Share My Life With Others - Unity

     This is a topic that has always been dear to my heart.  Unity is a HUGE issue in the church today.  I mean how many times have you heard rumors flying around the church?  I know I have.  Even the smallest little bits of gossip can effectively destroy what may have become a very prosperous ministry.  Think about it this way: the Church is the body of Christ.  What good would it be if the hands wanted to do something different than what the eyes were focused on?  It would be almost impossible.  And what if the feet walked in the opposite direction of what the hands were grasping tightly too?  In the same way, disunity in ministry can be disastrous.  We can literally tear apart a beautiful ministry all because we want to do "our thing" or we are sure that we know what is best.

     While all this is important to realize, realize that we are also called into "oneness" or unity with God himself.  When we dive into God's word and His will for our lives, we  "share in God's DNA of love" (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook).  We begin to realize the strength we have when we work in unity with God and his kingdom.  When we bring disruption to the unity God intended for the family of Christ, it grieves Him.  At the same time though, some may argue that the church is divided through denominations and ritualistic differences.  Yea, that's true...but here's the thing...God is bigger than anything.  Our simple divisive attitudes will not stop God from proclaiming his kingdom.  The gates of hell cannot withstand God's might.  But just think, if we were working together as one large Church, or body of Christ, the hands would become more effective, and the feet would know just where to walk.  The body would enter into a time of great productivity, and the Church as a whole would bring many people to know Christ in numbers never before seen.

     "The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind -- Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. " (John 17:21)

Share My Life With Others - Spiritual Friendship

     "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17)

     Spiritual friendship goes beyond just being "friendly."  It isn't about being nice to people, or even about liking them.  It's about genuinely investing yourself in their lives; loving them unconditionally through whatever circumstances life throws their way.  It means being there to encourage them, to support them in their walk.  Jesus had his small group of disciples, but even in this group he had three who were his closest "spiritual friends": Peter, James, and John.  He shared the highest and lowest points of his life with them.  They were the three who accompanied him to the garden in which he was eventually arrested.  Maybe he brought them there to teach them what it means to live as a godly example through adversity, even being condemned to death on a cross.

     "In John 15:13 he says, 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' To die for a friend - that's just not ordinary, everyday friendliness" - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Share My Life With Others - Small Group

    When you look at the life of Jesus, he was never a lone ranger.  He was always surrounded by someone: his family, friends, disciples, crowds, etc.  The greatest example of a small group is shown through Jesus and his twelve disciples.  Throughout his three years of ministry, Christ poured out his love and knowledge to the disciples.  They learned everything they knew about God and living a godly life through their time with Christ.  He was the one who modeled disciplines, and helped them experience spiritual transformation.  He worked through them to experience this formation.

     In this day and age, we look to each other to foster spiritual growth.  Just as Christ worked in the lives of his disciples, so do we work in the lives of our friends and colleagues to foster growth.  The discipline of small groups simply means joining a group of believers who are all willing and determined to grow together, not individually in their faith.  Joining a small group means vulnerability, and you must be willing to recognize your own  faults and bring them before the group so that together you can bring it to God.  And for a small group to really be effective in fostering growth in the members, all attending must be willing to listen.  No judging, no pointing finger, no gossiping.  Just listening, loving, and supporting.  That's what it takes to make a great small group.

" Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Share My Life With Others - Service

    Serving can be hard.  I mean, after a long day of work or school, I know the last thing I want to do is serve someone.  I mean, come on?  Can't they do something nice for me?  The thing is, though, that is exactly the kind of attitude that has created this materialistic society we live in today.  We want people to do good things for us, but we don't want to have to go out of our way for anyone else.  That is, until you understand our calling as Christians:

"Christians are the very essence of God to others.  We become God's vehicle of blessing on planet earth." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

    But the thing is, we can't serve, if we aren't ready.  We need to prepare our hearts for service, because if you are helping someone, but are totally selfish about it, or have a bad attitude, how is that showing God's love?  But even before you are willing to humble yourself and prepare for service, you have to be able to see the need.  A pastor, and good friend of mine once challenged me with this statement, "pray to God 'make what breaks Your heart break mine as well.'"  That's scary!  When you start to pray this prayer, God shows you the needs around you.  It isn't till you can see the world through God's eyes that you can truly serve.  Seeing through God's eyes means looking past economic status', race, gender, beliefs, or shortcomings of others, to look at the need.  Humbly serving and meeting that need shows the love of God to someone who may not know love.

"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.  You don't have to have a college degree to serve.  You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

Share My Life With Others - Mentoring

     Isn't it true, that when we learn what is best for us, our natural tendency is not always to do it.  We tend to stick to old habits, old ways of doing things.  Most of us need examples through relationships and hand-on teachings.  We need mentors.  Mentors help people grow in their walk with Christ.  They believe in the mentee, and in their ability to better themselves, even if the mentee doesn't see their own potential.  Mentors help the mentee equip themselves for success in whatever area of their life is necessary.

     I guess when you think about, mentoring happens everyday to almost anyone.  For example, at school, the students are mentored by teachers.  At home, the children are mentored by adults.  At work, the employee is mentored by the boss or manager.  The spiritual discipline of mentoring doesn't mean that you have to be qualified, or you have to meet certain standards.  All mentoring is about is passing on what you know to someone else.  There are no age restrictions, gender restrictions, race restrictions, etc.  It's all about helping one another in love.

     One of the best examples of mentoring in the bible was when Barnabas mentored Paul.  Paul was rejected by many of the disciples of Christ, because it had been Paul who had persecuted and killed Christians.  But Barnabas knew Paul was changed, and had become a man of God.  Barnabas was willing to risk everything to mentor Paul, and Paul went on to become one of the greatest inspirations for the gospel of all time.  He was a wildcard, no sensible Christian would risk getting close, but Barnabas saw his worth in Christ.

Share My Life With Others - Hospitality

"Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." - Romans 15:7    

      In a world that is becoming more and more dangerous, hospitality seems to be becoming more and more hard to find.  We sometimes feel vulnerable inside our own homes, and we are afraid when "strangers" come too close.  But we are called to be welcoming, to be the hands and feet of Christ that show his warm and loving heart.  Hospitality at it's core is, "offering the welcome of Jesus to any and all." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. Showing hospitality can be one of the best ways to show God's welcoming arms to a scary and hostile world.  But we need to be careful that we are offering our hospitality not to gain favor, or to show off what we have, but only to show God's love to those around us.  And in doing so, being completely humble and giving the glory to God.

     "They [the early church] broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" - Acts 2:46-47

Share My Life With Others - Discipling

"Discipling is the process of equipping, training, and encouraging another in his or her apprenticeship to Jesus.  It means journeying with and helping another to grow in knowledge as well as in the virtues and character of Christ." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

     Discipling goes beyond just "saving a person".  It is an extended commitment to helping the person with their commitment to becoming more mature in Christ.  Discipling, though, can't really happen if the "saved" person doesn't want to grow.  You can't force a person to mature in their faith, they must be wanting and longing for that kind of growth.  Discipling usually occurs when a group of believers convene around the Word and encourage each other with love and kind words.  This usually happens when a older more-mature Christian disciples a younger one, but it can also happen in small groups as they spur each other on in growth.

     I know that I'm called to be a youth pastor.  And I know that along with that come the responsibility of discipling teens.  I'm totally up for that, because I love talking with others and challenging them to grow.  The only problem is that sometimes I forget that I need discipled as well.  I get discipled by my close friends when we get together for small group.  We always challenge each other to better ourselves and talk about what is holding us back.  I think sometimes Christians are really quick to disciple, but are very slow to be willing to get discipled.

Share My Life With Others - Covenant Group

     " A covenant group is composed of people who commit themselves to helping and encouraging one another, as each prayerfully seeks to live out God's will in their lives." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

     America is a nation that is constantly changing.  People are switching jobs, leaving their communities, and even switching their relationships.  Some people have no real friends, because all they do is get really good at just "being friendly" in the polite..."oh hey"...kind of way.  Covenant groups are all about creating deep relationships.  The people in your group will be the people who, at two in the morning, are willing to pick you up when your car breaks down.  They care deeply about you, and become TRUE friends.  The kind that never leaves you alone.

     These groups are usually long term, because it takes time to build up trust with one another.  In this time, the group learns how to listen to one another, and grow in Christ in each other's presence.  Covenant groups make a  covenant, whether written or not, to support one another in prayer, encourage each other, challenge each other, and help in any way needed.  For this group to succeed, commitment must be shared to the covenant, OR IT WON'T WORK.

"For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes." - Hebrews 3:13

Share My Life With Others - Community

      "¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

 ¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

 ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[d]? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts." - 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

     I know that's a lot, but this passage is really what the spiritual discipline of community is all about.  We, as Christian's, were not  created to live and work as individual, independent units.   We were meant to share in the ministry of proclaiming Christ.  It is all modeled after this passage.  The whole metaphor of the body of Christ points out that each part of the body (each person) has it's (his/her) specific set of gifts or abilities that make them unique.  They are they only ones that can do certain things, or accomplish certain tasks.

     Each part of the body is not also totally dependent.  The feet do not need the nose to walk, or the eyes need hands to see.  Each person does not necessarily put all their backing on every single person in the Christian community.  I mean, could you imagine...A missionary in Africa calls home and says, send me every Christian in the world because I can't do ministry without them.  That's crazy.

    What the body is...is INTERdependent.  The body works together as one cohesive unit.  Let's say the eyes see something they want to grasp and send this to the brain, then the brain tells the hands to pick it up.  The body works together to accomplish the goal.  In the case of the Christian community, the goal is to reach the lost for Christ and to become more like Christ through helping each other.  There is just a subtle difference between interdependence and dependence.   Dependence means no initiative, no individualism, no uniqueness.  But that's not what the scripture says.  We are all a part of the body of Christ, with our own unique gifts that God has blessed us with for the advancement of his kingdom.  The discipline of community means that we recognize our oneness in completing our goal: to become like Christ, and help others do the same.
    

Share My Life With Others - Chastity

     "Healthy chastity is rooted in a deep acceptance of, respect for, and protection of the glorious body God has given me and all other human beings.  Chaste behavior cultivates sexual purity and nourishes trust." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

     Chastity isn't virginity.  Don't get them confused.  Virginity is a once and gone kind of deal, but chastity isn't.  This discipline is all about your body and the bodies of others, but it goes way beyond sex.  It goes to the point where you never do anything to disrespect your own body, or disrespect the bodies of others.  The discipline of chastity demands a very high level of commitment, and can be one of the hardest disciplines to practice.  Our culture tells us everywhere we turn that sex is what to look for, that we should have it as early as we can.  Maybe they don't come right out and say it, but through tv, music, and other media, that really is the message.

     Jesus (obviously, as usual) had it all together.  Throughout his ministry, he went through the same temptations, appetites, drives, and hormonal impulses that every man goes through, but he never once let them control him.  Yes, he was God, but he was ALSO human.  He had many intimate relationships with men and women, but never once did he do anything that disrespected his body or the bodies of others.  He was able to go to parties with prostitutes, and have them wash and/or massage his feet because he had total control of his body.

     Jesus wasn't innocent.  Wait, what?  Just hold on... Jesus was pure.  Purity is not the same as innocence, because innocence is the absence of testing.  When a person is tested and perseveres, that is where purity is produced.  This means that purity is not lost, and no matter what the past, purity is always an option.  It is captured with every decision that honors both your body and the bodies of others.  Return to God and ask the Holy Spirit for change; that is the first step to regaining purity.  With this help, there is always an option of purity for those who are willing to stand and fight for chastity.  When you fight and persevere, you are made new in purity.

"You, my brothers were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Galatians 5:13