GROWING OR MARKING TIME?

 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV)

                Through my daily devotions, I have been challenged with the question, am I growing in my faith, or am I just marking time? It is an important question. We can all get stuck on our journey of faith. We get to a certain level of maturity and then we just camp out there.

                An article from Psychology Today encapsulates the idea that at a certain point many of us stop learning and begin to coast.

 Most of us are lucky enough to start life out as learners and to stay active learners until we are into young adulthood. We look at our children and know that their primary job in life is to grow, develop, and learn. There is an entire world of history, grammar, science, and math for them to absorb. Children begin as empty vessels meant to gorge themselves on this feast of knowledge.

Alas, at some point we change. We stop learning. We move from being learners to being knowers. Strangely, being someone who ‘knows’ can interfere with being someone who ‘learns’. Paradoxically, the better we were at learning, the worse this problem can be. Why does knowing get in the way of learning? We constantly need to keep learning regardless of how much we knew at some point in time. But identifying ourselves as an expert, or knowing that others identify us as an expert can make this tricky.

Psychology Today June 19, 2012 by Dr. Matthew D. Lieberman

                What is true in a general sense is often true when it comes to our faith. We get to the point where we “know” the Bible. We know the stories, we know the basic truths, and we stop exploring. We get stuck. When this happens, our faith stops transforming our lives. We settle for knowing the facts without applying the truth to our lives.

                I have been exploring the Bible in new ways through The Bible Project. In preparation for preaching a series of messages from the book of Ephesians, I went through an on-line course on that book offered by The Bible Project. My eyes were opened to things I had not seen or understood before. It changed the way that I approached preaching Ephesians.

                When I was a student at Wheaton College, every class I took stressed the need to commit to being a life-long learner. I have strived to live that out. But I also realize that just filling my mind with new and interesting facts is not enough. I need to grow in my faith, to learn to put what I know into practice. This is where I have been challenged recently. I am actually growing in my faith or am I just going through the motions?

                Everything that is living grows. When it stops growing it dies. But not all growth is the same. I have some fruit trees in my yard and I am learning how to care for them. One of the things I have to do, if I want to grow good fruit, is prune back much of the growth. I have to do this so that the tree will put its energy into producing fruit and not just producing more leaves. There is a lesson here for me. There are many ways that I can grow emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. There is value in all of these, but am I putting my energy into growing leaves or producing fruit.

                In Galatians 5, Paul talks about the kind of fruit that we should be producing in our lives. He calls it the fruit of the Spirit.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) I need to ask myself if I am growing in these areas. Am I actually producing fruit.

                In Colossians 1, Paul gives us another category of growth. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:10-12 (NIV)

                Again, in Philippians Paul challenges us to grow in our faith. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

                Asking myself regularly if I am truly growing in my faith is an important question to ponder. Is my life bearing fruit or just producing mor leaves? What kind of fruit am I producing? Am I bearing good fruit? I am walking closer to Jesus today? Am I loving and serving others better today than in the past? Am I truly growing in my faith or just marking time?

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

 

 

ARE WE MISSING THE TARGET?

 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Ephesians 4:1 (NIV)

                We live in a rapidly changing world. The pseudo-Christian culture that we assumed we lived in has evaporated. Our world has become more diverse, more multi-cultural, more spiritually multidimensional. Christianity is not the only show in town, nor is it the dominant show either. The playing field has become very crowded, with one of the fastest growing groups being the “Nones”, those who do not identify with any religious philosophy. In many ways, we find ourselves in the same environment that Paul and the early church lived in.

                For those of us who grew up with church attendance being the accepted norm of our society, the cultural shift has been painful, discouraging, and frightening. In response to these dramatic changes, some churches have decided to circle the wagons and disengage from the current culture. Others have chosen to take an aggressive approach with a call to recapture the culture and return it to the days when Christianity was the dominant influence.  Still others have decided to give in and accommodate the current culture. I wonder if we have set our sights on the wrong target.

                The New Testament does not focus directly on changing the culture of the day. The New Testament instead focuses on changing people’s lives. The early church turned its world upside-down one person at a time. How did they do that? By living out their faith in genuine, attractive ways. They so demonstrated the power of the Gospel that people were attracted to Jesus.

                One of the reasons so many people are turning away from the church today is because they don’t see the truth of the Gospel. They see people who say they believe in living a transformed life, yet their life does not match up to their words. People see churches that are fighting with themselves, often in very brutal and public ways. They see church leaders failing in a variety of ways. When they observe these negative images, they respond with, why would I want to be a part of that?

                The question we have to wrestle with is, how do we demonstrate our faith to the world in ways that are genuine, realistic, and compelling? It has to start with a change in our focus. Instead of focusing on changing the culture, we need to focus on changing hearts. That begins with dealing with our issues as believers before we can hope to change our world. We cannot expect unbelievers to live like Christians when Christians are living like unbelievers.

                Jesus defined what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus laid out the ethics of the new humanity that is created through faith in Him. It was radically counter-cultural in His day. It still is. Throughout the New Testament Jesus’ teachings on living in the new humanity are fleshed out through the many “one another” passages. There are at least 35 of those statements; both positive and negative. Each one of them calls believers to live differently from the culture around them.  

                In Acts, we read about the early church’s impact on its world. Instead of attacking the culture, they focused on living as a united community of believers. The people around them noticed and many chose to join their ranks. As persecution increased, so did the church’s commitment to live out their faith. Even though the dominant culture actively persecuted the church, the church continued to grow.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

                If we want to really change our world, we need to change our focus. The best way that we can influence our world is to focus on being the church that Jesus wants us to be. We need to get back to the basics of living as a new humanity in Christ. We need to demonstrate to the world a better way to live in community. Jesus made our pathway clear. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35 (NIV) Our task is to build a community of faith that shines brightly in our world. If we will live out our faith genuinely and corporately, the world will take notice.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:12 (NIV)

 

 

Do We Take Sin Seriously?

 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel.

Joshua 7:1 (NIV)

                In my devotions this week, I read Joshua 7. It is a disturbing passage of scripture because of the extreme consequences of Achan’s sin. To put things in context, the people of Israel were commanded to conquer the city of Jericho by the power of God. They were to devote everything in the city to God. They were to take nothing for themselves. Achan found a robe from Babylon, some silver, and some gold. He wanted these things for himself, so he took them and hid them in his tent.

                Later, Joshua sent a small force to capture the city of Ai, a small city with few defenders. Instead of overtaking the city, the Israelites were routed. Joshua and the people were devastated. Joshua sought God and asked why He had allowed this defeat. God revealed that Israel had sinned by taking some of the devoted things. Joshua examined the people and discovered what Achan had done. Because of his sin, Achan, his family and all that he had were stoned and then burned. Stones were piled up over the remains as a sign to the people of how seriously God takes sin.

                I am so thankful that because of Christ, God deals with our sin in grace and mercy. But unfortunately, this has often caused us to take our sin lightly. Because there doesn’t seem to be any immediate consequences to our sin, we believe that we don’t have to take our sin seriously. I think we do this to our own peril.

                Paul challenged the Corinthians to awaken to the seriousness of sin. As Paul was instructing the Corinthians about their worship services, he warned them that God will not take their sin lightly.

That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
1 Corinthians 11:30-32 (NIV)

                When we don’t take sin seriously, we give it the opportunity to take root in our life and grow. What may seem small at first has the potential to become something that will alter the course of our life. James warns us that sin is not something to be played with.

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:13-15 (NIV)

The Bible instructs us to keep short accounts with God. As John instructs us, when we become aware of sin in our life, we need to take action. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV)

                What God instructed Joshua to do the Achan and his family seems extreme, barbaric, and even cruel to us. It violates our sensitivities. Yet it demonstrates just how seriously God takes sin. He took it so seriously that He sent Jesus into the world to take our punishment on the cross, to literally give His life so that our sin can be forgiven. Should we take sin less seriously than God?

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:21-24 (NIV)