Life Project Blog

Well, here we are at the end of our road trip, our journey of discovery where we explored that little theory I posed last week.  I hope you have enjoyed the trip we have taken together, whether you like my theory or not, for if nothing else, we considered some interesting topics, topics that deserve our thought from time to time.

The other day, Sunday to be exact, I was speaking with another guy about a class we had just left.  It was a history class on a certain sequence of events that took place in the first decade of the 20th century.  There were these guys who decided to write papers, articles, publish magazines and essays on some very important issues within the church.  Some of these great issues were the types of buildings people should worship in, whether or not you can have musical instruments in worship, Missionary Societies, and various other issues of a similar nature. In those days, they postulated significant Biblical arguments either in support of these things or in opposition to these things; both sides of these debates participated.  Both sides were convinced they were right, both sides were very assertive… And they succeeded in dividing God’s people on a very large-scale. Some of these debates had been going on for 40 years, and when they ended… or have they? …many Christian brothers were not on speaking terms.

All during these decades, church leaders were arguing, debating, fighting, disputing over these kinds of things, destroying their relationships, neglecting God’s priorities: Love God, love your neighbor, make disciples… We had to agree that while these things may have been important to the people in the fight, they were nowhere to be found in Scripture, and couldn’t be considered God’s priorities.  We also agreed that there are some things about which the Bible is not very clear, but that the things that are important to God are very clear indeed in the Scriptures. One of those things about which the Bible is quite clear is argument, disputes, dissentions and divisions.

What I take from that fact is that there are many things upon which Christians may disagree, but that we must not indulge our selfish pride and divide God’s church. Can we practically come to blows with each other over some fine point of doctrine, when we are in His presence?  Will we dispute with our neighbor to such a degree that we cannot have fellowship with him, when we are supposed to love him?  Will we damage the Body of Christ while proclaiming that we love Him? The thing those guys back in the 1900’s were really fighting over were really just their traditions, anyway.  Why oh why do we act this way so often?

I think we do this because it is our natural human nature.  People argue about everything, from sports to movies, to music, to politics and sadly the Bible.  Pride, self…rebellion, wanting to be like the Most High God… This is a good time to insert the original theory…

“Christian theology is not particularly difficult to understand.  Its precepts and premises are fairly simple, it was given to “regular” guys to share with the world, and they did it.  Yes, of course they had a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, but then so do we. Yet we love to argue, follow tradition and form to avoid spiritual growth and reaching out, because they are counter-intuitive, and the fact that they are counter-intuitive is exactly the point of all things being new, for our human intuition isn’t new, it’s the old thing that Jesus died to free us from.”

God’s ways are not like our natural ways and inclinations.  In Christ, all things are new, the old is gone and the new has arrived. Our “natural man” has other ideas and desperately tries to move us away from God’s path, for God’s path is new, strange, scary and counter-intuitive.  The “natural man” would rather keep things the way they’ve always been, so he yearns for disputes, or safe havens like predictability, traditions, paperwork, rules, regulations to avoid leaving the old comfort zone, where spiritual growth is not to be found.  Yes sir, that really is the point, after it’s all been said and done.

Well dear reader, that’s about all she wrote!  Agree or disagree, that’s up to you.  In either case, I’ll end with three questions as promised:

1. Is God speaking to you in this study?

2. If so, what is He saying?

3. What are you going to do about it?

It’s been a great pleasure having you along; see you next time!

Don

Making disciples does not end with a person’s acceptance of Jesus Christ, for that is not the end of the process, it’s the beginning, and we can’t simply leave the new Christian all alone to struggle and despair by themselves… as so often is the case.  This whole aspect of relationship is every bit as crucial in helping young believers (of any age) as they move forward toward spiritual maturity.  Love, trust, and mutual respect are critical factors in mentoring one another, and we need to be just as intentional in building these relationships, as our Lord was when He demonstrated for us how it is done.

For me personally, this is the most exciting part of my life, when I see a younger Christian begin to grow spiritually.  The nature of their questions begins to change, you can usually tell by their questions just where they are on the journey.  Then their attitudes about various things begin to change, and then their behavior begins to change, until one day I see the person serving selflessly, often in a manner that I didn’t expect, but for which God has given them gifts of service. Yep, for me there is no greater satisfaction and joy in life; it is life to the full!

I realize that, once again, I have spoken in general terms, but remember that his road trip is not intended to be technical or academic, but rather a journey of ideas and discovery.  Tomorrow, back at base camp, we’ll have our closing rally, see you there!

Our second session at Relationship Camp, is all about relationships with other people.  Nothing that I am about to say here is revolutionary; I would imagine that you already know all of this at some level of consciousness, but we don’t always think about these things.

Consider your friends.  You know them, meaning that you know things about them such as what they like to talk about, what they like to do, what they do for fun and what they do for a living.  You know which ones are light-hearted and fun by nature, and which are more serious.  You know if there is a subject they are touchy about and you probably avoid it.  You are also aware which ones are very sharp mentally, and which ones are not quite as quick…

How do you know these things about your friends?

Isn’t it the case that you know these things about your friends because you’ve spent time, maybe years,  getting to know them?  As you get to know a person better, you will develop a sense of trust with that person, if they have shown themselves to be worthy of trust, right?  When you have a level of trust in your relationship with that person, you develop a sort of influence with them, which is to say that you can influence them and they can influence you to a certain degree, and in special cases, there may be such a level of trust and influence that you would trust them with your very life.  This is someone you can totally depend upon. Such a friend is worth his or her weight in gold, don’t you think?

Now, let’s take a step back from our thumbnail sketch of what a friend is, and look at what we already know that we can apply to serving our Lord.  We already know what kind of relationship will result in trust and influence, but if we want to lead someone to Christ, we need to pick out and understand the parts that will enable us to “lead.”

Suppose we are introduced to someone, and we smile, look them in the eye, shake their hand and say, “It’s nice to meet you Bob, even though you are a filthy rotten sinner, destined for the eternal fires of Hell.  Sit down so I can tell you about Jesus Christ.”  How do you think the conversation is going to go?  Did you make a good first impression?  Did you establish any sort of trust with that person?

In order for anyone to lead others, they must have one of two things with those they wish to lead.  They must either have power over them so they can force them to do what they want, or they must have a sufficient level of relationship with the other person so that the person will trust.  God has more than enough power and authority to force the entire human race to bow down before Him and worship, but He has not chosen to exercise His power and authority in this way.  Instead, He has entrusted you and I with the Good News of His grace that He freely offers to anyone who will choose to accept it, and He has charged you and I with taking that Good News to the world around us. This means that we must establish relationships based upon godly love, respect and trust with those around us just as Jesus did. Only when there is trust and mutual respect will other people be receptive to the Good News we have to share. If they do not see the love we share at work in our lives, our message will ring very hollow indeed. Often, when we fall short in this area it has something to do with a lack of humility, to be nice about it. At least, it might be worth considering.