“…can never surprise us, never overwhelm us, nor astonish us, nor transcend us.”

Basically, we are left with a God that we can keep in a box.  And we like it that way.  It keeps us comfortable.  The problem is, when we keep God in that box, we never get to see Him do the miraculous.  We never get to see Him move on our behalf in a way that can only be explained by saying it was God.  Many Christians and many churches live in this state all the time.  They do not want a God that surprises, overwhelms, astonishes or transcends.  It scares them to lose control… to lose control to God!

I pray that God will move out of the box that I set up for Him.  I want to be surprised by Him.  I want to wake up each morning thinking to myself, “Ok God, what are you up to today.”  That might make you uncomfortable.  If it does, maybe it is time to let God out of the box you have Him in and allow Him to be the God that you say you believe in.

Take-away #2 from Rob Bell

“When you live a life of obedience to God, you will not want anybody else’s life“

• If I am obeying God, and walking the the path that he has set before me, I will not want anyone else’s life.  I will be satisfied knowing that I am doing all that God has called me to do, whether it is in a church of 50 or 5000.
• When I am living a life of obedience, I will be satisfied with what God has called me to do, and therefore I will not question the motives or seek to criticize someone else for what they are doing in their church or ministry.  I will be content, knowing that God has placed me where I am.
• Because I will be content, and because I will not criticize other people’s ministries to try and minimize their success (and God’s blessing) and lift up my ministry, I can celebrate with others when they achieve great things for God, and be happy that the Kingdom is being enlarged through their work (and God’s blessing!).
• This frees me up to be who I am, who God created me to be, and keeps me from trying to be someone else just because of their size and influence.
• This also will give me a team mentality.  The church down the street is NOT my competition in any way. If they are preaching the Gospel, they are my team mate, and as such, I will do whatever I can to help them reach people as well.

As we continue on from yesterday’s post, we will look at a couple more saying of immature Christians…

3. “There is no where for me to get involved” – This is usually a statement that is made by those people who are looking for a high profile “position”     rather than a ministry in a church.  This is many times also said by those who do not get their way.  It is an excuse to leave.  We want people to serve where they are gifted, but many times people want to serve where there is high praise or instant recognition.  It takes all kids of people to do ministry.  Some people are out-in-front type people, some are behind the scenes.  What is the bottom line?  The bottom line is that both are just as important.  I have never in 20 years of ministry been in a position where I had a waiting line to get involved in ministry.  There has always been something to do.  I have had people either quit a team (or the church) because I would not put them out in front as much as what they wanted
4. “We can’t find any friends” or “This church is full of clicks” – Now, I cannot that there are no clicks in a church.  Certainly there can be.  no matter how hard a church tries at not having them, they are bound to show up in some way.  But most of the time I have had people say this, it is because they have not gotten involved in anything. (See #3 above).  I mean, how in the heck do you expect to get to know people when you come to church late, leave during the invitation and never get involved in a ministry.  Most clicks are made up of people that are faithful members that are serving together.  If you are not part of the “click,” what does that tell you?  My advice?  Get off your butt and do something for God and for someone else. (This goes for #3 as well!)  Once you do that, it will be hard for you to say that you are not fitting in or meeting people.

5. “_________________ is why we are leaving the church.” (You fill in the blank).  My mentor in the ministry told me very early on that “the reason people say they are leaving the church is NEVER the real reason why they are leaving the church. Most of the time it is something they are struggling with, but it is easier to blame it on the church or the pastors of the church.”  Quite honestly, I have never really been affected too much by people leaving the church.  It is not that I like it when people leave.  I leave that in God’s hands. I think he purges and moves people for reasons that we many times may not know.  Sometimes it is for their benefit, sometimes it is for the benefit of the church.  Either way, if I am more focused on keeping people than reaching people, I am in trouble already.

I know this is not an exhaustive list… what are some other statements you have heard immature Christians make?

This same thing happens in our spiritual lives as well.  I have run across many spiritually immature people that will say things that make me want to smack them in the name of Jesus!  I know, that is not a very “spiritual” response either.  I do not smack them, I just want to!  (That is great progress for me!)  The statements that are made are an indicator o just how mature they are as Christ followers.  Now, before you think I am picking on new Christians that just do not know any better, I just want to let you know that I am not talking about new Christians.  They usually are not the ones that make these statements.  It is usually people that have been “Christians” for a long time.  You see, many years as a Christ follower do not mean maturity. Ok, let me get to a couple of the statements:

1. “I am not being fed.” – News flash: It is your job to feed yourself!  Come on, you have been a Christ follower for 20 years and you do not know how to pick up the fork (Bible) and eat?  All five of my kids needed help to learn how to eat.  They had the desire to eat, but they did not have the ability to feed themselves at first.  by the time they reached their first birthday, my kids knew how to pick up the food placed in front of them and do something with it!  And now they get up and pretty much find their own food and fill themselves up.  Many times immature Christians say this, but what they really mean is that the message is not entertaining enough, it does not “tickle” their ears. Other times, there is a spiritual sickness that zaps your appetite.  If you are not being fed, is it because of lack of desire?  Is it because of sickness?  I have never met a mature Christian that has a problem with being fed.  They know how to pick up the Word and be fed.  That is our responsibility.
2. “What does this church have for me.” – As I read the Scriptures, I never once see where the church is to worry about having things for people.  I do see that the church is all about putting people together that have gifts to use for the good of the body.  In other words, we ought to turn the question around and ask people, “What do you have for our church.”  After all, the gifts that are given to each believer are there to edify the church.  Having great ministries  is not a bad thing, but it is to be a by-product of people serving and using their gifts for the good of the church.

We will continue this tomorrow!

Am I More Concerned About God Or Others? Scripture is very clear, “Do your best to present yourself to God…” When “the end” is here I will stand before God and will NOT answer as to… Whether or not I kept people happy. Whether or not I appeased the bloggers. Whether or not I preached sermons that people WANTED to hear. I will answer for whether or not I was faithful to WHO He called me to be and WHAT He called me to do! I have a quote hanging in my office by Craig Groeschel that says, “The quickest way to forget what God says about me is to become obsessed with what others say about me.” SO TRUE! When my head hits the pillow at night I’ve got to know that I have tried my best to honor HIM and HIS calling on my life…which IS NOT EASY in a world where everyone seems to have an opinion and a website! BUT…focusing on them doesn’t allow me to focus on Him! (BTW…it isn’t helping you either!!!) Paul said it best in Galatians 1:10…we have a choice…I have made mine and will not look back…there is way too much at stake!

Everyone that has ever been involved in ministry, whether full-time or as a volunteer knows that you will NEVER make everyone happy… it is impossible!  Jesus did not even do that!  What we have to guard from is holding people’s opinions about us higher than we do God’s design and desire for us… that is hard, especially when you are a people-pleaser by nature.  Honestly, that is something that I fight constantly!  Here is the deal though, until we are being who God created us to be, we will never reach our full potential, and we will not be satisfied.  Once we realize who God made us to be, and start living it, our focus will shift to that of pleasing Him, and not people.  We will be more concerned with reaching people than we are keeping people.  Trying to keep people is an act of desperation… reaching people keeps things alive and Christ-centered.

Just something to chew on today… thanks Perry!

1. That Christ Jesus showed what true humility in coming to this earth, living a Holy life ( what an example for me), and then going to the cross on my behalf. (chapter 2:5-8)

2. My happiness is found is so many things out side of myself. I may go through rough spots here and there, but if I get my focus off of me, and on things that bring true joy I can then live life to the full.

Paul tells us in this book that he finds joy in several things: others (the Philippians themselves, chapter 1), sharing the the gospel (Chapter 2) and God Himself (Chapter 4). He then goes on to explain that he has learned to be content! WOW! Contentment, what is that? It is a foreign word to most of us in the good old USA. But Paul says rich or poor, sick or healthy, respected or not, he had learned to be content, because his sources of joy were outside of himself. What a great reminder for me today. Thanks God!