ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

Numbers 14:36-37a,  “And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—the men who brought up a bad report of the land— died by plague before the Lord.” ESV

This is not the warm fuzzy verse to start your day. It’s an important one, however.

Of the 12 spies sent into Canaan, ten returned with a very negative, overly emotional report that turned the entire nation againt God. The statement above gives us a quick synopsis of what happed to those ten. First, however, understand what they did:

• They “made all the congregation to grumble” against the Lord. The word “grumble” in Hebrew means to stop, stay permanently, to be obstinate. The verbal expression of that condition is to complain. This is important to know because the people were not just afraid or lacking some faith. They had an agressive position of stubborness. Their sinful state had positioned them to never enter Canaan. They had no intention at all of ever following hard after God.
• They brought a “bad report about the land.” The Hebrew used here literally means to slander. It reveals that what was spoken by the spies was not a logical assessment of what they had found. This was an emotional, determined negative report trying to make the land look really bad. In fact, the idea is that, as they were giving this report, they were undermining God’s plan for their nation. “Slander” is an agressive sinful assault on a person’s character. This was an intentional report meant to bring dishonor to God.

As I consider this, I can’t help but think that the Israelites failed to care for their souls. Could it be that bitterness, anger, and rage had captured them so deeply that they were incapable of following God no matter how obvious He proved His love for them? Could it be that their distrust of God had grown so deep over the years and through the generations that they were unwilling to change their view of God?

What a powerful reminder that no matter what it takes, we must do the deep honest cleansing work that God wants and needs to work in us. We can never go where God is leading if we are not healthy in our soul.

Let me conclude with a few thoughts from this sobering passage:

1. The stakes are high for leaders. The plague that wiped out the 10 negative spies came quickly and decisively.
2. Negativity is more than just a view, but rather, a dangerous sin often rooted in unresolved issues that have infected the soul.
3. Leading others away from God’s best plan is a dangerous exercise.

Infecting others with disbelief is a losing proposition.

God listens.

The Psalmist states, “To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit,” Psalm 28:1.

David declares the critical difference that a listening God makes in our lives–it puts us on a totally different tragectory than those who do not follow after God. As stated here, if God doesn’t respond to our “call”, we will be like all the others that “have gone down to the pit.”

There are three parts to the above statement:

1. We call.
2. God listens.
3. God communicates.

This, of course, is not news to us. We know these things! However, what we may have overlooked in the “equation” is how desperately we need to hear God’s voice. If we fail to hear from God, we default to a pathway on which godless people tread. We will “be like those who have gone down to the pit.” So call out to Him, know that He hears you (especially when you feel like He’s absent), and listen closely to how He responds.

God speaks in many ways…

• His Word
• Circumstances
• Whispers–those easily overlooked directives and thoughts He places in your mind
• Through godly people
• Divine appointments
• Unscripted opportunities
• Health or non-health (our bodies tell us things on God’s behalf…)
• An infinite number of other ways, too

So, call to Him, know He hears, and listen very closely to what He speaks in return. It makes ALL the difference.

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across an interesting little verse in Luke 6:7: “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched closely to see whether Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath.”

What I find unique about this statement is that:

• The teachers of law and the Pharisees knew Jesus could heal
• They were intent on finding error even in the good things Jesus did

Fortunately for us, the New Testament gives us a magnified look at what hypocritical religion looks like. The leaders of religious life in Israel were simply religious. They were not righteous.

• Religious people are intent on the details of life but often miss the big and important things. Of these people, Jesus stated, “You tithe mint, dill and cummin, but overlook the weighter things like justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
• Religious people are determined to make themselves look good or feel spiritual, even if it means pulling someone else down.
• Religious people are bound to legalism — a system that measures spirituality by deeds done, laws obeyed, and a right standing with God being earned.

Righteous people know that who they are, what they become, and however they influence their world is all through the grace and power of God alone. They live with a contagious enthusiasm for life, a passion to be the presence of God in their world, and a gratitude that compels them to do what’s right.

• Righteous people live for God’s pleasure and affirmation.
• Righteous people demonstrate unrestrained compassion for people…even on the sabbath.
• Righteous people overlook the judgmental assaults of religious people.

The religious can only become righteous through the miraculous intervention of God. Self must be crucified, the old way of legalism is recognized as filthy (Paul described it as “waste and garbage”), and in humility, they must fall before God seeking His gracious intervention. Only then can the religious become righteous.

This may not be what you think.

I had something quite unique happen yesterday. I shared with a “person of great influence” what I believed to be a God-arranged opportunity for global impact in another region of the world. I explained what I saw and exprienced, what I believed to be blatant opportunities to bring unreached people groups to Jesus, and how we might strategically see that take place. It wasn’t that there was resistance to my assessment, but neither was there hearty support. In the afternoon, in an all-staff meeting, I gave a report of my trip, what I had seen and experienced, the needs and opportunities I saw, and shared pictures of the wonderful and lost people. And God’s Spirit came down. He just gripped me and impacted pretty much all of us in the room. And had quite an effect on my “person of great influence.” In fact, after the presentation, he said, “I think we’ve all fallen in love with these people today and that God seems to be arranging a divine opportunity.”

The information was the same as earlier. In the second setting, however, the Holy Spirit clearly did a work among us.

• He opened our hearts.
• He helped us to feel what Jesus feels.
• He engaged us to the opportunity at hand.
• He did what no person can do.

The Spirit intercedes. Indeed.

I’ve recently struggled with judging. When I exert judgement on others, I’m taking a position of strength and casting my “superiority” on others. We can often use the phrase “truth-telling” or “honesty” or “transparency” to justify our strong stance or expression of strong feelings. But think about it — what good comes out of judging? There are Christians littering our wake who are tattered and torn by the “honesty” we freely cast on others. Over and over and over. Don’t misunderstand me — there is a right and wrong (and not always what we’ve concluded) and there are rare times when pronouncing judgement is necessary. But we often do that to people sincerely seeking after God who fail to conform to our expectations of what that might look like.

Maybe I’m rambling, so let me simply state it this way — my new conviction today:

• Transparency is a beautiful thing when we reveal our weakness to others. It dispenses God’s amazing grace on those who need it most.
• Transparency is a destructive thing when reveal our “strength” to others. It imprisons people in the bondage of legalism.

I’m always amazed at the ways in which God uses “the weak things of the world to shame the the things that are strong.” God takes our weakness and makes it our greatest strength. We’ve been using the terminology “ministry of weakness” in our missions leadership team recently. All around the world, we see how God is using weak people to do His greatest work.

This principle is true every day in my life, too. God wants to use my weakness, vulnerability, humility, and failures for His glory. He wants to use this weakness to be the strength of my life — so much so that it becomes a lifestyle — a lifestyle of weakness.

FAITHLESSNESS is something I never want to be known for. The first generation of  freed Israelites are characterized as being faithless. Numbers 14:33 states, “…they (your children) will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.”

What did faithlessness look like for the generation of Israelites who chose to turn away from the Promised Land?

• They did not believe that God was good — especially after their Egyptian slavery of 400 years.
• They overlooked the promises God had made to them years before, such as those to Abraham and his descendants, “I will make you a great nation” and “I will give you this land.”
• They were suspect of the miracles God had performed on their behalf (the 10 plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, water in the wilderness, etc.).
• They chose to continue life as the victims they were rather than the victors God intended to make them.
• They chose a familiar bondage over an unfamiliar freedom.
• They wouldn’t believe that they could have a life as good as what God told them they would have.
• They lived by human intuition rather than by divine guidance.

As I was jotting down this non-exaustive list, I was humbled by the fact that these “bullet points” are a part of my life way too often. How I long to live every day in the arena of faith rather than faithlessness. After all, “without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.”

God is moving in such amazing and unique ways around the world right now. Thom Wolf, with his finger on the pulse of what God is doing in the world, believes that the 21st century will be most ever like the 1st century — especially in India. Three trends stand out that led him to this conclusion:

• The ministry is given back to the common Christians, not the highly educated or social elites.
• The Holy Spirit is igniting and empowering movements way beyond human manufacturing.
• Persecution is prevalent and purifies the church to do great things for the glory of God. Persecution always makes the church stronger, by the way…

I have been fascinated by the church planting movments (CPMs) around the world. If you want to be inspired and challenged, read “Church Planting Movements” by David Garrison and “Miraculous Movements” by Jerry Trousdale. You will find that, even though as Americans our Christianity is fairly stable and consistent, many places in the world are seeing mind-blowing Holy Spirit-led multiplication of disciples and churches — the kind that have been rare in the history of the church. God is up to something. Take notice, people.

In a recent round-table discussion of denominational mission leaders, we talked about our deep desire to see God do a new thing among our churches in the U.S. too. It led to some great conversations and valuable insights. For me, the crux of the issue is the following:

• In our American Christianity, we have a knowlege-based spirituality. Learning leads to spiritual maturity in our motif of belief.
• In many places in the world, there is an obedience-based spirituality. Obedience leads to spiritual maturity–simply doing what God’s word tells us to do.

What does the Bible say? Of course, so much. However, those that were the least mature in Jesus’ eyes were the Pharisees — those that had the most knowledge and information. The Scriptures tell us that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” In contrast to this, Jesus told us that “if you love me, you will obey my commandents.”

Back to movements in the world: Movements happen where obedience rather than knowledge aquisition leads the way. This doesn’t mean information is bad, it simply means that the believers in Holy Spirit-led movements understand that obedience to what they know is essential–and they do it. In our American motif of knowledge-based spirituality, we take years to learn what we’re “supposed” to know about the Christian life…and by then we’re stale and stagnant.

As James reminds us, “For him who knows what to do and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.”

Can we change the American spirituality motif? Of course not — only God could do that. But each of us can choose to begin a movement in our own hearts…one of complete and immediate obedience to God.

For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly,” Psalm 75:10.

The above verse is reason enough to pursue godliness.

God makes it clear that the wicked not only miss out on His favor, but they stand in opposition to God. If you are in pursuit of ungodly things, living life your way, even if it looks good to honorable people, God will break your strength.

What is the strength spoken of here?

The Hebrew word used here is “Kehren” — literally horn. It’s the idea that the horn of a beast was it’s protection and greatest weapon. It was a bull’s first line of defense and offense. To lose it’s horns meant it was left totally vulnerable, unprotected from the attacks wild beasts.

For us, our strength could be a number of things — our psychological prowess, our financial security, our reputation, our charisma, our degrees or position — whatever it is that protects us and enables us to “succeed.” God declares that He can (and often will) take ”the strength” away from the wicked. When we live in opposition to God, we face a daunting and unwinnable opponent. We are in danger of being left completely vulnerable and totally weakened.

In contrast, God will increase the “power of the godly.” The same root word is used here for power as is used for strength. God is saying, “I will make you stronger, more secure, better protected, safer than you’ve ever been!” God promises to not only stand with us, but fight for us. Of course, the strength He gives us is also supernatural. For the believer today, there is no greater gift than the Holy Spirit’s filling and empowering. We have a divine strength that nothing on earth can match.

What a great reminder that it never pays to do our own thing. Make godliness (being like God) your pursuit and God will be your greatest ally. Who wouldn’t want that?

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word,” Isaiah 66:2.

When God speaks, I want to listen. Carefully. In the above verse, God declares what attracts His attention upon someone. Humility, contriteness, and reverence for God’s Word.

HUMILITY is something that most Christians know about. We all realize it’s critical value in life. But why then do so many fail to have it and live by it?

I need to look no further than myself to get at least half of the answer. We get self-sufficient, full of ourselves and thinking we’re pretty smart. We have a few accomplishments and become enamored with ourselves. Our deeply rooted insecurities – the need for being accepted and valued – press us to prove ourselves, our knowledge, our value to the Kingdom. We think busyness equals significance. We think knowlege equals maturity. We surmise that deep thinking is the equivalent of deep spirituality. We assume that ability and wisdom of themselves make us of great value to the Body. With really big blind spots, we become the center of our universe. Greatly respected Christians can even be found using God for for their own purposes all in the name of Jesus to assuage their need for significance, value, and esteem.

Years ago, while in a room full of prayer circles, I had the opportunity to sit in a circle of prayer with Billy Graham and several members of his family. There were about ten of us in this huddle. I was shocked when, before the prayer time began, Dr. Graham was truly surprised that people wanted him to say a few words. I was close enough to him to see the genuine sense of unworthiness he felt to address this small “inner” crowd of people. This was just one of many times that I saw authentic humility ooze out of this great leader’s character. And as the above Scripture declares, it seems quite evident that God looked on Him.

To be CONTRITE is be remorseful, to feel a powerful sense of unworthiness and to recognize the depth of one’s own depravity.

A person who is contrite is gripped with the conviction that they have no right to live in God’s blessing, to be used of God in great ways, or to be blessed by Him daily. This, of course, does not promote self-pummeling or anything of the sort. Instead, it speaks of a core conviction that produces profound gratitude everyday for the pleasure of God’s grace. Gratitude changes our attitude. Again, this is not a put-on of things. It is not a showy manufactured contriteness that God looks for, but that which has deeply captured the soul and convictions of the believer. God loves people who truly understand that only grace can make a way.

The person who TREMBLES AT GOD’S WORD is ready to do whatever it takes to hear, understand, and apply what God’s Word says.

 This person is shaped and fueled by something that no one apart from Christ will ever experience. This something is the voice of God. It is powerful, tranforming, truth, life-giving, and revolutionary.

God looks for people who have these qualities at work in them. What an exciting opportunity to have God’s gaze set on me. What a tremendous challenge to become deeply and authentically godly to the core. There is no other way…

My daily Bible reading has landed me in the book of Job the last few days. Here’s what stood out to me this time around — human wisdom, critical argumentation, and self-righteousness are futile.

Have you ever known someone who likes to show how much they know? In fact, this type of person can take anything — anything – and find something to be critical of. They put together their pious platitudes, polish up their theological perspectives, and poop on people. (Sorry, but that’s how I feel.) One of these “Pharisees” in your life is a tremenous challenge. Job had four of them breathing down his neck! Regardless of what Job said, they found something to argue about — some word or statement they could criticize. And they did it over and over throughout this ancient manuscript. This is a TRIAL.

I was reminded today of:

• How easy it is to criticize others.
• How we can look so spiritual while being so unspiritual.
• How we can puff ourselves up with knowledge while failing to build others up with love.
• How often we can make any situation about us rather than the person who really needs us.
• How our human nature can fool us into thinking we’re pretty special.
• How dishonoring and destructive argumentation is.
• How humble we need to be–always.

There was a time when someone took diligent notes of every sermon I preached so they could find any word or phrase possible to criticize. It was unnerving, discouraging, humiliating, frustrating, and destructive. I had just one person for a season of time. Job has four critics, thinking they’re godly, dispensing human logic in a time of extreme suffering erroneously charging him with sin in order to fix him.

The intensity of Job’s trial only accentuates the godly character of this rare man. “There was no-one else like him in all the earth.”