Outcomes of Maturing Christians!

“Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk not solid food.”.  Hebrews 5:12

In my previous article, I picked up a serious concern of Paul against his contemporaries who were leaders and Missionary workers engaging in Christ's mission with selfish motives and personal gain (You can click HERE in case you have missed the article)

This week's article discusses yet another serious concern against believers raised by Apostle Paul. The actual concern starts in Verse 11 of Hebrews Chapter 5 where the author thinks the people have become too lazy to understand some hard theology and the concern takes shape when he narrates in Verse 12, "although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk not solid food.".  The concerns here are more to do with spiritual maturity. I am sure you will agree with me that the case is not very different even today. Do we realize, the way we define spiritual maturity is so different, at times humorous? Today, definition of spiritual maturity is flawed into thinking that it is about hectic schedules of spiritual activities, regular visits to Church and paying tithes. To define spiritual maturity, one should seriously understand what the Bible talks about the primary goals and the secondary goals.

Jesus expresses His deep desire in His prayer in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.". Knowing Christ should be the primary and the fundamental goal of every human being. Apostle Paul resonates this deep desire of Jesus and echoes in Philippians 3:10, "My goal is to know him and the power of resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.". The journey begins when someone begins to know God and keeps growing in His fellowship and the relationship is developed. It is an amazing experience. But the questions are what about the "must do's" and the "should do's"? Do we even give some serious thought to it?  A.W. Tozer points out “In the world missions today there is the growing tendency to major in social 'holism,' reducing Good News proclamation to a secondary place.". Every other activity including social interventions are there but maturing in the capacity to proclaim the good news is missing. There are few serious questions each Church going individual needs to contemplate, which are given below:

• Why aren't we serious when it comes to the Great Commission?
• Whose responsibility is it, anyway?
• Didn't Jesus commission all to preach the Gospel and make disciples?
• How come most of the good Church going Christians seem to miss this?
• Aren't the Church Pastors and leaders emphasizing on this?

 If our goal is to be holy and blameless then by default it is in the direction of obeying the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-16) and also obeying the supplementary commandment, to be His witness (Acts1:8). Let me quote the parable of talents in Matthew 25. Every one of them had their share of talents. But the one person who received the one talent thought he did a brilliant job. In Matthew 25:18 It says, "But the man who received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.". There is an important lesson in terms of missions we learn here. Many are like this person who assume it is good to keep themselves safe, holy, preserved and just be faithful to the Church. Probably he might have even be like the Pharisee as described by Jesus in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector which we find in Luke 18:10-14. In verse 12 it describes the Pharisee fulfilling the Spiritual assignment to his own satisfaction when he says, "I fast twice a week, I give tenth of everything I get.".

Are we getting the concern? We cannot love the Lord which is the first and foremost commandment of Jesus summarized in Mark 12: 29-30 and not love our neighbors by saving their souls from Hell. Our Church membership, fasting, intercessory prayers and giving tithes can still hold us a defaulter if we are not following the Great Commandment and Great Commission.

Can we be serious friends, to submit our obedience to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment and impact our city?

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Handling Paul's Concern!

 

“For all seek their own, not the things which are of Jesus Christ.”. Philippians 2:21

We are living in times of dwindling Biblical theology. Bible's core message is customized to choose, context and convenience. Ignorance and politics, have created havoc in many Churches today. By ignorance I mean, when the congregation is reduced to active members and supporters of the Church and create a "feel good" factor. I would give leverage where the cause of the Church is well articulated and connected to Gospel sharing with the Non- Christians. But what if the Church is just existing like a night “Shelter home”, where people visit on Sundays, pay tithes and are blissful about it. Most of the challenges which I am about to share are connected to the core problem where Paul is addressing in the book of Philippians.

Paul expresses his disappointment when he notices that many who were his contemporaries were engaging in the mission work with selfish ambition, for personal profit, looking for self-glory and honor. He claims in the same book about such people, that their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame -who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:19). The grandeur Christ's mission in most cases is successfully replaced by complacency. What I mean is, Church leaders and pastors are busy managing Church crowd effectively, feed them every Sunday without any measurable outcomes. When the intended outcome of the Church is not articulated and understood by the last person in the Church, I guarantee the Church will resemble a ‘Shelter home', where vulnerable people sleep safely for the night and move out during the day going about their personal activities.

Many pastors and leaders today, irrespective of any denominations, believe it is a blessing to have a stable and large Church congregation. Rather than viewing the church as a vehicle that connects people with God and impart the mission of God, the innovative pastors turn the church into a destination. Put differently, old churches were a means to an end and the new generation of churches were an end in themselves.

Some serious and basic questions the Church needs to ask are as follows:

1. For how many years your church has survived? And what is the growth rate?

2. How many members have shared the gospel and brought souls to the Church? Do they even know how to do it?

3. As a pastor and leader how many people have you brought to Christ?

4. How do you define your Church accomplishment?

5. What percentage of the congregation are the result of your evangelistic program of your Church?

A note of caution, when a Church fails to set mission goal and entrust the burden to every individual, the congregation will only be casual visitors with nil responsibility. Pastors and leaders will settle for cheap goals looking for security and profit for themselves operating as managers who manage the company. The responsibility of the Church pastors is not to operate as a manager but to be a disciple maker, equip the members to be active disciples who are capable and equipped enough to commit their obedience to the Great Commission and engage in Gospel sharing business.

It is a comfortable position for a Church to settle with one group and feed them with spiritual food all their lives. But Christ's mission was never intended to be that way. Many misunderstand and assume Great Commission is not intended for all, but specifically implicates a group called evangelists, which is erroneous. The Great Commission in Mark 16:15-16 and the call to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8) goes hand in hand, and is entrusted to every single believer.

Pastors and leaders, if you want to create a serious impact then follow the principles Paul laid for us in Philippians 4:9 (CSB)- “Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”. Teach people correctly, demonstrate the gospel skillfully, model your life effectively and do not forget to establish Church in every home and lives rather than just confining to a building facility and be excited about it. Lastly, seek not your own but that which belongs to Christ Jesus.

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Suffering - A Constant Denominator

 

For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. Philippians 1:29

A majority of Christian walk is filled with challenges, crisis and struggle. It's vile to associate Christian life with prosperity, wellness & materialistic contentment. We embrace a lifestyle of crisis yet never broken or lost, unless we choose to give up on God. Paul summarizes this beautifully in 2 Corinthians 4 8-19, “We are afflicted on every way, but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.”. Any preaching that tells Christian life does not have challenges and struggles it is undoubtedly false theology. God keeps pruning and shaping us on earth through struggles and crisis to perfect us in order to attain glorious eternity. Paul exhorted the disciples and strengthened them to continue in the faith in Acts 14:22, , “it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”. The Bible also says “He comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”. 2 Corinthians 1:4.

The key verse emphasizes that it has been granted to us on Christ's behalf not only to believe in Him, but also suffer for Him (Philippians 1:29). It is crucial to understand God shapes a person in his crisis, not in his luxury. Luxury dulls our need for God. If indeed God has given us luxury, it is only to share with the less privileged and the needy. Let us be aware that the blessings we receive is not for us alone, but is given so that we generously share it with others. The rich young man in the Bible came to Jesus to know how he would inherit the kingdom of God. He was blessed with all the materialistic blessing and also followed all the commandments ardently from his young age, but returned sorrowful when Jesus told him, “you lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, and follow me.” Mark 10:21. The next verse says, “but he was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.”. The final culmination point is that God is trying to teach us to live one day at a time as stated in the Lord’s prayer, “give us each day our daily bread.” Luke 11:3.

Life of Jesus fascinates me in two passages. First, in John 7:30 it says, “No man laid his hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”. Second, a few days later He was again teaching in the temple and the crowd was enraged by His claims, yet still, “no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come. “ John 8:20. The inference is that the suffering was stalled for Jesus until the fullness of the time or in the appointed time which was about to come. Today we comfort each other saying good times are ahead. God allows perpetual crisis to prune us and increase our God-reliance over our self-reliance. Never forget the words of Jesus, “In this world you will have tribulation”. John 16:33. We have hope in Jesus because of the victory as He encourages saying, “but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”. In our final destination with God, we come to a perfect future as stated in Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death will be no more , nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things are passed away.”. Note, the former things, which is the present age has promised suffering and crisis in abundance. But soon we will reach our eternal destination where there is joy in abundance and joy eternal. In this earth we cannot escape problems and crisis but His promises are eternal, notably, He will never leave us nor forsake us..  

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Women of dignity!

 

Wishing all women a very Happy Women’s Day! Women have always proved their excellence by taking different roles as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, etc. Bible has so many examples of women of honor but somehow inadvertently or purposefully they are not marginalized in Churches today. Let me remind the foundation verse which gives God's perspective that says in Genesis 1:27 “So God created human being in his own image. In the image of God, He created them; male and female he created them.”  God had assigned specific roles for both man and woman and expects that we play the role efficiently. To a larger extent cultures have manipulated to silence women and created a male-dominated society. Diane Langberg Christian Psychologist talks about the misuse of power beautifully. “Christendom has used scripture to sanction slavery, racism, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other cruelties our God hates. Some corners of Christendom today have, I fear become less interested in truth and more interested in power.".

I think it is good to highlight some of the women characters from the Bible who made tremendous impact but ignored. Let's look at few of them:

1.Jochebed the mother of Moses who daringly let go of her son in faith. She put him in a basket and let him float in the Nile river (Exodus 2: 1-4).

2.Zipporah initiated and completed the circumcision procedure of her son, and established the covenant (Exodus 4:24-26).

3.Deborah was the only female in the line of judges ( of the 14 judges of Israel) and was a military leader. She wanted Barak to have the credit but because of his refusal to go on his own, he was not credited for the act (Judges 4:1-9).

4.Jael was a bold woman who kills Sisera with kindness and power, subduing the power of Canaanites (Judges 4:17-23).

5.Ruth's noble character gave way to form the lineage of Jesus (Ruth 1:16-18) through David's genealogy.

6.Hannah, the barren woman’s decision to offer her son to be one of the greatest prophets in Biblical history (1 Samuel 1: 11-28).

7.Queen Vashti is unique to be qualified in this list. The King wanted to flaunt her beauty to a bunch of drunken men. Would it not be labelled as humiliation and abuse of power in present times? And the consequences pornographic? Vashti should be considered a righteous hero for standing up for her modesty (Esther 1:-10-12).

8.Abigail was a wise woman married to a fool (as admitted by her). She gives a brilliant discourse and saved her husband from David’s wrath (1 Samuel 25: 23-31).

9.Mary Magdalene, Joanna Susanna and many other were supporters for Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8: 2).

10.Mary Magdalene, Mary of Nazareth, Mary wife Clopas stood by Christ till the last in the crucifixion history (John 19:25).

11.Priscilla along with her husband corrected Apollos, an eloquent orator on the teachings of Christ accurately (Acts 18:24-25) and was also involved in the founding of the Church at Corinth.

12.Women who witnessed the empty tomb and proclaimed the resurrection story is commendable. (Luke 24:10; Mark 16:9; Mat 27:56, 61)

I have mentioned just few and we all know there are so many more in the Bible who have set an amazing example for all of us to follow. Before I could conclude let me juxtapose two prominent male characters from the Bible. The first one is Amnon who stripped the dignity of a woman (Tamar happened to be his sister) (2 Samuel 13:1-14). The second person is Boaz who protected Ruth when she was vulnerable spending the night with him. He clothed the woman (Ruth) with dignity and extended his protection (Ruth 3: 7-18). In the world where there is so much of discrimination and abuse, women still outshine like a stars. We honor you and bless you. May you excel and ignite the world which is filled with differences, hatred and abuse.

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Faithfulness a rare commodity

  

Faithfulness is one of the primary characteristics of our Lord God. The Bible says, in Deuteronomy 7:9 “know therefore that your Lord God, the faithful God…” and Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:9 states “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.”. God demands us to be faithful. There are no grey areas in faithfulness, either we are faithful or faithless. Today, the so-called spiritual giants who enjoy fame go about flaunting their ministerial greatness and activities but God alone gauges the faithfulness of an individual.

Solomon poses a pertinent question in Proverbs 20:6, “Many men will proclaim each his own goodness but who can find a faithful man?” This means we can brag about our activities, have enormous fund flow, jetset around the world as an itinerant preacher or evangelist, be accurate in our discourses, be theologically sound, but lead  a life of utter contradiction of being unfaithful to God and oneself. Theodore Roosevelt states, “It is better to be faithful than famous.”.

Faithfulness of people can be selective. People choose to be faithful when its demands are high. Whatever the demands, the degree of our faithfulness is always open in God's sight. As we are culminating to Christ's coming, there is an increase of debauchery and unfaithfulness among Christian celebrities that's being exposed and shaking Christendom. It is surprising to know some of them survived for years leading a life of dichotomy and deception. Many Christians assume they need to hide their misgivings to protect the name of the Lord and as a result the intensity of the explosion rips through individuals, societal and religious entities. Jesus warns, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.”. Mark 4:22.

God is more concerned about our faithfulness than our accomplishments in His name. Diane Langberg the Christian Psychologist states, “We do not protect the name of Jesus in the Christian world using godly words to cover ungodly deeds. God wants purity in the kingdom of heart not the appearance of it in a system that has to lie to make it seem as if it is present.”. Paul in Romans 3:3-4 states, “What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not! Let God be true…”. God remains faithful. God’s faithfulness can never be negated by man’s unfaithfulness. Let's take this to heart, God is primarily interested to see how faithful we are. No one can be labelled a spiritual giant just because he/she is gifted, highly talented, and able to turn many souls to Christ. Our purity and holiness matters much before evangelization. Let us not forget that we will face innumerable opportunities each day to slip and our soul to be ruined. The desperate cry of David in Psalms 12:1, which reads, “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.”. Unless we are God conscious there is every chance we will fall. May God help each one of us to remain faithful in His vineyard.

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Ministry success Analysis!

 

I am grateful to God and we should all be that Christian presence is seen, felt and heard nationally and globally. Today, there are innumerable social media platforms, that talk about Christ. It’s a joy that anytime someone wishes to know Christ can find information in abundance by merely browsing. But there is a problem. In spite of abundant supply (a term used in economics) the demand is significantly low, meaning people aren’t willing to buy-in the idea of salvation, in Christian sense, corresponding to the amount it is made available.

I battle with this question - Are we seriously missing something? With abundance in Christian work, why aren’t we witnessing increase in harvest? If you are a leader or a Pastor you would attest the fact that you are part of so many Christian fellowships, forums, Chat groups where Christian language is spoken in abundance. But the measurement metrics, I am referring to, i.e. the national statistics of Christian presence, are not encouraging and yet, the Churches and Christian organizations continue to celebrate success defined by them. I do understand that the Churches and Organizations have sufficient reasons to celebrate their success, but "What about the BIG goals and where are we in regard to the same?" is what every individual and Church fail to ask. 

Pandemic ushered in the revolution of  social media platforms, which increased the concentration on Christians exponentially. The measurement metric that plays here is the greater the number of people join one's platform the greater the satisfaction for the hosts. This defines the success of their Church, which is an erroneous way of measuring success. During these times many organizations have worked out the math projecting a calculation of how their revolution, as they understand will saturate the city and the country with the gospel. Each organization has an agenda, compelling Christians to be part of the crowd calculation and be satisfied with the report they present. If you notice, Organizations and Churches want to thrive on activities without making any real sense to Non-Christian friends. When will the Church learn that running around in frantic religious activities has nothing to do with Christianity, as pointed out by Jesus. It’s just being religious! (Luke 10:42). Dr Eric Mason states, “I fear the Church has become salt and light to itself and not the world as it was called to which left to itself becomes artificial light and self-preservation.”. 

Christian presence in India was 2.3% as per 2011 census, but recently Open Doors world watch list has published 2021 statistics with India now at 4.9% Christians. Another fact to consider is that India has been ranked 10th globally for severity of persecution against Christians and it is getting increasingly difficult for Christians to profess their faith. The survival is not about organizations and Churches but that every Christian is equipped to share his/her faith and save souls from eternal damnation. The Church should enable them to go out and share the gospel. If this is not part of measurement metrics of success then probably the Christian institutions are merely surviving. The more the Church strives for stability, recognition, power and money, the more its spiritual potency will diminish. You may check the blog on Quick Fix or lasting impact? to more on this.

Let me end my analysis with a final remark from Reinhard Bonke who puts this beautifully, "So our main task must be the implementation of the Great Commission—the going, the making, and the discipling. The church is a lifeboat, not a pleasure boat. Entertainers are neither needed nor wanted. From the captain to the cook it is all hands on deck for soul-saving.". The church that does not seek the lost is “lost” in itself. Some excuse themselves by saying that in today’s pluralistic society the Christian half can never penetrate the other half. Why not? That is not God’s idea or command. When He spoke through Isaiah, He said: When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. —ISAIAH 59:19.

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Masked You vs The Real You!

 

"You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it." Alan Moore. I could not but fully agree with this quote as it's profound and thought provoking. Our life experiences force us to wear masks and with constant overuse of that leads to a point we become unrecognizable to ourselves. If we come across someone who is genuine and true to themselves, it's like a breadth of fresh air in this fake world we live in.

The Bible says, “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG. Our pretentions and deceptions are conceived in our heart, plans to follow through devised in our mind and eventually exhibit in our actions. Somehow, we convince ourselves that we can pretend to be someone else (with Christian overtones) and get away with it. Yes, it's easy to deceive, manipulate and fool humans, but can we really deceive God?

"Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace!" Proverbs 12:20 NLT. In this verse, Bible is very clear that when you deceive you are already in the path of evil. The question arises, what makes us wear masked personalities? Is it our fear of rejection? Or is it that we have been hurt too many times for our goodness that we end up taking revenge by acting like a good person? Or is it that we are just pure evil and sold out for the devil that we go around manipulating and taking advantage of people?

Our deceptions are always translated in our actions or otherwise our works. If we read the book of Revelations, God says to five out of seven Churches, namely Ephesus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, "I know your works...". My dear brothers and sisters, why should God be focused and concerned about our works? Because each of us are the Church. It's not our buildings God is talking about. It's you and me and that should be a good enough reason to remove our masks or we will stand judged by Him. Our motives, our principles, our morals, our ethics should all stem from obeying and practicing the word of God.

The further we are away from God, correlates to the level of pretense we exhibit in our lives. The moment we use God for meeting our own will and desires, God is only a prop in our life. But when we truly surrender every area of our life to God, be transformed, we become genuine, unafraid of revealing our true self to the world. Can we like Apostle Paul dare the world saying, "Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ."1 Corinthians 11:1 CSB.

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