No Time for Sickness

Call it good genes. Call it good work ethic. Whatever you call it, I learned it from my parents. I cannot remember a day when my mom or dad missed work because of sickness either. My brother had perfect attendance too, except for the time I gave him chicken pox (sucker!) and the week he joined me in Russia.

We did not have time to get sick. There were too many things to do. We did not want to fall behind on schoolwork. Even if we were feeling a little ill, we found a way to press through it.

I even remember redefining sickness when I was in high school. I said, “Sickness is any time you are unable to do what you would normally do in a given day.” By this definition I was never sick. I may have felt ill from time to time, but I was not “sick” because I still carried on all the day’s activities.

While this attitude may have been rewarded in elementary  school with perfect attendance ribbons and in high school with a plaque, God has been showing me how it is harmful when applied to my spiritual life.

“Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Matthew 9:12

No Time for Health

When I apply the same definition of sickness to my spiritual life, I end up in a pretty rough place. I often sense that something is off in my connection with God or feel conviction from the Holy Spirit, but I silence the symptoms of my illness by doing what needs to be done that day. I still have a quiet time. I still come the Campus House of Prayer. I still meet with students and pastors. I still meet all of my deadlines and and cross off everything on my to-do list. This has led me to believe that I’m well, but often I’m not.

I’m learning anew how to pay attention to my symptoms: joyless worship, stagnant prayer, dutiful obedience, repetitive sin, apathy, and overall heartlessness. I can’t just keep pressing on through this sickness any longer. I need to see a doctor and “miss a day of class.”

I love this quote from my former pastor Tom Nelson: “If your output is greater than your intake then your upkeep will be your downfall.”

This summer I plan to focus more on my inner life. I need to set some time aside to really be with Jesus, the great physician. I need to take some days off to renew my heart and mind. I need some time in nature. I need some time in books. I need some time with Brenda, with family, and with children. I need some time… some time to get well.

Justin Christopher is the director of Campus Renewal Ministries at the University of Texas and author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.

Strategic Opportunities

Many international students who come to the United States are not followers of Christ. In fact, many of them are from parts of the world that are largely unreached or even countries that are closed to the Gospel or where followers of Jesus are persecuted. They are more spiritually open while away from home, and are often eager to learn about Jesus, an opportunity they may never have had before.

These students are often from the upper classes of their society, and may return to become business and political leaders in their home countries. These are people of influence that missionaries may never be able to interact with in their home countries, but they voluntarily travel to America to get a world-class education.

God is bringing the nations to our doorstep, and we must engage them with the Gospel. This is strategically important to fulfilling the Great Commission because international students who begin following Christ in America can return to start Christ-ward movements among unreached people groups in their home countries.

Welcoming Them Into Our Homes

Many international students desire to learn about American culture as well as receive a formal education in their academic discipline. As part of learning about American culture, they are also open to learning about Christianity and what it means to follow Jesus, since that is an important part of American cultural heritage, and many people around the world associate Christianity with America.

However most internationals never have to opportunity to enter an American home and meet an American family. This felt need of international students can be easily met by recruiting Christian families to host an international student for dinner two to three times a month and during traditional American family holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Independence Day. In this way, an international student can be welcomed into an American family and experience the love of Christ through hospitality, acceptance, and belonging.

Host families can learn to use hospitality to open the door for conversations about Jesus and the Gospel. In this way, church members who may not think of themselves as “evangelists” can use things they are comfortable with for a Kingdom purpose to reach students from all nations.

Entering Into Their Communities

Another important strategy for reaching international students can be derived from the concept of “Become Like, Remain Like.” Often, there are many cultural barriers that international students must overcome in order to enter into an American church or other religious environment. Because they are familiar with their own culture, many internationals choose to live and interact with others from the same country or region of the world rather than integrating into American society.

In order to remove some of these cultural barriers to the Gospel, a strategic ministry to internationals might look more like cross-cultural missions by using an apostolic structure. Rather than trying to attract internationals to “American” ministries, believers would aim to “become like” the internationals and go to them in their own contexts.

This might involve American students moving into a dorm or apartment complex where many internationals live, or joining secular student organizations geared toward internationals. In this way, more meaningful foundations for friendships could be built, upon which Gospel conversations will naturally happen.

Keeping Them in Their Communities

The other side of the coin, “Remain Like” involves how to disciple international students who choose to follow Christ. There is a temptation to pull new converts out of their international student community and into an American church. However, doing so will miss the huge potential that Christian international students have to reach their closest peers, others from their own country or region of the world.

An effective international ministry will teach new believers to obey Jesus commands, which includes not only personal discipleship but also evangelism. American volunteers should encourage these new believers to stay within their own communities, sharing the Gospel with their peers and forming a new community of Christ followers made up of internationals.

Welcoming internationals is just one way that God is calling all believers to join Him in His global redemptive story, but it is a vitally important way!

It is rare, but sometimes ministries object to the idea of reporting “numbers.”  Two years ago there was a campus minister who was really disturbed by the questions we asked, thinking it was unbiblical to do so. Our conversation made me think more clearly about a few of the reasons I believe it is ver Biblical to conduct our surveys.

Numbers are People

It’s a misnomer or to say we’re trying to ask ministries for “numbers.” We’re asking them for reports on people. Numbers are people. We simply want to know the number of people who are being impacted by our ministries. As ministries compile data on the number of students saved, the number of students who went on missions, the number of students in missional communities, they are thinking of real people – people their ministry has touched.

God Is Counting

Pop quiz: How many disciples did Jesus have? How many did he send out in Luke 10? How many lepers did Jesus heal and how many came back to worship him? How many people professed faith at Pentecost in Acts 2? In Acts 19 when the Ephesians repented, what was the net worth of all they burned? What is the fourth book of the Bible?

You get my point, right? The Bible is full of numbers. Jesus counted. The disciples counted. God is counting. Shouldn’t we do the same?

God See The Heart

We try to measure what God is doing by counting, but obviously there is more to it than that. Counting is just an attempt to measure what God is doing. Ultimately, we know that God judges the heart. Only he knows what is really happening (good and bad) in our ministries and in our own hearts.

God measures faithfulness.  While counting, therefore, we should not measure our worth as a ministry leader or the worth of our ministry based on these numbers/people. We need to ask God to search our hearts to see if we have been faithful to the task He has given us and our ministries. Only He can produce the real fruit.

You Do What You Count

Counting is one of the best waysI know to hold your ministry accountable to its vision. Counting serves to remind you of what you’re aiming for.

For instance, we want our missional community leaders to partner with other believers, make new friends in their community, initiate spiritual conversations, begin to study the Bible with seekers, and lead folks to follow Jesus.  So we ask our missional community leaders to complete a monthly survey that asks: How many students are partnering with you in mission? How many friends have you made? How many of those friendships have led to spiritual conversations? How many are reading the Bible with you? How many have put their faith in Jesus? It is not legalistic or weird to do this. It reminds us what we’re aiming to do.

Whatever you are counting is likely a good indicator of what you’re aiming to do. Are you counting, as my friend sarcastically says of his denomination, “Butts, Buildings, and Budgets?” If so, then that shows what your goals are. Are you not counting anything at all? If so,”What is your goal?”

Justin Christopher is the director of Campus Renewal Ministries at the University of Texas and author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.

I few weeks ago my blog entitled Stop Praying For Me generated quite a buzz that I hope led to meaninful conversations on the important subject of how to pray for the disabled.  This week I’d like to give some thought to another divisive issue: Church vs. Parachurch.

Parachurch Criticism

Recently I was at a gathering of college pastors, most of whom were college pastors of various churches. There I heard them express the longstanding criticism of collegiate parachurch ministries: “Students involved with parachurch groups graduate and then do not know how to integrate into the local church.”

In response to this common criticism, I throw these thoughts out to you for your consideration. I welcome your comments and feedback too. These arguments are certainly just one side of the coin and are by no means thorough, but they do raise important questions for those who question para-church ministries.

Church Criticism

At the gathering I mentioned above, the pastors began to speak about how to make their students into good “church-going kids.”  While there is nothing wrong with getting students connected in churches, I wanted to ask,”What kind of churches?”

In the midst of this friendly dialogue, I presented the parachurch side of things and expressed  my criticism of the church. I said, “My concern is exactly the opposite. I fear that students connected in our ministry who have learned to live and share their faith, integrate their faith and work, and become missionaries to their people groups, will join a church who will simply ask them to serve by being an usher or helping with parking on Sunday morning.”

I was being a bit sarcastic of course, but I expressing a real concern of mine. Will the students that parachurch ministries disciple and equip for ministry really get plugged into churches who will continue the same degree of discipleship and equipping?  Will these churches teach them how to do ministry outside the four walls of their church buildings? If not, then I too have a concern.

If students do not plug into local churches it may be too simple to point fingers at the parachurch and say, “See. You did not teach them how to integrate into the local church.” It may be that there are fingers pointed back at the local church that say, “They are not integrating into churches for a reason. You’re not challenging them like they were challenged in their college ministry.”

Thankfully there are a growing number of churches in Austin, Dallas, and Houston where we are confident students will be discipled and sent out to impact their neighborhoods, workplaces, and “playplaces.” We gladly encourage graduates to connect with these churches.

Parachurch Churches

One of the facets of the parachurch criticism is that the students are not learning to integrate into the full body of Christ, meaning they are not multi-generational. I happen to share this concern to a certain degree, but also recognize the value of age specific ministry (or at least I recognize it’s reality). Students want to be around others in their same stage of life, as do singles, young marrieds, young families, etc.

I believe that most college ministries out of churches, in effect, function like parachurch ministries. They may be based out of a local church with elders and a governing denomination, but they are often no more multigenerational than a parachurch group. There are always a handful of students who volunteer with the children’s ministry, lead the youth group, or join a small group with adults, but in my experience these students are the exception, not the rule in church-based collegiate ministries.

Make Disciples, not Churches

Sometimes I think we’re putting the wrong emphasis on the syllable. Jesus called us to make disciples, not plant churches. I wonder if the emphasis on making good “church-going kids” is sometimes contrary to making disciples. It  does not have to be of course, but sometimes it feels like it.

The disciples were sent out. Sometimes in churches there is a tendency to keep the people contained in the four walls and serving there instead of equipping them to go out into their cities to bring the gospel and disciple others “out there.” There is a subtle but profound difference between building churches and making disciples. Are we making members or missionaries?

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

I’m happy to say that at the University of Texas this debate is relatively dead. That’s not to say that pastors of parachurch and church groups do not have slightly different convictions on the issue. It means that here, like is happening on so many campuses around the country, our love for God, for one another, and for the forty-five thousand students who are not yet following Jesus is greater than this whole debate.

When I think about the debate of Church vs. Parachurch, I remember what author Reggie McNeal once said to a group of pastors from UT (church and parachurch). He said, “There is a bigger question than ‘What is a church?.’ The bigger question is, “What is the Church?’ ” This is the bigger question we’re wrestling with at UT.

Justin Christopher is the director of Campus Renewal Ministries at the University of Texas and author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Yes, we all know this passage by heart. The Great Commission! What good Christian doesn’t know it? But, before you stop reading because you know this so well, ask yourself, how are you obeying these verses today?

Is the extent of your knowledge solely head-knowledge, or has it proved itself true in a life-style obedience?

Simple

Along with the other simple teachings of Jesus, I believe we have overcomplicated things so much to the point where we disobey. We’ve forgotten the basic commands Christ gives us.

As a result, I’m afraid we have created for ourselves such a powerless, watered down faith, that we have begun to label the Christians who actually do obey as the “radical” or “super” Christian.” There is no such thing. Jesus was the most normal Christian ever to live. Somehow, entry-level Christianity 101 has become “radical.”

We’ve dwarfed the commands of Jesus into options, we’ve diluted the message of the gospel into a message of prosperity, and we’ve belittled the power and person of the Holy Spirit into some unknown mystical force. We’ve mistaken the cost of following Christ – to take up our cross and follow him, to lose our life, to hate our mother and father, to die to ourselves daily – as the extra credit only the “super spiritual” believer does, when these are the fundamental requirements to follow Jesus.

Now, I’m not trying to transform all of us into Pharisees. I’m not trying to exhort us to work harder, to try more, or to be “better” in the religious sense. All of those things are anti-gospel and not what Jesus wants. I’m just worried that the God that we’re following, this Jesus Christ we speak of, is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures, but rather, is merely a broken caricature of what the true living God of the Bible is.

Christian, are you obeying the simple commands of Jesus?

Go, Not Come.

When we look at Jesus’ commands in the Bible, we see that He has laid out the battle plan for us. We don’t need another plan, because He has given us the strategy, the answer to the problem that He has promised to fulfill. What is it?

Jesus tells us to “go.” Go means go. Often, however, we say to people, “come.” Come to our church and come to our bible study. Who’s the missionary in this situation? The non-believer. We often force the non-believer into the missionary role.

And yes you’re right, that makes no sense whatsoever, except it’s what we far too often do.

We’ve forced them to step out with faith into an unknown environment, while we comfortably await their arrival. This goes absolutely against everything Jesus teaches. We must be the missionaries. We must be the ones that go to them. We must be the ones to shape our entire lives around who they are, what they like, what they do, and where they go. As in the words of Paul, we must become “all things to all people” [1 Corinthians 9:22].

I’ve also heard it like this: a missionary is someone who gives up everything for the sake of the gospel, except the gospel.

So go, not come!

Everybody, Not Just Some

What does Jesus say next? He says to go to all nations. That means everybody.

“Everyone, everywhere,” as my mentor puts it. We are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ not just with a few but with everyone. And by everyone, I mean everyone: family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and roommates – everyone in our lives, which makes up our oikos, which is Greek for “household.” The Father’s heart is not just for us to be saved, but for our entire oikos to be saved as well.

We tend to choose who we think will respond to the gospel. However, Jesus says to go to everyone. He gives an example with the Parable of the Sower. This farmer, who goes out to sow the seeds, knows which soil is good and which is bad, chooses to throw the seeds everywhere. Some of the soil is shallow, some of it is hard, and some of the soil is choked with weeds. However, some of the soil is good, and God multiples the fruit 30, 60, and 100 times [Mark 4].

Like the farmer, we are to sow broadly. Sowing the seed is our responsibility. Only the Holy Spirit can make seeds grow. So make a name list of your oikos, pray over each name, and share your testimony and the gospel with every single person on that list. It’s what everyone means.

Don’t give the gospel to just some, but to everyone.

Disciples, Not Converts

What did Jesus invite His followers to become? Disciples, not church members or converts or even “Christians.” A disciple learns everything his teacher teaches him, and then he obeys and teaches other people to do the same. A disciple surrenders everything to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

It’s not merely about “bring saved” and it’s not just about praying a “sinner’s prayer.” There is no grey area in whether one is a believer or not. There is no such thing as the “nominal” Christian. Someone is either a disciple or not. It is very black and white. Jesus wants disciples.

In addition, we are to train these disciples who in turn will train others who train others, and so on. This begins to multiply and soon enough, a widespread church-planting movement is birthed as thousands upon thousands of disciples are made.

Jesus also says to not only teach, but “teach to obey.” Obedience is the mark of true discipleship. The 21^st century American Church often assesses how mature a believer is based on how much he knows. However, the New Testament assesses the maturity of a believer based on how much he obeys.

All Nations

Finally, we are to reach the nations. All nations, “ethne,” means all people groups. This is not at all an option; rather it’s a requirement. If we leave this out, then we are disobeying the commands of Jesus, to put it simply. In addition, there are also over 1600 other times in the Scriptures when God mentions his desire for His name to be worshipped among the nations.

So Christian, how are you reaching the nations?

Sure, not everyone is called to go overseas, but are you reaching out to your Saudi neighbor? How about one of the hundreds of thousands of international students on college campuses across the US? Are you financially sowing into the work among unreached people groups and praying that every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would know him?

How have you sowed into the work God wants to do among all people groups?

Fulfillment of the Great Commission

Not that we should need any extra motivation to obey the Great Commission, but perhaps this can encourage us as we press on to win more for the sake of Christ.

Christ’s second coming may be sooner than we realize. We are at such a unique point in history, unlike any other moment in time, that with the resources at hand and the ways God has been moving, we could very well see the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our lifetime.

Steve Douglass, president of Campus Crusade for Christ International, has spent over 40 years working with global leaders in light of the Great Commission, so he has some credibility on the issue when he said this:

“From the way God is moving today, even without some terrific eye of faith, I have been persuaded it will be fulfilled in our lifetimes and I personally think in the next decade.”

China and India, once two of the most unreached places on earth, have witnessed complete transformation over the past decade, the Middle East is beginning to change, and people all over the world are praying and planning more than they’ve been in the past six centuries. There are new breakthroughs methods of reaching people, scripture translation is expanding rapidly, and very fruitful ministry methods are increasing.

I am convinced that if we as the Church learn to obey all that the Great Commission commands, we can and we will see the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our day. May we give everything, every single day, for the sake of his perfect name, as we continue to labor for the knowledge of his glory to cover the earth and for the return of our glorious King.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 24:14

It was maybe a month or so after I first landed in the hospital. Part of the effects of being hit so suddenly with this disease was that I found myself utterly depleted of strength. Climbing a flight of stairs became akin to scaling a mountain, so standing for any length of time was out of the question, which in turn meant I could no longer serve on the worship team.

Having been a musician for the majority of my life, music has always been my direct connection to God. When I play, I feel Him, and that’s always been constant. But in an instant, everything changed and that was no longer an option. So there I found myself, sitting in church on a Wednesday night, too weak to even stand to sing, watching the worship team that I’d been a part of for so many years on stage, and tears started rolling down my face. And it was in that moment that I realized something:

I am not indispensable.

It’s Not About Us

Okay, I know what you’re thinking, that’s really depressing. But just bear with me for a moment because I assure you that realizing that, at least in my life anyway, turned out to be a very good thing. Because here’s the thing, when it comes to the Christian life and our walk with God, I think we very easily make it all about us. And the truth is, that’s really not what it’s about it all.

Everyone faces problems. It is a fact. So I hate to break it to you, but just because we have Jesus in our lives doesn’t mean that it gives us a “get out of jail free” pass. And the thing is, I think sometimes we as Christians operate on this strange belief that nothing bad should ever happen to us. So when something does, we whine, and we cry, and inevitably we ask “why me?!”

But perhaps we’re looking at things the wrong way. What if in the process of having to deal with hard, painful situations in our lives, it’s really an opportunity to point back to Christ? What if instead of making it about us, we made it about Him?

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

Out In The Open

The tricky thing about being Christian and trying to reach others around us is that we often fall into the trap of trying to do everything ourselves. I don’t know why, but somewhere along the line it seems like a lot of us get it into our head that being Christian means getting it all together, living the quintessential “perfect” life, and somehow because we’re perfect, others will want to be with us, ie follow Jesus.

I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with wanting to do well and have a good life, but when we get caught up in being “perfect”, the truth is it mostly comes across as fake, and let’s face it, no one likes fake. So why does God allow difficult things in our lives even after we’re in a relationship with Him? I think one reason is because it forces us out into the open.

Tough situations make it hard for people to hide behind seemingly perfect exteriors. In my case, it was impossible to hide swollen legs or the fact that I couldn’t stand up for longer than 5 minutes. But somewhere, in the midst of all the pain and struggling, came a willingness to be raw and vulnerable with those around me. And suddenly in all my brokenness, it seemed like my faith came shining through.

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10

Getting Out Of The Way

I say learning that I wasn’t indispensable was a good thing, because it taught me to stop trying to pretend that I had it all together all the time. In other words, it taught me to be transparent with people.

The scary thing about living a transparent life is that with nothing to hide behind is, we present ourselves flaws and all for the world to see, and possibly pick on. But by choosing to be genuine, we get ourselves out of the way, letting people see Christ in us and therefore truly reflecting His glory to those around us. Then, and only then, can we be called salt and light to the world.

So here’s my encouragement today: If and when you’re going through a hard time, don’t hide away from people. Instead, consider sharing (as much as you’re comfortable) the challenges you’re facing and your journey with God through it all. People around us need to see that God is a God who sticks with us through the rough times, and you never know how your story might impact someone else.

Kimberly Chung is the National Media Director for Campus Renewal Ministries, a ministry focused on forging partnerships in prayer to build missional communities that transform college campuses with the gospel of Jesus. She is a campus minister to The University of Texas at Austin and can be reached at kim@campusrenewal.org

As always, I accept your death threats and spam at scott.tipton1@yahoo.com.

The Point.

Last week we studied Romans 6-7, focusing particularly on the Christian relationship between flesh and Spirit and the meaning of that relationship within the context of the Torah. Paul continues that discussion all the way until near the end of Chapter 8, when his tone becomes much broader and he begins to lay down wide, general doctrines for all of the practices of the Christian church. What I want to highlight first comes in this section.

In verses 31 through 39, Paul lays out the fundamentals of the law in terms opposite of those which Christ used. Whereas Christ said You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Mark 12:30)… Paul, in closing his discussion of the law, writes For I am certain that neither death nor life…will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). So we see that Jesus shows us that we must love God to obey Him, and Paul shows us that we will never be separated from God’s love which He gave us; Jesus delineates our role, Paul delineates God’s role.

The change in paradigm here is because Paul is talking about the greater mechanics of our salvation from God’s perspective, whereas Jesus was teaching us how to obey. Paul is trying to demonstrate the single greatest motivating factor for God’s salvation, just as Jesus demonstrated the two greatest commandments, the ones which all else in the law hinged. So what did Paul find? What’s the point?

All Things in Love

Paul found victory, and Paul found love. Paul is reemphasizing the importance of God’s love in His dealings with us, thereby implicitly stating the importance of our love for God in our dealings with Him; Paul is also reemphasizing our victory over the law and our present possession of all things through the love of Christ, thereby encouraging us to embrace the strength and power of the Spirit that lives in us.

What does this mean for us, today? It means that the entire story of the law is one long metaphor God is telling us of His love for us. It also means that all of our Christian walk should be another metaphor, one which we tell to God to show Him our love for Jesus. It means that our works, our good deeds, our won awards, our sins, our evil deeds, and our failures have all been relegated to a second tier of importance, and our deepest feelings towards Him have been moved to the forefront.

It seems so strange to me when I catch myself doing something in order to make God pleased with me (unfortunately, these moments happen too often; I struggle with pride and work, as the chief of all sinners). In those moments, I’ve forgotten the love that God displayed for me—rather than building a castle of emotion in my heart towards God and making my treasure lie in Heaven in the person of Christ, I’ve built my castle out of my goodness and my success.

The irony of this sin is that when we reach the pearly gates, we won’t have our works with us. We may receive rewards from our life, but the old lady whom I helped across the street won’t be my focus. My friend who became a believer after God used me in his life won’t be my focus either. My focus will be Christ and Christ alone. Therefore, if I’ve done these things in order to receive a reward besides Christ, my reward in only of secondary importance. But if I did them to delve more deeply into the love of God, my reward and my love is fulfilled infinitely.

Bottom line, I believe the emphasis of our lives should not be on our actions, but our hearts. The danger of this teaching is that it seems to give free reign to Christians and decrease the importance of sin. That just ain’t Biblical, so to counteract it, let’s discuss sin a little more.

Two Ways to Fight Sin

The emphasis of our life should be on love and emotion, but we still have to work. So how do we work, while maintaining the aforementioned emphasis? I’ve found that prayer solves this problem easily. When I can go through my daily routine prayerfully, I don’t seem to worry about whether or not my works are good or bad or left or right; things just fall into place. With regard to sin, when I work prayerfully, sin’s temptation doesn’t seem as strong, and I go about resisting with greater wisdom and success.

But works are still very important—to sin is to do a work, so certainly part of our concentration has to center on works. In this matter, it’s how we concentrate that’s the key. The character of our faith stands out most clearly through problems, of course, so let’s go through a few contingency plans to discuss a few handy ways to fight sin when you’re being tempted.

The first is to offer your body as a living sacrifice to Christ, consciously and specifically. It tends to have the effect of re-clarifying the areas in me which sin has made fuzzy; to put that another way, the black-white division of flesh and Spirit is made grey when I am being tempted by lust, but after I offer my body to Christ, I can identify the black and white with more ease, and this helps me follow the Spirit. Satan’s number one weapon is to take truth and twist it while just barely lying himself—he lets you do the real lying to yourself. Therefore, when I can see the desires of my flesh and the desires of my Spirit stand in contradistinction, it’s easier for me to pick out what lie is leading me astray.

The second is to identify what the craving really is that’s tempting you to sin. To take lust as an example again, I lust because I desire physical pleasure; I have a sexual past, and memories of the pleasures of that time can make me believe that gratifying my lust will make all my problems go away. The real need, as you can see, is to find peace from stress or etcetera. It helps me to show myself that even when I gratify lust it doesn’t solve anything, and remind myself of how many problems Christ has solved finally and totally since I’ve become a Christian. Again, this helps give me clarity, and I can reorient myself more easily.

Both of these methods can help a believer fight sin in a way that isn’t works-based. Fighting sin through the desire for rewards in Heaven, the desire to be a better Christian than someone else, or the desire for approval from God both stem from deeper desires which don’t line up with Scripture; rather, sin is an enemy which only love defeats. (…love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Pet. 4:8) (“If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15)

But also remember that God has given us victory over all things in the world, including our sin—for what can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Beloved, pursue righteousness, and beg for the love of God from Christ. Place all of your works at God’s feet, and ask for Him to make them a fragrant offering to Him and to sanctify you through His grace. May your prayers be answered!

Father, please take my life! Please fill me full of Your Spirit, and please give me deep and holy love for You. May Your love keep me full and sanctified, and may You lead me far from temptation. I pray for my friends and family, that we might be a church which rises up in a mighty way for Your name, and that we may be filled with passion for You, sharpening each other every day. Above all things, give us Your presence, and give us grace to approach You in our times of need. In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

(1,478 words. It really never happens.)

It has been my observation that this process causes a lot of tension and confusion for students. In their immaturity, many students say “Yes” to these leadership opportunities for the wrong reasons and many say “No” to these leadership opportunities for the wrong reason. When students say “Yes” or “No” for the wrong reasons, they actually end up hurting the ministries and hurting themselves.

Last week I wrote about letting your “Yes” be “Yes.”  I described good and bad reasons to say “Yes” to opportunities. This week I will write about how to let your “No” be “No.” Here are some good and bad reasons to say “No” to opportunities.

Bad Reasons To Say “No”

Fear

Sadly, many students decline ministry opportunities out of fear. They feel that they are inadequate to accomplish the tasks being asked of them, even while the ministers that asked them to consider such tasks asked them because they thought they were capable. Of course no one is capable in and of themselves. God alone gives us grace to do what He has called us to do. He does not call the equipped, but He equips the called.

As an aside, I find fear is a primary factor in keeping students from leading missional communities. The idea of getting outside the Christian bubble to spend time with students who are not following Christ is too risky for many students. Fear is a major reason why only 20% of Christians at UT are active in missional communities.

Indecision

This is an epidemic problem. Students like to “keep their options open.” In my opinion, this means they simply want to decide what what to do at the last minute based on what is most appealing at that time. This is certainly not how God would have us choose what to be involved in or not. There is no commitment in this view. It is a whimsical wandering, creating a culture of consumerism in our ministries.

Wouldn’t God prefer we see the needs presented by ministries and “pre-commit” to serve faithfully? Trust me when I say that students who wander and wait to decide about their level of participation until the very last minute do not really help the campus ministries. Ministries cannot make plans until they know who is on board and committed. Playing the field and waiting to decide hinders campus ministries’ plans and creates a culture of uncommitted, consumeristic Christianity.

Time

This is a tough one because the very next point I argue for protecting your time. Still, I believe that many students have protected their time for the wrong reasons. God wants believers to honor Him with their studies, but some followers of Jesus have made their studies too high of a priority and thus say “No” to ministry opportunities. You’ll see that I argue for below for not being too busy, but I speak about being too busy with ministry. If school is what keep believers too busy, then it is possible that school has become an idol.

Good Reasons To Say “No”

Focus

As I mentioned above, there is a time to focus. Just as students can make school an idol, they can also make ministry an idol. Some students are involved in two or three different ministries. They say “Yes” to everything. Instead, they should learn to say “No.” It is perfectly fine to say “No” to a ministry opportunity so that you can give a true “Yes” to another ministry opportunity.

Gifting

It is also perfectly fine to say “No” to ministry opportunities because you are better gifted to say “Yes” to another. Again, this is also a subtlety. As I mention above, fear is a bad reason to say “No.” So I am not saying students have to feel adequate to say “Yes” to opportunities. I am saying they can look at opportunities and choose to serve in the way that best matches their passions and gifts.

Justin Christopher is the director of Campus Renewal Ministries at the University of Texas and author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.

At the start of the school year ministries “compete” for all of the new students. At the end of the school year ministries “compete” for new leaders. Some recruit new leaders very informally through simple conversations over coffee. Some do so very formally, using applications and conducting interviews. No matter the method, this time of year every ministry is asking students to consider leadership positions for the 2012-2013 school year.

It has been my observation that this process causes a lot of tension and confusion for students. In their immaturity, many students say “Yes” to these leadership opportunities for the wrong reasons and many say “No” to these leadership opportunities for the wrong reason. When students say “Yes” or “No” for the wrong reasons, they actually end up hurting the ministries and hurting themselves.

To help students learn to make better decisions about these opportunities, over the next two weeks I want write about the good and bad reasons to say “Yes” or “No.”  This week, I’ll share a few thoughts on good and bad reasons to say “Yes.”

Bad Reasons To Say “Yes”

People Pleasing                                                                                                                                                                                                                        It has been my experience that many students say “Yes” simply because they are afraid to say “No.” A campus minister whom they love and respect asks them to step into a leadership position. They do not want to disappoint their campus minister by saying “No.” People pleasing is not a good enough motive to sustain their commitment to leadership and actually causes more interpersonal damage in the student’s life because you wind up in “performance mode.”  This is devastating to the ministry and to the student.

Spiritual Pride                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      It has also been my experience that students are tempted to say “Yes” to leadership because they like the honor that comes with the position. It is a subtle motive, but it is often there. Students want to lead because it makes them feel good about themselves and look good before others. This motive is also destructive to the ministry and the individual. God resists the proud. He will humble us. Those who step into leadership with prideful motives cannot effectively lead students. The Biblical call to leadership is a call to serve, to become the least.

Capacity Gap                                                                                                                                                                                                                         I’ve seen this time and time again. Students simply have an inaccurate view of what they can handle. They say “Yes” with the greatest intentions and with sincere conviction that they can manage the responsibility of leadership, but a month into the semester they realize they cannot. In this case one of three things happen, if not all of them.  The ministry suffers, the student suffers, and/or schoolwork suffers. All three consequences are harmful to the ministry and the student.

Good Reasons To Say “Yes”

Calling                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   This will sound too simple, but we should say “Yes” when we are called.  If through much prayer and waiting a students senses God calling them into leadership, then the answer should be “Yes.” Often, after a year of involvement, students already have a heart for where they would like to serve the ministry and are asked to step into that very role. This is the best case scenario.

Gifting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  College is a wonderful time to better understand spiritual gifts. If a students is being asked to step into a position that best uses his or her spiritual gifts and natural abilities, then it is likely a good indication to say “Yes.” Even if a student does not yet know his or her spiritual gifts, these opportunities can be a testing ground to discover gifts.

Need                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            It is perfectly fine to simply say “Yes” because there is a need. If a student really wants to serve a particular church or ministry, then sometimes the best way is to say “Yes” to where there is the greatest need. Calling and gifting may be a higher priority in the filter, but sometimes, with a heart to serve the ministry,  students can just say “Yes” because there is a need.

Justin Christopher is the director of Campus Renewal Ministries at the University of Texas and author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.

I’ll have to repeat again: these posts are only the tip of the iceberg. I’m under no illusions concerning the incompleteness of my argumentation; one day I’ll come back to each of these posts and expand and elaborate and elucidate, but until I trust myself a little more, it has to sit on the back burner.

What I don’t know about this topic would fill many more blog posts than what I do, so if you see any theology that makes you panic, never fear. I’m a young Christian, not the leader of a new heretical denomination. (I don’t think things’ll get that bad anyway, Lord willing.) But, even with that as it is, we must continue: all of this week’s meat will come from Romans 6-7. The topic is our new, ‘fulfilled’ relationship with the law of the Old Testament, and to delve into that, we’ll be looking a bit at the relationship between Christian flesh and Christian Spirit and what Paul refers to as the ‘law of grace.’

Are we more sinful or more sanctified, more flesh or more Spirit? Why don’t Christians follow the Torah? What law now exists for the new nation of Israel, if we are dead to the old? I accept questions, comments, and concerns at scott.tipton1@yahoo.com.

Body and Soul

Story time. A few days ago, I sinned, and I got frustrated. But I didn’t get frustrated at my sin. All my Christian life I’ve heard it preached that the God-fearing Christian hates his sin, and I got frustrated because I didn’t hate the situation at all, neither the sin itself nor the action behind it. Worse, I didn’t understand enough about it to even begin to hate it. So I prayed for the Lord to show me what sin was and why it was so important.

Now theoretically, sin is important like the sun is important; Jesus died because of sin, yadda yadda yadda. But I didn’t have enough heart knowledge to see the effects of ‘little sin’ in my life (not talking about murder or rape, talking about private lust or teensy tiny lies). I didn’t understand why little sin was bad. So I asked God to show me what a Christian was, that we should be called to resist sin.

God had poked me to start reading Romans earlier that week, and I had reached Chapter 6. God completely rebuilt my theology concerning the nature of mankind that day. Perhaps my limited understanding was due to my limited Christian age and I’m preaching the obvious, but I’ll briefly outline the change that the Spirit brought about in my thinking for those to whom it may be of service. (For those to whom it isn’t useful, feel free to skip ahead.)

My previous understanding was dualistic. Man had flesh and Spirit, and the two fought to determine whether I sinned or not. They were mixed, like a rock of sediment and clay; although I knew the two would be separated in the end, I imagined them impossibly intertwined in this life. My sin simply meant that the Spirit side of me hadn’t yet claimed enough territory to defeat that particular part of the enemy. Oftentimes, with this paradigm, I would resign myself to my sin, promising myself and God that one day the Spirit would have enough control over me for Him to be able to win consistently. (Note the defeatism.)

When the Lord led me to Romans 6, I saw the Bible building a very different man. This man, rather than being mixed, had a distinct, razor-sharp division in his nature. There was no battleground upon which there were areas where the Spirit had control and areas where the flesh had control; rather, there was Spirit trapped in a fleshly encasement. There were two men, really—one of flesh and one of Spirit, and the one of Spirit had been born when the one of flesh was killed with Christ on the cross (“We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing…” –Romans 6:6; “…but the life he [the man] lives, he lives to God.” –Romans 6:10).

Therefore I understood that I, rather than being a man, am a men, and the men in me are not contestants in the sense of armies on a battlefield, but in the sense of the Spirit leading me to do God’s will and the flesh offering me sensations that distract. Although the flesh may be intentional in its temptation, I saw in my crucified nature a more passive deterrent—the flesh is merely a shell which gives passing feelings and desires which temporarily take our attention from the pure, underlying will of God which resides in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s leading is stronger, more constant, and more powerful; the flesh is a bad cough which comes and goes.

In relation to my sin, I understood that the flesh’s desires are passing away as the world is being made new through Christ at His coming. Always, I have deeply respected long-term consistency as a quality in others, and I understood that the desires of the flesh are sudden pops and jerks of lust and craving, but the desires of the Spirit are steady, slow, guiding currents of emotion; the Spirit is a slow-moving river, the flesh is a sudden burst from a fire hydrant. Therefore The Spirit has the consistently guiding power necessary to do much greater work. The Spirit, although not as experientially powerful at times, is an all-encompassing force capable of shifting the direction of a man’s entire life—the flesh, although sometimes overwhelming, barely manages to shift itself at all.

Victory, therefore, is always present over sin, because sin’s dominion was taken away when the Holy Spirit entered us. No king is a king when a stronger king rules his territory; rather, the strongest king present is the only true king. In this way, when the Spirit enters us, the kingship of sin is removed because a stronger King has arrived—perhaps this is how sin’s ‘dominion’ was taken. In addition, the covenant which we receive through grace is superior to the covenant received through the law, thereby fulfilling/completing it. The covenant of grace is strong enough to enable us to defeat our sin by giving us intimate, personal access with God’s presence. (We’ll discuss what it means to ‘fulfill’ the law in a few paragraphs.)

Now let’s look at implications. If we have died to sin, and the purpose of the law was to demonstrate our sin, what is our current standing with the law?

Dead Widows

Romans 7:1-6 hits this question dead on. The text is so important that I’ll reproduce a bit of it here: Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:1-4)

Let’s unpack. The end of the first sentence is critical: ‘the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.’ But note also that the passage does not say that we died, but that our husband has died; even the last sentence doesn’t say that we have died, but that we have died through the body of Christ. If we die by ourselves, we are free entirely from the law, and there is no law governing us. Rather, we see that our husband has died instead of us, allowing us only to take a new husband.

The second marriage is Christ; we, the Church, are Christ’s bride. I believe the intent here is to show us that rather than obtaining total freedom from any law, we have obtained a new law with our new husband. This law of grace is what Scripture means when it says that Christ came to ‘fulfill’ the law; the old, although lifted from our shoulders, is not completely gone because sin still exists, and therefore a type of law still exists, but the new and fulfilled law is administered directly through the Holy Spirit. ‘Fulfillment’ of the law came with a potentially perfect understanding through the presence of God indwelling us; this was God’s true design for the Old Testament law from the beginning.

Therefore, to conclude, we have obtained a new, completed version of the Torah. It has not disappeared, but it is administered directly into our hearts through the presence of God within us. Rather than looking up laws in a book, the new law requires us to foster our relationship with the Holy Spirit in order to learn what God would have us do in our lives.

So how can we begin/develop a relationship with God?

The Usual Suspects

One day I’m going to count all of the final points I’ve ever made throughout all the Gospel Rants to see how many included the idea of prayer; I have a feeling they will be the majority. You cannot develop a relationship with someone you don’t talk to. The Holy Spirit is always available for prayer, and if you don’t have a tangible experience of the Holy Spirit when you pray, then pray for that, because it does exist. Expect much out of your prayer life, and expect much out of yourself as a Christian, because if you believe that you have the capacity to be a great Christian, God will make you great. I have a feeling there are very few boundaries for such a man; all the world is open to him.

With regards to the law, it was stunning to me after I became a Christian and I was convicted for sins that I didn’t realize were sins, such as gossip. All of Christianity hinges upon the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit within the believer because that is how the New Covenant is administered—this is why Paul says “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9), because without the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer, all of Christianity is brought to its knees. Prayer was the method through which I began to understand the Spirit which lives in me, and scripture was how the Spirit filled me with joy day after day. Both are necessary. (I’m not talking about scripture much because most Christians I’ve seen read the Bible more than they pray, so I’m trying to address the bigger need in what little space I have.)

With love and a desire to see God’s Church glorify Him to its utmost, I challenge you, beloved: how much time can you spend in prayer in one sitting? How many topics can you think of, and if you can’t think of any, why not? Have you tried making a list? That helped me start to be able to remember more things. Have you asked God to teach you how to pray, and have you fasted for the ability to pray well? Do you keep your friends accountable to prayer, and do you pray with them? These things will change your life, guaranteed. Extended prayer really does help in the search for the adoration of God, and it’ll help you love your friends and family better as well.

And once you start, God’ll keep the ball rolling.

God, glory be to You in the highest! May Your church rise, may You be glorified, and may we be united in our passion for You. I pray for prayer and an understanding of myself. May I be a man with a divine knowledge of the blessed gifts You’ve given me through Your son, and may I pray with a true desire and a true heart. Please give me grace to learn more about You and Your Spirit and let my thoughts always be pleasing to You, God. May You be glorified in my life above all else. I love You and I want to love You more, and it’s in the Name of Your Son that I pray,

Amen.