What is My Job as a Christian?

This is a question that I feel that a lot of professing believers may not be clear on.  I have on occasion asked this question to those around me and that I have contact with, and they have a hard time coming up with an answer.  Some have said that their job was to go to church every Sunday morning.  And I think to myself, is that all?  What about Sunday and Wednesday night? (Or whatever other services there are in the week)  Along with this answer I hear a lot of things that are jobs of the church.  They say their job is to be an usher, sing in the choir, or teach a class.  Now, do not get me wrong, we are called to serve.  And all of these things are necessary.  But, how do these things truly separate us from the world?  I am sure that most religions have people that do the same sort of things in their religious meetings.  What makes us different?

What we need to do is come to an understanding of what it truly means to be a Christian.  It needs to be clear every hour of every day of who we are, not by just what acts people see us do once or twice a week.

Philippians 3:7-11
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

One of the biggest things we have to do as a Christian is to show where our priorities lie.  As the Apostle Paul taught in this set of scriptures, he counted everything that he lost as rubbish.  Another word for that is dung or manure.  Paul was a wealthy man.  He was a Pharisee and a Roman citizen.   He gave up everything that he had and was to follow Christ.  And it did not phase him to do so.  Why did he do it?  So that he could "know Him."  How many times do we gladly offer to give up the things that mean the most to us in order to serve our Lord better.  So I would say that job number 1 is to sacrifice.  Jesus paid the greatest price when He died for us.  So what right do I have to put things that I want ahead of what He wants?  What right do I have to take time set aside to worship Him at church to enjoy some other fun activity with the ones that I love or are close friends with.  If they really mean that much to me, I would want them to join me in worship of the Lord.  And this is not just about church meetings.  This is in everyday life.  The marquee at my church read a couple of months ago "What gets more of your time Facebook or the Bible?"  So, do we sacrifice on a regular basis, in order to serve Him better?

John 15:5
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
  
This is a big one.  Job number 2 is to produce fruit.  What are we doing that shows our faith?  What is the evidence that we are who we say that we are?  Are we going out and sharing the gospel?  Are we loving our enemies?  Are we obeying His commands without regard to how we are seen by the world?  All of these are questions that I think that it is good to ask ourselves everyday.  It helps us to keep our focus on Christ.  There are a lot people that can talk about going to church and even quote scripture in a comfortable situation.  But are we actually living it everyday?  Are we looking for opportunities to serve and honor Christ at all times?  If we are, there will be evidence of it.

Matthew 28:19-20
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 

Job number 3 is to witness.  If we truly believe that Christ is who He says He is, then we should have the desire to share the gospel with others.  We should feel the need to go out and share the message of Christ whenever possible.  He did not say to go and get lost people and bring them to the church so the preacher could do.  He said to go and make disciples.  I think that part of this is almost foreign in some churches today.  I have talked to many people who believe that church is for the lost.  And I always respond then why do you go?  You see it is what my English teacher friends call an oxymoron.  There is this stigma that many people are lead to believe that it is all up to the pastor to do it and there is no support for that way of thinking in scripture whatsoever.  The pastor's job is to shepherd the flock.  The flock being the body of Christ, those that believe.  He is the one that is to make sure that we are getting taught the necessary tools to go out and witness.  It is our job to take what we learn at church and apply it to our lives, and to share with others that are lost.  Once that lost person comes to the point that Christ calls them because of the revelation of Himself to them, and they respond, then we bring them to church so they can learn as well.  Bottom line, it is up to us to do the witnessing.  Both by our words and our actions.

These are our main jobs.  This is what we have been called to do.  Many times it is uncomfortable and even scary.  But if Christ truly is our Lord, it will be worth it.  Nothing on this earth can compare to the glory of sitting at the feet of God in heaven when our time is up. We must be willing to sacrifice and even suffer in order to be truly His.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all this week! 

What lies ahead

Hello again to all of you.  It has been a long time since I have been able to post some of my reflections about how I have seen God work in my life.  This new school year has presented me with more challenges than I ever knew existed in education.  There have been many nights that I just could do no more, and just had to accept the fact that I was not going to be able to finish now and would have to put it off to later.  I have been overwhelmed here lately with all that was going on in my life, both at work and at home.  How can I separate the work from home when I have to start bringing it home?  How can I fit in time with my family with all of the new struggles that I have to combat?  And sadly, I had allowed myself to sink into that cynical attitude of not caring any more, and ready to give up.  Then I got an email from a friend through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, in which I am the adviser at my school.  In it contained a set of scripture that I have read many times before.  And after reading it, I knew that God was trying to get my attention.  He was trying to get me to see that who I was becoming was not who He intended me to be.  I needed to get back on track.  I shared this thought at bible study with my students before school today.  Here are the verses.

Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

 There are a couple of key points to this verse.

1)  There are always people watching.  This cloud of witnesses are all those around us that are watching all that we do.  Some look for encouragement from us, and some look for reasons to criticize us for what we believe.  So what are we showing them?  When we allow ourselves to get down and depressed, and succumb to the pressures of the world, what do the see?  The ones who are looking to us for encouragement are not getting it, and we are giving the world more ammo against us.  I was doing damage to my witness with my actions.  This is not who I am.  And it needed to change.

2)  Because of the witnesses, we need to strive to fight through all the things that bring us down.  No matter what is going on in our lives, we need to look at the big picture.  Where are we going?  What are we doing along the way?  We need to rid ourselves of everything that would separate us from the love, joy, and blessings of Christ our Savior.  That is what all of those around us need to see.  Will we fail?  Yes, because none of us are without sin.  But, as my pastor says, someone who is truly saved will not stay down long.

3)  Life Happens.  We need to understand that life is not easy.  There are going to be problems and issues all of the time.  That is why we must endure.  If we allow ourselves to stop and break at every obstacle, we cannot finish our purpose and we have no hope.  <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:3-5&version=NASB">Romans 5:3-5</a>

4)  We get through by fixing our eyes on Christ.  Everything that happens to us is not foreign to Christ.  He knows every step we will take.  The race has been set before us.  He knows what we will encounter.  And when our race is over, for those that are truly saved, He is waiting there at the end for us.  And He should be our example.  He suffered.  He took on our sin and shame.  He died to pay the price for us so that we could spend eternity with Him.  What greater hope do we have than that?  When we look at what we go through here in this life and compare it to what we have in eternity when we leave, it makes what we are going through seem not all that important.  

Sunday night at church we talked about Romans 8:28.  It tells us that God causes all things to happen for our own good.  Even the bad things that come in our lives are there to help us grow.  They come to teach us to depend on Him more.  I am resolved now that even in the midst of my current circumstance, God's grace is sufficient for me.  Things are hard, and life is always a mystery.  But God is there with me each step of the way.  And if you are saved as well, He is right there with you too.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you this week!

Dropping the Stones

I have felt under a lot of conviction the last couple of months.  It seems that Christianity has been under attack from all sides here lately.  And I have been on the attack back.  But not in the way that I should.  I have used phrases such as "They will get what's coming to them", "They make me sick", and even "Society would be better without them."  However, my feelings and words towards them was way out of line.  They do not fall into line with my Christian beliefs.  What was in my heart towards these people and individuals was hatred.  I began to have a change of heart with some study.

John 8:1-11
"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “ He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “ I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

What I had done, was carry a stone in my hand.  I looked at the sin in peoples lives and allowed myself to be judgmental of them and their lifestyles.  And I began to realize, what do I expect them to do?  It is obvious they do not have Christ in their lives.  They are unable to see the sin in their lives.  And they do not understand when we debate them because there is no way they can understand.


1 Corinthians 1:18
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

To enter into a debate with them is of no use.  Even scripture teaches that they cannot understand.  Does it make it okay for them to live in this lifestyle.  Absolutely not.  Everything that we know and believe teaches that it is wrong.  But, are we truly any better?  We have sin in our lives and sin everyday.

1 John 1:8-9
"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The only thing that separates us from the ones that hate and persecute us is that we have confessed our sins and asked forgiveness for them.  Every time that we pray, we ask forgiveness of our sins.  We want Christ our Lord to look at us through grace.  And by grace receive forgiveness.  And yet when we look at the lost that continue to persecute us, we look at them through the law.  We do not always see them in the same light as Christ saw us before we were saved.  Christ loves us, all of us.  Not just His church, but all of the world.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

He loved the entire world.  Those that would believe and those who would not.  Christ died for everyone.  We need to see that it is the sin in their lives that makes them this way.  It should break our hearts for them when we see them, because we know what they do have.  And we know where that will lead them.  And that is never a good thing, no matter who they are.  We need to love them, show compassion to them, and most importantly, share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This needs to be our mission in life.  We need to share with them His birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection.  We need to pray for them daily, and make Jesus the center of all conversations with them.  And we need to let the stones fall from our hands.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week! 
 

Unity

Time for another soccer analogy! My team is doing very well this year. Part of it is due to some of the talent that I have, some due to those that have been playing for me for a few years are steadily improving, and thirdly, we are playing more like a team. Everyone has a job to perform. They have a particular assignment on the field. When everyone does their job, we are hard to beat. It is when we have a break down, that bad things happen. Players get to close to each other, their tempers flare, and we give up goals. Usually a good "talking to" at half time is needed to stress unity on the field to achieve our goal, to win. I believe that this is true for Christianity as well.

1 Corinthians 12:11-13
"But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit."

Each Christian has their own gift from God. Mine may be different from yours, or maybe not. We are different people, but we need to keep in mind that we must work together in unity to glorify God. A good Christian co-worker of mine referenced the tower of Babel to me as we were discussing this topic. All of the people that were constructing the tower were one. They were unified, and thus, there was hardly anything they could not do. Now, their motivation was wrong, and thus their judgement was to be split apart, but there is a lesson to learn there. If we could come together about Christ, in the same manner that those people did about their motives, we could have an extremely positive impact in our communities, schools, workplaces, and even the world.

So how do we do this? It seems that many different denominations have their own ideas as to how things should be. And they spend a great deal of time arguing or picking fights about the things that each group does. For instance, at my church, the ladies wear a head covering during service. We do this per the instructions given in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. And we receive a lot of criticism for it. The point that I am trying to make is what are we allowing to be our guide for Christian living, and are we living by that guide?

2 Timothy 3:16
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;"

We need to let the scriptures be our guide, and we need to follow that guide. Think about a group of men on an expedition. Now, imagine them going to explore a region without someone to guide them. What happens? They become lost. They begin to fight among themselves over what to do and which way to go. The expedition then falls apart and fails. They all tried to lean on their own understanding and interpretation. Many times we do this. We try to understand the ways of God, and insert our own understanding to the point that it is equal with Him, whether the scriptures support it or not. And this is why we fail. This is why we have problems with unity.

James 1:22
"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

Not only do we need to let the scriptures be our guide, but we must follow them. We always have trouble when we get away from them. It is not always easy. And there will be struggles. And we will fail from time to time. But, if we honestly do our best to follow what the bible says, easy or not, God's grace will carry us through the mistakes.

In closing, we need to be unified in Christ. We need to let the scriptures be our guide, and we must follow them. Because anything short will cause us to fail at our mission, of sharing the gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week!