Are we ashamed of the gospel?

I've been reflecting recently on the responsibility we all have to make disciples of people who are not currently in relationship with Jesus. I know that in my embracing of post modern values some years ago, (many of them good), I essentially threw out my responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in favour of just living and demonstrating it. The problem has been – that decision has not proved very fruitful in terms of seeing people come to faith!

God has been taking me through a process of repentance – changing my wrong thinking, and challenging me to step out in faith in accordance with the truth of His Word.

Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go & make disciples..." (Matt 18 & 19)

It's easy to miss this vital part of the great commission Jesus has given us to make disciples - the fact that the absolute authority given to Jesus has, in turn, been given to us! Therefore, we should not be apologetic in our proclamation (and demonstration) of the Gospel. We speak with the full weight of authority of the King of the Universe, and it's reassuring to know the command also comes with a promise; He is with us always.

Paul says in Roms 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…"

And in vs 15, "I am so eager to preach to Gospel to you…"

Is this something we can say is true of us?

It's interesting to reflect on where shame and fear re; proclaiming the Gospel have paralysed us...Our own culture can intimidate us....many of us have worked so hard at being perceived as "normal" because we've thought people would receive our message better that way, but in the process have neglected the fact we still have a truth to tell. And this truth will get us into trouble – the early church were never in trouble for feeding the poor and rarely in trouble for healing people – the opposition came when they "spoke in His name"! The need for "Courage under Fire" springs to mind!

Satan does not want us to speak up because he knows the Gospel message IS the power of God for salvation! Jesus didn't say,

"Go into all the world and befriend people."

He said,

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15)

Signs and wonders accompanied and confirmed this spoken Word. (See Mark 16:20)

I'm convinced our confidence in the power of the spoken Gospel (not just the Gospel demonstrated through loving actions or even healings) needs to be refreshed. As does our confidence in the simplicity of the Gospel – Paul did not use clever arguments designed to impress people, on the contrary he preached the simple message that God justifies the ungodly by faith. - That's it!

It's true that timing is important and this takes discernment - we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us recognise the times to sow and the times to reap. We don't want to fall into the trap on the other side of the pendulum swing of pushing people to pray prayers before they are ready or declaring them Christians when they haven't yet understood or responded to the invitation to discipleship. But this is not the challenge for the majority of us.

For most of us, the challenge is more likely to include repenting of being ashamed of the Gospel message & stepping out in renewed faith & confidence in it's (Jesus') power to save.

If this resonates with you, I'd encourage to engage with this process, both personally and in your communities. My prayer is that we will all do business with God on this, and ask Him to replace our fear and shame with His love, faith & courage! Amen.

written by Linz

Kuh-myoo-ni-tee

The English language has a marvellous repertoire of word play options. I like word play. And deciphering its meaning.

I think thinking about the words and phrases we use and what they actually say can create surprising insights, funny recognition, and astonishing revelation about ourselves and how we talk. I wonder whether we always know and mean what we say...Want an illustration?

• Well, it applies to whole expressions: “I don’t suppose you could possibly spare a second to assist me with this?” means “Please, I need some help.”

• With single words you might think it’s a bit easier. In church we have:
• marriage = you get married, then you age - or
• holiness = sacred monster - and
• leadership = Paul Maconochie’s new yacht

But it does get trickier with some of our other lingo:

Say, we want to decipher the meaning of the word ‘community’.

• Let’s base this on the assumption that most of us refer to community as a place of belonging and a form of togetherness.
• If you look at the term’s components from its Latin origins, you see it consists of the terms ‘com’ and ‘unity’.Com translates simply into ‘with’, or more profoundly into ‘by means of’. Unity translates into ‘being one’ or ‘one-ness’.
• Putting those two together, you could read the term community as ‘by means of one-ness’ and realize that the word some of us use about a hundred times a week stands for a whole concept of togetherness: community as a place of belonging by way of one-ness.
• Or: We’re community, because we’re one. That sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it? After all, it’s not that difficult to agree that in Jesus we’ve come to be one with the rest of his body, the church, our community (Rom 12).

• Something slightly more interesting happens when we turn this round: If community means ‘with one-ness’, then it must also be true that where there’s no one-ness, there’s no community. Now, I personally find that this hits a little harder than my friendly agreement to some abstract, metaphysical one-ness I share with the rest of you all.
• It hits, because it confirms the sneaky suspicion that the absence of unity might be a painfully real part of my life. One that hinders me from entering into the sense of fellowship and relationship I desire so much. So, from a purely selfish point of view: I think it’s about time I work out the essence and meaning of unity! After all, it might get me better community.

Now, you might think that we can’t just base our understanding of unity on a little word play. That’s right: Let’s come up with some scripture to back up the newly found project pursuit.

Why unity? And...what is it actually?

Here’s for a starter:

• Jesus thought it would help his recognition in the world if his people figured out how to be one like him and his Father (John 17).

To me that sounds like some proper incentive, if effective mission is something we’re after. Besides, doesn’t it just seem clever to put it on our wish list if even Jesus asked for it?

• Then we’ve got Paul who says it would make him happy if the Philippians were like-minded, having the same love and being one in spirit and purpose (Philippians 2).

Now, while making Paul happy might not be the prime motivator of our lives, my guess is, he may just have had a point.

So, I can see this unity theme crop up in our very bible and it confirms that I want to ask a few more questions about it. Hopefully, next time I get to write on here, we’re a bit further on in our appreciation of what? why? and even how? Yeah, that’s right, I do mean we, cause after all, I can’t do unity by myself, can I?

I’d like to ask for some help, then, in asking these questions:

1) What is unity in our contexts? (and is it achieved by drinking tea at uni?)

2) What is its potential?

3) And where in my life can I make a start pursuing it - as of today

Let’s get cracking – by way of asking the Father, I’d say.

And on the 8th day God created…

How do you feel about time?

Have you ever heard those in your communities say things like “We’re just too busy” or “We don’t have enough time”?

Given that there are just 7 days in a week, how can we choose to invest our time well?

We want to live lives of adventure but can often end up just about surviving the busy rush of daily life and then crashing in exhaustion. How can we do mission in a way that is honouring to our call and and yet doesn’t lead to burn out?

Here are 3 thoughts from our experiences about how to Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle from the perspective of time:

Reduce the number of things your community is trying to do at once
Rather than attempting to do everything at once try to articulate with the group what God is currently teaching you about. Do this for the areas of worship, of mission and of community. To invest time in these 3 things you may need to reduce time spent on other good things. Within the missional community members will have taken on different responsibilities. Encourage group members to take an honest look at what is absorbing time and give permission for some things to stop or be done less well.
Consider - What am I doing that could be done with less investment of time? What am I doing that I can stop doing all together?

Re-Use the life rhythms of your group members
Missional Communities are about a lifestyle of worship, community and mission. Instead of adding on extras to an already busy lifestyle try instead to think about what things you already do. An easy place to start is with meals. Invite others over for dinner. Over the dinner think about how you want to use this time and use a question to direct conversation. Maybe ask that everyone shares something they are thankful for while you eat. Re look at your everyday life of shopping, exercise, walking home and think about how to re use the time you already spend to include others.
Consider - What do I already do that I can include others in?

Re-Cycle the time your community spend together
Take a look at the next few months and what the group has planned to do together (including time spent at small, medium and large church gatherings.) Think about if some of these opportunities can be recycled and used differently to more match what God is saying and what the opportunities or needs that you can see. For example, if someone is moving house, your group could spend the time normally given to meeting together that week to help with the move.
Consider - What time have I already committed which can be used differently?

These are some practical ideas. The foundation to getting healthy rhythms always needs to come back to grace: If you’re feeling tired, overworked and low on time as a resource, the answer isn’t to try harder. It’s to come to Jesus and ask him to teach you how to do it.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:29-30 (The Message)

The Ordinary Adventure

The Christian life is not supposed to be dull, it is supposed to be an adventure.

Every now and again I see,  hear or read something that reminds me of this truth and that calls out the courageous adventurer within me.  One such time was when I first saw this video.  I love music videos,  this one was one of my favourites from the last few years.  It's by a band called Unkle for their track,  Heaven.

Every time I watch this the Holy Spirit gets me.  It stirs me to live more courageously,  to follow God whole-heartedly and to take big risks for him.  I love that feeling and I think its something God wants me to experience.  Perhaps that's the experience the first disciples felt when Jesus said to them "come, follow me".

But life is no music video.  When I fall, the bumps are very real and hurt; sometimes I struggle to get back up.  Then when I'm done with my next bit of adventure and risk there's still the washing up to come back too,  or the kids to put to bed,  or the difficult colleague to get on with.  Often it seems my adventures of faith collide with far more mundane or even difficult realities.

As I've thought about this I've begun to wonder if this was also the experience for the first disciples.  When Andrew, Simon, James and John encountered Jesus and heard his call the they left their nets and followed him.  The left what they were doing and began a new adventure.  A journey that would take courage and risk as they learnt how to be like him.

But they didn't leave their nets for ever, and Jesus didn't take them away from the everyday realities of life.  They went to weddings,  they paid taxes,  they argued and bickered with each other and Jesus used each of these events to change them,  to show them something new.  The adventure he took his disciples on was firmly in the real world,  and the day to day struggles they faced were the very place where they got to see God's power at work.

I wonder if this is God's intention for all who would want to follow him.  He calls us all to be disciples here on earth.  He asks us to engage with the struggles and apparent mundaneness of everyday life and to allow him to make it different,  better,  new.

I believe God is looking for everyday adventurers.  People who will be obedient to him in every little detail of their life and so will more fully experience him changing our world for the better.

Are you eager to part of this great adventure?  Why not talk to God about it now?  Write down a list of the situations you face today;  the jobs you have to do,  the people you will see.  Ask God to meet you in each of those places, let him know you're open for him to do something new.  Then get on with living as his adventurous disciple.