My Great Elopement With Jesus

Friday, March 10, 2017

Amos 3:3

“Can two walk together unless they are agreed?”

Well, the answer is no. Two cannot walk this life together unless they are agreed. In order for a team of two to function properly, they have to have a common goal. If they are going different directions, unity will be broken. This should never be found in the church since we have the same God. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have in Costa Rica with Abby to get a taste of what it is to be committed to one person, serving the Lord and just doing life together. Honestly, I know how I like to do things and I know why I like to do them the way I do. But, I think a big part of walking in agreement is realizing that the thing that unifies us is more important than the method of completing the work we are doing. For example, does it really matter what craft you do with the kids during church as long as Jesus’ name is proclaimed? If our goal is to teach a truth about Jesus, the little details should be things we are flexible on and hold loosely. Yes, serving the Lord faithfully is what we aim to do, its why we’re in Ignite, but if He isn’t our one thing then we aren’t serving Him. The vision of what I want or what I think should happen is something that should never be held with white knuckles. Holding onto my ideas/vision/methods/etc will only cause tension where it doesn’t need to be. Being “right” is something I need to be ready to sacrifice for the sake of unity. We serve the same God, we are heading to the same place, that is enough to walk unified.

Matthew 18:15

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

Every single time field time is brought up, interpersonal conflict is the next thing to be talked about. I don’t think any of us expected to always get along perfectly, but I none of us came here thinking “wow, I just can’t wait to fight with my teammates!” But, considering that we aren’t perfect, expecting perfection is really not realistic. Looking for sin is foolish but so is expecting it to not be there. Working through conflict in a godly way is so difficult because just about all the time, it means dying to self and putting on new life in Christ. In the heat of the moment, there is nothing I want less than to give up my rights and be the peacemaker. Especially if I’m convinced that I’m right. In the flesh, giving up my rights is humiliating and completely ridiculous. My nature says to stand up for what I want and think with ever fiber of my being. But man, when I’m walking in the Spirit and I choose to just do as He says, the outcome is incredible. Instead of the problem becoming even bigger, it is worked through and unity is rebuilt. Now, I don’t expect to be able to just start living this verse out perfectly. It would definitely be nice, but that’s not how life works. But, what I can do is ask the Lord to teach me to humbly go to the one who has wronged me and work through the problem before it gets bigger. This cannot be done in my own strength but in the strength that God offers to those who trust in Him.

2 Corinthians 13:11

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

I like to fight. Arguing is a hobby of mine and if I can start a debate, I will. For a very long time I only used this ability to debate any topic imaginable for evil. If you give me a side, its not hard for me to argue that side passionately. I fought with everyone about everything and I enjoyed it. My stubbornness is through the roof at times and it makes me someone that I wouldn’t really like. Even though I knew it wasn’t godly, my attitude made an appearance as often as possible for years. But here I am told to live in peace. In one of the psalms (I think) we are encouraged to seek peace and pursue it. Peace is not something that just happens, it has to be cultivated and fought for. Wait, fight for peace? That doesn’t sound right. Bear with me for a second, though. Our nature is to divide and be at odds with one another and with Christ. Left on our own, we fight. What if instead of fighting each other and God, we fight against our sin nature? The victory has already been won, but the daily battles still have to be fought. Choose your battles. Fight against the temptation to sin and instead live for the Lord.

Romans 12:16

“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

The body of Christ is relationship based. Without relationship, there is no body. But, as fallen humans we like to mess things up as much as possible. Because we have an enemy who hates unity, the attacks on the church are, more often than not, divisive. If the devil can pit us against each other, he has already won the war. A church united terrifies him, but when its divided it can’t do much against him. In verse 15 of chapter 12, Paul tells us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Clearly, we must look beyond ourselves to do this. We have to look far enough outside of self that we are able to empathize with one another to the point of feeling their joy and pain in our own lives. Be of the same mind. Love the same God. Have the same goal. Be unified. Sounds simple enough until you read the next two verses and think about why they’re there. “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.” Well, there goes any and all ideas of elitism or Christianity only being for the scholarly. The saving gospel is simple. When we start to embellish or add fluff to what God has proclaimed to be true, we make Him out to be a liar by saying that what He did isn’t enough. Associating with the humble should not be a problem for Christians because we know the truth that we are all equal at the foot of the cross, we all need Jesus just as much as the next person. So why is it so hard to associate with the humble? Probably because we are wise in our own opinions. We fail to remember the magnitude of our own failure in light of God’s holiness. This generation is not without hope, the same God who created everything by speaking it into existence is alive today. Let us pray for revival in this world!

Matthew 20:26-28

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

A lot of the basic principles seem completely backward. How could being a servant make you great? How could being a slave make you first in the kingdom? How on earth could giving your life away allow you to gain eternal life? In an earthly mindset, this is completely backwards and illogical. But, maybe that’s the point. We know that our fallen minds cannot fully grasp the mysteries of God, and this just proves it. I am reminded of the verse that says it is better to give than to receive and how it really doesn’t make any sense and yet it is shown to be true when we actually live it out. The majority of these principles go against what our human nature wants, but man, the blessings that come from denying your flesh far outweigh the initial sacrifice it seems to be! Our example is Jesus, we want our lives to look like His did. But that doesn’t mean everyone is going to like us, life is easy, and then we get rewarded in heaven for living a good life. Press on, my friends. Dying to self isn’t easy but it is not something you’ll ever regret doing.

Luke 17:7-10

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

Oh man, I see so much humility required to live out these verses. If I live these out, I don’t live for myself. I don’t get to demand anything in return for what I do or even feel pride that I accomplished so much. There is a common saying among Christians, “dead men have no rights,” and I think that it sums up this verse pretty well. When Jesus died, we became forever indebted to Him. Accepting Him into your heart is signing your life away and giving it to someone greater than you are. We can never truly pay Him back for what He did, but He asks for our heart and that seems reasonable to me in light of eternity. The only thing we have to offer is our heart and with our heart comes our life. We are no longer free to live as we please because we are “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Slaves have no rights, what their master commands they do or they suffer the consequences. American Christians seem to have a really hard time with this concept. We treasure freedom and the ability to choose what we want so much that it affects our relationship with the Lord. Instead of being Christians who live in America, we become Americans who are also Christians. We forget who is really in control and holds everything together by His power. I know I bring this verse up all the time, but in Romans 12:1 it says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” It is a reasonable thing to become a living sacrifice, fully submitted to the Lord.

John12:26

John 12:26

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

Following is so simple in theory. Kids like to play follow the leader and honestly its one of the simplest games you can imagine, you don’t have to be creative or intelligent. There’s no independence or planning out the next step you’re going to take. You simply do what the leader is doing. That isn’t exactly how walking with Jesus is, but there are similarities. As messy humans, we like to complicate everything but in reality, the power is in the simple gospel, not complex doctrine. Actually, all the basic principles of being a Christian are simple. Something I’ve been learning the past week or so is that to simply love Jesus is the most important thing. More than our actions He wants our full devotion. Out of that devoted love stems the obedience to follow, but without the love, the following is just an empty action. C.S. Lewis said, “But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in.” When you follow Him with your whole heart, you get to be a part of amazing things. Just this last week the girls from Ignite got to see girls we had never met come to Christ. We were obedient to follow where the Lord led and because of that obedience, we got to see Him move. It wasn’t our amazing talents or gifts, but a desire to see the Lord use our obedience. Sure, being there required sacrifice. We gave up the home we’ve been at for two months and all of its comforts for smaller rooms, different beds, and earlier than normal mornings. But, we followed where God led and got to see Him use us in ways we could never have imagined. Following where the Lord leads is more than worth it.