Tag Archives: Heroic

Christian Apologetics, Christian Living, Inspirational, Motivational

THE SACRED, HOLY and HEROIC PT. 6: FOLLOW THE CALL

Paul_Preaching_On_Mars_Hill

Still, I want it made clear that I’ve never gotten anything out of this for myself, and that I’m not writing now to get something. I’d rather die than give anyone ammunition to discredit me or impugn my motives. If I proclaim the Message, it’s not to get something out of it for myself. I’m compelled to do it, and doomed if I don’t! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I’d expect some pay. But since it’s not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me, why would I expect to get paid? So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don’t even have to pay my expenses! (1 Cor. 9:15-18 MSG)

St. Paul is truly a giant, among men and women, of our shared Christian faith. How counter-cultural was Paul? How entirely opposed to Western Christianity was his ministry focus? His words, to the church of Corinth, will seldom be preached on Christian TV or from most pulpits and despite his humility his critics, and there are many today, want to eradicate his letters from the cannon of God’s Word. Of the many things we may debate, regarding Paul’s letters, there is one area, in the life of Paul, that stands without question: His passion for following the call of God! But why was Paul so committed to his calling?

We quickly forget, or reject, the sacred, holy and supernatural touch of God in our lives. Today, we live in a society that likes to uncover everything and reveal the hidden secrets of anything. Furthermore, when it comes to God, critics often do their best to discredit the supernatural and try their very best to explain it until it is void of any power. But the true call of God cannot be manufactured in the same way we create a modern image to idolize; and despite the best efforts of critics the sacred, holy and heroic calling can not be disregarded.

St. Paul’s encounter, on the Damascus road, was supernatural and it forever set him on a journey of following “the call” despite his personal cost. While we often look at Paul’s supernatural encounter, as the genesis of his call, his real heroic pursuit of God came in the immediate years of obscurity in Arabia. Little is written and less is known of these years but when Paul emerged, much later, a calling to preach the everlasting Gospel had developed within his core and his mission field was very different than his contemporaries.

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Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” Paul understood the call of God, and there was no competitor for his strength, affection and purpose. If a man or woman is called of God, they are called to live the life that is sacred, holy and heroic. The called man, or woman, is the person that must respond to the invitation of communion and relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit.

We like to be comforted with words such as, “your time will come” but I would rather encourage us all with Paul’s words, So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message. For all who answer the call I thank and commend you for living the sacred, holy and heroic life. Press on, run your race, persevere and proclaim the everlasting Gospel to every nation, tribe and people. Follow the call! There is no sacrifice to great…there is destiny in your soul that will not let go, look ahead and continue the fight!

Grace and Peace

JOSHUA

Christian Apologetics, Christian Living, Inspirational, Motivational

THE SACRED, HOLY and HEROIC PT. 5: PERFECTIONISM versus IDENTIFICATION

jm_200_NT2.pd-P20.tiff“Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.” (Mark 10:21 MSG)

I am not a perfectionist. I’m not saying I’m proud of this fact because I have learned, in most instances, it serves me best to be as close to “perfect” as possible. Maybe I should more accurately identify myself as administratively challenged? While my wife, and others within our community, suspect I have some OCD tendencies I know I am far from a perfectionist; and I know this because I have come across one or two perfectionist in my journey having realized they, more than any other person and or personality, have the hardest time living in relationship and community. But why? Is the Kingdom stacked against the perfectionist? Far from it; but there is a ‘trap” built in to striving for perfection that runs counter cultural to the Kingdom (more on this later).

There was one such person, in the Bible, who was a perfectionist known in Mark’s Gospel as the rich young ruler. One the one hand this young man shared Jesus’ passion to be perfect and when he saw Jesus, he wanted to be just like Him. Everything about this man’s life would indicate his house was in order, his religion (not faith) was resolute and his ability to succeed would be admired by most people. Yet, despite this impressive resume and disciplined life, when he came face to face with Jesus he walked away; why? Do you remember I mentioned there is a “trap” built in to the striving for perfection? Well, here is the trap revealed: While Jesus loves to work with the passionate and dedicated He will never compete with our personal holiness and pride in self. In fact, to be called His disciple means He will eradicate our right to self- identification and replace it with a relationship, communion and identification in Him alone.

Many people struggle with Jesus’ words from Luke 14:25-33 when He says, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple. “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’ “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce. “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.” Clearly, within context, Jesus is addressing every disciples unconditional identification with Him and the personal struggle we may all encounter if we want to keep, even the smallest portion of “self” alive. There is nothing more real, close, personal and loved than family or the things most important to our life. And yet, Jesus cuts right to the heart of what may be most precious to us and demands we sacrifice it, for His glory, as He did with Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham, in a very real way, is the other “rich young ruler” we should applaud. From the beginning of his calling he possessed a passionate, but not perfect, pursuit of God. He left his family, while also inviting others with him on his journey. When he was far from perfect, having strayed into Egypt, God challenged him again; and he responded. Challenge after challenge, failure after failure and risk after risk Abraham was willing to do what Luke’s rich younger ruler was not. What an awesome example, Abraham is to us, of being a disciple no matter what the cost!

“The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.” (Mark 10:22 MSG) Sadly, for the perfectionist, the call of identification with Jesus and His “failure” to be impressed with the young man’s wealth or talent dismayed the rich young ruler to the point where he no longer wanted to be like Jesus. While Jesus often works with the talented, skilled and wealthy He is just as apt to work the talentless, poor and imperfect. Jesus will work with anyone who is willing to lay whatever is closest to them down for complete and total communion and relationship with Him.
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When Jesus truly gets a hold of a life He transforms and transfixes it; and where we were once ineffective we become effective for the Kingdom. If we are pliable our ‘softness’ can be transformed into His strength. Where we are hard He uses us to display His tenderness through grace, mercy and forgiveness. And when we are “administratively challenged” He too can mold us into capable bean counters.

Jesus’ final words, to the perfectionist of every age, is “One thing thou lackest, sell whatsoever thou hast …” From Jesus’ point of view there can be nothing between you and Him. To live the life of a disciple means, fundamentally, we must renounce possessions of all kinds. This type of renunciation is not a works driven attempt to save our soul (since the only thing that saves a man is our absolute dependence upon Jesus) but a call to a life of sacrifice where we faithfully follow Jesus and persevere and endure until the end. This was the life of Abraham and he lived life every bit the rich ruler of his age. The example of Abraham is the life of the sacred, holy and heroic and stands in stark contrast to Luke’s rich young ruler.

Jesus’ invitation to us all is “Come, and follow Me.” Are we prepared to journey with Him no matter what the cost?

Grace and Peace

JOSHUA

Christian Apologetics, Christian Living, Inspirational, Motivational

THE SACRED HOLY and HEROIC PT. 2: RELATIONSHIP & COMMUNION

imagesTHE SACRED HOLY and HEROIC PT. 2: RELATIONSHIP & COMMUNION

“And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” (Matthew 5:41)

I was in the mall yesterday, picking up a few items, when I stopped in a store to purchase a final thing. Making the line I was directly behind a woman who was eagerly sharing, with the sales clerk, the many reasons why she (the sales clerk) should visit their church. On the one hand I commend this woman for inviting another person to her church. On the other hand I cringed as to how she chose to extend her invitation. Appeal after appeal was made reciting all of the churches ministries, outreaches, locations, times and people “just like her.” Then, as her purchase neared completion, the woman asked the sales clerk, Where did you use to attend church?  The sales clerk gave the name of a very large church, in our community, to which the other woman said, Oh! If you liked going there then you would love going to our church…we are just like them. Same music, same preaching and the same kind of people.

It may have sounded innocent enough, and the invitation was offered with the best of intentions, but something just didn’t set right as to how this woman perceived her church. To her, and how she represented her faith community to the sales clerk, church was “just like” the others churches full of programs, groups, music and ideal locations. But I want to ask all of us a question, Are programs, groups, music and locations why we are called to join a community of faith? And is this how want to present our community to others? What I didn’t share earlier was a small, but important, part of their conversation. The sales clerk shared the reason she was no longer attending her previous church was because she didn’t experience any relationships in such a large community. It is the concept, of relationship and communion, which distinctly turns our churches from large gatherings of “Christians” into relational communities of the Sacred Holy and Heroic. (Read this week’s earlier post)

I realize every church has a distinct “voice” and method of how they desire to share their message with people. However, here to, I want to ask a provoking question: Are we presenting “our” message or His? Our vision and mission fields should be varied but the message must remain the same: The preaching of the Everlasting Gospel which draws people into relationship and communion. In my opinion the woman, from the mall, should have invited the clerk to join her community, based on their communion and relationship with Jesus and not through a series of programs. The strength of the Christian community is summed up with Jesus’ emphasis on relationship and communion.

Genuine Biblical community (koinonia), and relationship, can only occur when we live in communion with the Father, Son and Spirit. Out of our right relationship, with Him, we are able to enter into a sacred and holy community that lives heroic, bold, loving and distinct from the world. When we present community, as something “like” somebody else or “feeling” as something the appeals to our personal preferences we risk inviting people to participate in social gatherings not necessarily formed in communion with the Son (Jesus). Today there are many churches that give a passing mention to Jesus but the real attraction is to the person behind the pulpit or the zip code of the building.

To live in true Biblical community Jesus demands no passion, other than for communion with Him, should replace that which is birthed from the Spirit and rooted only in Him! In ministry, and in ministering, it is easy to get lost in the fog of works and good deeds. It can be even easier to loose our way in modern creeds, of religious presuppositions, and contemporary spiritualism. But when we are called to endure, the strain of this world and the pressures of personal desire, Jesus replaces our wants with the need of relationship, to Himself, and communion with those who are focused on Him above all!

“The Sermon on the Mount is not an ideal, it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has altered my disposition and put in a disposition like His own. Jesus Christ is the only One Who can fulfil the Sermon on the Mount.” (Chambers)

Grace and Peace

JOSHUA

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