r12: Authenitc community

Frank

I mentioned I was at a men’s retreat a weekend ago that many of the topics in the book Living On the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality were discussed independent of our study here. I was carrying the book around everywhere I went (hoping for just a couple of minutes free to read a little, but thankfully never got any) and several brothers asked about it. The most common response was, “a whole book on just a single chapter from the Bible?” Well, if you’ve been following along with this study for any length of time, it becomes clear why, as we break down nearly every verse into a practical application for our lives.

I’m not going to give a full post today. I’m running a little behind in my reading again. But to follow up on Jay’s comment yesterday, I want to break this statement down further. Authentic community is when the real you meets real needs for the right reasons in the right way. Applied to Romans 12, Chip breaks it down as such:

Real you (v 9):

  • Authenticity- “Let love be sincere”
  • Purity- “Hate what is evil, cling to what is good”

Meets real needs (v 10):

  • Devotion- “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love”
  • Humility- “Giving preference to one another in honor”

For the right reason (v 11):

  • Motive- “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord”
  • Method- Genuine service to God is characterized by diligence and enthusiasm

In the right way (v 12-13):

  • Upward focus- “Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”
  • Outward focus- “Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing (pursuing) hospitality”

The following chapters and posts will look at each of these individually. Please come back tomorrow as we continue our study.

r12: Authenitc community

Frank

I mentioned I was at a men’s retreat a weekend ago that many of the topics in the book Living On the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality were discussed independent of our study here. I was carrying the book around everywhere I went (hoping for just a couple of minutes free to read a little, but thankfully never got any) and several brothers asked about it. The most common response was, “a whole book on just a single chapter from the Bible?” Well, if you’ve been following along with this study for any length of time, it becomes clear why, as we break down nearly every verse into a practical application for our lives.

I’m not going to give a full post today. I’m running a little behind in my reading again. But to follow up on Jay’s comment yesterday, I want to break this statement down further. Authentic community is when the real you meets real needs for the right reasons in the right way. Applied to Romans 12, Chip breaks it down as such:

Real you (v 9):

  • Authenticity- “Let love be sincere”
  • Purity- “Hate what is evil, cling to what is good”

Meets real needs (v 10):

  • Devotion- “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love”
  • Humility- “Giving preference to one another in honor”

For the right reason (v 11):

  • Motive- “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord”
  • Method- Genuine service to God is characterized by diligence and enthusiasm

In the right way (v 12-13):

  • Upward focus- “Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”
  • Outward focus- “Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing (pursuing) hospitality”

The following chapters and posts will look at each of these individually. Please come back tomorrow as we continue our study.

R12: What is authentic community anyway?

Frank

Famous last words. The cliche of leaving that last impression, something that will survive history, long after you are gone. Often times, they’re not famous though. They’re honest, open, and heart-melting with an awareness that the end is near. The last thing I said to my grandfather before he died of a heart attack was “see you tomorrow.” Neither he nor I had any idea what the next day would bring. I remember the last words of my father vividly. He, on the other hand, knew that his time left on this earth was short. His last words were filled with a sense of foreknowledge, “you win some and you lose some, but you gotta keep playing.” Even though we were talking about football, I knew what he meant. And he succumbed to cancer two days later.

Jesus, on the last night he spent with his disciples (prior to the resurrection, but they did not see that coming), gave his disciples a command. These last words, which could be expected to resonate throughout religious history, were not about politics (though many of his disciples, especially Judas, expected him to be a political or military leader), were not about the current state of the synagogue/temple or Pharisees/Sadducees, nor were they about church polity. Instead, they were focused on the disciple’s relationship with each other. “A new command I give to you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) His disciples had no idea a new church, a new religion, would be established following Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. If they did, they may have expected some “how to’s” for this new movement. Ironically Jesus gave them just that- instructions on how to establish this new church- by loving one another.

This weighed so heavily on Jesus’ heart, it was even the focus of his prayer in John 17. Love. Unity. These were important to Jesus. More than politics, religion, or even a list of pious do-nots. Now look around the religious landscape today. Do you see Jesus’ prayer answered? Do you see his “new command” followed? This was Jesus’ intent for the Church. This is his prayer for our relationships.

This love, this unity, is not only for inside our walls, but should also extend outside our walls. It should exist beyond Sunday mornings. It should be vulnerable and honest. It should show the world that we really are his disciples. As Chip Ingram puts it, “the credibility of Christianity would rise or fall on the basis of Jesus’ followers’ relationships with one another.”

By Chip’s definition: Authentic community occurs when the real you shows up and meets real needs for the right reason in the right way. The next few chapters will show us how.

Think: What did Jesus command and pray for His disciples?
Reflect: Why do you think Jesus made such a point of focusing on our relationships with one another?
Understand: What gets in the way of experiencing authentic community in your life? Too busy? Too religious? Disconnected from like-minded believers?
Surrender: Are you in a meaningful, growing, Christ-centered relationship with a handful of people? If not, will you ask God to show you what you need to do in order to move in that direction… or deepen what He has already provided you?
Take Action: Declare war on isolation adn superficial relationships in your life! Write out John 13:34-35 on a 3×5 card and commit to living it out as God leads you this week.
Motivation: Consider watching the fourteen-minute video message “How to Experience Authentic Community” at r12 online [r12 button on the right, Serving tab, under “free resources”].
Encourage Someone: Make the first move this week. Initiate coffee, dinner, or dessert with someone(s) and talk about your common need/desire for authentic community.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: What is authentic community anyway?

Frank

Famous last words. The cliche of leaving that last impression, something that will survive history, long after you are gone. Often times, they’re not famous though. They’re honest, open, and heart-melting with an awareness that the end is near. The last thing I said to my grandfather before he died of a heart attack was “see you tomorrow.” Neither he nor I had any idea what the next day would bring. I remember the last words of my father vividly. He, on the other hand, knew that his time left on this earth was short. His last words were filled with a sense of foreknowledge, “you win some and you lose some, but you gotta keep playing.” Even though we were talking about football, I knew what he meant. And he succumbed to cancer two days later.

Jesus, on the last night he spent with his disciples (prior to the resurrection, but they did not see that coming), gave his disciples a command. These last words, which could be expected to resonate throughout religious history, were not about politics (though many of his disciples, especially Judas, expected him to be a political or military leader), were not about the current state of the synagogue/temple or Pharisees/Sadducees, nor were they about church polity. Instead, they were focused on the disciple’s relationship with each other. “A new command I give to you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) His disciples had no idea a new church, a new religion, would be established following Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. If they did, they may have expected some “how to’s” for this new movement. Ironically Jesus gave them just that- instructions on how to establish this new church- by loving one another.

This weighed so heavily on Jesus’ heart, it was even the focus of his prayer in John 17. Love. Unity. These were important to Jesus. More than politics, religion, or even a list of pious do-nots. Now look around the religious landscape today. Do you see Jesus’ prayer answered? Do you see his “new command” followed? This was Jesus’ intent for the Church. This is his prayer for our relationships.

This love, this unity, is not only for inside our walls, but should also extend outside our walls. It should exist beyond Sunday mornings. It should be vulnerable and honest. It should show the world that we really are his disciples. As Chip Ingram puts it, “the credibility of Christianity would rise or fall on the basis of Jesus’ followers’ relationships with one another.”

By Chip’s definition: Authentic community occurs when the real you shows up and meets real needs for the right reason in the right way. The next few chapters will show us how.

Think: What did Jesus command and pray for His disciples?
Reflect: Why do you think Jesus made such a point of focusing on our relationships with one another?
Understand: What gets in the way of experiencing authentic community in your life? Too busy? Too religious? Disconnected from like-minded believers?
Surrender: Are you in a meaningful, growing, Christ-centered relationship with a handful of people? If not, will you ask God to show you what you need to do in order to move in that direction… or deepen what He has already provided you?
Take Action: Declare war on isolation adn superficial relationships in your life! Write out John 13:34-35 on a 3×5 card and commit to living it out as God leads you this week.
Motivation: Consider watching the fourteen-minute video message “How to Experience Authentic Community” at r12 online [r12 button on the right, Serving tab, under “free resources”].
Encourage Someone: Make the first move this week. Initiate coffee, dinner, or dessert with someone(s) and talk about your common need/desire for authentic community.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Do you know God’s purpose for your life?

Frank

This morning we continue, and conclude, the section on Sober Self-Assessment by answering the final life question, “what am I supposed to do?” This question weighs heavily on many of us and the answer is different at different times in our lives. For many, graduation is right around the corner and thousands are right now asking themselves this question. Some are praying about it, and some of those have a misguided doctrine of what they’re looking for for an answer. The book, Decision Making and the Will of God is outlined around a anecdotal case of an unmarried couple who is seeking God’s will in their lives. They become paralyzed by indecision because they don’t have a ‘religious experience’ or some audible answer to their prayers. They wrongly think that because they don’t feel a “calling” towards a particular vocation that that means they are not to pursue that path. They also “put out a fleece” for their relationship and are surprised that God does not answer those prayers either. These are common approaches to try and discern God’s will in our lives, but Biblically those methods are the exception, not the rule. Romans 12 has already taught us that discovering God’s will is as simple as wholly surrendering to Him.

Chip Ingram makes this simpler than voices from heaven, a stirring in your heart, or a wager with God. He points out that we all have been given spiritual gifts and that when our gifts are aligned with our passions, we are doing God’s will. That doesn’t mean ministry, that doesn’t mean jobs or marriage. Those big questions are better left surrendering to God that He knows best and then stepping out on faith. (another good book I recommend on this subject is Kevin DeYoung’s Just Do Something) But the daily living of a Christ-like life involves making decisions based on the best knowledge you have. If you have a sober self-assessment, are at peace with where God has placed you and a conviction that you belong to Christ’s Church as a unique part of His Body, then you need to next identify your spiritual gifts so that you can make the best choices you can.

I mentioned it before, but the Living on the Edge series, Your Divine Design, is a great resource to answer this question. And I don’t believe it is coincidence this series is going on right now. Without getting into the weeds on this subject (and avoiding the ongoing debate over what manifestations of the Holy Spirit apply today), let me just say that Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 are the Biblical foundations to define these gifts. Some of these you may be familiar with, some may require an extra measure of faith to discern. But we all have at least one of these, and doing God’s will involves putting these gifts to use.

The best answer to the question “what am I supposed to do?”, is to identify your primary spiritual gift and aligning that gift with your personal passions. The former is a gift from God and should not change through your life, though it may mature and grow. The latter is a function of your station in life and changes with changing circumstances. A parent to young children have different passions than the graduate from high school, for example. And it’s also important to point out that spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. Natural talents you have from birth, but spiritual gifts are received in the waters of baptism. Spiritual gifts however, may leverage your natural talents.

So step back and look at where you are. Identify what you’re passionate about. (To get a feel for what I’m talking about, click the “ministry” label to the right, or just follow this link.) Study the passages above and discover your spiritual gifts. Then pray about how the three may align (I say three here because you may be passionate about the needs in Haiti and may have the spiritual gift of healing, but you have two infant children and a tight budget- I would argue that it wouldn’t be wise to sell everything you have to go on a mission trip to Haiti- while you need to be faithful, you also need to be wise). Remember also that you are part of Christ’s Body, so first seek how to employ your gifts and passions in service to the Church. I’ve found that usually everything then flows from there. And again, this changes with time and circumstance. I had to step back from leading the pre-teen ministry when my first child was born, but I continue to teach Sunday School and I mentor a teen so I didn’t bury my talent.

Finally, I cannot leave this subject without pounding my fist on this last point- the Church needs you to identify and use your spiritual gift. That may sound dramatic, but I have a strong conviction of this based on Ephesians 4:7-16 that the Church cannot and will not grow unless we are putting these gifts to use, until “each part does its work.”

Think: What is the value of discovering and deploying your primary spiritual gift?
Reflect: How have you thought about your spiritual gifts in the past? Highly important? Somewhat important? Mostly confused?
Understand: How clear are you on “what you are supposed to do” with your life? Do you feel motivated or confused by the question? What do you think your primary spiritual gift might be?
Surrender: Ask God to make clear what your Ephesians 2:10 “mission” is in this lift. Tell Jesus you are willing to follow if He will show you what you are supposed to do (John 7:17).
Take Action: As a quick shortcut to “test the waters,” ask yourself: “What do I love to do? What am I good at?” Then go try it for six weeks.
Motivation: Do whatever it takes to discover your primary spiritual gift. Determine a time to listen to the full-length audio message “How to Discover Your Primary Spiritual Gift” from the series “Your Divine Design” at R12 online. [follow the R12 button on the right and this message is found in the Self Assessment tab under “free resources” or you can also find this lesson right now from the Living on the Edge main page.]
Encourage Someone: Send a gift card this week to someone whose spiritual gift God has used to impact your life. Thank them for using the gift God gave them.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Do you know God’s purpose for your life?

Frank

This morning we continue, and conclude, the section on Sober Self-Assessment by answering the final life question, “what am I supposed to do?” This question weighs heavily on many of us and the answer is different at different times in our lives. For many, graduation is right around the corner and thousands are right now asking themselves this question. Some are praying about it, and some of those have a misguided doctrine of what they’re looking for for an answer. The book, Decision Making and the Will of God is outlined around a anecdotal case of an unmarried couple who is seeking God’s will in their lives. They become paralyzed by indecision because they don’t have a ‘religious experience’ or some audible answer to their prayers. They wrongly think that because they don’t feel a “calling” towards a particular vocation that that means they are not to pursue that path. They also “put out a fleece” for their relationship and are surprised that God does not answer those prayers either. These are common approaches to try and discern God’s will in our lives, but Biblically those methods are the exception, not the rule. Romans 12 has already taught us that discovering God’s will is as simple as wholly surrendering to Him.

Chip Ingram makes this simpler than voices from heaven, a stirring in your heart, or a wager with God. He points out that we all have been given spiritual gifts and that when our gifts are aligned with our passions, we are doing God’s will. That doesn’t mean ministry, that doesn’t mean jobs or marriage. Those big questions are better left surrendering to God that He knows best and then stepping out on faith. (another good book I recommend on this subject is Kevin DeYoung’s Just Do Something) But the daily living of a Christ-like life involves making decisions based on the best knowledge you have. If you have a sober self-assessment, are at peace with where God has placed you and a conviction that you belong to Christ’s Church as a unique part of His Body, then you need to next identify your spiritual gifts so that you can make the best choices you can.

I mentioned it before, but the Living on the Edge series, Your Divine Design, is a great resource to answer this question. And I don’t believe it is coincidence this series is going on right now. Without getting into the weeds on this subject (and avoiding the ongoing debate over what manifestations of the Holy Spirit apply today), let me just say that Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 are the Biblical foundations to define these gifts. Some of these you may be familiar with, some may require an extra measure of faith to discern. But we all have at least one of these, and doing God’s will involves putting these gifts to use.

The best answer to the question “what am I supposed to do?”, is to identify your primary spiritual gift and aligning that gift with your personal passions. The former is a gift from God and should not change through your life, though it may mature and grow. The latter is a function of your station in life and changes with changing circumstances. A parent to young children have different passions than the graduate from high school, for example. And it’s also important to point out that spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. Natural talents you have from birth, but spiritual gifts are received in the waters of baptism. Spiritual gifts however, may leverage your natural talents.

So step back and look at where you are. Identify what you’re passionate about. (To get a feel for what I’m talking about, click the “ministry” label to the right, or just follow this link.) Study the passages above and discover your spiritual gifts. Then pray about how the three may align (I say three here because you may be passionate about the needs in Haiti and may have the spiritual gift of healing, but you have two infant children and a tight budget- I would argue that it wouldn’t be wise to sell everything you have to go on a mission trip to Haiti- while you need to be faithful, you also need to be wise). Remember also that you are part of Christ’s Body, so first seek how to employ your gifts and passions in service to the Church. I’ve found that usually everything then flows from there. And again, this changes with time and circumstance. I had to step back from leading the pre-teen ministry when my first child was born, but I continue to teach Sunday School and I mentor a teen so I didn’t bury my talent.

Finally, I cannot leave this subject without pounding my fist on this last point- the Church needs you to identify and use your spiritual gift. That may sound dramatic, but I have a strong conviction of this based on Ephesians 4:7-16 that the Church cannot and will not grow unless we are putting these gifts to use, until “each part does its work.”

Think: What is the value of discovering and deploying your primary spiritual gift?
Reflect: How have you thought about your spiritual gifts in the past? Highly important? Somewhat important? Mostly confused?
Understand: How clear are you on “what you are supposed to do” with your life? Do you feel motivated or confused by the question? What do you think your primary spiritual gift might be?
Surrender: Ask God to make clear what your Ephesians 2:10 “mission” is in this lift. Tell Jesus you are willing to follow if He will show you what you are supposed to do (John 7:17).
Take Action: As a quick shortcut to “test the waters,” ask yourself: “What do I love to do? What am I good at?” Then go try it for six weeks.
Motivation: Do whatever it takes to discover your primary spiritual gift. Determine a time to listen to the full-length audio message “How to Discover Your Primary Spiritual Gift” from the series “Your Divine Design” at R12 online. [follow the R12 button on the right and this message is found in the Self Assessment tab under “free resources” or you can also find this lesson right now from the Living on the Edge main page.]
Encourage Someone: Send a gift card this week to someone whose spiritual gift God has used to impact your life. Thank them for using the gift God gave them.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Where do you fit in God’s family?

Frank

Knowing who you are is only a start. You need to know where you belong. As the book puts it, it’s like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go. To follow an old adage, in order to know where you’re going, you need to know where you’ve been. Another paraphrase that I’ve heard is where you are depends on where you started. So I pray you’ve been taking the lessons from earlier this week seriously and taking time for some hardcore spiritual introspection.

But now we’re here. The past behind us, the future ahead. We need to know where we’re going. The second of life’s major questions, following “who am I?” is “where do I belong?” This is another question that the world has long deceived us. We join clubs for similar interests, we flock around people like us, we describe ourselves by what we do instead of where we belong. Our fast-paced online world has created virtual communities through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Sometimes our best friend is the stranger that we only know by their user name on World of Warcraft. But we fool ourselves into believing that there we belong.

The world fails us in this relationship and sadly the church has too. We sit with best friends and seldom venture outside of our comfort zone, too many congregations are racially segregated, and small groups form around like hobbies instead of shared needs. Yet the answer to this question, “where do I belong” is answered by the church. The “where?” isn’t so much as a “to what?” Where we belong is the same as to what we belong. The where isn’t the address of your church, the what is the Body of Christ. Romans 12:4-5 reads:

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

The Apostle Paul describes this in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 12, noting that some of us are like “hands” and others “eyes”. We can’t say to parts not like us that they do not belong, but recognize that they serve a different function. And we have to see the bigger picture, the Body needs both the eyes and the hands.

Think about this for a moment. The Body needs you! You are uniquely created by God (Psalm 139:13-14) for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10). There is no one else in the world like you. No one else has the same abilities, talents, and spiritual gifts. No one else has the unique wisdom from your personal experience. And the Body is not whole without you. (As an aside, this should stir our heart for evangelism as well. That stranger down the street is unique and Christ’s Body is not complete without her.)

Besides being needed to make the Body whole, notice how Romans 12:5 ends, “each member belongs to all the others.” This isn’t possessive. I can’t boss you around and treat you like I own you. Instead we need to look at one another as a mutually symbiotic relationship, where we rely on one another to survive, rather than a parasitic relationship where we suck the life out of those closest to us or vice versa. If you’ve ever served in a teen ministry or a recovery ministry, you can relate to that last one. At the same time, if you’ve ever been a teenager (and we all have) or have struggled through serious sin in your life (and we all have ), then you’ve sucked the spiritual life out of someone who cared, prayed, and fought for you. While we’re human, and we suck, the truth is we need one another to survive.

I’m tempted to slam the church. In fact, I probably do that too often on this blog. So let me quote from the book for a moment.

But before we begin to blame the church- the institutional church- and take potshots at all that is wrong, I suggest that equal weight must fall upon our shoulders; individual Christians like you and me who have gladly bought
into the consumer mind-set of the contemporary church.

Sadly, the mantra of the average believer in the contemporary church is, “Ask not what you can do for your church, but ask what your church can do for you.” Our consumer attitude shows up as parents shop churches for the best-themed children’s program. (“I don’t’ think we’ll go to this church- we’re looking for a more Noah’s Ark theme). We’ve run from program to program and to the hottest new-thing in the community to get our needs met and our kids helped with as little involvement as possible.

Becoming a Romans 12 Christian is not about slamming the pastor or taking potshots at sincere ministries’ and churches’ best efforts; it’s seeing where we are today and putting into practice the raw and radical commands of Scripture in our own personal relational networks to become the kind of people Jesus called to be “salt and light”.

So how do we flip the question? Ask not what the church can do for you, but what can you do for the church? The first step is to identify our strengths and weaknesses. We should contribute our strengths to the church and share our weaknesses so that our needs can be met. Mutually symbiotic-I give, you give, we both grow. I don’t think it’s coincidental that Living on the Edge just started their series Your Divine Design. This lesson series focuses on our spiritual gifts and using them to build up the church. I strongly encourage you to follow these lessons. Subscribe to the podcast, bookmark the site, whatever you need to do to identify what you have and why you need to contribute it to the Church.

Finally to close, I’m going to quote from Ephesians 4:7-13 with emphasis added:

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why
it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train and
gave gifts to men.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended
to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended
higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who
gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some
to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so
that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Amen.

Think: What thought or concept was most important to you in this chapter [post]? Why?
Reflect: Do you know “where you belong”? What’s good? What’s missing?
Understand: Was it easier to list your strengths or weaknesses? Why do you think that was true for you?
Surrender: Sit queitly before the Lord and thank Him for your strengths and your weaknesses. Open your hands (palms up) to offer to God afresh your strengths to serve His Body and your weaknesses to receive grace from others.
Take Action: Fill out the three-strengths-and-weaknesses card in the book. [basically list your top three strengths and your top (or bottom, I guess) three weaknesses on a 3×5 card. Do this before Undersand and Surrender above]
Motivation: ask two or three friends what they think your top three strengths are and compare with what you wrote down.
Encourage Someone: Jot a handwritten note to someone whose strengths have been God’s love expression to some need in your life. Thank them for using their strengths to make Christ known to you.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Where do you fit in God’s family?

Frank

Knowing who you are is only a start. You need to know where you belong. As the book puts it, it’s like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go. To follow an old adage, in order to know where you’re going, you need to know where you’ve been. Another paraphrase that I’ve heard is where you are depends on where you started. So I pray you’ve been taking the lessons from earlier this week seriously and taking time for some hardcore spiritual introspection.

But now we’re here. The past behind us, the future ahead. We need to know where we’re going. The second of life’s major questions, following “who am I?” is “where do I belong?” This is another question that the world has long deceived us. We join clubs for similar interests, we flock around people like us, we describe ourselves by what we do instead of where we belong. Our fast-paced online world has created virtual communities through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Sometimes our best friend is the stranger that we only know by their user name on World of Warcraft. But we fool ourselves into believing that there we belong.

The world fails us in this relationship and sadly the church has too. We sit with best friends and seldom venture outside of our comfort zone, too many congregations are racially segregated, and small groups form around like hobbies instead of shared needs. Yet the answer to this question, “where do I belong” is answered by the church. The “where?” isn’t so much as a “to what?” Where we belong is the same as to what we belong. The where isn’t the address of your church, the what is the Body of Christ. Romans 12:4-5 reads:

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

The Apostle Paul describes this in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 12, noting that some of us are like “hands” and others “eyes”. We can’t say to parts not like us that they do not belong, but recognize that they serve a different function. And we have to see the bigger picture, the Body needs both the eyes and the hands.

Think about this for a moment. The Body needs you! You are uniquely created by God (Psalm 139:13-14) for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10). There is no one else in the world like you. No one else has the same abilities, talents, and spiritual gifts. No one else has the unique wisdom from your personal experience. And the Body is not whole without you. (As an aside, this should stir our heart for evangelism as well. That stranger down the street is unique and Christ’s Body is not complete without her.)

Besides being needed to make the Body whole, notice how Romans 12:5 ends, “each member belongs to all the others.” This isn’t possessive. I can’t boss you around and treat you like I own you. Instead we need to look at one another as a mutually symbiotic relationship, where we rely on one another to survive, rather than a parasitic relationship where we suck the life out of those closest to us or vice versa. If you’ve ever served in a teen ministry or a recovery ministry, you can relate to that last one. At the same time, if you’ve ever been a teenager (and we all have) or have struggled through serious sin in your life (and we all have ), then you’ve sucked the spiritual life out of someone who cared, prayed, and fought for you. While we’re human, and we suck, the truth is we need one another to survive.

I’m tempted to slam the church. In fact, I probably do that too often on this blog. So let me quote from the book for a moment.

But before we begin to blame the church- the institutional church- and take potshots at all that is wrong, I suggest that equal weight must fall upon our shoulders; individual Christians like you and me who have gladly bought
into the consumer mind-set of the contemporary church.

Sadly, the mantra of the average believer in the contemporary church is, “Ask not what you can do for your church, but ask what your church can do for you.” Our consumer attitude shows up as parents shop churches for the best-themed children’s program. (“I don’t’ think we’ll go to this church- we’re looking for a more Noah’s Ark theme). We’ve run from program to program and to the hottest new-thing in the community to get our needs met and our kids helped with as little involvement as possible.

Becoming a Romans 12 Christian is not about slamming the pastor or taking potshots at sincere ministries’ and churches’ best efforts; it’s seeing where we are today and putting into practice the raw and radical commands of Scripture in our own personal relational networks to become the kind of people Jesus called to be “salt and light”.

So how do we flip the question? Ask not what the church can do for you, but what can you do for the church? The first step is to identify our strengths and weaknesses. We should contribute our strengths to the church and share our weaknesses so that our needs can be met. Mutually symbiotic-I give, you give, we both grow. I don’t think it’s coincidental that Living on the Edge just started their series Your Divine Design. This lesson series focuses on our spiritual gifts and using them to build up the church. I strongly encourage you to follow these lessons. Subscribe to the podcast, bookmark the site, whatever you need to do to identify what you have and why you need to contribute it to the Church.

Finally to close, I’m going to quote from Ephesians 4:7-13 with emphasis added:

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why
it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train and
gave gifts to men.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended
to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended
higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who
gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some
to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so
that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Amen.

Think: What thought or concept was most important to you in this chapter [post]? Why?
Reflect: Do you know “where you belong”? What’s good? What’s missing?
Understand: Was it easier to list your strengths or weaknesses? Why do you think that was true for you?
Surrender: Sit queitly before the Lord and thank Him for your strengths and your weaknesses. Open your hands (palms up) to offer to God afresh your strengths to serve His Body and your weaknesses to receive grace from others.
Take Action: Fill out the three-strengths-and-weaknesses card in the book. [basically list your top three strengths and your top (or bottom, I guess) three weaknesses on a 3×5 card. Do this before Undersand and Surrender above]
Motivation: ask two or three friends what they think your top three strengths are and compare with what you wrote down.
Encourage Someone: Jot a handwritten note to someone whose strengths have been God’s love expression to some need in your life. Thank them for using their strengths to make Christ known to you.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

This is where the healing begins

Frank

I fell behind on my reading (and my Tweeting) so I’m going to diverge a little today. (If you missed yesterday’s post, because I never got around to linking it in Twitter, you can check that out here)

Tenth Avenue North has a new song out, This is Where the Healing Begins, that I encourage you to check out their video journal explaining the song here. Meanwhile, look at the lyrics (emphasis added):

So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you’re good
And you can’t believe it’s not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

So let ’em fall down
There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We’re here now

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won’t disappear

So let it fall down
There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We’re here now
We’re here now, oh

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don’t fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark (C) Tenth Avenue North

I heard this coming home from work yesterday and the highlighted sections stuck in my head thinking about where we’re at going through the R12 book- “Coming to grips with the real you”. I just couldn’t shake these lyrics. The word “wall” kept resonating in my mind.

I was thinking about walls and I thought of The Wall, by Pink Floyd. I have to admit I was psyched when I heard recently that Roger Waters is going to tour for the anniversary of this album. Maybe that’s why The Wall was fresh in my head, I don’t know. I was sober the first time I saw the Wall (really!) and like many in my generation, I heard the album before I ever saw the movie. So I had a preconceived notion of an Orwellian/Phillip Dick sci-fi-ish movie and I was surprised by what I saw. No, not by the nearly pornographic animation, but by the darkness of underlying story. I admit that I instantly related. Roger Waters is soliciting videos and names of friends or family who have died in the wars going on overseas to include in his stage show. He freely admits the strong anti-war sentiment that runs through the storyline. However, this part of the plot only deflects from the real story- the Walls “Pink” built around himself. The irony is that Waters embraces the anti-war message, which is one of the bricks in Pink’s wall. Relating back to R12, Pink denies part of himself by using the War, and the loss of his father, as an excuse for is antisocial anarchist behavior. (He also blames his mom for his relationships with women, but that’s a whole other story) Even though he sings the song, and the animation shows the wall coming down, he is never really free. He never comes to grips with the real him.

I had quite a few Facebook comments on Tuesday’s post. An old friend that I grew up with reminded me that there are a lot of things out of our control (our gender, our parents) that shape who we are. I agree, except that our character is defined by how we respond to those things. We can either blame shift (my dad was an alcoholic, my parents divorced when I was young…) or we can do something about it. Yes, those things affect who we are, but God frees us from all of that.

So how do we do it? How do we come to grips with the real us? Yes, Romans 12:3-8 is a good start and a great scriptural foundation to build on. But the truth is, we’ll never break down the walls we built around us until we open up about who we are; share our deepest and darkest secrets; and stop blaming what we cannot control for who we are. And that is where the healing begins.

This is where the healing begins

Frank

I fell behind on my reading (and my Tweeting) so I’m going to diverge a little today. (If you missed yesterday’s post, because I never got around to linking it in Twitter, you can check that out here)

Tenth Avenue North has a new song out, This is Where the Healing Begins, that I encourage you to check out their video journal explaining the song here. Meanwhile, look at the lyrics (emphasis added):

So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you’re good
And you can’t believe it’s not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

So let ’em fall down
There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We’re here now

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won’t disappear

So let it fall down
There’s freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We’re here now
We’re here now, oh

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don’t fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you’re broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark (C) Tenth Avenue North

I heard this coming home from work yesterday and the highlighted sections stuck in my head thinking about where we’re at going through the R12 book- “Coming to grips with the real you”. I just couldn’t shake these lyrics. The word “wall” kept resonating in my mind.

I was thinking about walls and I thought of The Wall, by Pink Floyd. I have to admit I was psyched when I heard recently that Roger Waters is going to tour for the anniversary of this album. Maybe that’s why The Wall was fresh in my head, I don’t know. I was sober the first time I saw the Wall (really!) and like many in my generation, I heard the album before I ever saw the movie. So I had a preconceived notion of an Orwellian/Phillip Dick sci-fi-ish movie and I was surprised by what I saw. No, not by the nearly pornographic animation, but by the darkness of underlying story. I admit that I instantly related. Roger Waters is soliciting videos and names of friends or family who have died in the wars going on overseas to include in his stage show. He freely admits the strong anti-war sentiment that runs through the storyline. However, this part of the plot only deflects from the real story- the Walls “Pink” built around himself. The irony is that Waters embraces the anti-war message, which is one of the bricks in Pink’s wall. Relating back to R12, Pink denies part of himself by using the War, and the loss of his father, as an excuse for is antisocial anarchist behavior. (He also blames his mom for his relationships with women, but that’s a whole other story) Even though he sings the song, and the animation shows the wall coming down, he is never really free. He never comes to grips with the real him.

I had quite a few Facebook comments on Tuesday’s post. An old friend that I grew up with reminded me that there are a lot of things out of our control (our gender, our parents) that shape who we are. I agree, except that our character is defined by how we respond to those things. We can either blame shift (my dad was an alcoholic, my parents divorced when I was young…) or we can do something about it. Yes, those things affect who we are, but God frees us from all of that.

So how do we do it? How do we come to grips with the real us? Yes, Romans 12:3-8 is a good start and a great scriptural foundation to build on. But the truth is, we’ll never break down the walls we built around us until we open up about who we are; share our deepest and darkest secrets; and stop blaming what we cannot control for who we are. And that is where the healing begins.