.”

It’s been said that all heresies occur because of majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. The surest way to miss the theological boat is to take what the Bible teaches out of context and emphasize the wrong stuff once it has been isolated out of context.

This passage of Scripture has historically been referred to as “The Great Commission.” Unfortunately certain people, denominations, and churches have historically used it to take the focus off of what Jesus’ primary point and teaching is.

The context of this passage is that it comes at the very end of Matthew’s gospel. It comes after the 11 remaining disciples had been brought through EVERYTHING with Jesus for three full years. Then Jesus appears and said to them, “Therefore, having been brought through - disciple..." Jesus lays the foundation of the rest of this passage in calling these 11 men to reflect upon what they've been brought through - the Great Filtration - over the past three years, which has brought them into the presence of the risen Christ!

Jesus says, “Therefore, having been brought through (three years of discipleship yourselves) - DISCIPLE all the nations!” The verb form of “having been brought through” is a passive participle of the Greek verb poreuomai. Poreuomai is where we get the English word porous, which refers to the extent which something can pass through something else. If you have a very porous rock (like limestone) water can pass through it - and in passing through limestone the water is filtered, thus improving its quality and taste by removing impurities. Poreuomai is also a passive participle here, which means it is something the disciples have been brought through - not something they have actively accomplished of or by themselves. The point is two-fold: 1) Since poreuomai is passive it CANNOT be translated “go,” which would be active, and 2) since it is a participle it is NOT the primary verb. The emphasis here is not the idea of “Okay, once we're done here you guys Go!” Instead, the emphasis is on what Jesus has brought His disciple THROUGH.

What the remaining 11 disciples would have understood Jesus to be saying is that after having been brought through three years of intimate discipleship, which has culminated in this moment - standing before the glorious risen LORD - Jesus is now telling us, “DISCIPLE all the nations!”

“DISCIPLE” is the CENTRAL verb of this entire passage. In this passage the biblical Greek informs us that “disciple” is both 1) an imperative verb - meaning Jesus is NOT suggesting discipleship as something to consider, but that it is IMPERATIVE; and 2) that “disciple” is an active form - which means they are to be actively (not passively) involved in discipleship.

The take away should be that the emphasis of this passage of Scripture is NOT on the going, or even on the end result (wrongly translated as “make disciples”), but rather a primary emphasis on what these men had been brought through - Jesus issues an IMPERATIVE command that they do for others what Jesus did for them - “disciple all the nations.” Jesus is emphasizing the intimate, involved, clumsy, messy process of discipleship - that REQUIRES that you have invited Jesus into your life and are allowing Him to bring you through all the circumstances, storms, trials, and fires. Jesus is not emphasizing "going" or the end product "make disciples," but rather the process, which would look exactly like the last three years these 11 men have just been brought through.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the remaining part of this passage: “by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; that is teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And behold, surely I am with you always to the very end.”

Blessings,

-Kevin

Character of God

Character of God:

When we think of the story of Jonah we might think of it as the children’s tale of the guy who got eaten by a giant fish. Sadly, with that attitude the riches of the book of Jonah are missed completely.  The cultural climate of Jonah’s time (c.760 BC) was disastrous. The nation of Assyria was incredibly powerful and savagely brutal in their unquenchable thirst to conquer other nations. Additionally, the spiritual climate of the Israelites was horrific. Israel had split into two nations approximately 100 years before - and idol worship was rampant in both the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah).

Jonah was well aware of both this contemporary cultural climate as well as the merciful nature of God. So when the Lord came to Jonah and commanded, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness because it has come up before me” Jonah was GREATLY disturbed. Jonah knew about the character of God because Jonah knew his Bible. Jonah knew that God had promised Abram (before God changed his name to Abraham) that all of the nations of the world would be blessed through his (Abram’s) offspring. This wasn’t a blessing exclusive for the nation/people of Israel because: 1) Israel wasn’t a nation yet at the time of God’s promise, and 2) God said ‘all peoples of the earth.’

Jonah also knew his Bible regarding Moses in Exodus 34 (when Moses had asked to see God’s glory), and that nobody - not even Moses - could handle the fullness of God’s glory, i.e. God’s love, grace, compassion, mercy, and lovingkindness. Exodus 34:5-7 reads, “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him (Moses) and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’” It was this tiny glimpse of God’s genuine character that left Moses’ face glowing!

Jonah knew his Bible so he knew that God is; compassionate, longsuffering, forgiving, and overflowing with faithful covenant love. Jonah was a contemporary of Isaiah and while Jonah may not have ever read Isaiah’s writings - Jonah was certainly privy to character of God, which Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 28:21, “The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim (WRATHFUL JUDGMENT), he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon (WRATHFUL JUDGMENT) — to do his work, his STRANGE work, and perform his task, his ALIEN task.”

See, Jonah knew - just as Isaiah did - judgment is the strange and alien task of God. Wrathful judgment is NOT God’s default or primary response. Judgment is God’s last resort.

So Jonah knew that when God said, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness...” God was saying that He wanted the Assyrians to repent. Jonah knew that God wanted - in fact DEEPLY DESIRED - to show them love and mercy. God did NOT crave the opportunity to burn them down in blood-thirsty judgment - even though it was sorely deserved. That’s why God told Jonah: “Go and tell them to repent.”

Instead of going to Nineveh Jonah FLED in the opposite direction in order to get as far away from the Assyrians as possible. In Jonah’s mind this would ensure they would have no way of hearing the gracious and merciful message of God’s character - no way of hearing about His compassion, longsuffering, and lovingkindness.

While inside the giant fish Jonah expressed his insight into God’s loving and missional character when he prayed, “Those who cling to worthless idols (like the Assyrians) forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed (to be God’s prophet, i.e. missional ambassador to all the nations) I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.”

Jonah’s heart quickly turned back to stone after being puked up on shore by the great fish; rather than singing the praises of God before the Assyrians (as he had pledged to do as a prophet of God while inside the great fish) - the Hebrew Bible tells us “On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned...’”

Jonah’s proclamation was not one that demonstrated the essential, loving, gracious character of God. Instead Jonah decided to highlight God’s strange and alien task - His wrath and judgment. Jonah didn’t praise the LORD and sing of salvation in the presence of the Ninevites as he had promised God he would do. Instead Jonah gave them a bleak message of judgment with the hope that they would reject Jonah and God. But God always accomplishes His mission - always. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) tells us they ALL repented: “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”

In the book of Jonah it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees. The point of every book in the Bible, and the Bible as a whole, is to convey the essential nature and character of God - our Creator, our Father, our Savior, and the Spirit that never leaves us and empowers us.

From before the moment Adam & Eve rebelled in the garden, even before the foundation of the world, God established the plan for humanity’s redemption. God Himself would step down from heaven and tabernacle, i.e. pitch His tent and live with us. God in the person of Jesus Christ would willingly and obediently die at our filthy hands, but then He would rise victorious to redeem those who murdered Him. Jesus would RISE as our Champion Who is eternally untainted by sin, unimpeded by death, and He would restore perfectly that which humanity destroyed - our relationship with our Creator.  As LaSor notes, “Yahweh is concerned with pagan peoples and commands his servants to proclaim the message to the nations.”

When is the last time you sang the praises of God’s salvation to the modern day equivalent of an Assyrian - a mean-spirited, hate-filled, cruel, and broken idol worshipper? When is the last time you sat down with the Bible and desperately plead with God to show you His glory?

Christians who see a discontinuity between the character of God in Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament are ignorant to the fundamental and essential nature of our Creator - that perfect and eternally holy God of Trinity. How can anyone truly call themselves "Christian," i.e. follower of Christ, if one has never encountered the living God of faithful love? Salvation is NOT the end game of Christianity – a thriving relationship, i.e. LIFE, with our Creator is.

God allows redeemed Christians to stick around on earth so that we can truly experience that authentic, thriving, amazing LIFE in Christ with other Christians within the Body & Bride of Christ. The Body of Christ is, in fact, the exclusive vehicle of mission, disciple making, kingdom advancing, and humanity’s redemption. Moses knew the character of God and experienced it to the point of beaming with radiance. Isaiah understood the default character of God as patient, merciful, and compassionate – not wrathful & craving blood-thirsty judgment.

Being a Christian isn’t one choice among many world religions, but rather is the exclusive source of genuine LIFE because Christ is the exclusive way, truth, and life.  That’s why Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;” and why Stephen said, “Salvation can be found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Jonah knew the character of God but didn’t want to share it.  Today most ‘Christians’ can’t share the character of God because we don’t know it. Most don’t know it because people are too selfish, too self-centered, too egotistical, and mere infants in faith who have never moved “on to maturity.”

Before anyone can follow Jesus they have to truly and intimately know Him - which comes by God’s grace through faith - not from us. To know Jesus one has to learn about His character. To learn about Jesus’ character one has to be ‘born again,’ as Jesus said to Nicodemus and as the Apostle Peter wrote about. But salvation is only the beginning!

Jonah understood what the Apostle Paul would write about nearly 800 years later, “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

Evangelism, i.e. sharing the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ, the exclusive God-man, is a HUGE part of what being a Christian is all about because: 1) it fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant – bringing salvation to ‘all peoples,’ which is God’s missional plan of salvation to the ends of the earth; 2) it demonstrates obedient service to God, selfless love, and faith-in-action; and 3) it magnifies and exalts God’s glory – which God loves!

People who say they don’t need to go to church because their relationship with God is “their business,” may be Christians, but they are misguided. Christianity isn’t a “me thing,” it is a “we thing.” People who say they don’t need to share the gospel because that isn’t their knack or wheelhouse are misguided as well.

Feet attached to people who don’t believe the good news don’t go anywhere to share anything with anyone because the gospel of Jesus Christ is something they don’t truly believe in the first place. Otherwise how could they, like Jonah, refuse to preach a gospel of love and repentance to a lost and broken world they were formerly stuck in before someone shared the light and hope of Christ with them?

So are you selfishly hoarding God's grace like Jonah or are you living out the gospel of Christ by adorning the character of God?

Blessings,

-Kevin

Two Steppin

Two Steppin:

If you grow up in Texas then you know that learning to dance the Texas two-step is a requirement for citizenship. Okay, that may be a little bit of a stretch in some parts of Texas, but in the real Texas cities - where people still pledge allegiance to God, family, state, and country (in that order) - it’s no stretch at all. So if you’re going to call yourself a Texan then you better know how to two-step.

What does that have to do with God and Christianity? Well, if you’re going to call yourself a Christian then you need to know the Jesus Two-Step. It’s a type of dance that authentic followers of Jesus Christ live out every minute of every day.

If you feel completely lost and wonder where I’m going with this - hang tight for a minute. At the end of Jesus’ “Sermon on The Mount” He tell us “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Then Jesus sums the whole thing up with the parable of the wise and foolish builders saying, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock” (7:24).

That is the Jesus Two-Step: 1) hear His words; and 2) act on them. See, there are lots of people in the world who ignore or reject the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as God Almighty. They can’t do the dance with God because they don’t know Him. Then there are other people who claim to be Christians because they hear Him, but then they only act when it’s convenient, when it lines up with their philosophy of life, or when they’re in front of other Christians. Then there are those who do the Jesus Two-Step; they hear His words and the act on them - regardless of the cost, regardless of how it makes them 'feel,' and regadless of who is (or isn't) around.

The Apostle Paul shared a conditional “if… then” statement with us in Romans 6, “For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, then we will certainly also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection.” There are lots of folks who make the fatal error of jumping right over the part about “if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death,” and go right to being united with Him in His resurrection. We want the prize of the resurrection without dying to self.

If you’re thinking that Paul missed the boat then let’s look at what Jesus had to say in Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

So what have you heard from God lately?

What have you done to act on it?

Are you dying to self minute-by-minute and joining Him in the likeness of His death?

Or are you ignoring His words like the foolish builder whose house was swept away by the storm?

Are you doing the Jesus Two-Step?

Blessings,

-Kevin