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What Does It Mean to Love God?

What does it mean to love God? In today’s world, where there are many voices calling for your attention, some would say their way of loving God is “the” way of loving God. Others might say that loving God is relative and depends upon your situation and circumstance. One thing we do know is: to love God is to give your total allegiance to God’s love and to allow that love to shape the way you live.

Read Matthew 22:34-40 

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Reflect on Matthew 22:34-40

When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, his answer brought the meaning and purpose of faith clearly into focus: love God completely and love your neighbor as yourself.

In this blog, I want to explore what it means to love God. We will explore loving neighbor in the next blog.

When Jesus says, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” he is talking about a total, all in, commitment to God’s way. It is essentially becoming who God created you to be.

To go deeper. Loving God is not a matter of what you say, it is a matter of what you allow God’s love to do in your life.

It means loving others even when it is difficult, trusting when life is painful and confusing, and allowing truth to shape the way you think about and interact with the people you encounter each day.

To love God with all your heart, soul, and mind is to allow God’s love to become stronger in you than the hatred, fear, or pain around you.

To love God is not simply about following rules. It is about becoming a person whose life is shaped by love.

So, the greatest commandment, to love God, is more than what you believe. It is about how love makes you and shapes you into who God created you to be.

For John Wesley, this scripture gives a foundation to his emphasis upon holiness of heart and life. loving God and loving neighbor are not separate goals, but the two dimensions of your life being transformed by God.

Respond

Little Suzy girl asked her father, “Daddy, what does it mean to love God?”

Her father thought for a moment and said, “It means that God is the most important person in your life.”

She nodded, but she still did not understand. So, she asked, “Does that mean I have to think about God all the time?”

Her father smiled. “No. But, let me tell you a story.”

There once was a young man named Tommy. He had grown up in a small town where most things were peaceful, but there were times people would have small disagreements. Tommy’s dad was one person in town who tried to be a peacemaker. That was one of the many reasons Tommy loved his dad.

Even though he was an adult and out on his own, Tommy liked sitting with his mom and dad in worship. He loved his parents and especially liked the conversations they had after worship. He called those conversations ‘having the preacher for lunch.” One of their conversations was about what it meant to love God.  

One Sunday, when Tommy arrived at the church to worship, his dad was not there. He asked his mother, “Where’s Dad?”

She responded, “He’s at home. He said he had several things on his mind.”

After worship, Tommy stopped by to visit. He found his dad sitting in his favorite chair by the window.

“Dad, are you okay? Mom said you had several things on your mind.”

His father looked out the window and said, “I’ve been thinking about something, Son.”

“What?”

“Your mother and I have been married for forty years. I love her more today than I did when we were young.”

Tommy smiled. “That’s nice, Dad.”

His father continued, “But I don’t spend every minute telling her I love her. I don’t have to. I know her. I trust her. I try to do what makes her happy. And when I make a mistake, I ask her to forgive me.” He paused and then said, “That’s what loving God is like.”

Tommy sat quietly.

His father said, “You love God by getting to know God. You love God by trusting God. You love God by trying to do what God asks. And when you fail, you come back and ask God to forgive you.” Then he added, “And if you really love God, you will begin to love the people God loves.”

Tommy looked at his father. “Even the difficult people?”

His father smiled. “Especially the difficult people.”

Suzy’s father concluded his story by saying, “To love God is to make God the most important person in your life. You love God by trusting God’s love for you and for others. You love God by loving the people God loves.”

Suzy said, “So, loving God means more than thinking about God but loving the way God loves.”

Her father replied, “Now you know what it means to love God.”

Loving God is not simply about saying the right words or attending the right worship services. It is about a relationship that changes the way you live and how you relate to the people around you.

When you love God, you begin to trust God, obey God, seek God’s presence, and love the people God has placed around you.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37). And Jesus immediately added: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39).

Your love for God is revealed in the way you love others. I’ll explore loving your neighbor in the next blog.

Return

Give thanks for the people you encountered today. In what ways did you love God? How did you work for the good of the people around you? How did you let people love you? With whom do you need to celebrate God’s love and the ways you have been able to love God and love your neighbor? What will you do differently tomorrow?

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The Fruit of Self-Control

When it comes to self-control, I like these words from James, “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). Self-control is learning to respond with love rather than reacting without thinking.

It is not simply “trying harder” or suppressing your feelings. Self-control is, by God’s grace, the ability to manage your desires, emotions, words, and actions so that they are brought under the direction of God’s love.

Paul lists self-control as one of the fruit of the Spirit.

Read Galatians 5:22-23

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Reflect on Galatians 5

The biblical understanding of self-control is different from our cultural understanding. It isn’t about denying yourself what you want. It is about not allowing what you want or your desires to become your master.

The Greek word for self-control means mastery over oneself, restraint, or disciplined control of your desires. Paul understood this when we wrote to the Corinthians, “I will not let anything master me” (I Corinthians 6:12).

In one sense, self-control is strength placed under the authority of love.As an example, self-control is experienced in your response to anger. When you are rooted in God’s love you might be angry, but love has taught you how to express that anger. You might disagree with someone, but love has taught you not to humiliate them. You might have the power to retaliate, but love has taught you to offer forgiveness.

In another sense, self-control, under the authority of love, is simply knowing when not to speak. The text you choose not to send. The criticism you choose not to voice. The argument you choose not to win. The gracious response you send in place of the angry one.

These are all acts of spiritual maturity, products of the fruit of self-control. You cooperate with God’s Spirit as God forms your character. The goal is not to become a person who has perfect control over everything. The goal is to become the person who God created you to be, living under the authority of Jesus, God’s love in human form.

If gentleness is strength in the hands of love, then self-control is strength under the direction of wisdom. Together they describe a follower of Jesus who has strength but does not need to use it destructively

Respond to Galatians 5

Think of ways you might respond to your family, your colleagues, your friends, and neighbors today. With whom might you need the self-control to respond with love instead of anger?

You might think of it this way. Joe received an email from a colleague that made him angry. The message questioned his leadership, criticized a decision he had made, and, at least in his mind, completely misunderstood the situation.

So, he immediately began writing a response. Every sentence was sharp with anger.  He typed, “If you had bothered to understand the situation…” Then another sentence. “Perhaps you should worry more about your own responsibilities before criticizing mine.”

He finished the email, reread it, and felt a strange satisfaction.

As his finger hovered over “Send,” he remembered something his father had taught him: “You don’t have to say everything you’re thinking just because you’re thinking it.”

So, he stopped and closed the laptop. He went for a walk. He prayed and thought about what he was doing.

The next morning, he read the email again. Much of what he had written was true, but it wasn’t loving, constructive, or necessary. So, he deleted it and wrote a different response: “Thanks for sharing your concerns. I don’t see the situation exactly the same way, but I’d like to talk about it. I think we’ll understand each other better if we have the conversation face-to-face.”

The conversation didn’t magically solve everything. They still disagreed. But Joe walked away with something more important than winning an argument. He had won a battle with himself.

That is self-control.

Self-control isn’t pretending that you aren’t angry. Joe really was angry. It isn’t pretending that you don’t have something to say. He had plenty to say. Self-control is having the strength to choose what you do with what you are feeling. It is having the wisdom to choose what you do with your anger and the words you choose when you respond.

The world often measures strength by what we can control around us. The Bible measures strength by whether we can learn to control what is within us.

Sometimes the greatest victory isn’t winning the argument. Sometimes it’s having the strength not to become the person your anger is tempting you to become.

Return at the End of the Day

Give thanks for the people you encountered today. In what ways did you use self-control? When you felt yourself become angry, how did you respond? When you wanted to speak harshly, what kept you from speaking your mind? With whom do you need to celebrate your self-control? What will you do differently tomorrow?

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Producing the Fruit of Love

Loving like Jesus is not easy. Learning to love and modeling love is the challenge of every follower of Jesus. Some people put a lot of emphasis on the social aspects of love, while others emphasize the personal aspects.

Loving like Jesus is not easy. In the midst of our cultural wars, we have made enemies out of the people who disagree with us. We have used the words of Jesus as instruments of pain and separation instead of instruments of agape and reconciliation. Jesus says that the mark of true discipleship is seen in how we love one another. 

Am I missing something when I think that Jesus meant for us to work on bringing people together instead of separating people. As followers of Jesus, the challenge is to love others as Jesus has loved us. Is it possible to love as Jesus loves in the world in which we live?

What would happen if we began to see each person we meet as someone God loves and is longing to be loved?

Let’s use the pattern of Read, Reflect, Respond, Return as a tool to learn more about loving as Jesus loves.

Read 1 John 4:7-21

7 Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. 8 The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. 10 This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.

11 Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. 13 This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the savior of the world. 15 If any of us confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God remains in us and we remain in God. 16 We have known and have believed the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. 17 This is how love has been perfected in us, so that we can have confidence on the Judgment Day, because we are exactly the same as God is in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love because God first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen! 21 This commandment we have from him: Those who claim to love God ought to love their brother and sister also.

Reflect on 1 John 4:7-21

When John writes “God is love,” he is letting us know that love is the character and nature of God. He writes that we see and experience God’s love in Jesus. Because we have experienced God, then we are free to love one another. The evidence that we know God and God’s love is seen in the way we love others.

John also explains that perfect love drives out fear. So, those of us who abide in God’s love can face loving others with confidence because we live in a relationship with God.

Then John gives us a practical test of our faith. He writes that the one who does not love does not know God. It is impossible to love God while not loving our sisters and brothers. Your love for God and your love for others is inseparable.

To love God means you love your neighbor, your family, the stranger, those with whom you agree, those with whom you disagree, and even those you consider your enemy. You love who God loves…and that is everyone.

For John, God’s love is the source, model, and motivation for those of us who follow Jesus. Our faith is demonstrated by loving others as God has first loved us.

Respond to 1 John 4:7-21

John writes, “We love because he first loved us.” The Christian life is not about trying harder to be loving; it is about staying connected to God who is love. We reflect the love of God that shines into us and through us. When we receive God’s love, we naturally reflect it to others, and the darkness begins to give way to light.

God’s love is the source, and our love is the reflection.

Maybe you can think of it this way. A little girl received a small mirror for her birthday. One afternoon, she took it outside and noticed that when she tilted it toward the sun, the mirror reflected a bright beam of light. She discovered that she could direct the light into all directions, especially under bushes and into places where there were shadows.

Her grandfather watched for a while and then asked, “Where does the light come from?”

She smiled and said, “From my mirror.”

He replied, “Well, not really. The mirror doesn’t make the light. It simply reflects the light.”

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Raising a New Generation of United Methodists

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, I want to offer a way that can and will make America great again. The way I propose is rooted in the Wesleyan movement started by John Wesley in the 18th century.

Leonard Sweet says that the Wesleyan Revival was born on its knees, rooted in fasting and prayer. For Wesley, prayer was the most powerful force in the universe.

Listen to what others have said about the Wesleyan movement.

The Wesleyan Movement

Roger Starr, a journalist known as a liberal, Jewish, Democrat, when writing for a journal called The Public Interest, discovered there was only one other period in world history that matched the time in which we live. It was 18th century England. There were problems of addiction, families decomposing, pollution, crime, violence, and rioting.

To find out what pulled England out of its crises, he consulted a historian by the name of Nathan Hatch at Notre Dame University.   Through his research,  he discovered that the thing that saved England was a movement called Methodism started by John Wesley.

Starr wrote, “Now, I don’t even know any Methodists. I don’t know anything about them. But Wesley started a movement that literally saved England. It was a movement that had profound social, economic, and political consequences and transformed and indeed saved that nation. And maybe what we need to do is to study those Methodists to find out how they did it, and to duplicate what they did back in the 18th century.”

Shortly after Starr’s article, George Will, a journalist known as a conservative, Roman Catholic, Republican, wrote an editorial for The Washington Post. Will wrote, “I never thought I’d agree with anything Roger Starr has ever written. But you know, this liberal has got a point. It is that in the 18th century you had the German and French revolutions, and other revolutions around the world, but you don’t have an English Revolution. But they did, you see. It was called the Methodist revolution. Because these Methodists turned their world upside down, maybe what we need to do is to take Roger Starr seriously and look at what was the secret of those Methodists.”

Then Will added, “I know this is going to sound strange for me, saying that we need some more Methodists to save this world, and I hate to end the column this way, but does anybody out there have a better idea?”

About a month after Will’s article, Fred Barnes, a journalist known as an evangelical, Episcopalian, moderate, and editor of the New Republic, wrote an article in response to George Will and Roger Starr.

He expressed both agreement and disagreement with Starr and Will. Barnes agreed that the world today needs another Wesley but found Will’s and Starr’s analysis coming up short.

He wrote that they forgot one thing: “The source of Wesley’s power was religious faith, and religion of a peculiarly social kind. Wesley’s evangelism was inseparable from his social activism.” People today are not just hungry for the things of the world, but for the things of the Spirit.” A secular Wesley with tips on how to shake poverty won’t grip the underclass.  But a religious Wesley, a new Martin Luther King, Jr. might. I understand why Will didn’t play up Wesley’s religious appeal.  Some people insist that religion not only can’t solve social problems, but it also shouldn’t even enter the national debate on them at all.” Barnes wrote, “I disagree on both counts.”

He wrote, “What they forgot was that basically the Methodist Movement was at heart, a spiritual awakening. Yes, it had tremendous economic, social, and political consequences, but it began as a spiritual revival…And unless we get in this nation a spiritual awakening and a spiritual revival that will create these kinds of economic and political implications in our day, it won’t work. It has to begin as a movement of the Spirit or else it doesn’t go anywhere. But we have to begin. We have to have a new generation of Methodists who will do for this day what they did in the 18th century.”1

Raise a New Generation

I suggest that we give them what they are looking for. Let’s start a movement of the spirit, a movement of holiness, that will make America great again. It is time for us, as United Methodist Christians, to bring hope to the people of our country.

As we celebrate 250 years as the United States of America, let’s begin to raise a new generation of Methodists to do in our day what those early Methodists did in the 18th century.

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The Ministry is in Our Hands

There is a legend of a conversation between Jesus and the angel Gabriel, after the ascension. The conversation focuses on how Jesus’ work on earth will continue. Gabriel approaches Jesus and asks, “Master, you suffered terribly on earth to pay for the sins of humankind. Does everyone down there know and appreciate the extent of your sacrifice?” Jesus replies, “No, not yet. Right now, only a handful of people know about it.” Puzzled, Gabriel asks, “What plan do you have to tell everyone else?” Jesus explains, “I have asked Peter, James, John, and a few other friends to spread the news. They will tell others, who will then tell others, until the message spreads to the ends of the earth.” Gabriel, knowing the limitations of human beings, asks, “Yes, but Master what if Peter grows weary and goes back to fishing: What if John loses his enthusiasm, or the others who come after them forget? Do you have a Plan B?” With a study and loving gaze on Gabriel, Jesus simply answers, “I have no other plans. I am counting on them.” Jesus left his work in the hands of ordinary, imperfect people like you and me. He is counting on everyday ordinary followers to continue to spread his message of love. We are an extension of his ministry. You can read about it in Matthew’s story of the life and ministry of Jesus

Read Matthew 9:35-10:8

Jesus traveled among all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.”He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to throw them out and to heal every disease and every sickness. Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who is called Peter; and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee; and John his brother; Philip; and Bartholomew; Thomas; and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean; and Judas, who betrayed Jesus.Jesus sent these twelve out and commanded them, “Don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city. Go instead to the lost sheep, the people of Israel. As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons. You received without having to pay. Therefore, give without demanding payment.

Reflect on Matthew 10

Jesus Sees the Need

When Jesus sees the crowds, he is moved with compassion. He calls and invites people like you and me to join his mission. In the story, he equips those whom he calls with his authority, and he sends them out to share God’s love in both word and deed.

Matthew tells of Jesus’ teaching, preaching, and healing throughout the towns and villages. Then he writes, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

The word “compassion” refers to a deep, gut-level concern that moves a person to action. When Jesus saw the need, he didn’t feel sorry for the people, he was moved from deep within himself to care for the people.

Matthew tells us that Jesus sees us as “sheep who need a shepherd.” People are not seen as problems to avoid, but as people who need care and direction. He is moved by their condition.

Jesus Calls for Workers

Then Matthew changes the image. The shift is from sheep to harvest. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

The problem is not that there are too few people interested in God; the problem is that there are too few workers willing to serve. Jesus’ first instruction is “Pray.” He says,” Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.”

Ministry begins with prayer and then moves into action. God’s mission first requires being aware of the need and then a response to meet the need. God wants you and me to participate in God’s mission.

Jesus Equips and Sends

Jesus calls twelve ordinary people, and he gives them authority to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.” I think it is interesting that God often chooses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary purposes. The authority belongs to Jesus. He simples calls and invites us to carry out his mission in the world.

He says, “Freely you have received; freely give.”

The grace they received was gift from God. What they are learning is that God’s love is not something to just talk about but is an action to be demonstrated through acts of mercy and restoration.

Respond

Jesus looked at the crowds and saw people who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” His heart was filled with compassion. But instead of trying to do all the work Himself, He called ordinary people to follow. He equipped them for ministry and sent them out to respond in love.

It might be helpful to think of it this way. In a small town located in the mountains was a clinic. Because it was the only medical facility in the area, it functioned at capacity most of the time. The staff worked tirelessly to meet the needs of those who were sick, injured, and in need of care.   

The director of the clinic, Dr. Carter, noticed that there was a growing number of people coming to the clinic who were lonely, experiencing grief, and needing basic care.

One evening, he stood at the clinic window looking out at the crowded parking lot. A young nurse walked up, stood beside him, and said, “It has been another full day.”

He responded, “Yes, every day is getting fuller. There are so many people who need help. I look out and all of you are working as hard as you can to meet the needs. The problem is not the needs. Our problem is, we don’t have enough people helping to meet the need.”

The next week, when making out the staff schedule, Dr. Carter did something unexpected. He invited a dozen or so people from the community to help address the needs of the clinic. He asked his mechanic, a teacher he knew, a farmer he had helped, the clerk at the grocery story, a retired firefighter, and several others. None of them were doctors and some of them even wondered why they had been invited.

At an initial gathering, Dr. Carter looked around the room and said, “The town is hurting, and I can’t reach everyone by myself. I’m going to teach you how to help.”

So, Dr Carter began to train them for service. He taught them how to recognize emergencies, how to provide basic care, how to comfort frightened families, and how to connect people with resources.

At the end of their training, the doctor handed each of them a medical kit and said, “You know enough to begin. I’m sending you out as an extension of the clinic.”

The mechanic raised his hand, “What if we’re not ready?”

Dr. Carter smiled, “You’ll never feel completely ready. But the people need help now.”

It did not take long for those invited to care for the needs of the community to scatter throughout the community. They checked on elderly neighbors, responded to emergencies, delivered medicine, and encouraged discouraged families.

Months later, someone asked Dr. Carter, “Do you ever get concerned about giving ordinary people so much responsibility.”

He looked out at the town and replied, “The need was too great for me to keep it to myself. The best way to care for people was to send others to care for them too.”

Jeus says, “The harvest is plentiful.” The needs are great and Jesus still calls each of us to become his hands, feet, and voice in the world. The compassion of Jesus always leads to mission.

Return

Give thanks for God’s call upon your life, and thanks for the people you encountered today. In what ways were you aware of following Jesus? How did you live out your call? How did you experience God’s love? In what ways did you model and share God’s love? With whom do you need to celebrate the love you experience in and through them: what will you do differently tomorrow?

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Begin to Engage Your Community – Part 3 – Koinonia

Engaging the community is about God’s business. It is about following Jesus in relating to and loving others within the community in which you are located.

To help resource you in Engaging the Community, let’s focus on two distinct community ideas. The first is koinonia found in the New Testament. The second is the community in which your congregation is located. In both communities, you can share the gospel and grow your relationship with Jesus and the people entrusted to your care.  

To focus on these two concepts, remember that you are about God’s business. So, through the lens of being a follower of Jesus, what does it mean to live in community with other followers of Jesus and what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus in a diversity of people and beliefs?  

It is important to know and understand koinonia as you engage the community in which you are located. So, let’s start with koinonia, the New Testament understanding of fellowship or community.   

Read Acts 2:42:47 

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.  

Reflect on Acts 2

The first followers of Jesus, “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship…” Gathering in community was important. It is mentioned three times: They devoted themselves to “fellowship” (verse 42), “All who believed were together” (verse 44), and “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple…” (verse 46). Being together was an important characteristic of their faith development.  

Koinonia

This fellowship was known as “koinonia.” Before describing what “koinonia” is, let’s identify what it is not. Koinonia is not formal gatherings for potluck dinners nor informal gatherings of people who are like us. It is neither being a part of a country or civic club nor is it like being a part of a service organization. Koinonia is more than participating in worship. All of these are good and needed, but they do not describe what those early followers of Jesus experienced as koinonia. 

Koinonia for them was gathering to listen and learn of the gospel (apostles’ teaching). They were trying to make sense of what they had experienced at Pentecost. Gathering was to eat together, (breaking bread). It was an expression of God’s love, agape, working for the good of others, especially those who had little to eat. Gathering to pray (prayers). They gathered with glad and generous hearts in gratitude to God, seeking direction on how to live their lives as followers of Jesus. 

Koinonia and John Wesley

It is this same koinonia that John Wesley experienced when he expressed that “I felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did trust Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”  

Wesley was motivated to establish a koinonia system to help others, whose hearts were also “strangely warmed.” He was surrounded by people who not only wanted to hear the gospel but wanted to experience it. They lived in a time of spiritual apathy in which there was a disconnect between themselves and their faith. There was also an institutional disconnect that created disillusionment and distrust of the church.  

Wesley’s Aldersgate experience became a model for heartfelt faith. For the people whose hearts were warmed by God’s love, Wesley developed a system to help keep the heartfelt faith alive with experiences of care, support, encouragement, and correction.  

Koinonia and Methodism

He developed community by using class meetings and bands in which followers of Jesus were nurtured in faith and held accountable with compassion. People cared for and looked after each other’s souls. It was in the fellowship where loving hearts set other hearts on fire.  

Koinonia was woven into the DNA of those early Methodist Christians. Whether you are a United Methodist or not, this koinonia has shaped your faith as a Jesus follower. It is an essential experience in assisting you in becoming who you are created to be.  

Embodying Koinonia

Although I did not know it then, my earliest memories of faith are of people teaching, caring, supporting, and encouraging me in the faith community. Whether it was a fourth-grade Sunday school teacher telling me I would go somewhere else in the world to tell others of Jesus, a junior high school teacher who taught me to pray and to listen for God to speak, a high school teacher who cried with the class the day after a major disaster, or the Jesus followers who nurtured me in faith with compassion from a child to an adult, koinonia was part of my experience in becoming who I am today.  

Over the years, I have attempted to develop koinonia through small groups or other fellowship experiences. Still, the most common experience in which I have experienced koinonia is when it was woven into the fabric of the community of faith. It was when other followers of Jesus, whose hearts were warmed with God’s love, shared their faith and love with one another, the larger community, and the world.  

Heartfelt Faith

As a follower of Jesus and a Christ-centered leader, you lead with a heartfelt faith. There are two aspects of this heartfelt faith: the experience of God’s love in each individual’s life and the gathering of followers of Jesus who have experienced God’s love. Think clearly about providing opportunities for the “warm heart” and the structures of care that will lead to transforming individual lives, communities, and the world.  

When Wesley insisted that “true Christianity cannot exist without the inward experience and the outward practice of justice, mercy, and truth,” he gave us our focus on koinonia.  

So, take a moment to reflect upon these questions for yourself:

  • How is my relationship with Jesus growing in depth and expression?
  • How am I living out my heart being warmed by God’s love?
  • How do I grow in faith and live out my faith in meaningful ways? 

Take a moment to reflect upon this question for your faith community:

  • Am I developing the structures of care where people can grow in grace and discipleship, where the fruits of the spirit are being cultivated, and where loving hearts are setting others’ hearts on fire?  

The early followers of Jesus “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship…” So, one of the characteristics of engaging the community is to develop koinonia, Christian community. 

Respond

Beware of moments when your heart is “strangely warmed” by the presence of Jesus in the lives of the people you encounter and in the situations you find yourself today. Continue to be mindful of how you are growing in faith and living in God’s love.  Be intentional in extending God’s love to the people around you. Ask God to help you be a blessing to someone, somewhere today. 

Prayer 

O God, thank you for your fellowship so I can grow in my faith. By your grace, continue introducing me to people who can provide care, support, instruction, and correction. Thank you for the ways you have provided for me to become more of the person you have created me to be. Give me the faith to trust you more. Make me aware of the people around me today so that I might become a blessing to someone, somewhere today. I offer myself to be in koinonia with you in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Return

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you meet Jesus? How was your heart strangely warmed? What structures did you put in place to give others care, support, encouragement, and hope? What do you need to do to lead others into koinonia? Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to become more who God has created you to be. 

As you learn and grow in engaging the community, keep in mind, who you are is how you lead.

Next, we will look at the second concept of community in Part Four of Beginning to Engage the Community.

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Begin to Engage Your Community – Prayer

This is part 2 of Begin to Engage Your Community. Read Part 1.

As a follower of Jesus in a rapidly changing world, you have the responsibility to engage your church in loving and caring for your community. By centering on God’s mission, embracing your local context, and engaging with the community, you lead the way by modeling purpose and authenticity. You have the opportunity to lead your church in reclaiming its role as a vibrant and relevant force in the lives of the people in your community and beyond. 

Engaging the mission is about following Jesus into the community and being about God’s business. It is a way of relating to and loving others within the community in which you are located.

Engaging In Missions

As much as churches talk about caring and serving, your life changes when you engage in missions. Whether it is your life or the life of your church, engaging the community means constantly challenging personal preferences, the fear of losing control of who to serve, and the anxiety of not having enough resources. 

Although the work is challenging, engaging in mission means you can relax in the experience of loving others as you have been loved. Engaging the community is an experience of transformation and new life.

Focus on the Mission of God’s Love

When I reflect upon the presence and power of God in and through the Holy Spirit, I discover that the early church was focused on the mission of God’s love and that the power of the Holy Spirit helped those early followers to overcome the barriers of race, gender, theology, faith, and persecution.

When engaging the community, you are given the power to overcome the barriers that keep people from experiencing God’s love by resisting evil in whatever form it presents itself.

So, the question is, “What do you need to do to engage the community with God’s love? 

Start with Prayer

Prayer facilitates your engaging the community. Since you are engaging in God’s business, it makes sense to seek God’s direction. So, as you begin to engage the community, provide opportunities for everyone in the congregation as well as your leaders to pray. 

Make prayer part of every Sunday School class, small group, administrative meetings (Administrative Council, Leader Board, Finance, Trustees, Pastor Parish Relations, etc.) rehearsals, trainings, or other gatherings of your church community.  

Remind your leaders, in whatever context they are leading, that when there is no prayer, there is no power. When there is a little prayer there is little power. When there is much prayer there is much power. Said another way: No prayer, no power. Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power. 

Ask God for new possibilities to break through in your church and community. Ask God to give you the eyes to see and hearts and minds to receive and understand what God is doing in the community.

  • Ask God to help you discover what you need to do that no one else is doing in the community. Ask God to send you the people no one else wants and for the grace to receive the people God sends to you.
  • As you surrender yourself to God’s direction, be mindful of how God can use you and your church to make a difference in your community.    

Prayer

To get you started, here is a sample prayer:   

O God, by your grace give each of us obedience to yield a little more of ourselves today.  Put us where you want us and help us be content.  If we can’t be content, make us faithful.  Let us be a part of what you are blessing and let us learn everything we need to learn in every situation and circumstance.  Teach us and equip us to bring here on earth what you have in heaven.  Break our hearts for the church and the church’s heart for the community. Send to us the people no one else wants and by your grace help us receive the people you send to us.  Let us see you in the tasks you have given us to perform and may you find us faithfully performing those tasks.  Fill us with your grace and glory so all with whom we come in contact will experience your grace and glory in us. 

Remember, prayer facilitates engaging the community. No prayer, no power. Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much prayer. It was while the disciples were praying that the Holy Spirit came upon them. They received power to be witnesses (the Greek work means “martyrs) starting where they were and moving into their communities, surrounding areas, and to the world 

Engage in the Seven Missional Questions 

Read Begin to Engage Your Community – Preparation – Part 1  or Engaging in Mission: Seven Missional Questions (This article gives you the details of each question.) 

The questions are:

  1. Where have you witnessed God’s presence in your community? (God’s Presence)
  2. What is the mission of the church (Mission)
  3. What is our mission field? (Mission Field)
  4. What are the assets of our community? (Assets)
  5.  What are the needs of our community (Needs)
  6. What relationships exist with leaders in our community? (Relationships)
  7. What is one way we can collaborate with other churches? (Collaborations)

To engage the community, prepare your heart and mind with prayer. Ask God to help you to be aware of and sensitive to the people you encounter in your mission field. 

Prepare your heart and mind with bible study. Read Luke 10:1-12 and ask God to send you out as missionaries to learn about the mission field in which you live and serve.  

Engage the leaders of your church in participating in the seven questions above. Send your leaders out in teams of two or three to experience the mission, to encounter the people, to assess the assets and needs of the mission field. 

Assist your leaders in identifying and developing the relationships within your mission field. What relationships need to be nurtured, reconciled, or re-established? 

Continue to engage your team in prayer and study. Continue to ask God to help you be aware of and sensitive to the people you encounter. 

Read, Reflect, Respond, Return

When you are engaging the community, you are loving and serving people in all you do. Keep in mind that you are about God’s business as a follower of Jesus whether you are feeding people, providing housing, caring for children, sharing in a work team, or on a mission trip. To assist you in keeping focused, use the following pattern as a way of focusing upon God’s business and growing as a follower of Jesus. 

Before leaving for the site on which you are serving, gather your team together. The team must gather before arriving at the site. In other words, the focus is on becoming who God created you to be, a follower of Jesus, and not upon the work you are involved in or the service you are providing. Both are important but becoming a disciple of Jesus and being about God’s business of loving others is the main focus. 

As important as this is, before leaving for the site, take no more than 15 minutes to do the following: 

Read

Pick a scripture for the day. Before reading it, ask each member of the team to focus upon a part of the scripture, then read it aloud for the team to hear. 

Reflect

Have each person briefly tell which part of the scripture they will carry with them throughout the experience. Keeping the scripture in mind, ask each member of the team to be aware of the people they meet and to look for Jesus in the midst of their serving, working, and interactions. 

Pray

Remember, prayer facilitates your engaging the community. So, before you leave for the site, pray. It can be short and simple. Here are three examples: 

“O God, make us aware of the people around us today so that we may be a blessing to someone, somewhere today. Use us as instruments of your love and peace.” 

“O God, give us the eyes to see, ears to ear, hearts to receive, and minds to understand your presence in our experience today. Give us pure hearts, because blessed are the pure in heart, they will see You.” 

“O God, make me aware of the people around me today. By your grace, help me be an extension of your love in the lives of the people you send my way. Help me yield a little more of myself so that I may love others as you have loved me. Help me be faithful to your call upon my life so that I may be a blessing to someone, somewhere, today. Amen” 

Respond

Remind each person to be aware of how they will be living the scripture in the places they encounter. Sounds simple enough, but keep the following in mind:

  • How will you love the people God sends your way?
  • How will you reach and receive them in love?
  • How will you introduce them to God’s love?
  • How will you practice who you are as a follower of Jesus? 
  • In what new way will you love them as Christ has loved you? 

Return

At the end of the experience, gather the team together. Give God thanks for the experience and for the people with whom you interacted. Then, in small groups of 3 or 4 persons, ask them to discuss the following questions:

  • How did you live the scripture today?
  • How did you experience God’s love? In whom did you see Jesus?
  • What did you learn about yourself?
  • Were there times you felt uncomfortable, afraid, or alone? How did you respond?  
  • For whom are you grateful at this moment? Give God thanks for them. 

Engage The Community

There are many ways to engage the community. Each context will call for specific ways of loving and serving. As you move forward, use the tools of prayer, 7 Missional Questions, and the pattern of “Read, Reflect, Respond, and Return to keep you focused on the mission. 

You have been commissioned to love others as you love Jesus. As you engage in mission you will be transformed, so be aware of what helps turn your love for Jesus into an outward expression of love and care. 

It is time to engage the community. You have been given the power to love as you have been loved, to overcome the barriers that keep people from experiencing God’s love, and to resist evil in whatever form it presents itself.

Listen for your call into the neighborhood. It will come with the words of Jesus, “Just as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Go and live into the life God has created you to live.

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Begin to Engage Your Community – Part One – Preparation

As a follower of Jesus, in a rapidly changing world, you have the responsibility to lead and model God’s mission. By centering on God’s mission, engaging with the community, and embracing our context, you can lead with purpose and authenticity. You have the opportunity to lead our church in reclaiming its role as a vibrant and relevant force in the lives of the people in your community and beyond. 

Engaging in Mission

You have been preparing for mission. The time has come to engage in the mission for which you have been preparing.  David Bosch wrote, “Mission is seen as a movement from God to the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is the church because there is a mission, not vice versa. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people; since God is a fountain of sending love.” 

The time has come to move into the community with God’s love. But before you move too quickly, take a quick overview of the mission in which you are engaged.  (For a more in depth overview go to Preparing for Mission: Building on HOPE) .  

Read Matthew 28:19

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19).

Reflect on Matthew 28:19

People are sent out into the community to live the life of love as they have experienced in and through you and other followers of Jesus. As they experience hospitality, they extend hospitality. As they are immersed in God’s love, they invite others to be immersed in God’s love. As they practice loving as they have been loved they are inviting others to experience and to practice God’s love. 

Remember, you are sent out by Jesus. “Go” literally means “as you go.”  Wherever you are, you are set apart to live the life of love as experienced in and through Jesus.  

You are sent out to “make disciples.” A disciple is a student or follower. You have been invited, called, and commissioned to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. This is important. You have not chosen Jesus. Jesus has chosen you. You are a follower of Jesus for the purpose of loving others as you have been loved. 

Making Disciples

Now, some people misread the word “make” as coercion, but that is not what Matthew means by “make.” Matthew is concerned about developing healthy relationships. So, how do you make disciples? You make disciples, followers, and students of Jesus, the same way Jesus did. You love people. You bless them, help them, and care for them. Just as with Jesus, (agape) the well-being of people becomes your priority.  

You practice the love of Jesus so you might become like Jesus. When you read the Gospel of John, you discover that the followers of Jesus are known by the way they love one another. So, to “make disciples” means to love people as you have been loved.  It is to engage in the love of God in the places you live, work, play, and associate with people. 

Making Disciples Begins with Love

The greatest part of loving others as you have been loved is, you are not left alone to love others.  The Risen Christ is with you.  God does not leave you to fend for yourself. The very birth of Jesus is announced as “and they shall name him Emmanuel which means, ‘God is with us.’” The mission of making disciples is God’s mission. You have been invited to participate in God’s mission.  If God calls you, God will equip you. When God calls and equips, God will be with you, even to the end. 

With that review, you are now ready to move forward with the mission clearly in focus. 

“Go therefore and make disciples…” 

Seven Missional Questions

To help engage in mission, below are seven questions to answer:

1.      Where have you witnessed God’s presence in your community? (God’s Presence)

To help lay a foundation for mission and assist in developing a clear focus, consider asking this question at the beginning of every meeting. Have every group that meets engage in answering this question. It is one of two foundational questions that contribute to congregational health. People who follow Jesus should be able to articulate God’s movement in their lives. The question can be asked in different ways. For example, “Where did you experience the light of Christ today? (Matt 5:14-16) How did God’s love become real today? Take note of the responses as one way of preparing for mission.

2.      What is the mission of the church? (Mission)

This question is about the purpose of the church. It is not about mission projects, trips, or work. It is about why your church exists. What is the mission, the purpose, of Christ Church? Does everyone know the mission? Can they repeat it? Do they embody it? This is the partner question to naming God’s presence. Both are essential for healthy disciple-making movements. It’s one thing to have words on a website or framed on the wall. It’s another thing to use the mission to guide what you do and to measure the direction and activities of the church. Use the mission as a sorting mechanism to ask, “Does this help us further or fulfill our mission?” If not, why are we doing it? Don’t confuse activity for missional impact. Don’t try to justify all your activities as contributing to your mission. If you’re having a party and it’s simply for fun, name it as fun. Otherwise, the mission becomes fuzzy for people. Lack of focus leads people to inaction.

3.      What is our mission field? (Mission Field)

Your mission field can be described in multiple ways. Most often, it is a geographic region where people live. Using the location of your church building as the center of a radius, what is the geographic area of your missional outreach? Although most of our church members live in the suburbs, if the building location is in the urban core of the city, your mission field is a section of the urban core of the city. The question to answer is, “are you a suburban church that meets downtown or are you an urban church in ministry downtown?  Once you have defined and are clear regarding your geographic region, then identify who lives within the mission field. What are their habits and interests? Listen to their stories, identify activities and symbols that help you learn more about them. Although you live someplace other than where your building is located, identify the area around your building as your mission field and the people within your mission field as your mission partners.

4.      What are the assets of our community? (Assets)

This is an important “preparing for mission” activity. Your assets start with the people who live in your mission field. As you meet people and begin to develop relationships, take note of their skills and resources. As you walk your mission field, take note of the services, businesses, physical attributes (parks, attractions, poverty, trash, etc.) and financial assets. If you’re having trouble identifying assets, take a walk in your community and ask people to respond to the questions: “What do you love about our community (neighborhood, or city)?” and “What would you change if you could change it?”

5.      What are the needs in our community? (Needs)

 This is another important “preparing for mission” activity. The needs start with the needs of people in your community. In general, the basic needs are food, water, and shelter. These are followed by safety, love, belonging and self-esteem/respect. Recognizing and realizing our potential, learning, faith, and service round out the list. As you walk your mission field, ask the people you meet to respond to a couple of questions. The first question is, “What do you love about our community (neighborhood, city, etc.)” Make sure to start with what they love, or you will not get much feedback. People like to talk about what they love to anyone who will listen. Then ask the second question, “What needs does the community have?” As you engage people in conversation, follow-up with “Would you like to help address the needs?” Make sure to get contact information so that you might engage them in meeting their needs.

6.      What relationships exist with leaders in our community? (Relationships)

 How are you and other church leaders developing relationships with the following sectors of the community: business, government, education, first responders, faith/religion, arts and entertainment, non-profit, health (hospitals, doctors, nurses, clinics)? Who are the people you already know and what relationships do you have with them? What relationships need to be nurtured, reconciled, re-established? What community leaders are members of your church? One person with whom to start building a relationship beyond the walls of the church is the principal of your local elementary school.

 7.      What is one way we can collaborate with other churches? (Collaborations)

Every local church, at their best, is focused on Jesus. Your practices and theology may differ, but you are in the same business of loving others as you have been loved. In other words, you are not in competition with other churches. We are all on the same team. Now is the time to model for others what collaboration can look like, even in the face of differences. Now is the time to have a conversation with another local church leader or pastor. Listen to their stories. Learn of their faith and God’s call upon their lives. Take note of how they express their mission and what disciple-making looks like to them and their faith community.  Reflect upon how you might partner with them in God’s movement of grace and mission of love in your mission field.

You have received much information regarding engaging in mission. As you read, reflect, and respond to this information, prepare your head and heart for the next part of Begin to Engage Your Community: Part 2.

Respond

To engage in mission, prepare your heart and mind with prayer. Ask God to help you to be aware of and sensitive to the people you encounter in your mission field. 

Prepare your heart and mind with bible study. Read Luke 10:1-12 and ask God to send you out as a missionary to learn about the mission field you have defined and within which you serve. 

Engage the leaders of your church in participating in the seven questions above. Send your leaders out in teams of two or three to experience the mission, to encounter the people, to assess the assets and needs of the mission field. 

Assist your leaders in identifying and developing the relationships within your mission field. What relationships need to be nurtured, reconciled, or re-established? 

Continue to engage in prayer and study. Continue to ask God to help you be aware of and sensitive to the people you encounter. 

Now, how will you love the people God sends your way?  How will you reach and receive them in love? How will you introduce them to God’s love? How will you practice who you are as a follower of Jesus?  In what new way will you love them as Christ has loved you? 

Remember, practice makes perfect. It helps you become who you are created to be. A

Prayer

O God, make me aware of the people around me today. Help me yield a little more of myself so that I may love others as you have loved me. By your grace, help me be an extension of your love in the lives of the people you send my way. Help me be faithful to your call so that I may be a blessing to someone, somewhere, today. Amen 

Return

As you reflect upon your day, give God thanks for the opportunities you had to love others. How did you engage in God’s movement of grace and God’s mission of love? How did you engage the seven missional questions?  Who did you invite to participate with you? How did you feel like a missionary?  

If you did not engage the seven questions today, how will you engage them in the near future? Who will you invite to participate with you? How will you use prayer and study to prepare?

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Becoming One Who Offers Christ – Part Two

 

This is Part Two of a three-part series on Offering Christ. Read Part One

As you begin to engage in the mission of offering Christ, take some time to reflect upon what offering Christ means to you. I ask that question because many people think that offering Christ is about personally witnessing by either going “door to door” to invite people to attend worship or by asking people carefully worded questions to engage in a conversation which leads to a faith conversion.

I am in full agreement that offering Christ is both personal and about giving a witness to God’s love, but if either of the above statements are true for you, I invite you to read this blog on Offering Christ. Although you have heard that both are necessary, this is neither a blog on “how to convert” nor on how to share your faith. This is a blog on how you, as a follower of Jesus, offer God’s love in everyday, ordinary situations.  So, as a follower of Jesus, before you engage in the mission of offering Christ, take time to reflect upon what offering Christ means to you.

Be Who God Created You to Be

With that in mind, to offer Christ is to be who God created you to be, a beloved child of God. 

It is more than sharing “spiritual facts” or biblical beliefs. For some, to offer Christ has been reduced to a list of beliefs. If you believe the beliefs on the list, you are saved. This is a form of mental assent to correct beliefs that leads to logical decisions. You and I don’t experience God’s love as a form of indoctrination. We experience God’s love through relationships with one another.

The offer of Christ is not, what I grew up hearing, “closing the deal” for Jesus.  You and I don’t experience God’s love by being manipulated into saying “yes” to carefully worded questions. We experience God’s love through relationships with one another.

Offering Christ – An Honest Interaction

The offer of Christ is a two-way process of honest interaction. Because you and I simply have the same need for love, particularly God’s love, we develop a friend-to-friend relationship.  So, the offer of Christ is not a single encounter.  It is an extended relationship of mutual respect and care.  It is in and through our relationship that God’s love is experienced, and hope is developed, and transformation takes place.

As important as it is, the offer of Christ is more than inviting people to worship or to participate in the programs of the church.  To offer Christ is to offer God’s love to those who are discontented and dissatisfied in their search for God. It is an offer of God’s love to those who are disenfranchised and separated. It is an offer of God’s love to those who are up and out as well as those who are down and out. It is in and through relationships that we can share experiences of God searching for us in Jesus.  New possibilities are found in the love you offer. All that is to say, offering Christ becomes who you are and is expressed in how you live in everyday ordinary situations and relationships.

Offering Christ – It Matters Where You Start

There is another important aspect of offering Christ that must be taken into consideration as you begin to engage in the mission. It matters where you start regarding your understanding of offering Christ.

The very origin, pattern, and basis for offering Christ is rooted in the nature of God’s mission. (Read: What Is Mission” Part One).

In the New Testament, the word for evangelism, what I am calling offering Christ, comes from two words which mean a good message. We have shortened it to “good news” or “gospel.” As a verb, evangelism (offering Christ) means “bringing, spreading or announcing the good news.” So, evangelism, offering Christ, describes the spreading of the good news of God’s love in and through Jesus Christ.

Offer Christ – Love Others as God Loves You

Notice that the primary focus is on the living and sharing of God’s love and not on the recipient or target of the message. In other words, to offer Christ is to love others as God in Jesus has loved you and not to convert or save someone.

In recent years, it seems that we have confused the process of offering Christ with the goal of the process. We do not evangelize people or nations, or even structures. We evangelize the gospel, which is to introduce people to the love of God in life-changing ways.

So, it matters where you start. 

Evangelize the Gospel – Four Perspectives

The words used for evangelism were common words when the New Testament was written. They were used to bring good news about a great event. The words were picked up by the followers of Jesus to describe the great event of Jesus coming into the world. 

Each of the gospel writers share the good news in different ways based on their context and their listeners. They evangelized Jesus so we, the hearers, can live the life of God’s love experienced in and through Jesus the Christ. 

As you begin to engage in the mission of offering Christ, it will be helpful to study and understand the gospel stories. For example: (Although these are brief and incomplete summaries of the good news presented by each gospel writer, they are examples of offering Christ). 

The Good News – Matthew

The good news according to Matthew is, “God sent Jesus to teach us how to live a holy or righteous life.” From Matthew’s perspective, “holy” and “righteous” are related to relationships.  When you read Matthew 28:20, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…,” you will find that the word “teaching” in this place refers to what Matthew wants us to know about “holiness.”  It is what we learn as followers of Jesus. It is what the movement of God is all about.  At the very heart of “holiness” or “righteousness” is relationship, relationship with God and with one another. (Read the blog “What Is Mission? Part 2). To offer Christ from Matthew’s perspective is to build and maintain healthy relationships with family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers, and enemies. 

The Good News – Mark

The good news according to Mark is, “God sent Jesus to oppose the evil, suffering, pain, in the world.” Mark’s community was facing persecution.  The good news of Jesus is that he faced the pain and suffering of those being persecuted. Half of Mark’s gospel is about the suffering and death of Jesus. You get a clue to Mark’s good news when Jesus heals a man with leprosy (Mark 1:40-45). Leprosy was a sign of suffering and separation. When a person suffered with leprosy, they were separated from all that was important and meaningful to them. To be healed was to be restored to family, work, synagogue, and all that was meaningful. To offer Christ from Mark’s perspective is to work to oppose the structures and behaviors that separate people from God and from one another.   

The Good News – Luke 

The good news according to Luke is “Jesus not only possessed the Holy Spirit but promised the Holy Spirit to his followers.” The Holy Spirit, God’s presence and power, gave the followers of Jesus the power to witness beyond the barriers of race, gender, age, nationality, theology, religion, and influence. The witness was both in word and deed. Take for example the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch or Simon Peter visiting Cornelious’ house. Both are examples of offering Christ to people, in word and action, who were considered unacceptable or were outsiders, or people of influence who were not Hebrews. To offer Christ from Luke’s perspective was to work to overcome the barriers that separated people from God’s acceptance and from accepting one another.    

The Good News – John 

The good news according to John is “if you have seen Jesus, you have seen God.” On several occasions Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” John knows people want to know God. Even Philip says to Jesus in John 14, “Show us God and we will be satisfied.” Throughout John’s good news there are stories of seeing Jesus. When John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him, he says to his followers, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). Even Jesus responds to two of John’s disciples with “come and you will see” (John 1:39). And when Philip goes to tell his brother, Nathanael, about seeing Jesus, he says to him, “Come and see” (John 1:46). When some Greeks came seeking Jesus, they came to Philip and made a request, “Sir, we want to see Jesus” John 12:20-22). Even at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection, Mary sees Jesus and she goes to tell the disciples the news, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20: 18). If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God. (Listen to Transforming Mission Podcast Episode 314). 

There is one other aspect of offering Christ in John’s gospel. To offer Christ is to love others as God has loved you. Loving others becomes who you are.

Preach What You Practice

N.T. Wright wrote it this way, “If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus.  If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus.  And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama which has him as the central character.”

To offer Christ means you become part of the story. You shift from “practicing what you preach” to “preaching what you practice.” The more you tell the story, the more you live the story. 

Love Others as God Loves You

So, what does offering Christ mean to you? Before engaging in the mission of offering Christ, practice loving others as God in Christ has loved you. Learn of God’s mission and how you have been invited into it. Become an instrument of God’s love and then you can tell people what you are doing.

Next week, I look forward to sharing with you part 3 of Becoming One Who Offers Christ.

Prayer

Lord, send me the people no one else wants and help me receive the people you are sending to me. By your grace, help me offer them Christ by the way I live out your love. Make me a blessing to someone, somewhere, today. 

Reflect on Offering Christ

At the end of the day, reflect on the following regarding Offering Christ: 

As you reflect upon your day, give God thanks for God’s call to follow Jesus. Who did you meet who needed a kind, caring, encouraging word? In what ways did you offer Christ to the people you met? What did you learn about yourself? Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to offer Christ. To whom do you need to respond with words of hope, words of encouragement, or words of forgiveness? What will you do differently tomorrow?

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Being About God’s Business

How do you prepare for mission? What information do you need? Whose direction do you follow? When it comes to mission, information and direction are important, but who you listen to, and who you follow is crucial. When it comes to mission, it matters where you start.

Listening to God 

When preparing for mission, start with listening to God and learning about God’s mission, the “missio Dei.” In other words, get involved in God’s business. As a Jesus follower, it is your responsibility to focus upon, learn about, and live into God’s mission. 

It is your responsibility to be about God’s business, not only for yourself but for the people your influence in your life. As you learn about God’s mission, you equip people to be about God’s business. You prepare for mission by introducing people to God’s business and influencing them to be about God’s business. 

What is God’s Business?

Being about God’s business begs the question, “What is God’s business?” The one true and authentic business of the church is God’s love, agape. Agape is to work for the well-being of people. Because you have been loved by God, you now love as God has loved you. With that in mind, God’s love flows directly through every person and every congregation who follows Jesus.

When people love one another as they have been loved, they are about God’s business. When the church is loving the people in the community it is about God’s business. So, what is God’s business? It is loving God and loving others. It is loving others as you have been loved in and through Jesus. 

Get Involved in God’s Business

“How do we get involved in God’s business?” The truth is we are invited to participate in God’s business through baptism.  At every baptism you are reminding people of who they are, “a beloved child of God.” 

You are reminding them of their “call” to ministry. As much as you might want to make baptism a personal and individualistic event, it is more of a claim upon your life and a call to be about God’s business in the community and the world. 

Baptism is an invitation into God’s business and “to remember your baptism” is to be reminded of your invitation.  

Let’s look at Matthew 3:13-17 as one story of being invited into God’s business. 

Read Matthew 3:13-17 

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  

Reflect on Matthew 3:13-17

At his baptism, Jesus was claimed by God. The words, “This is my son” come from Psalm 2. The words were spoken on the occasion of the crowning of the king of Israel. Jesus was claimed by God to be king or to have authority. As you know, his kingdom is not a geographic location but, in the hearts, minds, and actions of people. Baptism is the acknowledgment of trust and obedience to the “authority” of Jesus in your life.  

So, at your baptism, you were claimed by God and given authority to be about God’s business. 

Baptism is a Commissioning to Ministry

Then the words, “My Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” come from Isaiah 42. It is part of the description of the suffering servant of God, the one who gives his life. It means giving your life in loving, serving, and caring for people. In other words, here is my son, the servant, the one through whom I love others. Baptism is a commissioning to ministry. It is a commissioning to be about God’s business in the community and the world. 

So, at your baptism, you were commissioned to be about God’s business in the places you live, work, and play. You were commissioned to let God love others through you. 

You are a Beloved Child of God

When Jesus left the Jordan River, he went about God’s business of feeding, healing, caring for, and serving people. In each of the four gospels, there are stories of Jesus being about God’s business. John even tells us that Jesus knelt and washed the feet of his disciples as part of God’s business. 

As a follower of Jesus and a Christ-centered leader, you are reminding people that they are God’s children, and as God’s children, they are about doing God’s business of feeding, healing, caring, serving others in the love in which they are loved. When you say the words, “Remember your baptism,” you are reminding followers of Jesus to remember they are beloved children of God, and they are to be about God’s business of loving and serving other people.

God’s Call and Commission

In the church, at every baptism, we are challenged to remember that God has claimed us as God’s children and has commissioned us to be about God’s business. As personal as people might want baptism to be, it is a communal event. 

The community of faith takes a vow to help you and all the baptized community to “Do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.” 

Claimed by God 

You have been claimed by God for something bigger than yourself, bigger than a denomination, bigger than your congregation. You are claimed by God to be about God’s business in your family, with the people with whom you work, and with every person you encounter. 

To remember your baptism is to remember to be about God’s business of love, care, and acceptance in response to God’s love and acceptance of you. You are a beloved child of God who has been commissioned to love others as you have been loved. It is a reminder to be about God’s business. 

Being about God’s business is who you are, and how you live life.

Respond to God’s Call and Claim on Your Life

Throughout the day, be mindful of how you are living out your baptism. Be aware of how you are a part of God’s business in the lives of the people you encounter today.

Reflect upon this story told by Fred Craddock. He tells of being a pastor of a church in Custer City, Oklahoma.  The population was about 450. There were four churches in town: a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a Nazarene church, and a Christian church. Each church had its share of the population, and the attendance rose and fell according to harvest time and the weather.

He said that the most consistent attendance in town was at the little café where all the men gathered while their wives and children attended one of the four churches. The attendance at the churches would fluctuate, but the attendance at the café was consistent. The men were always there discussing the weather, cattle, wheat bugs, and crops. 

The patron saint of the group was a man named Frank. He was a good, strong, rancher, farmer, and cattleman about seventy-seven years old. He was born into poverty but prospered over the years. He had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him to be their leader.  They would laugh and say, “Old Frank will never go to church.”  

Craddock said that he first met Frank on the street. After some small talk, Frank spoke up and said, “I work hard, and I take care of my family, and I mind my own business.” He said that as far as he was concerned, everything else is fluff. Craddock said he interpreted the words to mean, “Leave me alone; I’m not a prospect.”  

He said that is why he was surprised, the whole town was surprised, and the men at the café were bumfuzzled when Frank, at seventy-seven years old, presented himself one Sunday morning for baptism.  Some in the community said that Frank must be sick. They said he must be scared to meet his maker. Some said “He’s got heart trouble, going up to be baptized. I never thought old Frank would do that, but I guess when you get scared…” 

There were all kinds of stories. But Craddock asked him, “Frank, do you remember that little saying you used to give me so much? ‘I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business’?” 

Frank said, “Yeah, I remember. I said that a lot.”  

“Do you still say that?”  

He said, “Yes.”  

“Then what is the difference?”  

Frank said, “Before I was baptized, I didn’t know what my business was.”  

Frank discovered what his business was. It was to love, care for, and serve people.

Craddock baptized Frank. He said, “I raised my hand and said in the presence of those who gathered,” ‘Upon your confession of faith in Jesus Christ and in obedience to the command, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.’”  

So, remember your baptism. You are a beloved Child of God who is about the business of God. And what is that business? To love, care for, and serve the people you encounter each day.  

Return at the end of the day.

Give thanks for God’s call to follow Jesus. And give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In what ways were you aware of following Jesus? How did you live out your baptism as a beloved child of God and as being a part of God’s business? How did you experience God’s love? In what ways did you model and share God’s love? With whom do you need to celebrate the love you experienced in and through them? What will you do differently tomorrow?