Disciples Making Disciples Making Disciples

"Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have" (Philippians 1:25-30)

Paul didn't care if he lived or died; he was over that, seeing benefits in both. He only wanted to honor Christ. He knew that God was not done with him. He still had work to do for Christ. He stated that he would remain and continue but not without purpose. Every day on this earth had great purpose for Paul. 

So he would remain for their progress and joy in faith. Men need to help men and women need to help women to do two things: progress and experience joy in the Lord. He would remain so that they could have reason to glory in Christ. Paul wasn't trying to lead men to follow him or to plant a big church. He wanted people to be more like Jesus, to know Jesus more, and to be more in love with Jesus as a result of knowing him. In other words, friendship with Paul didn't mean talking about Paul a lot but talking about Jesus because Paul talked about Jesus. So Paul had some goals -- for them and us -- about what that progress, joy, and glory in Christ would look like in the people he led. When we see these traits, we see a disciple of Jesus. I pray we see it in ourselves and encourage it in one another so we are becoming more like Christ. 

1. Live worthy of the Gospel (1:27). No glaring areas where people would say, "He isn't like Jesus." People who live worthy are aware that, for the pre-Christians around them, they may be Jesus or the Bible with skin on for others. The stakes are too high for you to be mastered by greed, lust, pride, apathy, inconsistency, or unaccountability. We must be worthy of the Gospel, living for the nod of approval of Jesus.
2. Have a good testimony spreading to others (1:27). Their lives are being changed by Jesus so others will say, "I see the transformational power of Jesus in his actions, words, and behaviors." You can't just get here quietly. You get here by stepping up in praying, answering, sharing, exemplifying, serving, encouraging, leading. And people know when it rings true or not. Genuineness will affirm that testimony or people will intuitively know we are fakers.
3. Unity of spirit, mind, purpose, and faith (1:27). Same page, same direction with the body of Christ. Unity is hard to get and easy to lose. We work hard for it and fight to maintain it, guardians of the trust, understanding that a unified church is a compelling church to a watching world. 
4. Confident in the Gospel of their handling of it (1:28). Paul wanted them to know the Bible, both the stories and verses as well as they overarching themes. We need to know the stories and facts but also what the punishment for sin is; how great is the work of the cross; what must change for a person to be saved; what are true repentance and faith;  where is our chief happiness; and what our hearts must be most set upon. Gospel confidence. 
5. Deep faith (1:29). Foundational and able to stand the storms of life. Abram understands a ton about construction, and I remember looking at a house with him and him saying he didn't think it had footings that were deep enough in the ground. So the house was unstable. We need a faith with deep footings in the Gospel, Jesus Christ's person and work, the Bible so we can both weather the storm and lead others. 
6. Suffering (1:29). For Paul, that was imprisonment, beating, shipwreck, whipping, stoning, mocking, and endangerment. For us that might be inconvenience, need to better manage and discipline ourselves so we can be more sacrificial. The Gospel will not leave us unaffected, and that change will convict others and force them to respond. Sometimes positively, and at other times they will lash out. If we are totally comfortable, we are no threat to Satan for surely he threatens those who threaten him.
7. In the battle (1:30). Paul needed men and women who were in the war. We need Christians who are in the war. The battle is not political for Washington, economic for Wall Street, or cultural for Hollywood. It is spiritual and it is for our souls and the souls of our spouses, children, friends, neighbors, co-workers, city, and world. We need men who will recognize the stakes and get in the game. Disciples are in the fight. 

Air War and Ground War

Been reading Driscoll's A Book You'll Actually Read on Church Leadership. In it, he talks about the difference between "air war" and "ground war." Now I'm not at all a fan of war metaphor when it comes to Jesus and the church, but he's not advocating war in any sense. I wanted to share a large chunk of what he writes about:

       The air war includes such things as preaching and teaching at gathered church services and other large events such as church-based conferences, retreats, and training events. The air war at our church also includes our web site, vodcasts and podcasts, and publishing.

       The ground war includes such things as home-based Bible studies, smaller training classes, individual counseling appointments, and recovery groups for addictions and sexual abuse.

       In my experience, most church leaders are good at either the air war or the ground war. For a church to succeed, though, it must have both an air war and a ground war. A church with only an air war will have large Sunday meetings but will not see the kind of life transformation in people that can only come through the intense efforts of a well-organized ground war. Such churches give the appearance of health because of their sheer size, but that is often nothing more than an illusion. This is sometimes even tragically made visible by the moral failure of a senior leader who needed more ground war in his own life as well as his church. 

       Conversely, a church with only ground war may have mature people but does not grow or see new converts meeting Jesus regularly. Despite their crummy band and a preacher who is as clear and compelling as the teacher from the Peanuts cartoons, he's a really nice guy who loves everyone to the degree that they will endure the Sunday services...

       The air war is where the prophets excel and the ground war is where the priests excel. The only way both can work together in harmony is if the kings ensure that things are organized. The kings pull the air and ground wars together in such a way that there is unity between their respective teams and mutual respect and appreciation for the work of the other.

So all of this got me to thinking about Origins, about its leaders -- both who are leading now and men and women who aren't even thinking of being leaders. 

As a quick clarifier, let me explain prophets, priests, and kings -- the three leadership roles in ancient Israel. Prophets excel at vision, preaching, teaching, doctrinal truth, refuting error, and calling people to sin. Priests are compassionate and merciful and excel in counseling, conflict resolution, and small group relationships. Kings excel at systems, policies, procedures, planning, team building, mission executing, and taking steps to get the job done. 

Seems like Origins would be strongest if we have people who understand whether they are most gifted for air war or ground war. We need to mobilize. Yet the prophet and priest in me -- and absence of the king -- doesn't even know how to mobilize. So I need to best figure out how to identify air and ground war people, and I need the kings to make sense of it all. 

Abiding Traits

I know I want to abide in God, to have a peace that comes from resting in the company and security of God. I need more than circumstantial happiness though. Nor do I want that glassy-eyed, cliche "God is good all the time" spirituality when life really sucks. I want something rooted deep. I want to abide, anchored to the bottom of the ocean of God's love when the hurricanes of life blow their winds around me and toss everyone else about.

I know what the traits of an abider are, how he or she looks, but I am not always sure of how to get there. Abiding seems so passive. Who will teach me how to abide? First John 2 has so much to say of abiding. Today, the apostle John is my teacher.

1 John 2:6. "Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way he walked." The abider lives as Jesus lives. He or she moves at the pace of Jesus and goes to the places which Jesus would frequent. Where would Jesus go? And how fast -- or slow -- does Jesus walk?

1 John 2:10. "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling." The abider walks in the light. He or she evidences it by loving his brothers and sisters -- not just Christ-followers, either, but all of humanity. The abider has no reason to stumble. In fact, if I'm constantly stumbling, tripping over myself and my surroundings, I don't believe I am abiding. Abiding doesn't mean life is easy, but it is less complicated because I live for an audience of One and he is my guide. Who in my circle would Jesus love?

1 John 2:17. "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." The abider abides forever, while the one who goes it alone or in the company of the world will waste away, atrophy, erode, and vanish or perish. I hate that wasting-away feeling. Abiding is the surest remedy for it. The abider also invests in things and desires that outlive him or her so that he or she abide forever along with our eternal endeavors attempted for the glory of God. What or who would Jesus invest in?

1 John 2:24. "Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father." The abider abides in the word heard from the beginning -- the simple, received with faith-like-a-child, saving Gospel -- and it abides in him. The abider doesn't have to reinvent, rewrite, complicate, or question Jesus, the Bible, the faith, the Gospel, the church, or the friendship we have with God in Christ. In fact, when I constantly doubt or question, whittling away what I know deep down to be true, I am doing the exact opposite of abiding. What would Jesus keep simple? What would Jesus accept as bedrock truth?

1 John 2:27. "But the anointing that you received from Christ abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie -- just as it has taught you, abide in him." The abider is consumed with continuing to abide in God and have God abide in him or her. He doesn't need all the truths of the world, but he craves the wisdom of heaven. Though he can find truth in the world's wisdom, he knows it is, simultaneously, authored by and yet a poor reflection of God's timeless Truth. How much intimacy with the Father would Jesus strive for? What would Jesus teach me?

1 John 2:28. "And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming." The abider lives confidently before God. He or she has nothing to hide. Though he or she sins, God is forgiving and Jesus is our advocate and redeemer (1 John 2:1). And sin is now a choice, a stepping down to live like the old man since the abider knows that Christ made us altogether new. The abider is unashamed. How high would Jesus hold his head before the Father? How high would he have me hold mine?

New Year's Resolution

"For I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

These were Paul's words to the church at Corinth, a small band of Christ-followers wrestling out their faith and the implications of it on their lives. He told them he didn't have to learn more, speak more eloquently, or be more likable. He only resolved to live in the power of Jesus.

Last week I made out my list of things I am resolved to do in 2011. You know... the usuals. Read more, live healthier, love my family, and so on. And in the midst of all my list-making, that still small voice in me spoke and asked, "Is all this stuff for me or for you?" Ouch. It continued, "Are you doing this to point people to something higher or just to feel better about yourself and to be more liked or admired?" My love of self was exposed. I realized that if we aren't careful, the outcome of our resolutions, if we stick with them, can be to make us more independent, arrogant, and disconnected from God.

How about another route? Resolve in 2011 to know Jesus and him crucified. Make your resolution to be to abide in him as John 15:1-17 speak of. Rest in Jesus. And let all the stuff -- all the well-intended resolutions -- be to bring him fame and to know him more.

Back to my list. I'll read more... as a reminder that I am a work in progress and that smarter men and women have walked the road before me and have much to offer. I'll exercise and drink more water... as a statement that my body is not my own, that I am just its steward. I'll love my wife and family well... because that's how God has loved me in Christ, and I pray they get to experience the love I have.

And at the end of it all, on December 31st, I don't have to be a smarter, more fit, more at peace, or more liked version of the me of early January. I pray I'll be more conformed to the image of Christ. And I pray I will be closer to him. That's a resolution worth keeping, a resolution that empowers all the others.