Replay: Learning to share our lives with others
Four years ago, I wrote a post called “Learning to live together.” (While I normally keep the titles of my previous posts in “replays,” I decided to change this one slightly to better reflect the content.) In this post, I was thinking about some of the opportunities that God had given us to share our lives with others. These opportunities are not always pleasant; sometimes they are very painful. But, it’s necessary for us to learn to share our lives in the good times and the bad, and to share in the struggles and successes of other people as well.
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A few months ago, I wrote an article for “Life in the Journey” called “Walking through difficulty… together“. In that post, I primarily was thanking God for the many brothers and sisters that he has placed in our lives, and acknowledging that I need these people in my life to help me walk with God. God places us together to live together, in both the good times and the bad times, to rejoice with one another and to mourn with one another, to encourage and to comfort.
Over the last few weeks especially, we’ve seen more and more friends struggling through life. It seems, in fact, that the number of struggles has increased exponentially over the last few months and years. As I think about these struggles and the seeming increase of struggles, I wonder if the increase is real, or if I simply know about more of the struggles because there are more people who have chosen to share their lives with us.
In reality, I realize that over the last couple of years especially, my family has begun to learn what it means to live together with other people. This means that we are learning not only to bear the other person’s burden, but also to share our own burdens. I think, sometimes, sharing my burdens is more difficult than helping someone else bear their burden. But, both – give and take – is important and necessary as we learn to live in community with one another – with Jesus Christ as the one who creates and maintains our fellowship, with him alone being our common identity.
I said, “My family has begun to learn what it means to live together with other people”. I want to say that we HAVE learned, but that would not be true. This process is ongoing, and since we are not complete yet, we have a long way to go and much more to learn. We are still learning to trust and to be trustworthy, to care and to allow others to care, to speak and to listen, to accept and to be real/authentic, to give grace and to accept grace, and most of all, to hope and to offer hope to others.
Since we are still learning, we are also still making mistakes. And, since our brothers and sisters are not perfect yet either – sorry to burst your bubble – they make mistakes as well. Besides being hurt by life, we hurt one another. Thus, forgiveness must be a huge part of learning to live together. Of course, this includes asking for forgiveness and offering forgiveness. We who have been given much, who have been forgiven greatly, and who have been loved unconditionally give, forgive, and love others in response… imperfectly though.
So, as our friends struggle with sickness, death, relationship problems, financial problems, job issues, emotional stresses, etc. and as our family struggles with the same issues, we learn to live together, in spite of these struggles and through these struggles. We learn to depend upon God as we depend upon one another. We learn that God cares as we see others care. As we give and receive, offer and accept, in strength and in weakness, we learn to live together… living the life of a traveler, yearning for our true home, rejoicing in the fellow travelers that God places in our path.
I love good questions, and these are excellent questions for the church to consider!
It’s true. I love good questions. I even love to answer questions with questions. I’m not opposed to telling someone that I don’t know the answer to a question, then asking them another question to help us both work toward an answer.
So, I’ve been very pleased with Miguel at “God-Directed Deviations” lately. I’ve already linked to and commented on several of his posts. This post will not focus on one of his posts in particular. Instead, I want to point out the great questions that he’s asking.
(By the way, for those who do not know, Miguel is living in the cloud forest region of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador proclaiming the gospel and discipling people. He truly has a heart for helping people grow in maturity in Jesus Christ.)
Here are some of the excellent questions that he’s been asking on his site recently:
- How Important are Instruction and Imitation in Making Disciples?
- When is a disciple considered as “made”?
- When is a church considered planted?
- Is salvation a matter of urgency?
Like I said, I love these kinds of questions. They really force me to think about what I believe and how I’m living (or not living) in response to those stated beliefs.
If you want to reply to any of Miguel’s questions, jump over to his site and comment.
Have you heard any good questions that the church should think about?
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: What to do and when
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission.
After looking at those three aspects of the mission of God, I started putting it all together. Then, I began to consider emphasizing certain aspects without neglecting any of them. Finally, I talked about how we tend to emphasize certain extremes when it comes to the mission of God.
So, the mission of God is proclaiming the gospel AND strengthening believers AND caring for the least all integrated together. This integration should be seen within the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, and it should be seen among a community of believers.
However, there may be times when one aspect or another is emphasized (even though the others should never be neglected). How do we know when to emphasize one aspect or another?
There are times when Jesus is among a crowd of people that he speaks to the entire crowd. At other times, he is in a crowd of people but he pulls only a few of his followers aside to talk with them. At still other times when he is among a large crowd, he stops to speak with one person. How did Jesus know when to speak to the crowd, the disciples, or a single individual?
Sometimes, Jesus proclaims the gospel. Other times, he teaching his disciples. At still other times, he heals people. How did Jesus know when to evangelize, when to disciple, and when to heal?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question, but it may not be the cut-and-dry type of answer that we would like: “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19 ESV)
So, Jesus was, in fact, joining God the Father in his ongoing mission.
How did Jesus know what to do and when? He did whatever he saw the Father doing. Simple.
But, unlike the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Father, our connection with God is not a perfect connection. Even though we have been indwelled by the Spirit of God, we still do not always know exactly what God is doing.
Paul is a good example of this imperfect type of connection. Like us, Paul is indwelled by the Spirit of God, and, like us, Paul does not have a perfect connection to God. Paul himself tells us that he doesn’t always do the right thing, even when he knows what the right thing is.
Thus, we seek to understand what God is doing through any means necessary: through the indwelling Spirit, through the opportunities that God brings into our lives, through the counsel and passions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, through reading and meditating on Scripture, through reason and wisdom. Then, we trust that God will redirect us if we begin heading in the wrong direction. (Again, Paul is a great example of this, especially in Acts 16:6-10.)
But, while we are seeking to understand how God wants us to join him in his mission, we must begin by understanding what is included in that mission. This brings us back to the purpose of this series: God’s mission is the integration of proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least.
We should expect God to be working in all of these areas, and we should expect to join him in all of these aspects of his mission.
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
In many ways, the church will look and act differently in different contexts
Continuing a discussion that Swanny started last week, Arthur at “The Voice of One Crying Out in Surburia” has written a very good post called “Why Trumps How.”
As usual, Arthur adds a great deal of wisdom and personal insight to this discussion. I particularly appreciate the way he brings his own journey into the topic. He recognizes that he started his search for understanding “church” by heading in a certain direction. Since then, God has changed his course slightly.
Here is part of what Arthur says:
If I am honest, I need to say that when I first started down this path, I assumed that a “house church” was, if not a silver bullet, at least a step in the right direction. I am not looking for a house church model or organic church model even though I think that comparatively it is far more conducive for an environment of mutual edification. I am also not looking for a “Reformed” church even though I am largely in agreement with the tenets of Reformed theology nor am I looking for an “Anabaptist church” although I see much that I admire in the Anabaptist tradition. I am looking for God’s church, His people living in community with one another. That means that I am looking for community among God’s people where His people are in an environment of mutual edification, loving support, rebuke and discipline where needed and a sharing of lives that goes beyond Sunday meetings whatever the form. It also means that it will look different in different contexts.
Arthur’s statement above – as well as other statements in his post that I did not quote – shows the difficulty of working within church models. Unless the model itself is flexible enough to change itself (which would then lead to a different model?), then it will necessarily hinder the growth and maturity of the church. (Think about how a mold shapes a cookie.)
Jesus shapes his church organization and gathering through his people, not the other way around. When the people are different, then in many ways the church should look and act differently as well. Will there be some similarities? Sure. But even these similarities can look differently from the outside.
Whether you agree with me on this point or not, I have a question: Why do you think “church models” are so attractive to people?
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: Extreme emphases
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission.
After looking at those three aspects of the mission of God, I started putting it all together. Then, I began to consider emphasizing certain aspects without neglecting any of them.
As I’ve suggested (and argued) throughout this series, the mission of God is composed of several aspects, specifically proclaiming the gospel, strengthening the church, and caring for the least. The mission of God is all of these things together, not just one or the other. Thus, if we are going to be missional people (that is, living out the mission of God) then we will be doing all of these things: proclaiming the gospel, strengthening the church, and caring for the least.
I’ve followed the missions of Jesus and Paul (certainly two great scriptural examples of living out the mission of God). In both cases, we see them carrying out all aspects of that mission.
Consider for a moment that even though there were people around them who had never heard the gospel, they still took time to teach disciples and to care for the least. Even though the disciples struggled to understand, they often stopped teaching them to evangelize and serve. Even though there were poor and needy people nearby, they stopped taking care of them to share the gospel and to strengthen believers.
From Scripture, it is difficult to make the case that all believers should be involved in one aspect (even evangelism) all the time. However, this case is often made, especially when it comes to evangelism. However, this type of extremism warps the mission of God. We do not see Jesus or Paul spending all of their time evangelizing. There is no indication in Scripture that we should spend all of our time evangelizing. Is proclaiming the gospel important? Absolutely! But, not to the exclusion of strengthening believers or caring for the least. (This same argument can be made about discipling and serving.)
At any time among any group of Jesus’ followers, there may be situations in which one or another aspect of the mission of God should be emphasized. However, we must ensure that we do not emphasize one aspect to the neglect of the others. If a group needs to emphasize evangelism, then by all means we should exhort and model proclaiming the gospel, and at the same time we should continue to exhort and model discipleship and service. The same is true of strengthening believers and caring for the least.
All aspects of the mission of God must remain integrated into the life of a follower of Jesus and into the life of a community of believers.
So, how do we know when to evangelize, when to disciple, and when to serve? That’s the question that I’ll tackle in the last post in this series.
Do you agree that there are dangers in emphasizing one aspect of the mission of God (i.e., proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, or caring for the least) to the neglect of the other aspects?
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
Time for a Religious Anonymous meeting?
Jason at “Bartender of Grace” has written an excellent post called “Religion Rehab, Part 1.” This is Part 1 because, you guessed it, there’s a Part 2 on the way, according to Jason.
In his post, Jason suggests several ways to help people move away from a life of religion and toward life in Jesus Christ. Like any good rehab program, he has included 12 steps, although he only writes about the first 6 steps in this post.
Here are the first 6 steps of his 12 step program:
- See Jesus for Who He Is
- Learn Humility
- Seeing Through New Eyes
- Submit to the Process
- Resist the Temptation to Become a Sacred Superstar
- Know the Difference Between Your Desire and God’s Will
If you’re interested, Jason describes each of these steps in detail, and I’m sure he’ll do the same for steps 7-12 in Part 2 of this series.
However, I’m not as interested in the steps per se. Instead, I was glad to see Jason include himself among the “religious”:
Most followers of Jesus have been contaminated by religion’s influence in one way or another. I certainly have.
Yes, we have all been “contaminated” by religion, and in certain ways we continue to be contaminated by religion, trying to reach God by the rules or processes that we keep.
To me, the importance of a post like this is not in the specific steps, although those are good. Instead, this kind of post is important because it reminds us that WE are guilty of religion. This is not just a problem with THEM (whoever is not like US).
We should be constantly and consistently testing our lives, our attitudes, our trusts, our plans, everything, to find that roots of religion that can cause problems. I know that I’ve found many in my life, sometimes in places where I least expected it.
What do you think? Can you be “religious”?
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: Emphasizing without Neglecting
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission. In the previous post, I started putting it all together.
In this post, I want to think about how to emphasize one aspect of the mission of God without neglecting the integrated mission of God.
Let’s be honest… as far as I can tell, every follower of Jesus Christ tends to serve in one or two ways naturally. Someone may naturally tend to proclaim the gospel. Someone else may naturally tend to build up the church. Another person may naturally tend to serve and care for people.
These natural tendencies are probably super-natural (Holy Spirit inspired and gifted) tendencies, and they are not a bad thing. However, these tendencies can lead us to emphasize one aspect of the mission of God while neglecting other aspects.
The person who is supernaturally gifted in the area of evangelism and who is passionate about proclaiming the gospel will be drawn to passages such as 2 Timothy 4:1-5 –
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;… As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)
Someone who is supernaturally gifted in the areas of teaching or encouragement and who is passionate about helping people grow in maturity in Jesus Christ will immediately notice passages such as 2 Timothy 2:1-2 –
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV)
The follower of Christ who is supernaturally gifted in the areas of helping and serving and healing and who is passionate about caring for those who are in need will notice passages such as 2 Timothy 4:11-13 –
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:11-13 ESV)
We must recognize that Paul wrote these instructions and encouragements to the same person. (And, from my perspective, Paul also wanted Timothy to share these instructions and encouragements with others.)
It is not wrong to participate in God’s mission primarily in one of the aspects of that mission. In fact, God has designed and gifted us and given us opportunities in ways that allow us to work within one of those aspects. However, this does not mean that we can neglect the other aspects of God’s mission. To participate in God’s mission, we should work within all of the aspects of that mission – proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least.
Let me give you another example. A person who is gifted in evangelism and naturally (even super-naturally) cares primarily about proclaiming the gospel, will jump at the following statement written by Paul:
I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation… (Romans 15:20 ESV)
If we take this at face value, then we might think that Paul was only concerned with proclaiming the gospel, and that he was not interested in working where the gospel had already been proclaimed. However, this would miss the fact that Paul was writing this very statement to a group of people who had already received the gospel and who he planned to visit. In fact, he told them earlier in the letter,
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:11-12 ESV)
Was Paul concerned about proclaiming the gospel to those who had not yet heard or received the message? Yes, absolutely! Was Paul concerned with helping those who had already received the gospel to grow in their understanding of and life in Jesus Christ? Yes, absolutely! Was Paul concerned about serving and caring for those who were hungry, thirsty, or otherwise in need? Yes, absolutely!
Why was Paul concerned about all of these things? Because Jesus is concerned about all of these things, and all of these things are different aspects of the same mission: the mission of God.
In the next post in this series, I’m going to look into some extremes in emphasis and neglect of different aspects of the mission of God.
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
Serving a second helping of dinner to the church
I often write about eating together as the church. I think that sharing meals is incredibly important for the church. In Scripture, one of the most common activities among followers of Jesus Christ is eating together.
I want to point out a post and a Facebook comment that help round out the importance of sharing food (breaking bread) together as the family of God.
First, Felicity at “Simply Church” asks, “Why is food important when it comes to church planting?”
I’m going to combine one of her earlier paragraphs with one of her later paragraphs for this quote:
Food is very important in the context of seeing multiplying churches. Luke 10 is our signature passage on how to reach out to those who don’t yet know the Lord. It tells us that we are to look for people of peace–those who have influence and are open to our message. We can identify them because they offer us hospitality…
If you reject food, you are doing far more than saying you don’t want to eat. You are rejecting friendship. There have been times when I would have preferred to refuse food. (You try eating a hamburger you have just watched a cockroach walk over!) If you want to see disciples made in the harvest, swallow your squeamishness and eat what is set before you!
Also, on Facebook, I recently posted a link to an older but related post that I wrote called “Church and Meals.” My friend Ron left this comment in response:
I think we need to be very careful not to equate eating together as fellowship. While meals can open the door for fellowship, it does not necessarily mean fellowship. It can be a means, but it is not an end. Often in sharing meals together people sit with the same people, have the same conversations, same people doing the dishes and cleaning up, and leave the same people eating by themselves. Seeing the early church eating together was their way of providing fellowship. Simply copying the `program`does not make a church more a community or not. Even in the meals, there must be intentionality.
Both Felicity and Ron make good points about meals. Meals are an excellent (and I would say necessary) aspect of church life because of the possibility of fellowship. Of course, we must be intentional about that fellowship. We can share a bowl of soup and only talk about the weather and the latest sporting event.
Of course, if we don’t share meals, then even the possibility of fellowship is drastically reduced…
(By the way, the thumbnail for this post shows the chicken vegetable soup that we shared with the church last weekend. We also ate “second helpings” of some wonderful food that others shared with us. And, then, there was the fellowship… learning more and more about our brothers and sisters in Christ…)
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: Putting it all together
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. In the last post, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Next I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission.
So, according to Scripture both Jesus and Paul considered proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least to be part of the mission that they were given by God. Furthermore, both of them taught others to proclaim the gospel, strengthen believers, and care for the least.
The mission of God is not one of these things; it is all of these things together lived out in the life of each of God’s children. Again, Jesus is the perfect example of this integrated approach to the mission of God:
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. (Matthew 9:35 ESV)
While Jesus was more than an example, he was certainly an example of living in the kingdom of God (even while living on this earth) and living as one sent by God. We must remember that in one of his commission instructions he told his followers, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21 ESV) Obviously, we cannot carry out every part of God’s mission in the same way that Jesus carried it out. Jesus’ mission of reconciliation included his death, burial, and resurrection as the son of God for the forgiveness of sin. We cannot do this work.
However, we are sent as ambassadors of God (those sent by God to others) serving as messengers of reconciliation. We can proclaim reconciliation to God in both word and deed. And, just as Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God and served others in the love of God, we are to continue that same mission.
Similarly, Paul saw his mission as an integration of proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for people. While it is not in a nice neat package like the verse from Matthew above, in a passage at the beginning of Colossians, Paul exhibits all of these different aspects of his mission. (See Colossians 1:24-2:5.) He even says that he sees this complete (in the sense of integrated) mission as “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” (Colossians 1:24)
By proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least, Paul is continuing Jesus’ mission – the same mission given to him by God.
In the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and in the accounts from Acts and the Epistles of Paul’s life, there are many examples of each of these different aspects of the mission of God. Sometimes the authors focus on one or another aspect; sometimes the authors combine all three – as we’ve seen in the examples above. However, as I’ve come to see it, the mission of God always includes proclamation, teaching, and service – all three – even if one or another may be emphasized from time to time.
In the next post, I’m going to consider emphasizing one aspects or another and how this may positively and negatively affect the mission of God.
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
Look at that body: The danger of “models” for the church
Swanny at “Allergic to BS” has written a great post called “I’m Not a Model… You Know What I Mean?”
(By the way, hopefully you get the song references in Swanny’s title, which led me to another song connection in my title…)
In his post, Swanny talks about “models” of church organization and gatherings. He’s not for them… not at all.
He writes:
I want to step out there and say to everyone that reads my blogs and emails and talks to me on the street. I am not looking for or asking anyone to come up with another ”church model”. I am so sick and tired of people obsessing with how something is supposed to work. I would like for people to focus more on “why” they are doing what they are doing, and is what they are actually doing make sense. Ask yourself what you are really doing, and then answer yourself…honestly. If I said to someone I attended a ”house church”, the first thing they will ask is.. “well, how does that work?”
Later, he continues:
There is a huge problem going on out there in “ChristianLand”. I do not think the church is in need of anymore models or systems, but rather it is in a desperate need of a ginormous VISION of who Jesus Christ really is. Just live life together as His Body in community. I see a church with no models, I see church as a bunch of people gathering or assembling together to BE Christ’s actual body, by having Him work through us so others can see and experience the “Allness” of God”, which is simply love, not a human-made model of love
In this last paragraph, Swanny hits on the real danger of models. Yes, organizing a certain way or meeting together in a certain way may have worked for a certain group of believers in a certain place at a certain time. But, that does not mean that the same “model” should be lived out by any other group of believers.
Why? Because the church is people – God’s people gathered together. And, unless you haven’t noticed, people are different. They are gifted differently; they have different concerns and issues; they have different strengths and weaknesses; they have different opportunities and passions. When we force people to organize or gather in a way that another group organizes or gathers, we are inherently forcing them into a pattern (a “model”) that DOES NOT FIT.
Will there be consistent aspects of any group of believers gathering together. Yes, because if they are following Jesus Christ, he is their head, and he will be the focus.
Otherwise, though, models are dangerous and disruptive to the maturity of the church.