I think we ought to always live a life of repentance where we always allow the Holy Spirit to convict us. I am willing to stand behind the statement that unless you are repenting about something new on a continual basis, you aren’t choosing to follow Jesus. Repentance means changing one’s mind and choosing to not continue doing what one did before. Repentance seems to have been whittled down to a religious term for something we do in order to be saved. I am convinced that changing one’s mind and heart is a daily thing that is about pursuing connection with God, and/or other people.
On that note, I need to get something off my chest. I need to repent from avoiding God. Here at Adventures in Missions “discipleship” is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot. If you do a google search of “discipleship model” you can read for days on what others claim has worked for them. The purpose of discipleship is so that people know Jesus. There is wisdom in having a good model (and there are plenty to choose from) as a grid for what we do. However, a model is useless unless we are about knowing and following Jesus.
Jesus told a story that was relevant to his listeners about wine and wineskins. He said you do not put new wine in an old wineskin otherwise the wineskin will break. But instead you put new wine in a new wineskin. Without explaining what wineskins are, basically the jist of what Jesus is saying here is that when God does a new thing we need to do a new thing in order to receive what He is giving. New models for doing things are good, but only if our focus is on Jesus Himself.
What I am repenting of valuing a new model or wineskin, without searching for Jesus (the wine). What struck me hard was what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2-4:
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified… My message and preaching were not with wise or persuasive words, but with the demonstration of the Spirit’s power…”
He writes this to the Corinthians, which is profound in and of itself, but what he wrote after this is what got me to realize what I had been doing all along. In short, Paul says, “sometimes I do speak with wisdom (not human wisdom, but Godly wisdom), but it is to those who are mature, and Corinthians, you are not mature right now.”
With those who are immature, young or fresh He chose to only know Christ and Him crucified. This is the foundation of the good news! It is the root of the vine. It is the power of God.
What I have been doing is trying to pass on wisdom to those God has given me when I myself have lost some of my foundation, and those God has given me to serve are in need of that foundation, not higher wisdom. Wisdom, even if it is from the Spirit is useless if there is not a foundation of Christ. It is like building a roof on a house that has a weak frame. This is not good!
So here I am before all of you who are reading this saying, I am done with new methods or wise teachings until I know Christ again. Of course I can spout off what I learned in Bible school about penal substitution or justification and sanctification, but there is a difference between knowing the right things and living from a place of every decision I make is fueled by the worth of Christ. Do live and breathe His life, death and resurrection? Am I more crazy about who Jesus is more than the next date I get to go on with my wife? Does His mercy and justice occupy my thoughts throughout the day? When is the last time I wept over what He went through for me? When people see me do they see a man in love with Jesus?
If not, we have a problem here. What I am deciding to do is start a blog series on the foundations of who we are as Christians, and it starts with what Paul says, “I decided to know nothing among you except for Christ and Him crucified.”
This series will dive into Biblical foundations. Please join me on this journey of strengthening my foundation in Christ.
That’s it. Most of us, especially me, need to get back to kindergarten. That’s where we learn all the important stuff anyway. We can’t act on the smart teachings if we forget the foundation…..a very good place to start again when life throws us curve balls. I think that if we are all very honest with ourselves, most of us are only babies in Christ or have somehow reverted back to infancy for some reason. Good. You will have many to teach. xoxo
It’s a lack of spiritual fathering and mothering. The practice of “praying a prayer” then you are saved at a crusade or conference without someone to come along side you and father/mother you creates a culture of spiritual orphans. Rich helped me grow up in Christ to a degree in the beginning, but I am longing now for a spiritual father that I can be in covenant with for the next 30+ years. Someone like Jim Banks if we were more consistent at communicating. That’s what I am praying for now.