Humility?

America calls itself a Christian nation. If all who call themselves CHRISTians (Christ followers) would truly be emulating the Rabbi, the Teacher Jesus Christ-the one whom we derive our name, what would we look like? Make it personal, what would you and what would I look like?

If Jesus were physically walking with us today what would his followers be called to do?


Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26NLT)

Our lives would be marked with humility… The cross was an object of humility, pain, death, scorn and degradation. Andrew Murray wrote, “The call to humility has been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and importance has been too little apprehended. It is not a something which we bring to God…it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.” [i]
Jesus is not asking or suggesting but mandating, take up your cross daily and follow me.
“But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Mt 5:20NLT)
It is a daily surrendering, a daily acceptance that I am nothing without grasping…without taking hold of the truth that I am because of Jesus Christ.
Only God’s cleansing can generate a heart of true humility.

Our lives would be marked with hospitality… Our homes would be marked with hospitality not “Alarmed by XYZ Security Company”. It isn’t the size of our homes, the stuff in our homes, or the impressive spread on the dining table. Hospitality begins and ends with humility. Becoming a servant at heart with arms ready to serve and receive those who will never be able to repay. It is serving in Super-Sized portions grace and mercy, acceptance and forgiveness.
Only God can motivate a life of hospitality and it starts with humility.

Our lives would be marked with change…Priorities would change. We would not allow our wealth to identify us. Nor would it own our hearts and time. “turn from your selfish ways..” Lk 9:23; Mt. 19:21-30
Only God can motivate a heart of change and it starts with humility.

Our lives would be marked with unity…There would be no denominational divisions, barriers or jealousies Luke 9:49-50. We would stand ready to help, encourage and defend a fellow brother not matter his affiliation.
Only God can motivate a heart and desire for unity and it starts with humility.

Our lives would be marked with a holy pride…There would be an awareness of holiness, respect and marvel when sharing this message of hope, redemption, restoration, life, healing and deliverance. We would be a compass to those desperately seeking Truth pointing them always to the Father.
Only God can motivate a heart filled with His holy pride and it starts with humility.

Jesus didn’t call us to build dynasties; he called us to build relationships. This is the difference between being the organized church and being the body of Christ. I believe this is the mark of a CHRISTian…a follower of Jesus Christ.

A work in progress,
Kay

[i]
Humility by Andrew Murray, pg 14-15

Confession of a former deacon

I just finished reading an email news letter written by a fellow M28 Ministry staff member. In the letter he mentioned a quote attributed to St. Augustine.

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: Anger, at the way things are, and Courage, to work for change.”

My fellow staff writer goes on to write (and I quote),

"This sums up where I (we) am (are) these days and why I grow more passionate about Jesus. He is the hope of the world—you know. Without hope, all is lost. This is why I have become angry at how I have wasted so much precious life doing things that don’t matter. Anger can be a useless passion if it is not harnessed in the right direction. When it is, it can change people, places and things. It does not allow you to remain silent, absent, immobile or with excuse. I thank God for righteous anger. But what I need most is courage. Courage to think, to be, to do what needs to be done—to do what Jesus did. It is courage that I pray for most.

What he said resonates with me. I pondered what he said and realized I'm angry too. I'm angry how I have wasted time doing what I thought were "churchy" things: serving on the deacon board, playing in the worship band, serving as a leader in various sub groups of the church- things I thought were necessary to advance the kingdom of God that Jesus mentions so much when He spoke to his disciples in the Gospels. I believed it was my "ministry" to help keep the church finely tuned allowing it to be "attractional" to the "lost". I believed this was God's plan for me and this was necessary so they ("the lost') would come to a church service, listen to the pastor "do his job" (since I already did mine) by preaching a rousing sermon, and then at the end they would "make a decision" for Jesus by repeating a salvation prayer at the end of the service. This was the means to the end. From there they would join the church (and maybe a small group or a Sunday Bible class) and come faithfully every week. Then maybe once in awhile invite a co worker or a neighbor to a church service. Please don't read me wrong-It's important that everyone comes to a faith decision concerning Christ, but is this where it ends? Is this what Jesus was talking about concerning the advancement of the Kingdom? Jesus admonished us to go (Matt 28:19). His instruction wasn't getting people to come to church. I'm not down on "coming to church", I'm down on this being the primary exclusive role of the church. In the book, "Right Here, Right Now", the authors mention there is no distinction between the NT phases kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven. It should catch our attention that these phrases are used over eighty times in the Gospels regarding Jesus' message, while the word church is used a mere three times in all the Gospels. It is also intriguing that the word disciple is used over 260 times in the Gospels alone. The author points this out because of the undeniable fact that the vast majority of Christians and their leaders emphasize church but give scant attention to the kingdom of God and disciple making. I pray we all have the "courage" to be disciple makers and to what Jesus commands us to do-GO!