ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

So this is it…the official beginning of another season of progress. (That means any time that isn’t summer.) The first Tuesday after Labor Day is when everything starts up again…school, regular routines, the church year, and a fresh approach to life (get it done…now!) I’m excited about what’s coming ahead at Edinbrook in the weeks ahead:

• A new three-week Sunday morning teaching series called “The Greatest Loser: What We Need to Lose in order to Win!”
• A well designed multifaceted outreach event on September 25 and 26 called “The Greatest Loser”. Sean Algiers from the TV show The Biggest Loser will be with us.
• Dr. Oliver Blosser will be teaching on the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for believers. He will be doing that on Sunday mornings September 12, 19 and 26. We’ll then have a “field trip” to the Science Museum in St. Paul to check them out in person!
• Morph begins the week of October 3! Sign up for a Growth Group in September! This will be life-changing.
• The youth have their first Wednesday night worship, outreach, and teaching in their new space in the upper level. Cool! I know I’m going to be there tomorrow to experience that holy energy!

God is up to something. I’m excited about what He is doing, the lives that will impacted, and the opportunties we have to build the Kingdom of God.

From the lips of Jesus’ mouth, we have the compelling command to “go and make disciples”. This is the focal point of what we are to DO. This command is not about the BEING part of us. A lover of God is who we’re supposed to BE, as Jesus stated in the Great Commandment. That’s a whole concept of its own.

Let’s get back to the DOING thing… This making-disciples-thing is really about evangelism more than anything else. According to the New Testament, a disciple was a follower of Jesus, whether for thirty seconds or thirty years. So when Jesus tells us to make disciples, He’s telling us to help people become born again! Of course we’re supposed to grow them up in the faith…especially since Jesus said we are to “teach them everything I have commanded you”. But disciple-making is first about outreach, evangelism, extending the Kingdom to others, friendship influence, and bringing others to repentance.

The Old Testament has a sobering statement that emphasizes the same thing. In Ezekiel 33:7-9, God declares,

⁷ “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. ⁸ If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. ⁹But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.

The above statement was made to the prophet Ezekiel. This called man of God had a heavy responsibility. When God revealed His wrath on a person or people group, the prophet was compelled to tell them THE TRUTH and let them deal with it. If Ezekiel did not tell them, like a watchman on the wall of an ancient city, he would be held responsible for their lostness. BUT–if Ezekiel simply told, he was released from responsibility. He had carried out his part.

For today, Jesus tells us ALL to be His witnesses. TELL. It is a sobering responsibility, but a critically important one. That’s why you’re here! That’s why, when you gave your life to Jesus, He didn’t immediately take you up to glory. YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!!!! You can’t reach everybody, but you can reach somebody.

Who?

Who had God placed in your life that needs a witness? To whom have you been made a watch-person? Whose life is in the power of YOUR words???

I’ve missed blogging the last two days because I’ve been hiding out! I hunkered down in a nice cozy lake cabin to continue writing Morph. My brain hurts! Really–it does. I’ve had a headache since last night. I don’t think my brain is accustomed to working that hard. But it was good as I experienced God teaching and leading me as I wrestled with some life-changing concepts and wrote like a crazy man. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me.

Next week — same thing. I need two or three uncluttered days and I should have it. Just pray my head holds out…

So here’s a sneak peek at a section of Morph. Enjoy…

Nobody likes to be stupid. God doesn’t want us ignorant either. Our Morph passage states, “and in your moral excellence, supply knowledge,” 2Peter 1:5b. This “knowledge” is referring to information, facts, and data.

On a recent trip with my son, he was trying to figure out where we were, what directions we were going, what roads connected with what highways, etc. I found myself laughing repeatedly at his lack of information. I was glad to be able to tell this young driver where to go! Yes—good information is critical when traveling from one place to the next. It’s even more critical while traveling through life. Yet, many Christ-followers are characterized by ignorance rather than by knowledge. It spells TROUBLE. We find ourselves in all sorts of predicaments because we don’t really know what we’re doing.

I once read a book about making the Bible central in your life. It was entitled, “If All Else Fails, Read the Directions”. Good idea!

I’m consumed with writing a study for our whole church this fall. It’s called Morph. It will begin on the first week of October and last eight weeks all the way through November. I’m excited about what God will do in us as we digest these amazing life-change principles together.

“Morphe” is the Greek word for form or shape. There is another word for shape in the Greek – it’s the word scheema. It’s important to understand the difference between the two as we begin to engage in Morph.

Scheema refers to the outer shape of something…usually someone. It refers to the recognizable appearance. So when Philippians 2:8 states that Jesus, “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,” it uses the word scheema for “appearance”. That particular verse is emphasizing that, even though Jesus visually appeared to be only a man, He was truly God in the flesh.

“Morphe”, however, refers to the inner shape or reality of someone. In the same Philippians 2 passage, we read that Jesus, who “existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,” verses 6-7. “Morphe” is used for both of those words for “form” in this passage. This tells us that Jesus was God through and through! His inner shape was totally and completely God. But it also tells us that when He became a man, He was totally and completely a bondservant to the core! He didn’t just put on a show or present Himself in a humble way, He was truly that through and through. His morphe describes who the real Jesus really was.

As you study the concepts in Morph, you will realize that God wants to change your inner shape. It’s not your outer appearance that He wants to change first. The inner you, the part of you that no one but God sees is what He wants to transform in the eight weeks of Morph. He’s eager to do a Holy Spirit work to Morph the real you into the likeness of the real Jesus.

Are you ready to Morph????

I LOVED our Edinbrook worship experience again today! Here’s why…

1. It was real.

2. God met with us!

3. The songs were fresh, deeply meaningful, and pointed me to Jesus.

4. No distractions — everything worked.

5. Excellence honors God and inspires me.

6. GREAT preaching/teaching by Pastor Bob! Way to bring it, friend…

7. The congregation was engaged and responsive. I LOVE that!!!

8. There was a sense that God is doing something pretty cool with us.

9. Everything touch real-life…our hurts, joys, dreams, struggles.

10. I got to sit with Susan…the whole service!

All of the heroes of faith, honored in Hebrews 11, staked their lives on the word and character of God, no matter what the results of their faith acts might be. And not every faithful person was rewarded with a storybook ending. Listen to verses 35b – 38:

“But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. ³⁶ Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. ³⁷ Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half,^[d] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. ³⁸ They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.”

Key phrase in there: “They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.” Yep! That’s right! Because an awful lot of them bit the dust placing their faith in God. They believed that whether they lived or died, as long as they followed hard after God, they would also be safe, whether in life or death. The three young mavericks in Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said it so well when facing certain death by fire. Refusing to worship the king’s gold idol in a foreign land, the godly rebels declared, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Biblical faith is only faith when it presses through fear. The fear of failure, fear that God’s way won’t be as good as yours, fear that something tragic will happen, fear that God won’t come through like He says He will, fear that God won’t provide, fear of pain,  fear of what others think…. Our fears are endless! Authentic faith is what enables us to overcome fear.

Fear paralyzes us from significantly following after God. Fear is the number one thing that keeps us from being and becoming everything that God has in mind for you. We have a nation filled with Christians who are living an acceptable lifestyle, according to the church’s standards today. We measure our Christianity according to the expectations of our Christian culture and fellow believer-friends. Many of us measure up quite well.

How does God see you? Are you living a lifestyle of risk-taking faith? Are you crazy for God?

Would others say you are?

Christ followers have a Hall of Faith! Similar to the Hall of Fame for football in Canton, Ohio, or the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, the Christians’ Hall of Faith is located in Hebrews 11. Residing there is an amazing assortment of unique and high-achieving individuals. All of them have exhibited a degree of startling and rare faith. Beginning with Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, to Zechariah the prophet, we are reminded of heroes to admire from A to Z! And we can learn from them too.

The common element of faith demonstrated by all in The Hall is that they were crazy! Really. At least they were from our human perception.

• Imagine being in the heat of battle so much so that you get rid of 30,000 soldiers in order to fight with only 300! And you do that with only a few clay pots, some ram horns and ancient torches! And then you win! Meet Gideon.
• Consider a prostitute in Jericho, a city about to be annihilated by the Jews crossing the Jordon River into their Promised Land. Rather than living out her days in hopelessness and despair, she heard of the God of Israel that performed the impossible on behalf of His people. She simply believed, even though her life was twisted, ugly, and godless. Her unlikely faith and life-saving actions on behalf of Israel’s spies secured her place in The Hall. She even became an ancestor of Jesus! Meet Rahab.
• Daniel (one of the prophets alluded to in verse 32) shut the mouths of lions!…and also of a few pagan enemies of God too. Even though Daniel was a man of eighty years old at the time (ancient for sure in those days of old), he was arrested for praying to the God of Israel. He didn’t wane in His devotion for God, nor shrink in the face of certain death. He totally entrusted His life into the hands of Yahweh who he knew so well. (He had spent lots of time talking with Him.) By faith, He never stopped being on task for God, entrusting Him to take care of all the details…even when he was dropped into a pit of blood thirsty ravaging lions. The beasts enjoyed a Persian meal the next morning after Daniel was surprisingly protected.

Fairly crazy people, don’t you think?

Every person in the Hall of Faith pushed through their fear. I’m sure they were often terrified to the core, but they refused to let fear win the day, even when their actions seemed ludicrous. They staked their lives on the word and character of God, no matter what the results of their faith acts might be.

There.

It’s where we need to go as a church. But what is it like and what does it mean for us?

Let me give you a few snapshots that God has given me about There…

1. We are an Acts 2-type church. We are unified, passionate, courageous, risky, a little insane (for Christ’s sake), and totally in love with Jesus.

2. We are seeing people from our community come to personal faith in Jesus every week. This happens in two primary ways — by Edinbrook individuals sharing life with others outside of the faith and by Edinbrook people inviting people to come and experience our weekend worship services, KIDS, youth events, and other special outreach endeavors.

3. We are innovative and fresh for the sake of making meaningful connections with those coming in from a culture very different from the one we Christians are familiar with in the church.

4. We pursue excellence (not perfection) in everything we do SINCE we are representing Jesus.

5. We have at least three packed worship services on the weekend, along with several satellite sites, house churches, and maybe even a church plant or two.

6. We are totally biblical proclaiming the full truth of the scriptures while being passionately contextual to our changing culture.

7. We are increasingly becoming a highly valued presence in our community as we practice Jesus-style love through proclamation and demonstration.

8. We are strategically engaged in world missions through gospel proclamation, church planting, and extending compassion to the needy.

God wants us to get There. I can hardly wait!

Our Edinbrook leadership team met last night. I was reminded again of what godly and committed people we have leading our church. I left with a new gratitude for their partnership, encouragement, and critical help in getting where God wants us to go.

Where does God want us to go as a church?

We need to get from “here” to “there”. That’s what leadership is all about. “There” is the preferable future that God has planned for Edinbrook Church.  The movement into our place of vision is difficult, painful, challenging, but also invigorating, life-giving, and hopefilled.

“Here” is where we are now…maybe. In fact, as we discussed our current status as a church, we decided we’re not “here” nor “there”! We’re in the land between. This, of course, is a difficult place to be. It is an experience riddled with uncertainty, confusion, misunderstandings, personal opinions, grumblings, and leadership meltdowns. The land between is also where we throw out our easy and theoretical Christianity and truly learn to trust God.

The question was asked, “Do we ever get there?” Great question! It seems that once we get there, God often gives us time to gain our equilibrium and then…He calls us to another “destination”.

So here we are — on a the journey of a lifetime as a church. We get one shot at it. Let’s do it right.

May we never settle for “here” since God wants to bring us to new places to experience new things to reach new people with the Message in order to engage thousands of others into the GREAT CAUSE.

Let’s give this journey everything we’ve got for the benefit of those who need Jesus — all for the glory of God!

I will work harder at bringing the picture of “there” into clearer focus so we can all see it better and enjoy the journey more. Let’s go!

The disciples were on a steep learning curve after Jesus left planet earth. Thank goodness, He gave the gift of the Helper to enable them (and us) to do and be things that were way beyond their reach. As a result, these unlearned and simple disciples were oozing with character, even early on in their new world-changing venture.

Acts 4 tells the story of the Peter and John in the midst of some pompous and angry Jewish leaders. This council of religious elites was fed up with the ridiculous story of the recently crucified Jesus being the long promised Messiah. The disciples were threatened, flogged and told to never speak of this Jesus again. But here’s the statement I really love in this story – “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus,” Acts 4:13. The sense given in this verse is that there was not so much facial recognition as character recognition. Peter and John had actually morphed internally to become like their Master! And it was recognizable to others!

We catch another glimpse of God’s transforming power when we read about the early Christians in Antioch (Acts 11). It was in this city that the believers were first called Christians, literally meaning “little Christs”. Yes—these passionate disciples had morphed into people who lived their lives and character in such similar fashion as Jesus that people coined them with this new name. It stuck!

Scripture tells us to ALL become like Jesus:

• To be “growing in every way more and more like Christ,” Ephesians 4:15
• To be “be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ,” Ephesians 4:13
• To “have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had,” Philippians 2:5

One of the things that God, by His spirit, wants to do for each of us is to transform us into Christ-likeness from the inside out. There is a vital partnership required, however, in order for this to truly happen. God will always do His part – we need to make sure that we do our part.

Our part is NEVER accomplished in a casual ho-hum way. We will never mature in our relationship with God by focusing primarily on worldly things. We will miss out on God’s best blessings if we follow a “life-in-the-rut” sort of Christianity.

Instead, Jesus was radical, crazy, startling, living on the edge, pushing the envelope, unbound by traditions, and mission driven! God wants to do His work in us to make us like THIS!

Want to be like Jesus?