Guest Blog - Boasting in Strength? Or Weakness?

Meet Jenifer Christenbury. The work that the Lord has been doing in her life as of recent is undeniable to the outside world. A heart to worship. A smile that encourages others. A passion to pray for others. And a gift to write. Jenifer has just joined our leadership team in the last month, and we are so proud and glad to have her be a part of what God is doing here at ELEVATION. Read below her guest blog (and trust me you will be reading much more from her) and feel free to comment to encourage and dialogue. I've never been so hopeful in all of my life for the work God is doing here through His Holy Spirit!

pcraig

Guest Blog ////////

"But He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest in me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Lately, I’ve been going deeper in my relationship with God than ever before, and in turn He’s opened my eyes to so much around me that I’ve selfishly been so unaware of. One thing that I pray each day is that He’ll allow me to see with His eyes and feel with His heart. In doing this, He truly has broken my heart for His people, especially for the weaknesses that are tearing apart so many that I come in contact with on a daily basis – family, friends, youth, strangers, and even myself. Weakness is something that we, as a fallen humanity, are relentlessly battling to overcome, and each morning we wake up and make a conscious decision to how we let this battle affect us. We choose to both doubt God’s power and give in to our weakness, believing that there is no other way; or we choose to believe in God’s power and in turn make our weakness surrender to us.

As God always does when I’m searching, He led me to an affirming passage of scripture – a simple, well-known verse I’d heard many times, but seemed so much more powerful this time around. In 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing about the visions and revelations he had received from the Lord. Even though he received all these wonderful revelations from God, he chose instead to humbly boast about his weakness. Rather than going on and on about how “spiritual” he is, and all he’s doing for God’s kingdom, he’s bragging about his weakness! Unexpected, huh?

As the passage continues, to prevent Paul from becoming proud, he was given a thorn in his flesh (the thorn is a symbol for an illness or chronic physical condition that is unknown). Regardless of the case, the point is that the “thorn” was an unceasing problem that took authority over, and was a hindrance to, Paul’s life and ministry. We all have our personal “thorns” in our lives that represent weakness - lust, rejection, jealousy, pornography, pride, gossip, homosexuality, lying, etc. – and these can hinder us from going further in our walk with God. Paul continually prayed for the removal of the thorn, but God refused, and each time He said, “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

Think about it.

We repent and pray that God will forgive our sins, and He does! But, that doesn’t mean that we might not still be tempted by the same sin that we struggle with the most. Those same sins are dangled in our faces daily to keep us humbled, reminding us of where we came from. God can’t show us His power, without showing us that we are so weak without it. When we’re aware of His power over our lives -- that’s when we’ll win the battle over our weakness. But, apart from God’s power, we’re still as weak to give into these sins as we always were.

For example, on a daily basis I constantly face the spirit of rejection because of experiences I’ve dealt with in the past. For years, this fear of not being good enough, of being rejected, has followed me around no matter where I go, and I’ve constantly asked God to take it yet it’s still there. I’m not afraid to be vulnerable and “boast” in my weakness, because through this, God has shown me that the struggle will always exist, but when I’m starting to go down that path, I submit my weakness to Him and He gives me the power to turn and run in the opposite direction.

Weakness limits even the best of us; it gives us boundaries and fences us in. Weakness says, “You can’t do it on your own. Give in. Give up.” As we recognize these limits, we begin to depend more on God for our success rather than on our own talents. Our limitations not only help us to develop into the image of Christ, but also deepen our worship, because in admitting them, we affirm God’s strength.

This is all the more reason not to fear our weakness, but instead to embrace it. For it is when we are at our lowest point, that God is lifted up highest. It is when we are most humbled, that He is most glorified through us. It is when we are weakest, that He is made strong in us. We cannot yet receive the true strength that God has promised us until we let ourselves reach the lowest point of vulnerability and realize that apart from Him, we are nothing. And it is then, and only then, when we are emptied of everything belonging to ourselves, that He is able to fill us up with His strength and power.

In your vulnerability, follow Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians… boast gladly about your weakness! And yes, he says gladly - not bitterly, or cynically. Boast cheerfully, happily, and willingly. Because being weak is normal. It’s okay. In fact, it’s ideal. So, when weakness knocks you to your knees, sit there and pray. And even when it lays you out flat on your face, lay there at the feet of Jesus. And while you’re at His feet, open your hands and give Him your weakness, and with these same open hands, pick up the strength that He has promised you.

With love,

Jenifer

The Object of Worship (Part 3)

Now thirdly, we will consider the object of worship. And these are obvious things, but just to focus on them in this text. Who is the object of worship? Verse 21 ends up with, “Worship the Father.” Verse 23 says, “Worship the Father.” Verse 24 says, “God is spirit and those who worship Him...” We are to worship the one who is spirit and the one who is Father. Those are very important ideas. We are to worship the God who is spirit and the God who is Father.

God is spirit, that is His essential nature. He’s not an idol. He’s not a statue. He’s not confined to a building. He’s not confined to a place, a mountain, to a location, to a city. He is omnipresent, that means He is alive everywhere at all times. He is eternal, transcends time, no beginning and no ending. He is ever and always alive, a living spirit to be worshiped at all times and all places, never confined to any location or to any form. 
Even in the Old Testament, the tabernacle and the temple were not the places that confined God or even contained God. They were symbols of His eternal and limitless presence. God is spirit and God is eternal and infinite spirit. He is at all times everywhere in the universe and He is to be worshiped at all times and everywhere by those who have been sought as true worshipers.

In Acts 7:48, these words are familiar to us, “The Most High does not dwell in that which is made by hands.” That’s against the background of idolatry, and of all the temples in the world that are supposedly the houses of God’s. He is that eternal living spirit who is to be worshiped at all times in all places by those who belong to Him.

But there’s more to this than just saying “worship the God who is spirit.” Let me take you a little further into that. What is the defining characteristic of this God who is spirit? It is not just that He is limitless, it is not just that He is eternal, it is not just that He is immutable, or unchanging, it is not just that He is omnipresent, all places at all times. What is His essential nature?

And I think to understand that, we need only to be reminded that we are called in the Old Testament to worship God in fear...to worship God in fear. Here is where I want to focus our attention today. When we worship God at all times in all places, because God is always available to the true worshiper, wherever that true worshiper is, we also need to understand that when we come to God, there is a foundational reality about Him that is to be understood. And here it comes from Psalm 96:9, “Worship the Lord in holy array, tremble before Him, all the earth.” Worship the Lord in holy array. Tremble before Him, all the earth.

To whom does the Lord look? To whom does He look? “To this one I will look.” Isaiah 66:2, “To him who is humble, contrite of spirit, who trembles at My Word.”

Where does this fear come from? This fear comes from the fact that God is holy. Remember that wonderful 6th chapter of Isaiah with his commissioning? I love it greatly. But it takes us, in a sense, to the essential attribute of God that relates to us worshiping in holy array, worshiping with fear. And that is God’s holiness.

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted, the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two He covered His face, with two He covered His feet, with two He flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of Him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke.” 
Here is the prophet Isaiah who has a vision of God and he sees God high and lifted up in majesty and glory on His throne. And the defining characteristic of God is repeated 3 times by the angels that are hovering in His presence, “Holy, holy, holy,” back and forth they say. And His holiness is a threat to a fallen world and so it shakes the very threshold, the foundation of the temple. And the temple fills with smoke because our God is a consuming fire. And in that vision, Isaiah is literally devastated and he says in verse 4, “Woe is me.” He pronounces a curse on himself. He pronounces damnation on himself, judgment on himself. “For I am ruined.” Literally in the Hebrew, “I am disintegrating, I am crumbling into pieces.” He sees a vision of the holiness of God. And it is a devastating experience for him. It results in a fear, it results in a kind of dread, or a kind of horror. It results in a literal disintegration of his own mind. He begins to crumble, fall apart under the power of the vision of holiness. And what is causing him to crumble is he is fully aware of his own sinfulness and it’s a melt down, it’s a total melt down. He said, “I’m ruined...I’m ruined. I’ve seen God and I’ve seen holiness. And if I’ve seen God, God has seen me. And if He sees me, He sees sin. I am undone.”

Why? “Because I am a man of unclean lips.” Why does he say that? Because depravity shows itself most readily by our mouths. It’s our speech that betrays our fallenness most often. Long before your deeds will betray your fallenness, your mouth will betray it. And he knew it.

Not only that, “I live among a people of unclean lips.” Somebody might say, “Why are you saying this, Isaiah, you’re a prophet of God?” And he would answer, “For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of host. I have seen God in His holiness on display. I am destroyed.” That’s the essence of a vision that produces worship.

It’s one thing to say God is spirit. It’s something else to say God is spirit but God is holy, holy, holy. The true worshiper goes to worship in holy attire out of sense of fear. How many times in the Old Testament are we instructed to fear the Lord? Holiness inspires fear because we realize our sinfulness. It results in brokenness. It results in trembling at the Word of God, as we saw in Isaiah 66. True worship rises out of that context. It is essential if you’re going to be a true worshiper to have a vision of the true God, the God who is spirit but the God who is spirit who is holy, holy, holy. And I believe the true worshiper starts with an awareness of the awesome holiness of God and his own utter unholiness.

I end this series of blogs with another well known NT passage. You remember when the disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee, a storm came up and it says they were afraid, Jesus stilled the storm and it says they were exceedingly afraid? It is more frightening to have God in the boat than a storm outside the boat. They knew who was in their boat, they were exposed. They knew they were in the presence of the Creator who controls the wind and the waves and they were terrified. And they should have been terrified. It’s a terrifying thing to be in the presence of absolute holiness when you are a wretched sinner.

Peter was fishing, Luke 5, couldn’t catch anything. “The Lord said to him, ‘Put out into the deep water, let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon said, ‘Look, Master, we worked all night, caught nothing. Do You think we did that on one side of the boat? What do You mean put out your nets for a catch, You think we missed something out there?’ But they obeyed.” And you remember what happened. They had so many fish they filled both boats and both boats started to sink. “And then Simon Peter fell at Jesus feet.” This is what he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Why did he say that? Next verse, “For amazement had seized him.”

Trauma had seized him. He was panicked because he was in the presence of the One who controlled fish. And Jesus did this in His miracles to traumatize people. His authority was so apparent, it says, the people were astonished at His teaching. His words were so absolutely mesmerizing that they said, “Never a man spoke like this man.” His works were so undeniably divine that the blind man said, “Why here is a marvelous thing, that you know not where He is and yet He’s opened my eyes. If this man were not from God, He couldn’t do this.” 
His purity was undeniable. He said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And there was no answer.” His truthfulness was unquestionable, “If I say the truth, why do you not believe Me?,” He said. His power fascinated them. “What kind of man is this,” they said in Luke 8, “He commands the winds and the water and they obey Him?” And when the multitudes saw Him heal the paralytic in Matthew 9, they marveled and glorified God who had given such power. They were stunned at His dominance of the demons. The multitudes marveled saying, “They had never seen anything like it,” when He cast out the demons in Matthew 9. When He came to a fig tree and it died in His presence, Matthew 21, they marveled. When He stood before Pilate silent, showing no fear, giving no defense, the governor himself marveled. His teaching was so beyond anything they had ever heard, John 7:15 says, “The Jews marveled, saying, ‘How does this man know this, never having learned?’”

We need to understand the holiness of Christ and the holiness of God. We need to understand the fear of the Lord and view Him with wonder and awe. It is only out of this understanding that true worship can ascend.

Becoming undignified for Him,

pcraig

The Source of Worship (Part 2)

Monday, we discussed the importance of worship. Today we are talking about the source of worship. And at this point, I go back to the same statement I made earlier. The Father seeks true worshipers. God not only has in mind that we would be true worshipers, but He effects that...He is the source. We are redeemed by His power so that we become true worshipers.

What I’m getting at in that sense is that if someone doesn’t acknowledge the lordship of Christ though they say they might believe in Jesus, if someone isn’t lost, to borrow the hymn, in wonder, love and praise, if someone isn’t consumed with the privilege of being a slave of Jesus Christ who is Lord, if someone isn’t totally devoted to worshiping the Lord, to worshiping God in who He is, then you could ask the legitimate question...is that person one whom the Father has truly sought? You have all kinds of people who talk about Jesus, but you have far less who live lives devoted to His honor. True worshipers are those who have been transformed by the sovereign power of God into those who worship, Philippians 3:3, in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

What happens when you become a Christian is, you can’t run fast enough from all your fleshly desires. You leave them all behind. That’s again that great statement which is repeated throughout the gospels, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” That’s a true worshiper. True worship is defined by obedience and praise is simply the overflow of that loving heart consumed with the desire to obey and honor the Lord. We are made worshipers.

You don’t have to artificially generate it (I want to scream this at some worship leaders sometimes). It’s the most consistent thing that a believer does, is worship. All you need to do is inform it...INFORM it. That’s why we teach the Word of God at ELEVATION every week. People can't worship what they do not know. In fact, you will never find a week where we do not teach the Word of God. I have been asked countless times from people at different churches that I have served in, “How in the world can your people worship when you give these long sermons? Take up all the time preaching?” And my response was, “How in the world could anybody worship if you didn’t know the truth about God? And the more you know, the more informed your worship is, the more informed your worship is, the more you are a true worshiper.” Worship is from God - He is the source. And our worship is only as deep as our knowledge of who He is.

So, simply said, worship is honoring God for who He is and what He has done and being thankful for both. That’s the sum of it. It is giving honor to God for who He is and what He has done and being thankful for both. This is the end result of knowing Scripture that you might give God the honor He is due. When you go to the Old Testament and read the Psalms which is a book of worship, there’s a kind of format. It goes a little bit like this. The Psalms either tell us the nature of God or the works of God and the appropriate response. You can worship God by going over the things that God has done. For example: God, You’re the God who one day stepped out on the edge of nothing and created everything. You’re the God who by a word created the universe, set the earth spinning in space, surrounded it with the infinite solar system.

You’re the God who in a day made land and sea. You’re the God who in a day created life. You’re the God who in a day created man. You’re the God who placed him in a garden. You’re the God...and on and on you go and you just recite all that God has done and thank Him for it.

You’re the God who parted the Red Sea and delivered Your people from Egypt. You’re the God who preserved Israel and the Messianic line all the way to the arrival of the Messiah. You’re the God who sent Your Son virgin born who lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death, rose, a literal resurrection from the grave, ascended to glory, intercedes for us and one day will come back. This is Your plan. This is Your purpose.

It’s all worship. Or you can say, “You are almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, knowing everything, immutable, unchanging, perfect, holy, loving, gracious, merciful and just recite the attributes of God. That’s what worship does. And thank God for all that He is.

So worship is not about where you are or the conditions around you. Worship is about what you know to be true about God, who He is, what He has done. It is a crippled kind of worship, I think, that so many people experience because they go to a meeting, they have only a superficial understanding of divine things. I call it recreational worship. People have maybe a simple understanding that Jesus died for them and little else. The great deep realities of the nature of God are withheld from them because they might be offended by some of His attributes. The great history of what God has done both in mercy and in judgment is withheld from them. "Well we don't need to teach our students that these days." (heard that before?) And so, worship no matter how loud the music is and no matter how rhythmical it is and no matter how seductive it is to our emotions is thin and superficial and empty because it’s uninformed. An uninformed person who knows only a very little bit about God could sit in the middle of the most magnificent music and it cannot lift him above his knowledge. And a believer whose mind and soul is flooded with the true knowledge of God, who He is and what He has done, can sit alone in the middle of a busy intersection and worship God, hearing only cars and buses and trucks passing by. This brings tears to my eyes every time I think of the depth of the worship He longs from us.

Lord, I ask today that you would make Yourself known to your people. That we would be worshipers in spirit and in truth. That we would be informed worshipers. And we would ascribe to you the honor that is due Your Name. Amen.

Part 3 coming soon!

pcraig

The Importance of Worship (Part 1)

In my FORGE mentoring group, we have just begun reading the first seven chapters of John's Gospel for the next 30 days straight. Reading the same seven chapters every day really begins to prick a deeper interest in the words of Christ. And boy do I have a great week of blogs about to come at you concerning the act of worship!

Today I want to look at John chapter 4:20-24. This very familiar portion of Scripture tells the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. And in that encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, our Lord gives us great insight into the theme of worship.

Over the next week, I am going to examine three things: the importance of worship, the source of worship, and the object of worship. Today, the importance of worship.


In verse 20, John writes, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain.” These are the words of the Samaritan woman. She’s referring to Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans held their worship. She says, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people...that is the Jews...say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” She is endeavoring to figure out where is the appropriate place to worship. Is it here in Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan place, or is it Jerusalem, the Jewish place?

To which, Jesus responds. Verse 21, “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’”

Now that is just amazing! Our Lord is saying there was a time when a place served as a focal point of worship. There is coming a time when worship will have nothing to do with a place and everything to do with an attitude. Worship in spirit and in truth. There is much in the words of our Lord that begin in verse 21 that helps us to understand worship. And so, I want to look a little bit intently at this portion of Scripture and pull out some elements that relate to worship.

Let’s go back to a basic definition just so we don’t assume anything. When you say you worship, you simply are saying you give honor to God. It comes from an old English word “worthship” and it was to ascribe to someone value, to ascribe to someone worship. And so when you say you worship God, you are simply saying God is worthy of honor...God is worthy of praise...God is worthy of glory. Worship is giving honor to God. And it is a life-dominating attitude. It is based on truth because how can you give honor to God unless you know God? And the more you know about God, the more you are able to honor Him for who He is. Because God is infinite perfection, you can continue to be exposed to the increasing understanding of His infinite perfection and thus your ability to give Him honor for who He is increases as well. That is increased worship.

And what is the greatest misconception about worship? It is not simply a matter of song. It is not simply a matter of corporate praise. Giving honor to God is not just saying that He is worthy of honor, but it is living a life that in itself demonstrates that you respect Him. To say, for example, that you worship God and you honor God, and you glorify God and then you disobey Him and you bring reproach on His name and you follow patterns of sin is to make yourself simply a hypocrite. If you believe that God is worthy of supreme honor and He is, if you believe that God is the one to be honored above all, then that will of necessity demand that you live a life that brings honor to God. 
This is true for any person at any age. So when we’re talking about worship, we’re not talking simply about an expression in a song, or a corporate worship, we’re talking about personal commitment to give honor to God all the time everywhere in every circumstance, which then calls us to always do that which we know honors God. True worship is a life. It is not something that happens on Sunday or Wednesday. This is merely a verbal expression of a true worshiping heart. 
The music is how you find words and how your emotions are released in a God-designed form so that the joy that you feel as you worship God can be expressed. But the worship is deeper than the verbal expression.

One of my professors used to always tell me: the worship informs and motivates that verbal expression. But when we say we offer to God worship, we are simply saying we not only with our mouths but with our lives do everything to honor the One who is worthy of all honor. It is giving to God honor.

Now we started with a kind of obvious beginning, talking first of all about the importance of worship. Let's look back at the Scripture for a moment. How important is worship? Go to verse 23. There it says, at the end of verse 23, “The Father seeks worshipers.”

How important is worship? It’s very important, it is what God is doing redemptively. God is seeking worshipers. And the seeking here is what theologians would call efficacious seeking. That it is not some kind of random hope-so kind of seeking, but an effectual seeking that brings about a real salvation. You could parallel this with John 6. “No man comes to Me except the Father draw him.” It is the same as the Father drawing. I've preached several times out of this passage the past few weeks. The Father seeking is an effectual seeking, it is an effective seeking, it is a saving seeking. It is the Father drawing your soul to Christ. Whew! That makes me exuberant!

And what is the Father doing in that? He is drawing a worshiper. He’s seeking true worshipers. In other words, the point of redemption is that we become true worshipers, that we live lives totally and utterly devoted to the worship of God in the fullness of who He is. This then is our priority and will be our priority forever and ever in heaven, where our worship will be made perfect. Whether we hear the Apostle Paul say, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice as an act of spiritual worship,” or we hear Peter say that, “You are a spiritual priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices to God as an act of worship,” it is the same thing. We have been saved to become worshipers. Not ministers, worshipers.

Now let me get you excited! Jesus is saying that worship is an internal experience. And worship is the priority. We must understand that. We talk a lot about ministry. We talk a lot about service and it is important. But ministry or service is that which comes down to us from the Father through the Son by the Spirit in the believer. Worship is that which goes up from the believer by the Spirit through the Son to the Father. Ministry descends, worship ascends, and both are critical. But worship prevails. Worship is first and ministry follows. Don't be like so many who mix the order. You have been redeemed to be a worshiper!

Parts 2 & 3 to come later this week!

pcraig

We Are Family!

Last night, we talked about the third part of ELEVATION's vision - ELEVATION is committed to equipping students within genuine relationships. And as promised, here are the message slides. It is amazing to watch what God is doing each and every week.

Mission: Our mission is to empower a generation of students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through worship, discipleship, relationship, and mission.

Life Change Story - Fernando

It was months ago now when I was first introduced to Fernando Ramirez (one on the left in the pic), a student leader here at ELEVATION! I was immediately blown away at his ability to communicate and discuss theology very well for a student of his age. He was telling his friends:

"Look for your identity, self-worth, acceptance, and security in Christ, and Christ only... If you look for it in this world, you will lose whatever little you had to begin with."

I am very proud of Fernando and what God is doing in his life - there is truly nothing greater in spiritual leadership than watching one you pastor get their life and labor in sync with the eternal God! I am so thankful for Him and what He is doing in his school....

So without further delay, I introduce you to Fernando!

Pastor Craig!

I just gotta tell you how God is moving in my life lately. A whole new level of spiritual stirring has been going on for a couple of months and opportunities for action and prayer have been appearing out of nowhere!

First off, God has just given me people to pray for and simply help and be there for them. This semester in my leadership class I've been able to speak up and share some word by giving speeches every other week. So I've been able to integrate the Gospel into my everyday life in that area.

Also, in that same class I met and made a new friend who has been through everything imaginable and is getting out of some destructive cycles right now and really started getting his life straight not to long ago. Now is the time when he needs someone to be there for him. I invited him to walk the greenway, and he just poured his heart out and all he's been through during that time and I was able to talk to him about Jesus and remind him of who we are in Him and where we find our strength and acceptance. I invited him to come tomorrow for the youth service and he agreed so thank God! :D He really needs a group to fall back on and really just meet a different kind of people so I think tomorrow will change his life. (we are believing for this as well tonight!)

Finally, I've been praying and please help me on this. My soccer team... Oh goodness they are the definition of bad influences, and they will rub off on the newer and younger players. So I'm just praying for the Spirit to touch their hearts and use me in that process because they are going down a really bad path. But there is good news; one of the soccer players who is on that path has been through some really rough stuff so I really believe that God has put me there for him and I've been able to talk to him about the Word and just help him through this. I invited him, and he'll be joining us soon :D

I just felt I should share this with someone. Can't wait until tomorrow, Good night!

Fernando Ramirez

Signs of True Maturity

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." - Ephesians 4:11-16 (NKJV)

The goal of the Christian life is maturity. Its reward may be heaven but its goal is maturity. In fact, until you become mature you can't fulfill the call of God on your life.

I believe in our day the Lord is making a call to maturity. That call has been lost and forgotten in lots of churches. We have sanctuaries filling up on Sundays that are spiritual nurseries not maturing believers. Spiritual infancy has become the norm and is even celebrated. We don't get more mature simply because we are getting older. We do not get more mature by playing church.

Another misconception is that maturity is conformity. Conformity is not maturity. Just because you come into an atmosphere and culture where you can learn to dress and talk and clap and worship does not mean you are mature. Conformity is not a true sign of maturity in your walk. Conformity will actually keep you from maturity. Jesus my friends was the ultimate example of maturity. You find maturity in the person of Jesus. He was the most mature man to ever live.

First, mature believers are responsible people. Look at verse 12 again. "For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." There is a responsibility upon us to equip the saints and for the saints to be equipped. You must be a person to be counted on. You must be willing to accept responsibility in your life. There is a responsibility in the natural and the spiritual. In the natural, if you can't set your alarm and get out of bed and get to work on time, you are not responsible in the natural. If you can't pay your bills you are not walking in responsibility. Maturity is about living in responsibility. If you are sleeping til 1:00 pm every Saturday, that is not maturity!

But there is also a responsibility in the Spirit. Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:16 woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel. Friends, we have a responsibility to preach the gospel. We have a responsibility to speak the Word of God. If a child is drowning in a pool, you don't worry about being politically correct. You get in and get the child. People are perishing and drowning all around us. Today is not the time to try and be politically correct. We surely don't work to be saved, but we work now because we are saved!

The work of salvation was done on the Cross, but the work of proclamation had just begun. John 11 tells us to work while its yet day. Ministry is WORK. People think ministry is a microphone. Ministry is work for anyone who is mature enough to have responsibility. There is a work to be done in the nation. "To prepare God's people for the WORK of ministry." People now want to hear about prosperity and favor but no one wants to hear about responsibility. Privileges only come with responsibility. We live in a generation now where everyone wants to be a celebrity Christian. Responsibility is the first attribute of maturity. Maturity is knowing I can only control me. Don't worry about what others are saying. Worry about what you are saying. Don't worry about what others are doing. Worry about what you are doing. Trust me, that is a full time job in itself!

Secondly, mature believers are consistent people. Look at the Scripture again. "Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." This means maturity means consistency. We must be consistent until we reach unity and maturity. Mature believers are not here and there and bouncing around everywhere. Mature believers are consistent in your emotions. You are not up one day and down the next. You are not led by your emotions. There will be lots of people not in a church worship experience this Sunday. You know why? Because they didn't feel like going. Folks mature believers do not consult their feelings. This thing has nothing to do with how Craig feels. Well Pastor Craig, I have had a tough week. Join the club! I don't consult my feelings about anything. Maturity screams consistency!

A stat I read the other day said that the average church attendee believer attends 32 out of 52 weeks per year. That is a little better than half! Maturity doesn't check the checkbook to see if this week is an advantageous week for me to tithe. I have pastor friends who are always wanting to chase something new. The newest fad, the newest big pastor, the newest method. Get the old Godly ways down first and be consistent in them and then anything else that comes along to help you, grab hold of it. But first, read the Word every day. Learn to pray longer. Maturity says I will read my Bible every day. It does not matter what is going on. Maturity is not watching some tv show for hours each week and you have not even cracked open your Bible.

The Word of God is the foundation for consistency and discipline. If you can't be consistent in the Word, you will not be consistent in anything in life.

People need to know that you are consistent. Do you consider yourself mature? Do you consider yourself a leader? Let me give you a little test. When people get around you, do they know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are going to get dose after dose of the Word of God? People should not have to wander what they are going to get from you when they get around you. Mature believers are consistent people. That means you must love people whether the ever love you or not. I tell you the truth: people will say you are the greatest thing in the world one day and talk about you like you are a dog the next. Mature believers are consistent no matter what the circumstances!

Lord help us to be both responsible and consistent people for the glory of God.

pcraig

The Great Commission: Is it Soul-Winning or Disciple-Making?

Alright, I will begin by saying it. Here is a major pet peeve of mine: when people search the Bible to try to find verses to support a preconceived idea they have. This perhaps may be the number one reason so much Scripture is taken out of context. But if you ever take the “text” out of context, all you have left is a “con.” I know if I try to make a sermon, I end up forcing the Bible to fit my sermon. But if I try to comprehend a passage, a message will flow out of the understanding that follows. So part one of today’s blog: we must get to the place where we longer make a point at the cost of proper interpretation.

In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul says, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God." The Greek word translated "peddling" is kapeleuo, which referred to selling something deceitfully in the marketplace--something that wasn't what it claimed to be. You must not force the Bible to illustrate your preconceived notions. Be careful not to interpret the Bible at the cost of its true meaning.

As with any Scripture, when you take the time to “dig down” beneath the surface, greater understanding will come to the meaning within God’s Word. Since the Great Commission is a command to all followers of Christ, it is important that we completely understand Christ’s directions for discipleship in our lives. Therefore, let’s take it apart and look more closely at Christ’s command.

“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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

I will begin by analyzing the sentence structure. In school, we learn how to diagram a sentence--identify the verbs, nouns, prepositions, and other parts of speech to find out what it is saying. Apply that to the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." As you first read it, "Go", "make disciples", "baptizing", and "teaching" all sound like verbs. But when you study the sentence structure, you find there is actually only one verb, matheteuo, "make disciples." "Go", "baptizing", and "teaching" are only participles, which means they modify the main verb. So Pastor Craig, what does that mean for us today? Glad you asked.

That means that the Great Commission is to make disciples, which involves going to them, baptizing them, and teaching them. You have to examine the grammar carefully to fully comprehend and appreciate the meaning of the text. The true heart of God is discipleship. How does one make disciples? We do that by going, teaching, and baptizing.

Let’s continue. Look at Galatians 4:19: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Wow! The Apostle Paul was in some MAJOR pain for believers to be established disciples. Not pain for people to become believers but rather pain for people to allow Christ to be formed in their lives! Paul knew the heart of the Great Commission all too well.

Listen to the apostle’s words in Colossians 1:28-29: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

This English word “perfect” from this verse is the word “teleios” in the Greek. “Teleios” is the adjective form of “telos.” “Teleios” means to be fully grown, mature, or that which is brought to its completion. This means that the Apostle Paul desired to present every believer mature in Christ. My friends, he had captured the heart of God!

So what is the duty of those who are TRUE disciples according to the Great Commission:

DUTIES OF THOSE WHO ARE DISCIPLES

1. Observe all things Christ commanded including baptism.

2. Submit to the teaching of those He sends to teach (the disciple).

3. At some point, disciple others as well.

And those duties of the disciplers:

DUTIES OF THE DISCIPLERS

1. Go to those in need of discipleship.

2. Teach the commands of Christ.

3. To press upon those he/she disciples the necessity of obedience.

4. Baptize the believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

5. Assist the disciples in applying Christ’s commands to particular life situations.

6. And never forget: the one discipling must be living each of these out themselves.

So friends what is our ministerial goal? To fill a room every Wednesday night with lots of students? To gain more people to sing in our choir? To get invitations to speak at every large conference in the nation? To just have conversions in our altars with no discipleship? To just have 3 day youth conferences with no long-term fruitfulness? I'm afraid not.

According to His Great Commission it is to fix our attention on reaching maturity in Christ and bringing all others to that place as well.

To this end, I will strive the rest of my life.

Will you strive with me in His power?

pcraig