The Rhythm of Your Life

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he writes to the believers, "Now I say this and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do" (Ephesians 4:17). Paul uses "Gentiles" in the context of this sentence to refer not to their ethnicity, but to their spiritual condition & identity that is "outside" of Christ; they are non-believers. 

Paul is making the declaration: there is a distinctness to the lifestyle of a believer that is noticeably different from that of a non-believer. However, apparently, some in the congregation at Ephesus didn't get the memo. So, Paul is telling them to "stop living according to the rhythm of the world". There is a rhythm to everyone's life. For the believer, we are to be living according to the rhythm of Christ, living according to our new identity in him...that is, distinct, different, set apart in "true righteousness and holiness" progressing ever more closely to the character of Christ as we "put off" the old man, are "renewed in the spirit of our minds", and "put on" the new man. This includes our attitudes, actions, worldview, behaviors, and ambitions. 

There is a country song out now, a duet with Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt. Part of it says, "dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat". I wonder today, Christian, are you dancing to the rhythm of the heartbeat of the world or to the heartbeat of the gospel and the kingdom of Jesus?

The Gospel and Suffering

Romans 8:18-25 is one of the great encouragements of the Bible. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (8:18). 

In the face of suffering (a universal human experience) the gospel anchors our hope by doing four things:

The gospel anchors our hope by drawing our vision to future glory (18)

The gospel anchors our hope by reminding us that we are children of God (19-21)

The gospel anchors our hope by preparing us for our new glorified bodies (22-23)

The gospel anchors our hope by building up our endurance to wait for deliverance (24-25)

My prayer today is that you will remember that the anchor of your hope in the face of suffering is the good news that Jesus lived the perfect live we could not live, that he suffered and died the death that we deserve, and he conquered the final enemy of death by rising from the dead for our justification...and, therefore, "if (since) God is for us, who can be against us?"

Be encouraged today!

Discipleship: Like a Pebble in a Pond

When you drop a pebble into a body of water, there is always a ripple effect. The depth & mass of the pebble dropped into the water determines the breadth of the ripple effect, that is how far out from the center it moves.

I wonder if we have gotten that a bit backwards in the church, particularly as it relates to discipleship. While it is true that we ought to "cast the net wide" at times, certainly Jesus did, but the primary way he "made disciples" was in smaller groups. As he poured himself into the 12 disciples, he certainly gave them more "depth". And, subsequently, the effect of his "discipleship" rippled out from the center...it's still rippling today.

If that's the case, why do we seem to approach discipleship from the opposite direction? Or, maybe we don't approach it from the opposite direction, but we certainly do not give the time & attention necessary for the "depth" to take place, do we?

I was reminded last week at the Reveal: Disciple-Making Conference by one of the speakers, Dhati Lewis, who said: "Discipleship is not a ministry of the church; it is THE ministry of the church."

If that is true, and I believe it is...what are the ramifications for how we "do" church? At least in my mind, the ramifications are HUGE! Not only for the way that I "pastor" the congregation I serve (what I give my time & energy to), but for the "programming" church employs, our approach to events & activities that we schedule, the expectations we have for church members, how we seek to equip the saints for the work of ministry (disciple-making)...and the list goes on and on.

Now, what if we took this seriously? What if we truly bought into this Great Commission"? What if we decided we weren't going to "go on with business" in the church as usual?

I admit. I'm not exactly sure what this would all look like fleshed out, especially in my context. But, I'm pretty sure, some things would have to change...beginning with me.

Dead Faith

In Tim Keller's commentary on the book of Romans, he asks the following question: "How can we tell if our "faith" is empty, dead, and under God's judgment?"

He goes on to say that there are two signs of a "dead faith":

1. There is a theoretical-only stance toward the word of God. The moralist or dead orthodox Christian loves the concepts of truth, but is never changed by them. They often see how a sermon or Bible text ought to convict others, but they seldom (if ever) let it convict them. A real Christian finds the Bible "living and active" (Hebrews 4:12); when they hear it or read it, they are convicted, comforted, thrilled, disturbed, melted, slammed down, lifted up. 
2. There is a moral superiority, an in-built bragging. If you are relying on your spiritual achievements, you will have to "look down" on those who have failed in the same areas. You will be at best cold, and at worst condemning, toward those who are struggling. Rather than speaking words of encouragement to the struggler, helping to lift them up, you speak words of gossip about them to others, to show yourself in a comparatively good light. A sign of this condition is that people don't want to share their problems with you, and you are very defensive if others point out your problems to you.

Do either of these two signs fit your "faith"?

Worthy of Your Calling

Yesterday at our worship gathering, we spent time looking at Ephesians 4:1 where Paul says: "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called". A parallel exhortation we find in Philippians 1:27: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ". Walking in a manner worthy of your calling in Christ is walking in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

I was particularly intrigued by the word "worthy" during my study. One idea carried by the English word is "something that is of equal weight". So, in that sense, we are to walk, conduct our lives in such a manner that gives the proper weight to the calling we have received in the gospel of Christ. Another idea carried by the word in the original language, axios, is that of something that is axiomatic, something that is self-evident in nature. In this sense we might say, "well, of course, I'm going to walk worthy of my calling in Christ, look at everything Jesus has done for me (Ephesians chapters 1-3)". It's the most obvious thing to do: live a life worthy of the gospel.

What a challenge to conduct our lives----home, work, personal, on-line, public, private----in such a way that gives the proper weight to the gospel! It is an awesome challenge. The question for Christians today is: are we? Are we walking to the beat of the world's drum or the cadence of the gospel of Christ?

Just something to think about...