While I have several stories from my trip: people I met, places I visited, etc. The greatest thing that I brought back was a renewed passion to pursue the Lord in all things. It was the reminder that the life of a Christian is not about disciplines as much as it is about intimacy. I used that passion this past Sunday with our PBC Family. What that means is that I was willing to continue to push many people to the edge of their seat and challenge what religion considers the status quo of discipleship.
Ephesians 4:15 makes this statement: "we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the Head, into Christ". Now I don't know about you but this sounds very different than the way I was brought up in church. I was taught to grow up, to mature, and to become the best Christian that I could become. Nobody ever said anything about growing up into Him. The reason for that may be simply that no one had this understanding of faith in Christ. It's as if we read about "being conformed unto the image of the Son" and see it as some mystical, internal, or heavenly transformation. In other words, it's not something that we can expect right now but something that we will only see when we get to heaven. The problem with that mentality - it doesn't exist in the Bible.
Once again, we will look into Ephesians. This time in chapter 4 verse 13: "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". My challenge to the PBC folks was simple. Why doesn't Paul say that we would attain a full knowledge of the Bible? First of all, they didn't own a Bible. Secondly, we were not called into a relationship with a book but with a person. Please hear me out. I'm not degrading the Bible nor am I saying that the Bible is not important. However, we have elevated the Bible far above the relationship that we possess with the Son of God. The way in which we are equipped by the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers for the work of ministry and the building up of the Body of Christ should lead us to true unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God (who is the true Word of God).
In the modern church, many of us have been brought up into a scholastic understanding of God. We have been taught how to read, how to apply, and how to discipline ourselves to maturity. What we have not been taught is the spiritual nature of our faith. The realization that we have the very nature of Christ dwelling inside of us. That we can walk in His goodness, His joy, His love, and so on. Walking in these things will develop in us the understanding of the nature of Christ within. It's growing into the person of Christ, the nature of Christ, and the fullness of Christ. It's coming to a place where head knowledge is not enough. And if we are honest, we know that we can know all that is contained in the Bible and still miss out on the fullness of Christ.
The journey of your life is to grow up into HIM. It's about knowing HIM. It's about experiencing HIM. IT ALWAYS WAS!!!
When this happens then we don't have to worry about being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. He becomes our anchor.
When this takes place in our lives, we don't have to rely upon disciplines. His very nature is what guides us.
When you grab hold of this understanding, it will change your life forever. His presence becomes all you want. His nature becomes manifest through your life. His voice becomes the only thing that you will hear.
This is the challenge of my life. I will pray. I will read and study the Scriptures. I will be a witness of Christ in the earth. I will worship Him with reckless abandon. I will grow into the fullness of Christ. The Spirit of God is all too willing to take me on this journey. He is all too willing to do the same in you. Let's go for it. The grace of God will enable it. The mercy of God will sustain it. And the goodness of God will see to it that we make it.
No comments:
Post a Comment