Joining Jesus on Mission

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Making-Disciples

In Philippians, Paul writes, “To live is Christ.” John Piper expounds on Paul’s expression in his book Don’t Waste Your Life, where he writes, “You get one pass at life. That’s all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ… If Christ is not made much of in our lives, they are wasted.”[1] The truth is that when Jesus called you to follow him, he called you to an un-wasted life. Jesus brought you from death into life, and this life is to be lived to the fullest measure for him.

At your death, before Jesus Christ, how will your life be measured?

Thankfully, Jesus didn’t leave you unaware of what he wants you to do in this life. He declared to you your destiny – indeed, the destiny of every true follower of Christ. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are a missionary. This is your destiny; you are a fisher of men, a disciple-making disciple, a missionary. The Holy Spirit has been progressively transforming you into a disciple in order that you actively multiply your faith in Christ in others. This is your destiny, and at your death, before Jesus Christ, how will your life be measured? Will you be counted faithful as an obedient fisher of men, or have you been on the shoreline, equipped with everything you need (2 Tim 3:16-17), but never casting the gospel line in faith as a fisher of men?

Friend, you can’t go back and change your past, but you can refuse to let your past dictate your future. You can shut up the condemnation of Satan for things left undone and declare, “From this day forward I will follow Jesus in His mission. I will not waste my life.” First, repent for the sins of apathy and absence from the mission. Then ask Jesus to ignite in you a passion for his mission that will never be quenched. Pray this prayer each morning. Then finally, taking a page from the shoemaker, “Just do it!”

It’s not too late!

It’s not too late! No matter your age or station in life, you can begin today in the mission of Jesus. Engagement in the mission of Jesus Christ is not only for the young, or the strong, or one gender or another. The beauty of Jesus’ mission is that it is for every believer, everyday at home and abroad until he or she meets their Maker face to face. How can you get involved? You can get involved in the mission of Jesus though Praying, Giving, and Going.
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Discerning A Very Different Jesus

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Baptists believe that the Bible is a perfect, holy treasure of divine revelation directly from God to mankind and that Jesus is the focus of this revelation. Nature may reveal the glory of God to conscious observers (Ps 19:1-3), but Scripture directly reveals God’s plan of redemption for sinners like you and I through Jesus Christ (2 Tim 3:15-17). What we intimately and assuredly know about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we know because he revealed it in the Bible.

Narrowing our focus a little more, what we know about who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he demands doesn’t come from the latest pop-theologian, that kind of knowledge – which we can admit is critically important – only directly comes from Scripture. In fact all of Scripture, all 66 books of both the Old and New Testaments, is a “testimony to Christ” (John 5:39). [1]

Salvation only comes through the Jesus of the Scriptures

But there seems to be many different conceptions of Jesus found in our culture, and so it is our task, according to the Word of God, to discern these very different Jesuses from the Jesus of the Bible, because salvation only comes to those who have surrendered their life by faith to the Jesus Christ revealed to us in the Bible (Acts 4:12).

Some very different Jesuses are easy to discern. Clearly when Jehovah Witnesses (a.k.a., the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society) assert that Michael the archangel was the pre-human Christ and deny the deity and eternal preexistence of Jesus, the Jehovah Witness’ Jesus is a very different Jesus than the Jesus of Scripture (Jn 1:1-14; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-20; Rev 3:14).[2] The Mormon’s fictional Jesus should also be rejected. Mormon’s teach that Jesus was born a spirit child to a flesh and bone exalted man called “Heavenly Father” in a pre-earth realm, and that Jesus is in a tussle with his younger brother, Satan.[3] This fictional character that Mormon’s identify as Jesus departs so severely from the Jesus of Scripture, I will devote no further space to the matter.

So the fictional Jesus like the above varieties should be easily distinguishable as very different from the Jesus of the Holy Scriptures. But what about the not so easily distinguishable, very different Jesuses? Beginning in the 18th century, various scholars have taken part in a series of quests for whom they called the historical Jesus. These quests typically began with a presumption that the supernatural is impossible, and thus the record of Jesus in the Gospels is largely unreliable. So with that critique in place, these scholars began to try to decide who the real Jesus of history was. Invariably, in all these quests, the Jesus the researchers wound up identifying looked very little like the Jesus of the Gospels and much more like the researchers themselves – a 19th century German Jesus, a feminist Jesus, a liberal Jesus, and so on.[4]

A Jesus in our own image is no Jesus at all

Such a phenomena is not limited to scholarly researchers. We must discern the pop-culture Jesus who has been slowly tweaked from the Jesus of Scripture into a Jesus made in our image. The things that we have said of Jesus that he never said of himself represent this very different, dangerous, self-condemning Jesus. And so together let’s discern this very different Jesus by identifying some things that Jesus never said.

Jesus never said:

  • “Follow me… unless you can find your own way and your own truth to suit what you want to do, then I will follow you and give you my blessing.”
    (instead, Jn 14:6, 15:5)
  • “You are a really good person now, but please invite me into your heart so I can complete you and make you better.”
    (instead, Eph 2:1, 3)
  • “Follow me and I will make you healthy, wealthy, and popular among your peers.”
    (instead, Mt 10:32-39)
  • “I am loving and never, ever judge.”
    (instead, Jn 5:21-24; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor 5:10)
  • “I will never test you and try you more than you can handle on your own.”
    (instead, 2 Cor 1:8-10; Phil 4:13)
  • “Come just as you are, and don’t worry, you can stay that way until you are ready to change.”
    (instead, Jn 3:3; Mt 16:24-27; Rom 12:1-2)
  • “Your worship in my church is optional, she’s not as important to me as you are.”
    (instead, Eph 5:25-33; Lk 4:16; Heb 10:25)
  • “Go therefore and make disciples, unless it’s inconvenient or difficult. I understand.”
    (instead, Mt 28:18-20; Jn 15:12-13)
  • “You should give yourself and your means to my mission through the local church, but not too much. First, you should store up for yourself lots of material goods and a healthy retirement so you can be comfortable. Hell is not that uncomfortable.”
    (instead, Mt 6:19-21; Acts 2:45)
  • “Once saved, always saved. So you might want to get a copy of the church record when you became a member. I will ask for that when you die.”
    (instead, 1 Jn 2:4; Mt 7:15-23)

We need to know who Jesus is, what he has done, what he demands

So the next time you find yourself saying, “Doesn’t the Bible say somewhere that…” It is time to stop, pray, open up your Bible, and read for yourself just what the Bible says about who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he demands. In short, Jesus is the Word made flesh, God incarnate, the great I AM, fully God and fully man, the blessed Redeemer of mankind, the prophesied Messiah, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, and the living Lord. Because of his volitional sinlessness and perfect submission to God the Father, his death on the cross entirely atoned for our sin debt against God. And what a great sin debt this is, for we are dead in our sin and destined for hell! However, Christ’s bodily resurrection from the grave undoubtedly signified that once-and-for-all death is dead, Satan is defeated, our sin can be forgiven, and life can once again be eternally lived reconciled with God on earth and in heaven. This is the gift of salvation that we desperately need.

But we do have to receive it, and Jesus said in order to receive him we must by faith believe the Gospel, turn from our sins, surrender our minds, bodies, and motives and follow him as our master. Jesus takes the dead, and gives them life, a life to be yielded back to him by observing all that he has commanded without qualification, proclaiming the gospel without fear, and making disciples who do the same. This is the Jesus of the Bible, a very different Jesus than the Jesus of culture.

[1] “Baptist Faith and Message 2000,” (Southern Baptist Convention). Accessed February 2015 from http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp.
[2] Tal Davis, “Jehovah’s Witnesses View of Christ,” (SBC, North American Mission Board). Accessed February 2015 from http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbnew.aspx?pageid=8589952835
[3] Tal Davis, “Comparison Chart-Mormonism and Christianity,” (SBC, North American Mission Board). Accessed February 2015 from http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbnew.aspx?pageid=8589952801.
[4] Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament, (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2009), 111-125.

Evangelism as a Spiritual Discipline – Colossians 4:2-6

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Further Application

  1. Have you considered sharing the gospel with other people a privilege or has evangelism evoked a deep sense of dread for you? Tell God why you are afraid, and ask him to deliver you from fear. Recall 2 Tim 1:7, and remember that God is looking for your obedience. Satan will coerce you to keep quiet for fear of failing and then condemn you for not trying. Share the gospel and trust God for the results.
  2. List five people whom you know that you can begin personally praying for opportunities to share the gospel. Consider sharing these with your family or an accountability partner who can also pray for these people with you.
  3. Practice listening well so that you can see where the gospel intersects their story.
  4. Write your testimony (or your story) so that you can share it clearly in under 3 minutes. Your story should include (a.) your life before Christ, (b.) the moment in which you surrendered your life to Christ, (c.) and how Christ has changed your life. If the either (b.) or (c.) are missing, it is time to seriously consider if you have genuinely surrendered your life to Christ and are saved.
  5. Practice sharing the gospel. A simple method of sharing the gospel is with the “3 Circles: Life Conversation Guide” from NAMB.
  6. Choose an accountability partner that will commit to helping you develop the discipline of sharing the gospel. Then the two of you commit to having 2 gospel conversations each week. Keep a journal of your experiences and what you learn from each one. Then share your experiences with each other.

Main Idea: You can go into your community and unto the nations with the Gospel bearing confident expectation because: Whosoever will may come. And whosoever comes is brought by God.

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A Gift from God for his Glory, Not a Disability

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Much of Peter’s first letter is focused on preparing us to face tough seasons of trials, suffering and persecution. Over and over it seems we could almost hear Peter’s refrain: “Let Hope reign! If you want Jesus to reign over your circumstances, he must reign in all areas of your life!”

Let Hope reign! If you want Jesus to reign over your circumstances, he must reign in all areas of your life!

The application of this truth was fleshed out in our family in a way that I must share with you. At the dinner table, one of our children asked, “Why did Jesus make Abbey deaf?” This is a question that we knew would come some day, but even so, when it did with such innocence, it jars you a bit. How do you communicate the grace and sovereignty of God in a way a child can understand? With the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Megan responded so perfectly. She said, “God brought Abbey through so much and through her he has done so many wonderful things. So God let Abbey be deaf so that, for the rest of her life, when someone asks her about the things she will wear behind her ear or they ask why she is deaf, she can tell them the whole story of how awesome God really is.”

In other words, Abbey’s disability is a gift from God for his glory. It is a gift so that neither Abbey nor the rest of us will ever forget the abundant grace of God through a difficult season.

Suffering is a gift that keeps us ever mindful of the love and grace of God.

Have you ever viewed your trial that way? Have you ever viewed suffering as a gift that keeps us ever mindful of the love and grace of God? For the child of God, saved by grace through faith, you can, and indeed, you should (Rom 8:28). So in your season of suffering, climb into the loving arms of your Father in heaven.

God’s Pursuing Grace

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Today, January 28, 2015, I am humbly stepping into a new endeavor that I pray will serve the church well for the glory of my Lord Jesus. While it is my purpose to fill this site with many resources to equip and encourage believers as they join Jesus in his mission to make disciples of all nations, I will begin with this post: God’s Pursuing Grace. This is a short story of how God’s ever-loving, never-ceasing pursuit of my soul brought me new life and a new identity in his Son Jesus Christ. To God be the glory, great things he has done…

I was born in small peach farming community in the foothills of South Carolina. There were two things you knew were going to happen every Sunday: you were going to eat at grandma’s house and you were going to go to church. As a five-year-old little boy I understood the preacher when he said Jesus was the way to heaven, and of course, I didn’t want to go to hell. So I walked an aisle, recited a prayer, was baptized, and proceeded to live an outwardly moral church life. But honestly, I never surrendered my life to him. God was my fail-safe, not my Lord.

I never surrendered my life to him.
God was my fail-safe, not my Lord.

Fairly often, I read my Bible, and I would talk to God. But one night as a high school senior, I actually listened perhaps for the first time. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my superficial Christian lifestyle. He called me to humbly admit my need and wholly submit to Jesus as master of my life and serve him in ministry. I sought council, but in my youthfulness and pride I stubbornly yielded to my own pursuits.

I continued to try to co-pilot my life for many years though knowing it was not God’s intended life for me. I had married my high school sweetheart and developed a successful career as a professional engineer, but my heart would ache that I had not surrendered to Christ’s call. Truth be known, I maintained a moral façade in public, but I was faking the Christian life. Privately, I was enslaved by sin and defeated by self-reliant perfectionism. I didn’t know the grace of God, and I didn’t know the power over sin that comes through the Holy Spirit when you surrender to Him. All those days of wrestling with sin in my own strength without the strength of God were no fun.

I was faking the Christian life…then I
experienced God delivered brokenness…

Then I experienced God delivered brokenness when my wife and I struggled through a lengthy season of infertility. My “perfect” plan was falling apart, and there was nothing I could do. After all the frustration and failures, after all the medical avenues to pregnancy were dead ends, I will not soon forget the specialist’s words to Megan and I, “Maybe kids just aren’t in the mix for you.” That hurt deeply. My plans, my world that I had crafted, came tumbling down leaving me nowhere to turn but to God for His mercy and grace. It was in this moment that, for the first time, I humbled myself wholly unto Him. I admitted my sinful greed and stubborn resistance. I surrendered everything that was left of my life to Jesus – my will and my plans to His will and His plans for my life. I am so thankful he answered my plea. I am so thankful for His ever-loving and never-ceasing pursuit.

God’s plan and his timing for my life and my family have been so much more than I could have ever imagined. Today, God has graciously blessed my beautiful wife and I with three wonderful children: Mollie, Caleb, and Abbey. But before the first new life was ever in Megan’s womb, I received a new life in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah for God’s faithfulness; that “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” (Phil 2:13)

Where sin did once abound so viciously, now grace super-abounds victoriously!

When I gave my life to God, I gave Him my grief. I gave Him my self-reliance. I gave Him my appetite for the debilitating sins on which I would binge. I gave Him my past, my present, and my future. What I gave Him would not bring a dollar at auction, but it’s what God wanted from me. And in exchange He gave me His priceless life. He gave me hope, and help, and a future. Jesus gave me Himself, and life in Him victoriously and abundantly. I’m still growing into the likeness of Jesus, and I am still not perfect. Not by a long shot. But where sin did once abound so viciously, now grace super-abounds victoriously! (Rom 5:20)

I want you to know that God wants your life too… all of it.

Has there been a time when you have surrendered your life to Jesus as your Lord and Savior? It’s time. It’s time to turn from your sin by confessing them to Jesus and trusting him for forgiveness. Then, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, follow Jesus and join him in his mission to free other slaves of sin and brokenness. Want to know more? I encourage you to watch this short video.

When you surrender your life to Jesus, the Bible tells us to make public what God is doing in your life. So I encourage you to share the great news of God’s work in your life with a trusted pastor or friend in a local church today.

May your humble faith in Jesus Christ open up the doors of heaven to you!