Keeping Jesus Centered in our Hearts

Last year at this time we introduced you to John Clark who writes at Standing Firm: Growing in the Christian Faith. This appeared there on New Year’s Day, but the year is still young, and this devotional is definitely worth reading. Click the title below to read it where it first appeared.

How Do We Keep The Glow?

‘Because of the Lord ’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘ Lamentations 3:22-23

I don’t know about you but I love the idea that comes with a “new” year. The idea that we can:

• Start over
• Fresh Start
• Start to make improvements we may have been putting off
• Areas that we consider improving: Health, money, relationships, and spiritual renewal

But why is it that we take 364 days to start working on something we could have been doing for that period, with the kicker that we may only go down the road with this plan for a month or two?

The New Year’s resolution has become a tongue-in-cheek joke if you think about it.

So the question is, how do we stay the course? How do we persevere to see it to the conclusion?

Let’s start with this, none of it will matter without Jesus being the Lord over our lives. When Jesus becomes the center of our lives, this is the filter we should look at in every area of our lives.

‘Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ‘ John 14:6

I used to look at my life in compartments, I had:

• My church group
• My work group
• My family group
• My friends group

And my behavior was different with each of these groups. This was a terrible way of operating my life. There needed to be more consistency in my growth. When I realized I was leaving Jesus out of the other areas of my life, it became clear why my spiritual growth was stunted.

With Jesus centered in my heart, it affected every area of my life. And living that way affected the people around me.

Stay in God’s Word

I wish I could say this is easy, but it requires me to focus on God and His will for my life over my will for my life. The best remedy for this that I have found to work the best is to read and study God’s Word as often as I can, day and night.

‘Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ‘ Joshua 1:8

Another key here is to make sure that the focus of the reading is to look for ways the Lord wants to change your heart, NOT the hearts of those around you. It is ok to want the people around you to come to know God, but the change in your life will have the most impact on those around you.

One thing that happens with a “new” start is that we tend to lose steam; we start off with promise, but that steam slowly dissipates until we fall out.

Moses experienced this when he came off the mountain after spending time in the presence of God.

‘Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ‘ 2 Corinthians 3:12-14

“But their minds were made dull…”

We have to hedge against our minds becoming “dull.” Being in God’s Word as often as possible will help with this. The Word of God does not return empty. The Word of God will have a supernatural effect on our thinking and actions. We have to discipline ourselves to stay in the Word of God.

Get involved with God’s people

Being a Christian is a team effort. We can only grow spiritually with a support group of believers.

‘Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ‘ Hebrews 10:23-25

When we are available for other believers for support, we start an upward spiral that keeps moving up. The writer of Hebrews says, “we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” When I think about the word “spur,” I think about riding a horse and sticking a “spur” into the side of a horse to get it moving along.

Would you happen to have one person who will take your call no matter what happens? A person who will drop everything and come and get you if you find yourself in a pickle?

A more critical question is: are you available to drop everything to help a friend in need, no matter what time it is? I’ve heard two great ideas about this from Pastors I have been under:

► True ministry is going to be messy. – Pastor Kevin Whitacre, LifePoint Church in Chicopee, MA.

► Ministry is not convenient. – Pastor Emeritus Rurel Ausley, Crosspoint Church in Niceville, FL.

‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ‘ John 15:13

It has been my experience that when I am helping other Christians with their struggles, the Word of God comes alive.

My resolution this year is to grow closer to Jesus. I know there is no other thing that I can do that will help me become a better husband, father, brother, and friend.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace and mercy. Your mercy is renewed daily.

I pray that You change my heart to be more like Jesus daily. I am thankful for the sacrifice that You made to bring us to You.

Please help me read Your Word with open eyes and an open heart. Please help me to be sensitive to the Spirit in my heart, and give me the courage to follow the Spirit’s guidance.

In the precious name of Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen!!

Anchored in Jesus

Beginning a New Series: What Kind of Church?

by Clarke Dixon

Many people have become uncomfortable with the Church and churches to the point of being done with Christianity. They have seen too much politicking, hypocrisy, abuse, scandals, and the ignoring of science and education. One might wonder if Jesus himself would be comfortable in some churches.

While on Sabbatical I was grateful for efforts of our interim pastor Ray Jones who happens to be the executive director of an entity called Open Table Communities. What is Open Table Communities? There are many people known as the “dones,” that is, people who are done with churches and Christianity as a whole. While there is much more to it that what I’m about to say, I’d characterize Open Table Communities as saying, “before you throw out the baby with the bath water, let’s take a closer look at that baby, and the bath water.”

Open Table is guided by eight cultural statements. They are statements of “this is how we do things around here, this is the kind of community we are.” As I looked over the eight cultural statements, they struck me as being good, not just for a new kind of faith community like Open Table, but also for an old fashioned kind of church, such as we are at Calvary Baptist. Really they speak to a community that gets Jesus, his teaching and example, the kind of community Jesus would feel at home in, the kind of community many of us would feel at home in.

Therefore, over the next eight weeks we will be using of these statements as launching points for exploring the kind of church Jesus would feel at home in, the kind of church we want to be.

Here is the first statement:

We nurture cultures that are anchored in the Jesus story, his life, death and resurrection. We nurture a view of God that is seen through the lens of Christ, and consider how this way of seeing God, the world and human activity is conducive to all human flourishing.

Open Table Communities

Why anchor our faith and life in Jesus?

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT)

Why anchor our faith and life in Jesus? Because Jesus said it was the wise thing to do. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had already said several times “you have heard it said…but I say to you.”. Here in conclusion he is saying “Listen to me!”

Jesus later said,

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)

The kind of church that “gets Jesus” is one that is anchored in him.

But why listen to Jesus?

Why listen to Jesus when we wouldn’t listen to any of our friends if they said the same things about themselves as Jesus said about himself?

In a nutshell, the resurrection of Jesus changed everything and the apostles knew it.

With the resurrection of Jesus, on top of his teaching, and on top of the miracles he performed, listening to Jesus became the natural thing to do. With the resurrection of Jesus it became reasonable to believe him when he said that all authority had been given to him. With the resurrection of Jesus the disciples knew it was time for new wineskins. Everything had now changed.

But why listen to what the early Christians said about Jesus?

The disciples were convinced about Jesus, but why should we be? How do we know the New Testament is not just made up?

There is enough to say here to write a book, in fact I’ve done that as have many others. For now, let’s just recognize that Jesus is unique in the history of the world and the history of people. Jesus deserves a deeper dive, a second look, in fact a third and fourth look.

Where else might we anchor our faith and life rather than in Jesus?

There are many other places we might anchor our faith, many places which actually are good sources of truth. For example, science. Science is a great and important source of truth, but it cannot tell us everything. Likewise, philosophy, tradition, and our own experience can all be good sources of truth though they cannot replace Jesus as the anchor. Some anchor their faith in what pop culture says, or in what their social media streams tell them. There can be truth there too, but they do not compare to Jesus as an anchor for life and faith.

Here is another source of truth which is not to be the anchor: the Bible. Surprised? We are not Bible followers who look to Jesus to help us follow the Bible, but Jesus followers who look to the Bible to help us follow Jesus. There is a subtle but important distinction there. The Bible is “God-breathed,” and while that’s amazing and important, Jesus is “God with us,” and that’s even more amazing and more important. We Baptists like to say that the Bible is our authority. Sometimes what we mean, without our even realizing it, is that our understandings or interpretations of the Bible are the authority. Again, there is a subtle but important difference there. The Bible is so important for our faith. But it is not the anchor. Jesus is.

Jesus as the corrective lens.

If all we had was science, how would we view God, humanity, life, and everything else? If all we had was philosophy, how would we view God, humanity, life, and everything else. Or if all we had was pop-culture, social-media, or the Old Testament? We see what God is like through the lens of Jesus.

The corrective lens of Jesus, seeing everything through Jesus’ teaching, his life, his example, his death and resurrection, enabled Paul to say that “God is for us and not against us” (see Romans 8) and John to say that “God is love” (see 1st John 4). What does being anchored in Jesus enable you and I to say about God and our relationship with the Divine?

Since Jesus is the anchor, people are the focus.

Jesus said “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10 NRSV). When we focus on Jesus, his teaching, example, life, death, and resurrection, we see that Jesus was focused on us. Being anchored in the Jesus story means putting the focus on people, seeking human flourishing. There is a reason the only verb in the tagline of our church is “helping people.”

Here at Calvary, we want to be anchored in Jesus. We want to help people walk with Jesus in faith, hope, and love.

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Clarke Dixon is a pastor in Ontario, Canada; whose writing appears here most Thursdays. The sermon on which this is based can be see here.

Christocentric Conversation

I want to know Christ–yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings
Phil 3:10 (NIV)

For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.
2 Cor. 4:5 (HCSB)

And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
I Cor. 15:14 (NLT)

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
1 Cor. 1:2 (NLT)

Christ means everything to me in this life, and when I die I’ll have even more.
Phil 1:21 (GW)

For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being…
Acts 17:48a (Weymouth)

Now this is eternal life–that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
John 17:3 (NET)

He must increase, but I must decrease
John 3:30 (var.)

If you get to know someone over a period of time you should start to see an emerging pattern of the values they hold to be important. But sometimes, after ten years of writing and editing Christianity 201, I’ll discover a topic which is very near and dear to me which I’ve never covered here. Or I’ll be speaking with someone with whom I’ve had dozens of conversations, and they’ll tell me I never mentioned that particular term before.

One such word is: Christocentric.

It’s a preacher word, to be sure, and I’m not a preacher; but I believe strongly in Christ-centered preaching, when even with a particularly obscure Old Testament passage, the pastor infuses the message with the Christological element or application. The same is true of my preference for Christ-centered worship songs, and Christ-centered fellowship.

A few years ago, I got to test my commitment to that ideal.

It was a simple discussion with a man who is a member of a Christian denomination that many of my friends would say doesn’t represent “the real thing.” We talked about various things, and many spiritual practices and doctrines were mentioned which had the potential to easily hijack the discussion, or prove to be red herrings that would have simply consumed much time and yielded nothing productive.

So I kept coming back to the things Jesus said and the things Jesus taught. That’s actually not easy for me because I’m a sucker for all those other debate subjects. I love a good argument. There. I said it.

But it wasn’t the time or place. It was a time to focus on Jesus, and draw the conversation back to Jesus every time it threatened to go off in a different direction. I even explained my strategy out loud a few times; something to this effect: No one will be won to Christ by clever argument or reasoned persuasion or skillful rhetoric; but rather, they will be compelled to follow only when they have looked directly into the face of Jesus and been won by His love.

It was the best conversation of this type I’ve had; and I think the feeling was mutual, especially inasmuch as we ran 90 minutes. He was in 70’s and I probably should have offered him a chair, but he was as caught up in the discussion as I was. But I had to work hard to keep the discussion from going off the rails.

And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Mark 8:29 (NASB)

…So again, today’s word is “Christocentric” meaning Christ-focused. Take this word and make it yours and then whenever it’s your turn to control the conversation, bring the focus back to Jesus. Ask people the question below.  The way people answer this speaks volumes as to their relationship to the Lord. But, sometimes the tables are turned, so always be ready to give your answer to this question:

What do you think about the Messiah?
Matthew 22:42 NIV

What do you think about the Christ?
Matthew 22:42 NET

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Jesus at the Center – Israel Houghton – Studio version.

 

Today’s Word: Can You Say Christocentricity?

I want to know Christ–yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings
Phil 3:10 (NIV)

For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.
2 Cor. 4:5 (HCSB)

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
1 Cor. 1:2 (NLT)

Christ means everything to me in this life, and when I die I’ll have even more.
Phil 1:21 (GW)

For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being…
Acts 17:48a (Weymouth)

He must increase, but I must decrease
John 3:30 (var.)

By their blogs ye shall know them.

If you read someone’s blog over a period of time you should start to see an emerging pattern of the values they hold to be important. But a year after starting Christianity 201, I discovered that I had never used a word here which actually ranks high in my list of spiritual priorities.

The word is: Christocentric.

It’s a preacher word, to be sure, and I’m not a preacher; but I believe strongly in Christ-centered preaching, Christ-centered worship songs, and Christ-centered fellowship.

That very day, I got to test my commitment to that ideal.

It was a simple discussions with a man who is a member of a Christian denomination that many of my friends would say doesn’t represent “the real thing.” We talked about various things, and many spiritual practices and doctrines were mentioned that could have easily hijacked the discussion, or prove to be red herrings that would have simply consumed much time and yielded nothing productive.

So I kept coming back to the things Jesus said and the things Jesus taught. That’s actually not easy for me because I’m a sucker for all those other debate subjects. I love a good argument. There. I said it.

But it wasn’t the time or place. It was a time to focus on Jesus, and draw the conversation back to Jesus every time it threatened to go off in a different direction. I even explained my strategy out loud a few times; something to this effect: No one will be won to Christ by clever argument or reasoned persuasion or skillful rhetoric; but rather, they will be compelled to follow only when they have looked directly into the face of Jesus and been won by His love.

It was the best conversation of this type I’ve had; and I think the feeling was mutual, especially inasmuch as we ran 90 minutes. He was in 70’s and I probably should have offered him a chair, but he was as caught up in the discussion as I was.

…So again, today’s word is “Christocentric” meaning Christ-focused. Take this word and make it yours.

What do you think about the Messiah?
Matthew 22:42 NIV

What do you think about the Christ?
Matthew 22:42 NET

Christ-Centered Accountability

Sometimes I think I need to try harder to make this blog live up to its name. Then there are topics like this one, where I feel maybe this is more like Christianity 301 for some people. Stay with me here…

Tullian Tchividjian, who, not that it matters, is a grandson of Billy Graham; and who, it does matter, is the pastor of Florida’s prestigious Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, has a couple of articles I want you to link to today.

The first one, on the surface of it anyway, looks at “accountability groups;” the kind of small group thing that Tullian says end up more focused on our sin than on our Savior.  In so doing, he says, they actually may be making people feel worse.

All the “good stuff” that is ours already in Christ settles at the bottom when we focus on ourselves more than Jesus (after all, Peter only began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on his performance). John Owen said, “Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realizing of the gospel in our souls.” And what is the gospel? Not my work for Jesus, but Jesus’ work for me…

He says that we need reminders, not rebukes; and we need to get away from the mentality that says we need to fix people.

What Paul did for the Colossians is what we all need our Christian brothers and sisters to do for us as well: remind me first of what’s been done, not what I must do. So, while rebukes are sometimes necessary, reminders are far more effective in the long run.

Take 3-4 minutes to read that article, in its entirety here.

Now, I’m sure that someone reading this is going to say, “But I’m a part of an accountability group, and it has been most helpful to us; and I’ve encouraged others to do the same.”

Tullian wasn’t knocking the groups per se, but rather the tendancy of some to move in a specific direction. But it caused quite a stir, and in the comments section he offered this clarification:

…It’s not accountability in general (I mention the friends and family that continue to help me grow) but the kind of accountability groups like the ones I specifically mentioned (believe it or not, these are much more commonplace than you may realize!) that end up being more of a hindrance to our growth, than they are a help. These groups foster the kind of guilt, legalism, narcissism and morbid introspection that are antithetical to growth in the gospel. It’s very telling, for instance, that in Galatians 5:4-5 the Apostle Paul describes falling from grace, not in terms of immorality or godless living, but legalism.

I call for accountability in this post, but a certain kind of accountability–the kind that forces us to reckon with the scandalous nature of God’s unconditional love for us because of Christ’s finished work on our behalf. I believe in the need to repent and to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16).

I can personally attest to the tendency of certain groups to get off their original focus and away form their primary design.

Take 2-3 minutes to read the follow-up article on his blog.

Here’s a parallel observation that didn’t form part of his article, but which I believe applies here:

Lots of men (and some women) struggle with online addiction to websites with sexual content. Many groups work very hard to try to help such people wrestle themselves away from such internet locations. It’s not easy. But some take another approach and stress the character of God, in particular his omnipresence. The idea is that if you really, really, really believe that God is with you; that he is right next to you as you sit at your computer; you won’t go to those sites. This approach is effective for many people.

Even here it’s easy to remember the illustration and miss the point: That remembering the character and attributes of God is possibly more effective than simply calling on God’s power to help us break free of a controlling habit. The latter will work in many cases, but remembering the character of God gives us a greater reason to want to make a rapid life change.

Words that Refresh

The sheer arrogance of naming this blog Christianity 201 never ceases to amaze me.   What on earth was I thinking?

Certainly I was thinking that I would create something as an alternative to my other blog; I would create something more Biblio-centric, more Christo-centric.    I would, as the blog’s header says, “dig a little deeper.”

But I am amazed at how much one man’s “deeper” is another man’s “boring.”   While some theologian types salivate over a discussion of some tertiary doctrine, and others start hyperventilating at the discovery of a lost document by an early church father; others can’t get past the second paragraph before their mouse is clicking them off to a Christian dating site, or an online vendor of Christian t-shirts.

The love and grace and mercy of God should never be boring.   But theology for theology’s sake can be dry and lifeless.

Instead, God’s word should be the opposite to dry; the Bible should contain words that refresh us.    It’s the world which is the desert; it’s the company of God’s people sharing God’s word that is the oasis.

Which brings us to rather strange place, Amos 8:11

¹¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.    ^(NIV)

The Message Bible couples that verse with verse 12:

¹²People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,
hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it. ^{(The Message)}

Instead of clicking away from things which we think are boring, we should take an extra moment to consider what it is that gets the writers, the bloggers, the theologians so energized.  With Amos’ readers, we should also consider a world without the availability of God’s Word.

So my goal here is to “dig” a little deeper; but to try at the same time to keep it fresh and to keep it energized.    The truths of God’s word are like water to the thirsty, like food to the hungry.    To try to draw you into an excitement about the things in God’s word which can be found once you scratch the surface and start looking closer.

If catchy headlines and worship videos cause people to stop here who would otherwise find the doctrinal bloggers boring; then that’s good; as long as the day’s topic gives them something to consider, and perhaps builds an appetite for discussions they might have thought dry and lifeless, but start to consider as real and vital and exciting.