Have you ever had conversations that is just so life giving? Where you walk away from dinner, coffee, etc. with a resurgence for Jesus? Where you are just so encouraged about what He is doing in somebody else's life? Where it turns into encouragement for your life? Once again, the only way I can describe it is, friendships rooted in Jesus Christ.
In our conversation, I was just so clearly reminded of the gospel. We were talking about church's and denominations, which isn't really important to hash out the finite details, but it reminded me the purposes of the Church. It also reminded me of a message that I once heard about the Authority of God's Word.
What I was reminded about at breakfast:
-Biblical Teaching. Teaching that finds its identity in God's Word. Why is this important? It is so important because, that is exactly where we find our identity. God spells it out quite simply for us. In His Word. So as I look for Church's to plug-into in the future, that is honestly something that I'm looking for. Are they teaching biblically? Or are they teaching in a hot-topic method? Unlike the Constitution, it is not a living document, in which we get the opportunity to manipulate what it says, and rearrange its meaning. Rather it is the final authority on all things in our lives.
-Biblical Outreach. Local and Global Missions. Both are equally important, and should be equally emphasized. But I was quickly reminded that something that we continually say and want to do is, "take Jesus to the ends of the earth, and make Him known". Exactly. The purpose of missions, in the words of John Piper, "to make worshippers of Him". Has he not already made Himself known to all, by His invisible attributes and divine authority? So does that mean that international missions should end? No. Of course not. It means that the world needs discipleship. [Discipleship is applicable for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.]
My friend Danny reminded me of his experiences in Africa, in that essentially, Africa has been so "over-evangelized" and what Africa truly needs are men and women to be lead to the deep waters with Christ. This is so true in which the culture and context that we live in today, at least for me in Auburn. In that, men and women, young and old, have been so overly evangelized so that we have such a soft, shallow, and misunderstanding of the gospel (namely: Jesus). I have found that one of the greatest tragedies that I see (as a young, inexperienced 23 year old) in Christianity, is that we haven't really read the Great Commission. "Go therefore (because Jesus has authority over heaven and earth) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." We are so anxious to Go, because it looks "sexy" to go to Africa or China. But it isn't nearly as "sexy" to make disciples, because that requires a lot of work, time and effort. Could we be a people that fulfill the Great Commission by not only going, but also by discipling and teaching all those who have put their faith in Christ. Proclaiming His name to the Gentiles.
In the Great Commission there is a four-fold calling: Go, Discipleship, Baptizing, and Teaching. Are we doing this?
Anyway, lastly I was reminded of a tower.
If I would simply just wrap my life around Him, life would be so much "easier" than how I make it to be. If I would centralize Jesus in my life, and have everything revolve around that, this tower would be "unshakable". Christ as the central identity and foundation. But what I often do is this. I try to make my own strongholds and towers. I try to construct out of my own effort something to hold onto. Out of weak bricks and poorly constructed plans I build away. And as we all know, our towers will falter. They will fail. Let me try to explain this abstract thought.
Real life example of how much of a child I am:
I am currently in a relationship. In this relationship I have continually learned so much about myself and my shortcomings. Now this is not because my significant other points out my faults or because she is quick to tell me to look in the mirror. But rather I have seen so clearly, my shortcomings with Christ. In that I often turn away from His pursuit of me. When I try to do things on my own. AND YET, He still pursues with unfailing devotion. So, the other day I was upset about something (maybe not getting to hang out because she had plans or something). And I just started getting frustrated at her. Honestly because I wasn't the center of attention. So what do I do. I start building my tower. I start building away. I start building my tower of frustration around this idea that it is her fault that we don't get to hangout. And so clearly as I build, I really don't have a "sound-argument/justification" for getting mad. But rather it is essentially empty and worthless. SO when confronted by the Holy Spirit, I run to my tower, and try to enter into it. AND there in lies the problem, the Holy Spirit started pressing in, and essentially gave me two options: 1. "you can destroy" this stronghold, or 2. "i can take it down brick by brick", which will be very humbling, and hurt a lot. Well fortunately for me, the Holy Spirit, pulled me away from my tower and said, "just look at your tower. it looks pretty weak doesn't it?" So by His grace, I press the demolish button and run to Him.
All in all, I was reminded about the gospel. I was reminded about Jesus Christ and His Character. I was reminded of the blessing of relationships built on nothing less than Jesus Christ. I was reminded about the Great Commission (and local church which I didn't talk about in this blog) and the towers in my life that are sooooo weak.
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