When it comes to parenting, everyone seems to have advice to give out. Especially on how you should raise your kids. But not their’s so much… I want to pass on a nugget that has proven to be some of the best advice my wife, Tina, and I ever received.
Our kids were a little younger at the time, probably around 3, 5 and 7 years old. And like a lot of parents, we had at least one (all) of our kids who was pretty strong-willed. We were increasingly having to deal with actions and attitudes that required discipline, and some days it seemed like we were running our own little detention center.
In this installment of “Ask Caesar” I answer the question of why a missional community will fail in your context. It’s a question I get asked A LOT, one that is most often put to me, though, as an objection. It usually sounds something like this…
“I think that missional community life probably works great where you live, but you don’t understand my context. People are different here… they’ll never have you into their homes, or come over to your place. Folks are just too busy or not open to relationship like this in our city.” (more…)
Many conversations about our churches becoming more missional (discipleship-focused) assume there is nothing but objections and arguments against living this way. But what about those churches where people are already convinced and just need direction?
This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we lay out the very first steps to becoming a missional church. These are steps that you can ABSOLUTELY take today, and your folks will love it!
I was thinking about how us humans have a predisposition to earn our worth by doing—do to be– to work hard for status, love, acceptance, and value.
I once heard it said that we always want to work FOR love instead of work FROM love. I want to remind you that in the beginning of the Story, God created humans in his own image on the sixth day, to be like him. And then on the next day—the very first full twenty-four hours of life for Adam and Eve—was a day off. A day of rest.
In the book of Exodus found in the Old Testament of the Bible, these ancient Hebrew writings show us that when God gives the fourth of what we commonly call the Ten Commandments, he says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” He’s not talking about Ozzie Osbourne and his band… but he gives us a whole paragraph of instructions on this command while the other of the 10 Commandments are just mentioned briefly, such as, “You shall not steal or lie.”[clickToTweet tweet=”Why do we treat God’s command to keep sabbath as a suggestion? We wouldn’t do that with the other 9!” quote=”Why do we treat God’s command to keep sabbath as a suggestion? We wouldn’t do that with the other 9!”]
It seems that God knew that we were going to want to work hard at earning and providing for ourselves, and that we would need a rhythm of reminders to help us restore balance and trust in him each week.God created everything, including us, pronounced it awesome, and then took a break to enjoy it all. That is his desire for us too—to live in a rhythm of resting in his finished work. So why do we so often treat this command of God’s as a suggestion? “Oh, um, yeah…I really need to do that more.” Or… “In the New Year, I am going to rest and take some time off. At least I hope to.”
But we would never say that about any of the other commands: “Next month I am going to cut my stealing and telling lies in half. I really need to.” Or, “I should definitely stop murdering people. I really gotta cut back.”
What?!
Why is it when it comes to the command to rest and then work, we so easily blow this one off? Maybe we get so busy we forget. We lose track of God’s ongoing goodness and provision, and begin thinking that we’re our own source of talent, energy, skills, and…well, everything.[clickToTweet tweet=”God desires our lives to be a perpetual state of Sabbath, a non-stop resting in his completed work.” quote=”God desires our lives to be a perpetual state of Sabbath, a non-stop resting in his completed work on the cross.”]
God desires our lives to be a perpetual state of Sabbath, a non-stop resting in his completed work. On the cross, Jesus secured for us what we never could earn for ourselves, the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of our relationship with his Father. We can do nothing to add to this any more than we can cause plants to grow, control the weather, or cause God to love us any more than he already does.
Because of Jesus we can rest. Today. Every day. At a soul level.
So if you’ve been working hard and then resting… the next best time to start working from rest is now.
Let me know what keeps you from truly resting in a regular rhythm in the comments below.
Blessed to be a blessing sounds at once awesome… and a little daunting. Where do we start blessing people when there are SO MANY needs around us? That should make it easier, but honestly, it can kind of shut you down, not knowing WHO to bless or HOW.
This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we talk about how to live fully enjoying the blessings in your life, but also how to live “blessed to be a blessing” to others as a family on mission.
The way of the world is: We do things (perform, serve, work etc.) to have value in the eyes of our family, friends, parents, spouse, siblings, boss, pastor etc.
If we do a good enough job and are perceived as valuable, then people will want us around. We will be wanted. Out of this activity we often form our identity. What we DO has led to who we ARE. Or at least we think it has. But there is a huge problem with this, it is terribly dangerous, it eventually crushes us, and it goes against how God now sees us.
Don’t believe the DO=BE lies anymore.[clickToTweet tweet=”If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity.” quote=”If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity.”]
If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity. We have become part of a family of missionary servants, sent to serve the world and make disciples of Jesus.
This is who we are. This is our new identity. This is the secret.
And this is true of us as Christians EVEN IF WE NEVER KNEW IT. This is our birthright!
The more we understand and believe this to be true, the more our lives will be transformed.
We’ve all seen and heard this before if we’ve ever been baptized or witnessed a baptism ceremony. But maybe we missed it. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus laid out the entire picture and command for us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There it is. The mission of the Church and the means to accomplish it.
Our baptism is not some salvational magic spell or just a culturally ancient ritual; we are baptized, soaked, established into a new identity. Into the NAME OF the Father, and the NAME OF the Son, and the NAME OF the Holy Spirit…all a huge identity statement. This is who we now are. Looking briefly at each of these…
We are baptized into the name of the Father.
Our name has everything to do with whose family we are a part of. God is now our Father. We are his dearly loved children. In Christ we are brothers and sisters; That makes the Church a family. It is part of our transformed identity.
We are also baptized into the name of the Son.
We have entered into an identity relationship with Jesus. He is our King, who came and lived as a servant to all, and we now are his servants, serving his glorious mission, as we serve others as a way of life. Being a servant is now a part of our renewed identity.
Finally, we are baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the New Testament the Holy Spirit is the sending agent of the Church. He empowered Jesus while on Earth, he guided and comforted the early Church and his indwelling presence transforms our identity into “sent ones”: literally missionaries.
As Christians we are alI missionaries.
Because of who God is, and Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we truly have become a family of missionary servants sent as disciples who make disciples.
This is our birthright. You may not have always known this to be true about yourself…but the next best time start believing it is now!
[Comments from my old website/blog were not carried over to this new one. Please leave your thoughts below.]
