SECRET #61 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

In the 3 ½ years of Jesus' teaching of His disciples there's no doubt about several recurring themes throughout. One of the most dynamic, recurring themes is Jesus' answer to the question, "What is the greatest of the commandments?" His answer was "You must love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself."
Another very familiar theme of Jesus' teachings is found in some of His final words to His disciples. It was one of Jesus' final commands. He commanded: "Make disciples of all nations (cultures)!" This is where I get SECRET #61: The follower of Jesus is diligent to make disciples of the Master wherever he goes.

Matthew recorded Jesus' words in this way: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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." (Matthew 28:18-20)

There is only one command in these verses and it's not "Go!" The only command is "Make disciple of all nations!" Then, there are three participles that offer how to do this-by going, by baptizing and by teaching. I don't want to get bogged down with the participles other than to give my quick opinion on them. "Going" has to do with taking the initiative in "making disciples".

"Baptizing" may not have anything to do with water. Remember John's words: "I baptize with water, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and will baptize you with the Spirit." "Teaching" doesn't have to do with imparting more doctrines, but it is teaching in such a way that people will embrace these things Jesus taught by embracing them as a lifestyle-by being like Jesus. We can discuss these matters on a later podcast.

Historically, we have spent so much time cussing and discussing what Jesus meant by going, baptizing and teaching that we miss the primary command to make disciples. This is because it's much easier to go on a mission trip, sprinkle or dunk others in water, and teach, teach and teach more and more of our particular belief systems to our followers.

Making disciples is more difficult. There are two basic difficulties. FIRST-the command is to make disciples of Jesus, not make disciples of our particular spiritual flavor or bent. Now if you are going to commit yourself to make disciples of Jesus, you must be a disciple or follower of Jesus yourself. I've often said that following Jesus is the toughest thing I've ever tried to do. Before I became a stubborn follower of Jesus, I practiced "making disciples" by assembling people into a classroom. I thought it was all about teaching them to become a disciple of Jesus. Now, I get it. "Making disciples" cannot happen in a classroom. "Making disciples" must be caught and not taught! It's something that must be caught from you as a genuine follower of Jesus!

SECOND-Jesus said, "Make disciples of all nations!" This is the second difficulty in making disciples. We are to make disciples of all nations. Nations is actually the word that means cultures. Jesus commands His followers to make disciples of all cultures. The real difficulty here is the natural tendency is to change other cultures to be like our culture. Instead of making disciples of Jesus of all nations, where every culture freely responds to the good news of Jesus in their own way, we tend to make cultural disciples of all nations-to make them look and sound like us. So, other cultures are taught to sing our songs, speak our lingo and practice our culture as their own. This isn't making disciples of all cultures.

"Making disciples" of Jesus in every culture of the world is the mission of those who follow Jesus. Most of my life I only made disciples by accident. Since I have become passionate about being a follower of Jesus, I now see every person I meet as a potential follower of Jesus. You see, when you own it, you can't help but spill all over those you touch.

There are three steps I want to suggest: FIRST-Be a serious disciple or follower of Jesus yourself. SECOND-Make it your habit to insert Jesus into the conversation whenever you can. THIRD-When you see another person acting, talking, thinking or loving like Jesus, point this out to them and affirm them for it. SECRET #61: The follower of Jesus is diligent to make disciples of the Master wherever he goes. Remember, discipleship can't be taught-only caught!

SECRET #60 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

We've been discussing how the intent of Jesus was to launch a movement around Him and His teachings. What's interesting about the Jesus movement is that it is really the presence of the King and His Kingdom. This is why it's so viral, irresistible and irreversible. It can't be stopped and Jesus, the King, is at work all over the world.
A sad rumor that permeates so many faith groups is that Jesus has limited Himself to a given group of believers to do all the work of reaching out to the entire world only through their efforts. This is not only sad, but laughable. There is no way God is waiting on Christians or your sub-brand of Christianity to reach the entire world for Him. King Jesus and His Kingdom are at work in every culture of the world.

When Paul spoke in the marketplace in Athens, he expressed some revolutionary ideas about what God is up to in the many cultures of the world: So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man." (Acts 17:22-29)

God is at work in every nation or culture, making Himself available so that all men might seek Him and find Him. Note this work of God is not dependent upon any specific religious group or mission. God is at work in these cultures. He cares more about these cultures than any other person or religious organization on the earth. God did set "eternity in the hearts" of men and women everywhere.

Our responsibility is to be aware of what God is up to around us and get there as soon as possible. This is just the opposite of what we usually are thinking. We usually go places to stir things up, start new ministries or promote new projects and then ask God to come along and join us. This is bass-ackwards, in my opinion. Instead of advising God where He should direct His attention toward our initiatives, we must seek what God is doing and where it is He is doing it. This is essential to what we are to be all about. Following Jesus is learning to follow His lead. This is SECRET #60: The follower of Jesus sees where his Master is at work and goes there immediately.

Jesus is at work on things that are on His heart. Jesus loves to see His followers live out a genuine Kingdom lifestyle. Jesus loves to see followers love their enemies. He loves to see followers love one another. Jesus loves to see His followers be diligent to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked.

Also, Jesus is at work among non-believers and non-religious people everywhere as well as among non-Christian, religious people everywhere. This is why Jesus is so attractive within the Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and even agnostic cultures. This summer a friend of mine told me he had met two Buddhist monks who had studied the scriptures of all of the major religions and came to the conclusion that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of every one of these religious systems. Just yesterday I received word that there are more and more Buddhist monks genuinely following Jesus.

Why is this happening? It's because God is already at work in the hearts of men and women of the cultures of the world. You want to learn some of the most fresh and dynamic perspectives you'll ever hear about Jesus? Learn about Jesus from your non-Christian friends. You will see Jesus in a whole new way. Practice SECRET #60: The follower of Jesus sees where his Master is at work and goes there immediately.

SECRET #59 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

One of the most misunderstood terms in the spiritual arena is "holy". Unfortunately, "holy" has become so intimidating and unreachable. It has a super-spiritual connotation to it. But Jesus doesn't want you to be a super-saint or a super-spiritual person.
There are three problems with this misunderstanding. FIRST-To be "holy", sets up a level of spirituality that is unattainable and intimidating. So, "holy" is not something we seek, unless you are an "out-there" sort of spiritual person.
SECOND-To be "holy" sets up a 1st class Christianity or spirituality versus those who are 2nd class or coach. Talk about shutting the door of the Kingdom on people!

THIRD-To be "holy" is to operate under a gross misunderstanding of what "holy" really means. It's usually half-understood. Literally, "holy" means to be separated unto God for His mission. However, where I grew up to be "holy" was shortened to mean " to be separated". The way it was applied to me was that we are to be separated-different from the rest of the world. It was definitely a "We-four-and-no-more kind of lifestyle!" We were an established holy huddle in our community. We were different because we didn't do certain things-attend movies, drink any alcohol, dance or even skate to secular music. We were different all right and successfully turned people away from the attractive, irresistible Jesus. I'm turned off with this kind of spirituality today!

To be "holy" is just the opposite of what Jesus intended. He mostly used the term "holy" to describe the Holy Spirit, holy angels, and the Holy Place-the Temple. As I said earlier the term "holy" means to be separated or set apart unto God for His mission. The Spirit is holy. The angels are holy. Even the Temple was holy-separated unto God for His mission.

Jesus was most upset and angry with those who continually acted holy and missed out on true holiness. He rebuked those super-spiritual, nit-picker, hair-splitting, feather-plucking, hyper-critical leaders who set themselves up as the religious examples of righteousness. They majored in the minors and minored in the majors. They professed righteousness without possessing it and they did it by carefully following their traditions, man-made commandments and religious causes. This kept them set apart and separated from the rest of the world. As they worked hard to keep the 613 laws-248 commandments and 365 prohibitions-they just kept drawing the condemnation of men on the righteous acts before God.

The Scriptures taught holiness, but the meaning of it was not to just be set apart and be different, gathering yourselves into a holy huddle. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is clear that God wants those who claim to be related to Him to be holy. This sets us up for SECRET #59: The follower of Jesus is separated unto God for His mission.

In Leviticus 11:44-45 it says: I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Later in Leviticus 20:26 it says: You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. Paul and Peter in the New Testament speak of being "called to be holy" and "make every effort to live in peace with all men and be holy". Peter says in his first letter: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.

Even though Jesus doesn't command His followers to be holy, in the spirit of what is understood by the references in Leviticus and by the few references to be holy by a few of Jesus' disciples, Jesus does actually teach holiness-to be set apart unto God for His mission. I think Jesus is all about teaching those who want to be His disciples how to be holy. He does this by His two most revolutionary words: FOLLOW ME! In contrast to the super-spiritual community of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus invited the people who were interested in following Him to: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Do you see it? To be holy is to be set apart for God's use and purposes. Jesus invites us to follow Him-to be aligned with Him in such a way that we are on the mission He has planned for us-to walk, talk, think and love like Jesus. Jesus doesn't want us to be holy in the super-spiritual sense of the word, but holy-set apart to follow Him. SECRET #59: The follower of Jesus is separated unto God for His mission.

SECRET #58 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Today we are returning to the 75 secrets with SECRET #58: The follower of Jesus is the church, when he walks with other followers of Jesus.
We discussed earlier that Jesus never intended for His followers to be 'going to church", because Jesus was not launching a ministry of buildings called churches that a person could go to. The term "church" is not a special, holy word. I was taught in my first Greek class that it was created as a highly charged, powerful term, meaning "called-out ones". It was presented to us as a spiritual term-a Christian term, but in actuality it wasn't. There was no special religious significance whatsoever. It was used for any common gathering-a city council or gathering for any specific purpose. The term means assembly or a group of people congregating-a congregation. A church is a community of people. It's interesting to note that Jesus, Himself, only uses the term "church" on two occasions.

In a snapshot of the earliest of gatherings that might be called a church or assembly in the 2nd chapter of the book of Acts there is a description of what was going on: They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

It's interesting to note there are two locations mentioned-at the temple and from house to house. This goes along with our idea previously mentioned about orbiting around the temple or big C Church. The location isn't the emphasis here nor is there a certain belief system mentioned other than the teachings of Jesus. The most important things seem to be what they did when they came together. They interacted around the teachings of the apostles (Jesus' teachings), they enjoyed fellowship, ate and prayed together. This kind of gathering can happen most anywhere! The power and unifying factor was in gathering together in the name, spirit and teachings of Jesus. Although there is mention of how the early gathering of Jesus' followers seems to multiply, the emphasis is all about people and their coming together.

Jesus practiced this principle of churching, assembling or gathering with even just a few. It's very clear that Jesus spent most of His time with only three men-Peter, James and John. This is the essence of the Jesus fellowship movement. Jesus also was careful to send out His disciples in small teams, usually two by two.

Even the first twelve disciples Jesus chose to be with Him are listed in pairs: Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them. (Matthew 10)

SECRET #58: The follower of Jesus is the church, when he walks with other followers of Jesus. When you wrap your brain and heart around this principle, you will find a new awareness of the presence of Jesus in your midst. Small groups take on a greater purpose. Coffee shop meetings become Jesus gatherings-practicing the church of Jesus wherever you have come together. It's one thing to follow Jesus; it's revolutionary to do life with others who are following Jesus. Following Jesus will change your life; following Jesus with others who are following Jesus can change the world.

SECRET #57 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

"Going to church" was never the intent of the Jesus movement. All my life I have heard quoted a passage that has been used to keep people going to church. It is in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10: and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. This has become the Christian mantra for making sure everyone goes to Church whenever the doors are open.
Going to church. The idea of going to church limits God and His presence to a location. The idea of going to church misses the concept and practice of the presence of the Kingdom. The idea of going to church leads to building monuments rather than joining a movement.

The whole idea of "going to church" distracts you away from the most miraculous thing that has ever happened to mankind-GOD DWELLS IN YOU. So, your walk with Jesus and with others is not that you are to "go to church", but to be the church of Jesus. The Kingdom-the presence of the King-is already among you all, therefore practice it-live it out in your life-live out the King's presence in your life together. You are the church of Jesus as you gather together anywhere in His name.

Going to church as a location rather than a movement takes away the active, revolutionary nature of what Jesus intended for those who gather in His name. In Matthew 16 Jesus makes an incredible declaration. He says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it or prevail against it." This sounds like the gates of Hades will not be able to bring it down. Now, if Jesus is talking about a church location or local organization, then He was mistaken. You see, many churches are brought down, defeated and closed down every week in the USA. The Message by Eugene Peterson nails the meaning of this passage and captures the essence of the original word "overcome" when it says, "This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hades will be able to keep it out."

Do the see the difference? It is not that the gates of Hades will be powerful enough to overcome the church, but that the gates of Hades will not be able to withstand or keep it out or stop the powerful thrust and energy of the Jesus movement-the always moveable gathering of Jesus. The powerful thrust of the church of Jesus gathering together as a movement is due to spiritual transformation through the power of Jesus in each follower's life.

So if we who are followers of Jesus are the church of Jesus-the gathering of Jesus, and it isn't about "going to church" but "being the church", what does Jesus want us to do with the organized Church today? Reading through the 5 gospels (Matthew-Mark-Luke-John-Acts) it is clear what Jesus and the disciples did with the "organized Church". Let's view the synagogue as the organized Church today. There are three observations that seem most relevant to us: 1. You don't find Jesus or the disciples bashing the Synagogue (Church). 2. You don't find Jesus or the disciples starting new Synagogues (Churches), because of inadequate teaching or worship. 3. You find Jesus and the disciples using the Synagogues (Churches) to worship together, to enjoy the reading of the word and then orbiting around them. This is what I see as SECRET #57: The follower of Jesus practices the Kingdom lifestyle and orbits around religious institutions.

This is exactly what the early fellowships of Jesus did. They participated in the Synagogue, yet they were in orbit around their Synagogue, their communities and around the marketplace. They went to Synagogue (Church) every Sabbath, yet they were there for a higher purpose-a Kingdom purpose. They were there to introduce more and more people to the preeminence of Jesus. When interest was expressed, they invited them to eat together and practice the presence of the Kingdom.

Here's the bottom-line. Don't spend your time, treasure and energies building the church; that's Jesus job. He said He will build His church. Don't build the church or go to church, revolving your life around a monument. That monument may someday be empty as the cathedrals of Europe. BE THE CHURCH OF JESUS! Now that's a powerful movement that cannot be stopped and will always be filled with the love and power of Jesus and His Kingdom.

There are two clear action steps here: FIRST-participate in the revolutionary fellowship movement of Jesus inside or outside the big C Church. SECOND-orbit around the big C Church, looking for those who are interested in Jesus and His movement. Once someone leans in with interest, invite him into the revolutionary fellowship of Jesus with you. SECRET #57: The follower of Jesus practices the Kingdom lifestyle and orbits around religious institutions.