A Christian's Goal in Life

I was just listening to Chip Ingram on the radio and he said something really interesting!

He said, "Our goal is not to get to Heaven! As Christians we are already going there! Our goal is to be like Jesus Christ!"

That means that everything we do and everything that happens to us is supposed to make us more like Him.

Some of us may need to be humbled and some trials will do that. Some of us need to have more compassion or to love more or to serve more or to share God more.

Think about what it will take to make you more like Jesus!

Good to Great Chapter 10 - Develop Great Habits - Part 2

Here are the 6 habits that help cultivate our experience of grace.

1. Put God first.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Develop the habit of giving God the first portion and the best part of your day. It doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning, but it has to be consistent and a priority. Lots of people choose early morning because there’s no interference, so they know they’ll get it done and also they are fresh. Whenever we can do it consistently and without interruptions is more important then when. Also attitude trumps it all – what drives us to spending time with God. Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Great Christians thirst for God. People find a way to prioritize what matters to them. At first doing it might seem like a duty, but will become a delight with the right attitude.

2. Take out the Trash

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We need to get the trash out of our lives. All of the world’s ideas and values that go against God’s. Get rid of them and then allow God’s world to renew and transform us. The word Paul used in the Bible that translates to transform is the same as was used for the transfiguration of Jesus. Grammatically this command is in the passive voice. God does it, but we allow it. We let our minds be transformed from the inside out so we can be people who prove and experience the will of God. Our lifestyle begins to demonstrate God’s will: that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Chip says that spiritually some Christians have their minds filled with so much garbage that it doesn’t seem like garbage anymore. Their lives never change and they can’t figure out why.

God has told us what’s right and true. We don’t need to “try to figure it out” it’s there in black and white. We just need to do it! Also if we don’t quench the Holy Spirit He’ll lead us by our conscience in the right direction. But, if we don’t do this the things of the world will seem normal to us. That’s why the divorce rate is pretty much the same between Christians and non-Christians. Why some Christians still view pornography, why some are heavily in debt or lie or cheat. Little by little they are being transformed to the world instead of the image of Christ. We need to stop and really look at what’s going on in our lives. What’s right and what’s wrong; and completely turn our backs on the wrong. Whatever it takes.

The point of Romans 12:1-2 isn’t to condemn, but to bless us with the experience of God’s perfect will by the renewing of our minds.

3. Do your own dishes

Responsibility. It takes the blame off of other people and forces us to be accountable for our own mess. We are a society of people who make excuses. It’s always someone else’s fault. Chip gives the example of moms who are always picking up after their families: kids leaving dirty dishes in the sink and the moms washing them thinking, “I don’t think they realize how each of their actions affect my day, do they think there’s a dishwashing fairy who’s going to do this?” It becomes a habit that we expect someone else to clean up our mess. But behind that habit is an assumption that it’s up to someone else to make our life work.

Jesus said in Luke 16:10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. The point is that personal responsibility extends to even the smallest detail. Until we learn to own up to our obligations, we won’t be faithful in the larger issues of the kingdom of God. And Great Christians do for others too. We pick up their messes. We leave things better than we found them. He said this also helps with marital or other relationship problems. When you change your clothes you hang them up. When you get something out you put it back. And it starts with habit.

4. Write it Down

The principle of clarity can be found in the Bible. We all have dreams, plans and purposes embedded in our hearts. Many people never do anything with them, but an understanding person draws them out. God uses this to ask the probing questions and provide insight. Chip says sometimes godly people aren’t available when we need to figure something out and that’s when he journals. Writing your thoughts down, expressing your goals and feelings helps you work through it all.

This is after you put God first, get the garbage out and take responsibility. This is how you start to proactively move forward.

Chip personally uses 3x5 index cards and writes a clear goal on each one. And he pulls them out and reads them every morning and night for a month. Then 2 or 3 times a week after that. He says you begin to gravitate toward those things. That’s the way our mind works: when our goals are clear we begin to notice all kinds of things that relate to our goal. They’ve always been there, we just hadn’t thought about them before. From the index cards though you have to move to your calendar. If you want to be a great parent you have to block out time on your calendar to spend time with your kids. To be physically fit you have to block out gym time or jogging time.

He also said while we never get our to-do lists done they are important in helping us focus. He even suggested putting a star by the essentials, which I liked because it’s something I’ve always done. He says the to-do list can be a spiritual tool in choosing our priorities, asking God to help us with getting them done and then thanking Him when they are. Another way of drawing God into every part of our life.

One idea he suggested is writing your prayers – journaling. It keeps you much more focused then just saying them.

5. Do it now

Most things don’t get done because we never start them. We can’t discipline our kids “later.” We can’t pay our bills “later” – unless we don’t mind getting late fees or our water turned off! It also helps to get the hard things done first so they don’t hang over your head all day. When things pile up it takes away your energy and your motivation to do them and even depresses you.

6. Turn it off

Keep Sabbath. Take a break and rest.

So to tie all this up, Chip suggests we chose a bad habit, write it down and ask God to help us break it. Then ask God which of the 6 good ones we’ve just listed He wants you to work on first. Then find someone to help keep you accountable. Come up with a plan and do it – to become a Great Christian.

Good to Great Chapter 10 - Develop Great Habits

This is from the last chapter of Chip Ingram's Book Good to Great in God's Eyes.

We make thousands of decisions everyday and most we aren’t even aware of. They’re automatic. Habits. We tie our shoes without having to remember which loop to make first. We brush our teeth without putting it on our to-do list. Everything you know about being a great Christian, having a Christian life, means nothing unless you do it and it becomes a habit. Good habits save effort, ease routines, increase efficiency and release power. The sum of our good and bad habits will decide who we will become. The kind of person we will be in 10 or 15 years depends on our habits today.

Chip says we can actually learn to be kind, learn to be generous, to think great thoughts or make great sacrifices. But you have to cultivate a lifestyle in which those things can occur and become second nature.

Paul wrote to Timothy and instructed him in his pastor’s role. He told him to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. The word discipline can also be translated “practice” or “exercise”. It’s the same word we get gymnasium from and conveys the idea of going into training. And Paul goes on to say:

1st Timothy 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Godliness is profitable for eternity and it comes in large part through discipline.

Chip suggests we examine our habits. Think about the routines we have that we probably don’t even think about: a certain bedtime snack, a certain TV show every week that we never miss. He says habits can be our best friends or our worst enemies. If we want to change, we need to address deeply ingrained habits.

He used as an example of how he used to watch the 11:00 news every night. He felt like that was the only way he could know what was going on and he couldn’t miss it, but he realized that going to bed at 11:30 or later wasn’t allowing him to get up early and get going. So he quit cold turkey and never regretted it. He woke up earlier after a good night’s sleep and could spend time in Bible reading and prayer first thing.

The idea is to be aware of what we do each day or each week. See if it’s good or if it’s something that is preventing us from doing something better – and make the change. It might be hard at first, but:

Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Grace and effort go hand and hand. Not Grace and merit – the idea we can earn God’s favor is called legalism. But the gospel doesn’t teach us that we don’t exert effort to be obedient and faithful. In fact we are commanded to “make every effort” to live with one another in humility and unity. God’s grace gives us both the desire and than the ability to be righteous and follow Him. Godliness only comes through grace, but it takes great effort to apply grace fully to our lives.

So with that in mind Chip lists 6 habits that help cultivate our experience of grace. These are not ways to earn God’s approval, but spiritual pipelines that allow God’s grace to transform our life. God will use them to pour His unmerited favor into our heart and mind so that by His power we can become more and more like Christ.

I'll list the habits in tomorrow's post.

Good to Great in God’s Eyes Chapter 9 Part 2

So to continue from yesterday's post, how do you leave a legacy?

A. Help many, but train a few. You have to invest wisely. Jesus helped a lot of people but He trained 12. And those 12 changed the world. How do we know who to invest our lives in?

1. Pray

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

If we don’t know what to do ask God. The people in the Bible who left a great legacy were great prayers. Chip says we could start by praying, “Lord, I want to focus and invest my life in a few people, so I need to be discerning. Please guide me in this.” And God, who is interested in our being a great Christian, will answer.

2. Look under your own roof.

Start with the people you are morally responsible for. In 1st Timothy 3:4 Paul says that a leader must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. Don’t be so busy helping others that your own kids grow up rebellious and disrespectful. There have been studies of top executives showing their kids and spouses have a much higher note of depression and suicide. Only the very poor have a worse track record. So put your family first. They are your first responsibility.

3. Look for FAT people: Faithful, Available and Teachable.

Faithful people are the ones who complete an assignment. Who show up when they promise. Don’t just listen to what they say – watch what they do with their responsibilities. But by itself, that’s not enough – sometimes faithful people are scattered; involved in too many things. You also need someone who’s available and then teachable. We should all be open to instruction and guidance. We can all still learn something new. People who are teachable are in a position to grow and bear fruit. We should take constructive criticism with humility. We should respond with character and perseverance.

Don’t fall into the worldly view that thinks every person with a sharp mind, great personality and the right education will be the one to make a big impact for Christ. God often chooses the lowly in order to shame our worldly standards.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.

He looks beyond our history and at our hearts. If they are faithful, available and teachable, we can become who God really wants us to be.

Chip uses Jesus as an example of leaving a legacy. Jesus never traveled more than 60 miles from His home, but had 11 close followers totally committed to His message and more than 120 others more than loosely committed. Now His message is spread all over the world.

How did He do it? Jesus had a four fold process of empowering great people. He brought them in, built them up, trained them for action and sent them out. His disciples were ordinary people – mostly blue-collared workers – who were faithful, available and teachable.

So here’s how we can do it:

1. Bring them in. Start with exposure. You first have to model the message. Then you invite them into the action and engage them in authentic relationship. Jesus called the disciples to be with Him (Mark 3:14)

We can do this with our children. They certainly watch the way we live; so start by modeling Christianity. We can teach them to study the Bible, memorize verses, show them ways to share their faith, keep an open dialogue about how a Christian reacts to what’s going on, how a Christian does marriage and family. We pass on our values and authenticity to them in this way. Jesus’ method of Discipleship was to live with His disciples. They went everywhere He did, heard what He heard, saw what He saw, and talked with Him about everyday matters.

Bring them in.

2. Build them up.

This is nurture. Jesus told His disciples that if they followed Him, He would make them fishers of men. He affirmed their strengths. He told them they would do it. He gave them a dream. Chip says part of empowering great people is inspiring their dreams.

But then he said you need to confront their flaws. Basically character problems. We should always encourage people to be their best and do their best for Christ.

3. Train them for action

Instruct their minds, develop their hearts and equip their hands. Church staff should be doing this for their members: helping them to become disciples, giving them plenty of opportunity for service and learning and living out God’s will. There are lots of ways people can help us learn or we can help them learn: to study the Bible, manage finances, to articulate their faith, to handle relationships…

Instruct their minds, develop their hearts and equip their hands.

4. Send them out

This is the challenge stage. Jesus sent His disciples out on missions. The early missions were small, very specific and followed by times of debriefing, encouragement and evaluation. Until the big one. (Matthew 28:19-20 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.") and He followed it with the promise that the mentoring would continue. That He would be with them always. God made the body of Christ to be dependent on Him and interdependent on each other. Everyone has gifts. Some are more noticeable then others, but they are all important. Our goal, whether it’s with our children or our successors, is to help them be great.

Empowering great people is about letting our ceiling become their floor so they can go further. You equip them to start where you leave off. Everyone can leave a legacy – if we don’t it’s because of lack of vision, lack of discipline or lack of focus. Paul had great discipline. He used himself as an example to follow quite often.

1 Cor.4:17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Can we say to our kids or grandkids, “Drive like I drive” “spend like I spend” “Love your husband like I love your father”?

It takes discipline to become exemplary.

The lack of vision is our failure to see beyond our own life-span. Lack of focus means we need to stop dabbling in 20 things and focus on the one important thing. You can spread yourself thin trying to do everything or help everyone: or you can empower a few. Chip says “good Christians serve the Lord well. Great Christians serve Him and empower others to do it too.”

Good to Great in God’s Eyes Chapter 9 Part 1

I finished teaching Good to Great in God's Eyes this weekend. I've been adding the lessons to this blog over the past year, so it's a little scattered. You can find them here here here here here here here here here here and here!

Chip Ingram starts this chapter by pointing out all the “Bests Ofs” we have. Or “World’s Greatests”. You know: 10 sexiest bachelors, world’s fastest runners, Miss America, Miss World, Miss Universe! We admire the greatest. We want to be the best!

He said even back in Jesus’ day, 2 of His disciples who had spent 3 years with Jesus asked Him if they could sit on His right and left when He came into power.

Instead of rebuking them for wanting to be great, He told them what He considered to be great.

Mark 10:43-45 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

True greatness is serving others for the glory of God. That’s the way to a higher standing in God’s Kingdom. We stop thinking about ourselves and think about other people and about God. We become great in God’s eyes when we help others become greater than ourselves. Right now the world is all about self-interest, self-indulgence and self-glorification.

But we are not of the world and greatness in God’s eyes comes through building others up. In God’s kingdom someone else’s gains are ours. Someone else’s losses are also ours. Our ultimate service to others is to help them become all God intends for them to be, and then they go out and help others. Each generation enhances its own greatness by focusing on the next generation.

Moses was humble AND great. He trained his successor Joshua. And Joshua was the one who finally got to take the Israelites into the Promised Land. Eli mentored Samuel and Samuel had far more impact on the people of Israel than Eli did. John the Baptist: at one point in his ministry his disciples were concerned that his popularity was declining while Jesus’ was rising. And John said:

John 3:30 He must become greater; I must become less.

Later Jesus said about John:

Luke 7:28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Jesus – and no one is greater – spent 3 years empowering 12 men who then went out to empower others until the Gospel spread across the world.

Chip’s definition of a good Christian is someone who loves God, who walks in integrity, who is faithful to his or her mate, who spends time in the Bible because he or she wants to hear from God. Who makes an effort to discover his or her spiritual gifts and then uses those gifts in the local church. Who give tithes and offerings, goes on mission trips and helps his or her kids grow up to be godly men and women. Good Christians do what God calls them to do and they serve Him well.

But, he says GREAT Christians do all that and then pass it on. They pour their lives into others. They multiply themselves again and again and again. Good Christians “live the life”. Great Christians “leave a legacy”.

So how do you leave a legacy? I’ll post about that tomorrow.

Good to Great - Enjoying Great Moments Part 4

So how do you start enjoying life?

Well first we have to slow down. (And doesn’t it seem like every lesson we have in here it tells us to slow down?) It must be important.

We get frantic when we’re rushed and we often don’t do a good job when we multi-task. But more then that, spiritual development and intimacy with God are impossible in a hurried life. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Next – cut some things out. Out of your to-do list. Off of your calendar. Even in church we can be so busy serving we neglect a relationship with God. Remember the story of Mary and Martha and how Jesus told Martha, Mary was doing the better thing.

Next – learn to live in the present. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow. We need to take stock and be thankful for what we do have rather than what we don’t. Practice being happy. Where you are right this minute. You can make it a game. If you’re bored, think – how great, I’m inside, warm and dry, or isn’t it wonderful so many of my friends are here – that kind of thing.

Start to really notice things around you and appreciate them. God keeps some things changing all the time for us. Sunrises, sunsets, fall leaves, spring flowers. Notice them! Enjoy them! While most of this sounds like just “enjoy daily life and simple pleasures” Chip ends with “Make great moments.” Try to make every moment better that it might have been. Give it your focus. Schedule time with friends, time with family, fun activities, leisurely walks.

One last thing I want to share –

This is an excerpt from Ruth Graham’s book Simple Joy:

Mother had an amazing capacity to find and to make joy wherever she went. Some years ago, my two sisters and I were traveling with her. The circumstances were less than ideal. A dark, dirty hotel. No food service. Our passports had been taken. There was political tension in the area. It was late, and we were weary from traveling, so we collected what food we had between us - some crackers and apples - and we sat around a little table in Mother's hotel room.

Right away the three of us girls began noting the grim circumstances. Not Mother. Instead, she started to sing: "If Jesus keeps you polished you will shine. 'Course you will shine. If Jesus keeps you polished you will shine." How can you keep complaining in the midst of that kind of mirth? We all joined in, and soon we were laughing - not to mention the happy memory we made!

My mother knew how to live. I want to be able to follow her lead, finding joy in the simple things: Hearing the birds singing in the morning. Seeing a beautiful sunset where I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Giggling with my grandchildren. God has given all of us a great capacity for joy. Life is full of opportunities for delight and pleasure, and God wants us to experience them - to listen to the birds, to watch the sunsets, to revel in life's unexpected gifts, to enjoy other people, to delight in the laughter of children.

So often we miss out because we are burdened. Burdened by the cares of this world. Burdened by guilt, shame, and the weight of sings we've already taken to God probably many times over, seeing His forgiveness.

God's forgiveness sets us free. It gives us a fresh start to become who God created us to be. The things that encumber and hold us back are lifted, and we are liberated! That sin is gone. God erases it from His memory. He removes our sins from us "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

As Corrie ten Boom wrote in her book Tramp for the Lord, "When I confess them to the Father, Jesus Christ washed them in His blood. They are now cast into the deepest sea and a sign is put up that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED."

That is grace. If we embrace it, we can come to know a freedom and a joy from which we were designed. God has freed us to live, freed us to enjoy life and love. But more often than not, we walk around joyless under a yoke of past and sin and feelings of failure. Jesus invites us to trade our heavy load of guilt and our feelings of not measuring up for his yoke, which is pulsating with the joy of life (Matthew 11:28-30). That is what God offers us through Jesus.

Good to Great – Enjoying Great Moments Part 3

In the next section Chip asks, “So why don’t we enjoy life?” If enjoying life is a gift, an expectation and an integral part of the way we are made, why are so many of us discouraged all the time and weighed down by seriousness? How have we been trained to miss out on all the good things and good times God wants us to enjoy?

He thinks the first reason might be a distorted view of God. That even when we know what the Bible says about God we tend to magnetize some of the right characteristics in the wrong proportions.

He says one way to restore our right vision of God is to remember the story of the prodigal son. We all know the story, how after the son is welcomed back with complete forgiveness and mercy and thrown a party; the older brother was furious. He had stayed and worked, honored his father all along and here’s the “bad” son getting a party! But the father tells him, “you are always with me and everything I have is yours.”

Now, I always thought this was like the verse in the Bible about there being more rejoicing in heaven over 1 lost sinner and kind of thinking “that’s not fair! I’ve been a Christian forever. Rejoice over me!” But, Chip says the older son could have thrown a party anytime he wanted! He could have asked his dad any time if he could invite friends over, kill the fatted calf and have a ball.

But apparently he didn’t because he was too busy trying to earn his father’s favor than realizing he already had it. He was so absorbed in his performance he could never enjoy life. We already have a relationship with God. We can stop and enjoy it! We spend all our time trying to prove ourselves to God, to our boss, our parents or someone in the past who said we’d never amount to much – instead of having a godly drive to move forward and bear fruit. He says that being driven to perform may get a lot accomplished but there is a subtle self-righteous arrogance in it. It comes from a warped distortion of God’s heart.

Also we don’t have to give up all of our hopes and dreams to be a Christian. Many of them are God given. And part of loving others is allowing them to love us. Giving them an opportunity to make sacrifices and serve.

Another reason we don’t enjoy great moments is we have a warped theology of pleasure. Pleasure has been polluted and distorted to the point where we almost think of it as the opposite of godliness. That’s one of the subtle ways Satan has corrupted the goodness of God’s creation. The Bible does teach that hedonism is a sin. Pursuing sensual desires like food, sex, materialism, fame, money and status in order to feed your ego or make you feel like someone important are sinful. That’s putting self above God and others.

But, we can have fun with most of those things with the right attitude. Having more of any of that won’t make you happy. It’s like a drug. You need more and more to satisfy you the next time. But, if we walk with God and are able to stop and enjoy what He’s provided we get refreshed and renewed. God wants us to stop and look at His beautiful world. To appreciate our family and friends and good food, etc.

Chip points out in this chapter how often the ancient Israelites celebrated. Their weddings lasted a week! The Hebrew calendar has a lot more holidays then ours does! Chip also wrote that the early Christians transformed their world. That love was their marketing plan and their business card was joy. They shared meals and fellowship and prayed great prayers and dreamed great dreams.

I was working on this lesson on the way to Chicago for Thanksgiving and thought maybe that’s why everyone loves Thanksgiving so much. It’s all about family, friends and food and reminding us of our blessings!

Enjoying life is allowed! But we think we can’t do something fun till our to-do list is done, or we work all the time to buy a lot of meaningless things, or we say yes to doing more things because we want people to like us. We’re perpetually stressed because the work never ends.

Chip says a performance based life eats away at health and sanity. It creates guilt when goals of perfection, approval and maximum production aren’t fully reached, which means it always produces guilt.

Great to Good – Enjoying Great Moments Part 2

Chip lists 5 Biblical reasons we should be enjoying life here:

1.Enjoying our life reminds us of God’s goodness.

Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

God gives good things to us. How does He feel when we take them for granted? When we act like we don’t appreciate all He’s given us? Have you ever given someone a gift that you were excited about? You couldn’t wait to watch them open it and see their reaction. But then they put it aside without saying much and later you heard they didn’t appreciate it because it didn’t go with something else, or they didn’t have time to use it, or they’d have to go out and get something else to go with it or whatever. You feel really bad!

God gives us beautiful things every day. Sometimes we notice. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we notice, but complain about them.

2.Enjoying our life sustains us in adversity.

After the Israelites rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, Ezra the priest read them the first 5books of the Bible (the Torah) and the people realized how far they had drifted from God and began to weep. They repented, but Nehemiah said:

Nehemiah 8:10 “Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

It was necessary to repent, but God also gave them reason to celebrate.

3.Enjoying our life honors God as the source of joy.

James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

4.Enjoying our life connects our hearts to those we love.

Most great moments are a shared experience. One thing I love about Facebook is you have your “friends” on there you are connected to and they put up information about what they are doing. So recently a friend’s father-in-law died and immediately a string of comments from his friends were saying they were sorry, or they were praying for the family kind of thing. We are also notified of all our friend’s birthdays so there’s always a string of good wishes on that person’s profile on his or her birthday. I like to send little pictures to kind of illustrate my messages. People put up photos of their kids and grand kids or special occasions. They share their lives. It’s a fun way of connecting.

When I was a travel agent there was a German man who was single and around 60 at the time. I did all of his business travel, but also all of his leisure travel and he traveled a lot. He would ski in the Alps; go to really exotic locations, but always alone. I always thought – I hope he takes a lot of pictures, because half of the fun of being somewhere really cool is being able to turn to someone else and say, “Isn’t that really cool?”

Humans want to connect. They want to share. They are made for relationships.

5.Enjoying our life is important because God uses the joy of quiet moments to renew us.

Chip uses the Sabbath as an example here. The Sabbath wasn’t meant to be a day of “You can’t do this and you can’t do that.” It’s God’s way of telling us not to stress like unbelievers who feel like they have to work 7 days a week. He urges us to stop, rest, worship and enjoy one another. It’s a required vacation day that God has given us because God knew we’d never get around to it on our own. Modern science tells us laughter builds the immune system and restores life.

I was reading an article in a Woman’s Fitness magazine and it actually said for better health we should have more fun! That all work and no play leads to burnout and a snarly disposition. Fun energizes you, keeps you grounded and gives you a break from pressures. The article even said that you can view fun as an investment in your job performance – it will help you keep perspective and have energy to deal with tough situations.

So if you are going to have a to-do list, put fun on it!

Making Great Sacrifices Part 5

More from my lesson from Chip Ingram's Book: Good to Great in God's Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common

One thing we should have if we are living a sacrificial life is an attitude of gratitude.

1 Cor.15:1-10: Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

The apostle Paul gives us insight into Christian motivation in verse 10 when he speaks about the grace of God. First he says “by the grace of God, I am what I am” and then he adds that God’s grace is not without effect. He says, “I worked harder than all of them.” And finally “not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

If you remember, Paul actually killed Christians before he met Christ. God changed him and he had a lot to be thankful for – that God could use someone like him. So he’s grateful for God’s grace and then he’s motivated to work hard for God’s kingdom.

God is the creator and can deal with people as He chooses. He could punish us for our sins, but He’s given us a way out. Personally I don’t want God to be “just” with me. I want His mercy and grace! Justice means we get what we deserve. Mercy means we don’t get all we deserve and grace gives us what we don’t deserve.

God has figured out how to deal with us on the basis of all 3 at the same time. Paul says in Romans “the wages of sin is death”. If we were to get all we deserved, and admit our sin, we would get death. Thankfully God devised a way where He could give us what we deserve, but mercifully give it to us in a way that wouldn’t destroy us. He put us “in Christ” and when Christ was crucified, according to Paul, we were crucified with Him. But then God raised us up into newness of life with Christ and made us His children and gave us eternal life. A home in heaven. The Holy Spirit. He committed all of us to ministry and gave us the privilege of living now for His glory.

So Paul gets this. And in effect he says I can’t believe it! Me of all people! Invited by God to live this kind of an experience! Not because of who I am, not because of what I’ve done, but solely because of who God is and who I am in Christ.

Paul didn’t want this grace to be wasted on him. He worked harder than all of them because he understood what he’d been given.

The word for grace in Latin is gratia, from which gratitude also has its roots. That’s the key here. Grace is the root from which gratitude grows. When we really get this, it will keep us motivated. When we do God’s work we will often be overlooked, misunderstood, discouraged and maybe even tempted to quit, but we have an inner motivating power in us that has nothing to do with the reaction of people around us. We work “as if unto the Lord”. We do everything for His sake. We express our gratitude to God by doing wholeheartedly what He has told us to do in the Bible.

And Paul does this. You know God had Peter be the apostle to the Jews. He had Paul become the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul, Mr. True Blue Jew who had never associated with Gentiles before was told by God that they were to be his mission field. Must have been hard to swallow!

But, Paul did a great job. Even when they beat him up over and over. And threw him in jail. He just continued to give and give and give. Why? Because the Gentiles were so great? Or so worthy? No, because he was doing it as if unto Jesus Christ.

God’s power keeps us going. He gives us the Holy Spirit who gives us His own gifts, the fruits of the spirit. Those 2 things, the Holy Spirit and His gifts, enable us to do what God wants us to do.

God doesn’t tell Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles without first giving him Holy Spirit. He doesn’t tell Paul to be a great writer of theology without giving him a mind that could grapple with theology. There is no such thing as an ungifted Christian. And we’re all different from each other. It’s like electricity. Plug in a microphone and it amplifies your voice. Plug in an air conditioner and it cools off the building. Plug in an organ and you get music. Same power. Different results. Every believer has the Holy Spirit and He’s the electricity of God. But, with our individual gifts, different things are going to happen when we plug in.

We’re given these gifts so we can do what He’s called us to do: enthusiastically and thoroughly: express our gratitude. If our church isn’t dynamic we might be trying to motivate people the wrong way. The only way truly successful Christians can be consistently motivated is to be constantly in touch with what it means to be a recipient of the grace of God.

Making Great Sacrifices Part 4

Continuing my lesson from Chip Ingram's Book: Good to Great in God's Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common

Romans 12:1 – In view of God’s mercy. Our sacrifice in living a Christian life is a grateful response that acknowledges the worthiness of God for all He has done for us.

Romans 12:2 - We have to start living in God’s way first and then we will begin to learn how good it really is and what His will for us is. We first step out in faith and then God will “grow us.”

I read somewhere that “Real religion is to draw our strength from God in order to give it to others. Real religion means taking our own needs to God – not so we get peace and quiet and undisturbed comfort, but so that we may be enabled graciously, effectively and powerfully to meet the need of others.”

Are you doing anything for Christ, who did everything for you?

Chip explains how in Romans Paul lays out a logical progression of what happens. Chapters 1–3 show we all have a problem with sin, but God solved that thru the gift of Jesus on the cross. Chapters 4-5 talk about how to receive that gift by faith. Chapters 6-8 tell by how dying with Him one is raised with Him to new life and now lives in the power of His Spirit. Chapters 9 -11 answer the question of Israel – how salvation relates to the Hebrews. And then chapter 12 is “now what” In light of all that God has done – how does He want us to live.

He has unconditional love for us - Great Christians know they don’t have to earn God’s favor. We are unconditionally loved by Him. We can’t do anything to make Him love us more – or less!

Our sacrifice comes not from a sense of duty, but gratitude. God doesn’t look at the size of our gifts, but the size of our sacrifice.

Chip gives an example of a 10% tithe with different incomes – how someone who makes $20,000 and gives $2000 as a tithe is really giving a lot more than someone who makes $200,000 and gives away $20,000.

He says that for the one with the higher income 10% is a gift – not a sacrifice.

People who make great sacrifices don’t think they deserve special treatment or a great reward” they’re just doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Chip said “if you want to be a good Christian, sacrifice everything. If you want to be a great Christian, sacrifice everything with passion.”

Good to Great – Making Great Sacrifices

I’m back teaching from Chip Ingram’s book,Good to Great in God's Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common

This is from the chapter “Making Great Sacrifices.” As I do with all my lessons, I’ve pulled in other information from various other places of things I’ve learned and read along the way.

Jesus said in Luke 14:33, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

I think that one statement is a big part of the reason some people don’t want to become Christians. It’s their biggest fear. That God will ask them to give up all the fun stuff, all their money, all their comfortable things. Maybe some of their friends and activities… They don’t turn their lives all the way over to God because they’re afraid He’s going to zero in on that one thing they really want to hang on to and ask them to get rid of it.

And He might.

But, God isn’t in the business of asking us to do things we hate. He designed each of us uniquely. He gave us interests and talents and passions and personalities that are perfect for us to use in the body of Christ for His purpose. And using those things, knowing you are square in the middle of God’s will is the best thing in the world. God’s will is never bad for us.

But, following Him does almost always require giving something up. Following Jesus, picking up the cross; means we do have to become selfless. That it won’t be all about me anymore. That we’ll put Him first – His plans - His kingdom. We are not a disciple if following Him isn’t our top priority. And that does require absolute sacrifice.

But, listen to this:

Mark 10:29 -30 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life”

What the non-believers don’t understand is – when they fall in love with Jesus – pleasing Him, living for Him – isn’t really a sacrifice. It will be something they want to do and something they enjoy doing.

Good to Great in God’s Eyes Part 3

Following is the end of my lesson from the Pursuing Great People chapter in Chip Ingram’s book Good to Great in God's Eyes.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says “Do not forsake gathering together to spur each other on to love and good works.” This verse is the one people use when someone says, “I don’t need to go to a church – I can be a Christian on my own.” Well, no, you can’t. We go to encourage others and to be encouraged.

God designed us to enjoy and contribute to relationships with other people. In the very beginning, God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18) and He said this even though man was in the Garden with God himself. And ever since, we've had a deep need to be known, understood, and accepted by at least one other person. We need others. We are created for community, especially as Christians: 1 Corinthians 12:27 says "You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it". That means we need each other if the body of Christ is to function as God intended.

In some religions the most holy people are the ones who live in isolation, in monasteries or on top of hills and that’s not Christian. True spiritual maturity is about learning to love like Jesus and you can’t practice being like Jesus without being in a relationship with other people.

I sort of have a tradition of doing a devotion at the closing ceremony of our youth's mission weeks and I wanted to share just one paragraph from the last one. I mentioned in the devotion that Troy always asks at chapel out at Corder’s farm on the 2nd to the last day, “How was the week? Good?” and that I heard one girl sitting behind me say really quietly “amazing”.

We looked around at the people helping each other all week; hugging, reaching out, praying, worshiping, laughing - all ages mixed together - and we got to see what God's plan for his church looks like in action. COOL creates the environment where we can feel the way we're designed to feel. Where we can do the things God designed us to do. Where we can feel even for just a week that we are Godly people. And it is amazing. It’s magical.

That’s what church should be. That’s why we need it.

Plus I like to say – going to church shows the world whose side you’re on!

A couple generations ago people didn’t move so much. A large percentage were born, lived and died in the same town and had a lifetime of friends built up there. That’s not the norm now. Divorce has split up families too. Busyness keeps neighbors from knowing each other.

Relationships require constant tending. Every human being was created with a need for love, trust, service with others and to be close to others.

You need to surround yourself with people you can totally trust. Who provide insights and courage to you as you live your life of faith. They help you be a better person because they expect you to be. Kids in school who have a teacher who expects good things, who acts like he or she believes the student is capable of greatness – do better. Employers who expect their employees to be talented, upstanding, etc – usually have employees who are.

Family can be the same. Families should encourage each other, be a place where members can be themselves, create safe havens and show unconditional love, but still expect the best from them. Churches - same thing. Which means the church has to be a center of acceptance and love. No quarreling, no bitterness, no Peyton Place. In all of these relationships: friends, family and church – we should be encouraging each other to discover meaning and to follow Christ.

I don’t think you can talk about putting great people in your life without trying to be one yourself.

We need to infuse every relationship in this church with the life of Christ. Then every person will feel valued and discover how fulfilling a Christ-saturated life can be.

Next Chip says we need to learn to look for why God has placed certain people in your life at that particular time.

A prophet to confront you
A cheerleader to keep you going
A hero to inspire you

And he says in order to pursue great people we need to:

1. Pray. Ask God to put them in your life
2. Take initiative – go after them
3. Start in your relational network – look at the people you are already in contact with
4. Ask for help. Ask for advice
5. Persevere. Don’t give up on finding someone, on developing relationships
6. Do it by proxy. Radio, books, recordings, etc.
7. Make time in your schedule. You have to make time for the important things.

He closes by saying we are shaped by the people around us (or watch on TV or in movies or read about) – so lets make them great people!

This week – Be aware – Look for people who can help you grow. Work on a relationship with them. Look at how you can be a better role model.

Slow down in your life enough to make choices when things happen.

If you have a choice to do something with excellence or just half way - do it with excellence
If you have a choice of being kind or mean – be kind.
If you have a choice of doing something with honesty or dishonesty – be honest!
Slow down enough in your life so these little things don’t get missed. We’re supposed to do everything “as if unto the Lord”.

Think about where you need to grow. Just the awareness is a huge step in the right direction.

And think about where God has helped you – can you help others?

Good to Great in God’s Eyes Part 2

To finish up the chapter I taught about Pursuing Great People from Chip Ingram’s book Good to Great in God's Eyes:

Chip lists 5 people from his life – I’ll just tell you really quick who they were. Try to think of people in your life – or maybe someone in church – that fits each role:

Coach – Someone who kind of makes themselves a mentor. The “It takes a village” mentality – and feels the need to fulfill that role.

Punkie – Someone who lives the walk. Someone you instinctively want to please and not disappoint.

Dave Marshall– quiet, does so much, but never talks about it. All around good guy.

Howard Hendricks – teacher/minister. A Chip Ingram. An Anne Graham Lotz, Beth Moore, etc.

Theresa – integrity, honesty –Chip also said Theresa has a devotion to God and constancy and follow through – she won’t give up.

So he talks mostly about people he knows. He says they should be people who believe in you, who speak the truth in love, who can give you a picture of the kind of person you want to be and who can help you set goals and push you toward them. I thought this was the perfect description of what a spouse or parent should be.

Our church has confirmation mentors, do we do anything else like this? Are older adults put in a position in our church where they can be a great Christian for younger adults or kids? If not, how could the church make this happen?

Does our class do this? Can we? How?

Individually – besides cutting all negative people out of our lives – what can we do?

Do you think our class can be an accountability group for each other?

In The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren says: It takes honesty - care enough to honestly speak the truth. One thing I thought of when I read this is tolerance. Being politically correct. How the world says Christians are too rigid and should let everyone believe what they believe. I believe that it’s not the loving thing to do to let people go down the wrong path. That it’s love that makes Christians speak up.

Ephesians 4:15 says, “Speak the truth in love.”

Proverbs 24:26 says, “An honest answer is a sign of true friendship.”

Warren says within the churches (in small groups) we need to confront people who are doing the wrong thing. And I think that’s really hard. Confrontation is hard, especially since we are all taught to mind our own business. But, he says, glossing over things will keep a group superficial and from growing close. He says never be rude about it and go to the person directly and not in front of a bunch of people. But, be honest with them. Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for looking the other way and allowing immorality in their fellowship.

So cultivating community in church or a small group takes honesty. It also takes humility. Pride builds walls between people. It destroys fellowship. Humility builds bridges. He says pride blocks God’s grace in our lives because we must humbly admit we need it first. We can develop humility by admitting our own weakness, by being patient with other’s weaknesses and by being open to correction and by pointing the spotlight onto others instead of ourselves.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself – it’s just thinking of yourself less and others more.

Cultivating community in church or a small group also takes courtesy. Being considerate of each other’s feelings and being patient with people. He says in every small group there is at least 1 “difficult” person, and usually more then one. These persons may have special emotional needs, deep insecurities, irritating mannerisms or poor social skills and he suggests we think of them as EGR people. (Extra Grace Required)

He says God put these people here for both their benefit and ours. I think it’s like always having the poor, or taking care of handicapped people. They are an opportunity for our growth. A test of our compassion and our fellowship. Will we love them as brothers and sisters and treat them with dignity? They are part of our family and we protect, defend and take care of them.

Cultivating community also takes confidentiality so that people can feel safe sharing their hurts, needs, doubts and mistakes and know the group won’t talk about it outside the group. Warren brings up that sometimes gossip is thinly disguised as prayer requests and we need to be really careful of that.

And finally cultivating community takes frequency. Regular, frequent connecting with the small group in order to build genuine fellowship. Relationships take time. We are to develop the habit of meeting together. It takes lots of time! Meeting even when we don’t feel like it.

So to re-cap: for small groups it’s important to:

Share our true feelings
Encourage each other
Support each other
Forgive each other
Speak the truth in love
Admit our weakness
Respect our differences
Not gossip
And make the group a priority. Meet with frequency.

That’s a lot of work and a big commitment. It means giving up our self-centeredness and independence, but the benefits are worth it and it prepares us for heaven.

Good to Great In God’s Eyes

All the Sunday school classes in my church are studying Chip Ingram’s book Good to Great in God's Eyes at the same time. I’m teaching chapter 3 this Sunday on Pursuing Great People and thought I would share the lesson here. It’s a little long for a blog post, so I’ve edited it and will also post it in three parts.

Chip wrote “Who we choose to follow will determine, to a large degree, who we become.” And “If we want to become great Christians, we need to pursue great Christians.”

He gives examples in scripture:
Timothy learning from Paul
Solomon from his father David
Joshua from Moses
And he didn’t say this one, but Jesus was sent to earth and showed us the example of a perfect life. He led his disciples by showing and telling. And it was all passed down for us to know what He was like so we could become like Him too. Everyday, Christians should become more and more like Christ.

The idea of becoming like the people you associate with or follow is nothing new. It’s why parents worry about rap stars, celebrities and sports figures who are our kids’ role models. It’s why parenting is so important. Our kids pick up as much from our actions as what we tell them to do. Parenting is a huge responsibility. Kids are looking for role models – and they are finding them in what the world says is important. Money, fame, status, materialism, good looks. As Christians, we know we need to fight that! And one way is to surround ourselves with people we can look up to. And that our kids can look up to. Great Christians, upright human beings living Godly lives.

We begin to take on attributes of the people we spend the most time with. We are shaped by the company we keep. We all know this. Our parents wanted us to hang around with “good” kids. Not the trouble makers.

Hopefully if we get on the path to greatness as a Christian we’ll lead others, including our children.

Chip spends some time in this chapter talking about parental role models. How we didn’t choose our parents or our family and we get both positive and negative influences from them. But, I think the big message there is we can learn from the mistakes they made and not pass them on to another generation. And we can choose the people – people more like Christ - great Christians - to follow. That we can control. And we should.

So how do you know which great people to pursue? Chip says start by looking back on your life. See how and why God used certain people to develop your character. You’ll begin to see certain patterns and then begin to see your needs. Identify the people in your life whose influence on you is positive. They can be anyone: family, teachers, people in church, someone you only knew for a very short period of time… Think about who they are, what they taught you and what they continue to teach you. And you can develop your own spiritual Mount Rushmore.

I think you can put people you don’t know on that list too. I’ve been inspired by great Christian teachers and writers whose books I’ve read or who I listen to on the radio. Or what I’ve read about them. I’ve also been inspired by people who were dead before I was born!

This isn’t just a Christian idea. Or maybe the self-help books stole it from Christianity, but people in leadership roles often talk about reading biographies of other great people and how much you can learn from them that way.

The self-help books talk a lot about negative and positive people too .

Negative people can drain the life out of you!! Run!

This is an important idea in business success too - I had saved the following before I started this lesson and don’t know who wrote it:

The importance of a Black List

A black list consists of all those that you'd rather not meet. People who are negative. Who bring you down. Who sap your energy. These people need to be quickly put on a black list and removed from your life.

Isn't this chopping and slicing a bit dramatic? You ask.

Sure it's dramatic. And if you're wondering what all of this has got to do with business, let me tell you. Today, you're more busy than you've ever been. You've got more distractions than ever before. And it ain't getting much better, but you already know that. Your business depends on your focus. And if there's one thing that negative people do, it's take you off focus.

They make you believe the economy sucks

They complain about the weather. They complain about taxes. And just about everything under the sun. These people need to be taken out of your life, like you'd pluck a weed from the garden. One swift chop, and they're out. And in this list, you may often find relatives, or friends you've grown up with. Doesn't matter. It's time for you to move on. Don't let them onto your white list. Don't hang around them.

You can't fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys

If you really want to move ahead in life, choose people who are pro-active. Who give you energy. Who are willing to help instead of complain and whine all day. These are eagles. Move with them, and watch your world change pretty dramatically.

Get your pen and book out and make a list

One set of people go into your little black book. The rest go on your black list. The ones on the black list never need to know. They just never hear from you again. You're gone from their lives as far as possible. Gone, like a freight train. Gone like yesterday. And start putting the eagles in your black book. Your attitude and fortunes will change almost instantly, once you make this simple move.

Even George Washington said “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."