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I have been reading Tim Chester and Steve Timmis’ book Everyday Church this last week. In chapter 2, everyday community, they explain the need to live like missionaries in our own communities. In order to live like a missionary, we must ask the questions missionaries ask.
Reaching our communities with the gospel, means we need to know our neighborhoods, it’s people, and their stories, values, worldview, and culture. Asking these questions will help us to know and understand our communities better. It’s going to take some work, but it is worth it in order to reach our cities, communities, and neighborhoods. So let’s get to work answering these questions and living like missionaries in our own backyards.
Timmis & Chester, Everyday Church, 42-43.
How do you react when those in your church, family, circle of friends, or community act contrary to God’s Word? Do you throw up your hands and give up? Do you brow beat them? Or do you lovingly correct, pray for, and serve them?
Last night at Bible Study, we briefly discussed Deuteronomy 9. It is Moses’ reminder to the people why God is giving them the Promised Land. He wants to make it clear it is not because of their righteousness. Rather it is because the Lord wishes to drive the wickedness out of the land and honor His promise to their fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (4-6). To show the stubbornness of the people, Moses recounts the story of the Golden Calf and their failure to take the land.
After spending forty days and nights on the mountain with God receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses comes down to find the people worshipping an idol – a Golden Calf. The same people who just witnessed the great power of God in the Exodus. The same people the Lord just redeemed as His own possession. The same people who watched Moses ascend to the top of the mountain to commune with God. In just forty short days and nights, they forgot the Lord and turned to worship an idol.
The second story Moses recounts is their failure to trust the Lord to give them the land. If you remember, they sent spies into the land. After gathering the requested items, they returned with a daunting report. Those in the land are giants and too numerous for us to overtake. Again, they forgot the power of their God, even as He was providing for them in the wilderness and telling them He would give them the land.
Talk about being frustrated. I am sure Moses was livid, in a righteous way of course. His actions though are surprising and act as an example for us. Yes, Moses corrected the people, but he also interceded for them and continued to serve them.
Why would he do a thing like that? Why intercede for them asking the Lord to preserve them when they were blatantly rebellious?
He did so because he loved and cared for them. Even though they were rebellious, he desired they experience the blessings of the Lord, worship the Lord, and glorify the Lord. For those reasons, Moses twice spent forty days and nights prostrate before the Lord in prayer, continually corrected and served them.
Do you love those in your church, family, circle of friends, or community enough to seek their welfare? Do you desire to reach out to them with the gospel? Do you desire to pray the Lord would not destroy them, but change their hearts and make them His? Do you serve them in a way that shows the love of Jesus? I know those are tough questions, but they are crucial questions.
If we find we do not love those around us in a way that causes us to reach out to them with the gospel, pray for them, and serve them, we need to get on our knees and ask that God would change our hearts.
Moses did not manufacture his love for the people. God changed his heart as he communed with Him. Likewise, as we commune with God through prayer and Bible study, He will change our heart.
So then, if you are having trouble loving, praying for, and serving those in your community, open His Word and seek His face in prayer, asking that He would change your heart.
What are your identity idols? In other words, what do you find your identity in besides Christ?
That question is a broad one, but it is one we can answer with a little information. In order to help you answer it, and provide a follow up to my last post on Identity, let me offer five categories of Identity Idols from Mark Driscoll’s latest book: Who Do You Think You Are?
(1) ITEMS – Car, clothes, technologies, home, jewelry, furniture, etc.
If our idol is our items:
Our identity and our drive to gain status and prestige are why we fought our parents in school to buy us Polo and Air Jordan’s instead of Wal-Mart brand clothing and shoes. We wanted to fit in. Have our friends think of us in a certain way and Wal-Mart shirts were not going to cut it.
If we are honest with ourselves this drive to fit in has not subsided. It has just gotten a bit more expensive since we have traded our Air Jordan’s for Mercedes’ or BMW’s. Seeking status is why most Americans are in perpetual debt and are constantly overpaying.
So you may ask yourself:
Answering those questions honestly may be your ticket to financial and spiritual freedom.
(2) DUTIES – The things we do – Job, hobby, sport, parental and grandparent duties, marriage duties.
If our idol is our duties:
Those who find their identity in their duties often lose their compassion for others because being better than the next person is all that matters. It is all about winning.
Not only does compassion decrease, if our idol is our duties, but selfishness increases. Activities then tend to be focused on us as well as conversations as we fish for the praise of others.
(3) OTHERS – Broadly in our identification with a collective tribe. Narrowly in our individual relationships.
Our tribe is the greater community we closely identify with, which can be our family, city, school, class, sports team, nationality, race, gender, ethnicity, culture, income level, hobby, political party, theological affinity, or even sexual orientation to name a few.
Don’t get me wrong community is good, but community can easily be turned into an idol.
When we make our tribe into an idol we:
Tribal idolatry often results in hostility between tribes. Think high school football rivalries or the demonization of another political party.
Not only does tribal idolatry result in hostility, but it also results in a desire to win at any cost. Breaking God’s Law, hurting or using others doesn’t matter. It is all about winning. No price is too high to pay.
Alternatively, when we find our identity in individual relationships, we make personal relationships unhealthy because we turn them into an idol and a place where we find our identity.
When we find our identity in others we typically:
Idolatry of individual relationships is why peer pressure is so powerful. Acceptance and subsequent identification is why a person may perform acts that are out of character. As well as it is why they may act a certain way around their church friends but another around their neighborhood or school friends. The desire to fit in by pleasing others is powerful and can only truly be combated with the cross.
Identity with relationships can manifest itself in one of two ways: Independence or Dependence.
Some signs you find your identity in being independent are:
Some signs you find your identity in dependent relationships are:
(4) LONGINGS – It is a hope that tomorrow will bring something better.
We all have longings. Our longings are what get us up in the morning, cause us to pray to God, and keep us hoping for Christ’s return. These are good longings to have.
Even so, our longings can become an idol when they become the source of our identity. When our longings become our identity, our life becomes excessively governed by our feelings and future, rather than our present, and God’s past, present, and future work on our behalf.
Living for the future can cause our identity to be based in getting physical healing, getting married, having children, fulfilling our vocational ministry goals, achieving financial security, or reaching the next season of life, just to name a few.
An unhealthy idolized view of the future can cause our life to shift in a moments notice leaving us:
In addition, when we live for the future, our identity is always out there and governed by what will happen next. When we set our identity in who we will be in the future, we sin because we are not trusting in who we are in Christ right now. As well as we are setting ourselves up to be swayed by our feelings and future.
Often longing idolatry is most evident when people are diagnosed with a terminal disease. If their world comes crashing down and they become depressed, that may be a sign their future was their idol. However, those who stand strong in the face of death prove they do not find their identity in who they could become in the future, but in something else. Hopefully, that something is Christ and who He has made them right now.
(5) SUFFERING – Emotionally, financially, mentally, physically, relationally, spiritually.
We will suffer in this world in many ways. When we suffer, our hurt and pain can become our identity if we are not careful. My mom constantly dealt with her suffering becoming her identity, as do a number of guys at my church.
While my mom fought Scleroderma, several men in my church are fighting back pain. Their constant pain is a real struggle for them physically and mentally. As they quietly suffer, the one thing they tell me over and over is that they refuse to allow their pain to take over their life. In other words, they refuse to allow their pain to become their identity, which in a real sense it could.
Since suffering often presents itself front and center, we must fight especially hard against this identity idol when presented with the temptation.
Instead of finding our identity in our idols we should find it in Christ. He is the One who has made us a new creation, gives us hope, joy, satisfaction, and eternal life. We should not, then, find our identity in our sins, occupation, addictions, hobbies, items, duties, others, longings, or sufferings.
Christ defines who we are by what He has done for us, not what we do, or fail to do for Christ. In Him we are a new creation and a child of God. Being God’s child is one identity that will not let us down. Instead it will change us so that we are able to accomplish our purpose in this life – to glorify God.
So then, as Christians we can say we live from our identity in Christ, not for our identity.
Post adapted from: Who do you think you are? Ch. 1
Recently, I have been reading Driscoll’s new book: Who Do You Think You Are? His book deals with identity. Specifically, where we should find our identity.
Reading his book over the past few days has me asking the question: Who do I think I am? I want to put that question to you as well: Who do you think you are? In other words, where do you find your identity? Do you find it in your possessions? Do you find it in your job? Do you find it in others? Or do you find it someone else?
When someone asks you who are you, what do you say? Do you respond by saying, I am a farmer, a business man, a missionary, a pastor, an addict, an alcoholic, an abused person, or an angry person?
It is common, we respond in these ways, but should we, or should we find our identity in something else? In order to answer this question, we must start at the beginning, the beginning of the Bible and time.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It starts with the creation account. After God created everything else, He creates man. In Genesis 1:26-27 God says,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Notice God makes man in His image, which means we are God’s image bearer. No one else bears God’s image. Humans are the only ones’ created in the Image of God.
As God’s image bearers, we are created to reflect His goodness and character to the world for His glory. When we love others, we reflect God’s love to the world for His glory. When we forgive others, we reflect God’s forgiveness to the world for His glory. When we are merciful, we reflect god’s mercy to the world for His glory. And so on and so forth.
As we move on through Genesis, we come across the temptation of man in Genesis 3. The entire chapter focuses on the fall. For the sake of time, let’s just look at verses 1-7.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Satan told Adam and Eve they would “be like God.” Adam and Eve believed him and ate the fruit. When they did, they forgot they were already like God; they forgot they had been made in His image. Instead of recognizing they were already like God, they sought to create their own identity apart from God by eating the fruit God had forbidden.
Just like Adam and Eve faced an identity crisis – they forgot who they were – we wrestle with our identity as well. In fact, man has been wrestling with their identity ever since our first parents sought their identity outside of God in the garden.
What is the problem with seeking our identity outside of God? When we seek our identity outside of God, we go from a God given identity to a Man sought identity. Instead of becoming like God, we become like our idol – the thing that represents God to us, but is not.
When we seek identity in something other than God – Job, Hobbies, Nationality, Cultural Tastes, Status – we deify that something. It becomes our god. It is what we live for and seek to glorify. Our identity then becomes rooted in our idolatry, a false god instead of the one true God.
This is a problem because we are not created to image our idols. We are created to image God for His glory. When we seek our identity in an idol, we take away from God’s glory. As well as we don’t accomplish our purpose in life – to glorify God.
Post adapted from: Who do you think you are? Ch. 1
Why did God created you? In other words, what is your purpose in life? I know I think about the reason God created me. I am sure you do as well. How do we answer the question?
Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever is how I answer the question.
What does it mean to glorify God?
It means: We worship Him; we praise Him; we lift Him up; we honor Him; we adore Him; we revere Him. These are all synonyms that help us understand what it means to glorify God.
If our purpose is to glorify God, that means our purpose is not:
Some of these are good – Job, family, house – and if God so blesses us with them, we should be thankful. These things, however, are not our main purpose in life. Our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Now that is a massive claim, so where do I get this from?
The Biblical Evidence for Glorifying God
Let’s start with Psalms 86:8-13. There we learn:
Since the Christian God is unique, our Creator and Sustainer, His ways are always true, and He loves and saves us, we are to glorify and worship Him.
Another Scripture that helps us understand our purpose in life is Isaiah 43:7. It reads,
“everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.””
Isaiah teaches us that everyone is created by God and they are created for His glory.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that we are not our own. We were bought with a price. The price we were bought with was not silver or gold but the blood of Jesus. For that reason, we should follow God’s commands, glorifying Him with our actions.
Finally, 1 Corinthians 10:31 exhorts us to do everything we do to the glory of God. Whether we are eating, drinking, having fun, working, or whatever else we do, we are to do it for God’s glory.
The Biblical Evidence for Enjoying God Forever
Our purpose in life is also to enjoy God forever. I get this from:
Psalms 16:9 & 11 which tells us the Lord is the One who gives us life. As well as He is the one who provides us with joy, with pleasures forevermore.
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure…You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Revelation 21:3-4 is another Scripture that tells us we are to enjoy God forever. There we learn the Lord will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more, along with no more mourning, crying, or pain. Instead, we will live in a New Heaven and New Earth, enjoying God and His creation forever.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” (Rev. 21:3-4)
From these Scriptures, we see that our purpose in this life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, which means it is not all about us, but it is all about Him. Finding out this life is all about God can be a tough pill to swallow, especially since our natural desire is to glorify and promote ourselves, in order to seek self-worship.
Even though God’s Word goes against our natural desires, it is God’s Word. It never lies. It is always true. If His Word is inerrant, we must trust it, believe it, and submit to it.
With our newly discovered purpose, we need to know how we can glorify God. Let me offer a few ways:
Before we end, let me provide a few diagnostic questions for you to consider.
If you enjoy and seek to glorify God, you should be able to answer these questions in the positive.
I am afraid, however, there are many who call themselves Christians who can’t answer these questions positively. In other words, they don’t seek to glorify God, nor do they enjoy Him or His people. I believe this is especially true in the Bible Belt where people are quick to call Jesus their Savior, but fellowshipping with His people, reading His Word, and submitting to His commands are absent.
If we are truly Christians, we will live to glorify God and we will enjoy God and the things of God. With that in mind, let’s glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Christianity Matters 