One of my all-time favorite things to do as a pastor is water baptism. I love hearing the stories of lives that have been completely transformed by Jesus Christ! This morning the Calvary Assembly of God family celebrated with Crystal as she made her public declaration that she is totally sold-out for God!
There has been a debate in religious circles for a long, long time about how involved Christians should be in culture.
The debate usually has two extremes: Either get immersed in your world, or don’t even touch a thing of this world. I hate either-or’s!
Instead I think there is a both-and balance that is very biblical. We need to ENGAGE our culture. Engaging culture means that we understand it and can relate to it, but we don’t give in to it nor compromise with it.
I’ll be addressing this topic in a new series at Calvary Assembly of God. I hope you’ll be able to join me to learn about the biblical ways we should be engaging our culture.
I remember once going to play golf with two other friends. When we got to the course, the starter added another guy—someone we didn’t know—to our group to round-out our foursome. We began to “play” our round of golf (I use the term play loosely), and joke, and laugh, and enjoy ourselves.
About 4 or 5 holes into our round, our new friend asked what we all did. I responded, “He’s a pastor, I’m a pastor, and that guy over there is a missionary.”
Our new friend looked shocked. “You mean you’re all Christians?!”
“Yes, we are,” I said. “Does that surprise you?”
“Yes,” he replied, and then quickly added, “But I’ve never had so much fun playing golf before!”
It’s funny, and yet sad. Why would Christians be thought of as boring? dull? killjoys? Shouldn’t we be the most happy and joy-filled of all?
Here’s what Charles Spurgeon said—
We ought to be glad and rejoice forever in that which God creates. Ours is a heritage of joy and peace. My dear brothers and sisters, if anybody in the world ought to be happy, we are the people.
How large our obligations! How boundless our privileges! How brilliant our hopes!
What should make us miserable? Sin? That is forgiven. Affliction? That is working our good. Inward corruptions? They are doomed to die. satanic temptations? We wear an armor which they cannot penetrate. We have every reason for delight, and we have moreover this command for it: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). May God bring us into that blessed condition and keep us there!
God intends not only that we should have joy but also that we should spread it among others. He intends that wherever we go we should be light bearers and set other lamps shining.
Can people tell you have the joy of the Lord? Are you bringing light and laughter to dark and somber places? If you are filled up with God, how happy you should be!
Somehow I don’t think this is the most effective way to start a conversation about your faith!
Here are four thoughts I have…
Don’t compartmentalize. In other words, don’t put on your “Christian hat” to talk about your relationship with Jesus. Just be Christ-like all the time. People are looking for something real, not someone who’s playing an act.
Develop relationships first. Don’t lead with a sermon; lead with a friendship. As the saying goes, “People don’t care how much (or Who) you know, until they know how much you care.” Be a genuine friend first.
Wait until they’re ready. Jesus told stories with a deeper meaning and asked a lot of questions of people before He spoke to them directly about the kingdom of God. Don’t force people into a conversation. Keep the door open, and let them step in when they are ready.
Don’t get discouraged. Just like there are some topics you’re not ready to discuss right now, others feel the same way. So just because they say “No thanks” today doesn’t mean nothing happened. The Bible says that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt and light are always seasoning and illuminating everywhere they go. Your life is making a difference.
Betsy and I went to school conferences and discovered that our youngest son has been staying after school—by his own choice—to help his teacher tidy up the classroom. Are you kidding me?! This is the first I had heard of this. Wow, am I one proud Dad!
I’m not sure if he knows this verse or not, but Brandon is living out what Jesus said:
Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.
He’s serving just because he wants to serve. I didn’t know about it, but his Heavenly Father did. Thank you, Brandon, for giving me this wonderful example of servant leadership!
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Not Imitating Jesus
God does not expect us to imitate Jesus Christ: He expects us to allow the life of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal flesh. God engineers circumstances and brings us into difficult places where no one can help us, and we can either manifest the life of Jesus in those conditions, or else be cowards and say, “I cannot exhibit the life of God there.” Then we deprive God of glory. If you will let the life of God be manifested in your particular human edition—where God cannot manifest it, that is why He called you, you will bring glory to God.
From Approved Unto God
This so encourages me, because it tells me that every difficult situation I’m in is God-engineered. He put me in these tough spots because He wants the life of Jesus to be seen through me. And He wants to be glorified. If God desires these things, then He will give me His Holy Spirit to strengthen me to shine in difficult places.
Shine on!
Did you ever sing that song as a kid?
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine
Let it shine, all the time
Why did I stop singing that as a “grown-up”? Yesterday I was reading in Matthew 5 where Jesus talked about shining. Many of the translations read, “Let your light shine.” But I really like the Contemporary English Version —
Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.
Make it shine!
That’s really the most accurate translation. Let it shine sounds passive. Almost like, “Well, it’s shining already, so I guess I won’t put it out.” But make it shine is definitely in the active tense
… it’s right now
… it’s burning brightly and deliberately and unashamed
I grew up in a Christian home, so maybe I just assumed that my lamp was lit already and I could just let it shine. Maybe you’ve just assumed your light was shining too.
But today I want to be active in making my light shine. I’m going to do good so that others can praise God too.
Won’t you join me in making your light shine brightly today too?
I walked into a coffee shop for a meeting this morning and someone who had been in Biggby before me was wearing the same perfume that Betsy wears. It made me think of her throughout my meeting. Without even realizing it, some anonymous woman left something nice behind for me.
Here’s a thought…
A few thoughts on how we could do this:
C’mon, let’s make a difference.
I was really challenged by the message Andy Lapins brought to our youth group.
Andy opened with a simple question, “Have you ever been afraid to tell someone about your relationship with Jesus.” My hand went up, along with just about every other hand in the room.
Andy followed up: “Why? Why are you afraid to share this good news?” The number one answer: Fear of rejection.
Andy then asked us, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they accept what you have to say, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Good!”
Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they neither accept it nor reject it, but you know you have planted or watered a seed, is that a good thing or bad thing?” Again, we all answered, “Good!”
Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they completely reject it—they curse you out or tell you you’re a weirdo—is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Bad!”
To which Andy said, “Really?!?” Then he dropped these two Bible passages on us:
Andy followed up, “So what do you think now? If someone rejects you for sharing Jesus with them, is it a good thing or a bad thing?” Now we all answered, “Good!”
There are only three possible outcomes:
I challenged our youth group to write “Cha-ching!” on their status line on Facebook whenever they shared the good news of Jesus with a friend.
Regardless of the outcome, you can’t lose! So go tell more people about Jesus today!
I’m struck by this passage:
…[Moses’] face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
This has got me thinking…
If I were to answer honestly, I cannot say “yes” to all of these. If I want to glow with God I’ve got to be willing to spend enough time with Him.
I’m working on it. How about you?
Craig T. Owens 