Category — Discipleship

Have you ever had a pebble in your shoe? From time to time I’ll be out hiking and a pebble flips up and lands in my boot. Of course, I could stay home and sit on the couch and avoid the possibility of getting a pebble in my boot, but then I’d miss out on so much enjoyment in life!

Instead, I choose to go out hiking and occasionally get a pebble in my shoe. Sometimes, if I’m in a hurry, I try to ignore the pebble. And before I know it, this tiny remnant of a rock or twig is causing me to walk with a limp. This wayward pebble is irritating, annoying and impairing my ability to walk and enjoy the beauty around me.

So finally, I’ll stop, untie my boot and shake out the offending particle. And often I’m amazed at what a tiny particle of stone or bark it was that caused me so much discomfort! Why hadn’t I stopped to remove it sooner? [Read more →]

This is the seventh article in a series addressing the pattern of many Christians who no longer view the church as relevant or necessary and are leaving the church. Let’s look at four powerful characteristics of Christ’s church.

First, we need the context of community (i.e., the church) to grow in Christlikeness. We are misinformed, if not arrogant, if we think we can grow in Christ apart from the constant and consistent interaction of other followers of Christ. God’s design for us as Christians is to become more like Christ—that is, to take on Christ’s character. Character issues are predominantly relational. In other words, love, forbearance, patience, grace, mercy, forgiving—all of these character qualities can only be learned and practiced in the context of relationships. 

We don’t learn to be more loving by reading a book or even studying the Bible. We become more loving as we observe others love and imitate love in the context of our own relationships. Jesus demonstrated this principle in John 13:14-15 when he washed his disciple’s feet and then told them to follow his example. [Read more →]

Here we are at the sixth in a series of articles on the church—the community of Christ’s followers. This series was prompted because so many Christians are confused about the church, its relevance to their lives and God’s purpose for them through the church. Let’s consider the vision and mission of the church that Christ left with His disciples.

When Jesus called His disciples (followers), He called them not only into fellowship with Himself but into community with each other. Jesus’ pattern in this regard is unmistakable! In fact, Jesus maintains that our unity in Him and love for one another provide the basis for our witness to a lost world (John 13:35; 17:22-23). [Read more →]

This is the fifth article in this series on the church. I’m responding to the trend of those who call themselves Christians yet distance themselves from the church.

In the New Testament, one cannot miss the pattern that the immediate work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a new follower was to bring him/her together into deep fellowship with other followers of Christ. Acts 2:41-47 represents a classic passage on the account of the fledgling church in Jerusalem:

“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” [Read more →]

In this fourth blog in the series on the community of Christ-followers let’s consider the identity of the church in more detail. We learn in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that as followers of Jesus, His Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. Some who have abandoned the community of Christ-followers rationalize that this passage refers only to the universal, unseen body of Christ.

The 1 Corinthians 12:13 passage does apply to the universal church, but it also clearly refers to the local gathering of Christ-followers. In fact, to think of the body of Christ solely in terms of an unseen spiritual truth represents a Gnostic view which attempts to distinguish between spiritual reality and earthly illusion. But the Scripture demonstrates emphatically that God sees our lives as an integrated whole and we need to as well. [Read more →]

This is the third in a series of blogs on the church or community of Christ-followers. We’re taking a look at the current trend among Christians who are abandoning the community of Christ-followers. In response to this trend, we’re looking at what God says about this in His Word.

Early on in the life of the New Testament church, the community of Christ-followers had grown so large so quickly that it aroused the attention of the Jewish religious leaders. These religious leaders launched an organized attack on the church and one of their chief “KGB” thugs was a guy named Saul.

Saul’s goal was to purge the world of Christians and he had the approval of the authorities to carry out his awful plan. The crazy thing is that Saul considered himself an ardent follower of the One True God and thought he was helping God out by ridding the world of Christians. But the Scripture says, “Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.” (Acts 9:1 NLT) [Read more →]

In my last posting I introduced the topic of the church or community of Christ-followers. I posed some questions about God’s perspective on this subject: Is the church important to Him? Can Christians function without the church? And what does God reveal about the church in His Word?

The purpose of this posting and those that will follow is not to draw attention to the church as an institution, but as the community of Christ-followers. In order to help us train our minds to understand this biblical distinction, I’m going to deliberately and frequently employ the term community of Christ-followers as a synonym for the church.

How did the church or community of Christ-followers come into being? And whose idea was it? The biblical account demonstrates that the church is God’s idea. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) In that context, Peter—a follower of Jesus—had recognized and declared Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah), the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). In response, Jesus affirmed that God Himself had revealed Jesus’ identity to Peter. [Read more →]

My family and I were out camping last weekend. At a remote beach, we met another couple and talked with them for some time. In the course of our conversation I mentioned to the man that I’m a pastor, to which he responded, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.”

I’ve personally heard that claim many times over. “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.” Based on the rest of our conversation, this particular individual expressed a need to justify his actions in the presence of a pastor!

Others who say, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church,” communicate a sense of liberty—that they’ve been freed from the burden of church-going. Some people have been so wounded by a church that they swear they’ll never go back. Many simply hold the belief that church-going is unimportant to God and therefore isn’t important to them. [Read more →]

“Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD.” (Psalm 119:1 NLT)

Ever since the Garden of Eden, the Evil One does his best to cause us to doubt the goodness of God. As a result, many of us view God as a strict disciplinarian interested chiefly in servile compliance to his laws. We may even try to avoid knowing God’s commands thinking that maybe ignorance of them removes our responsibility to obey them. [Read more →]

From time to time most people seem to pass through a phase of boredom. Some teens complain of boredom almost daily! I must confess that I occasionally feel bored.

Instead of boredom, or being mired down in the mud of being bored, we long for the new, fresh, exciting, enthralling, invigorating, interesting, motivating, appealing, stimulating, energizing, challenging, thought-provoking, etc.

What makes something boring? Is it purely a frame of mind? What is the anatomy of boredom?

Is boredom sin? The words boring and boredom do not appear in the Bible, but is the root of boredom discussed there? Is boredom a problem to be overcome or just a fact of life to endure? Why do I feel guilty sometimes when I’m bored?

What’s the connection between boredom and the routine? Is variety the simple answer to boredom? What if variety already exists in the routine? [Read more →]