The Crux: My Walk

The bottom line is this: I need to walk together with God. I need build my relationship with Him. I need to talk to Him in prayer. I need to understand Him through His Word. I need to be holy as He is Holy. I need to find other believers so we can encourage one another. I need to do my part of His Plan - fulfilling the Mission He has given all of us. I cannot expect somebody else to do my part.

Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, "Lord, who will betray You?" Peter asked Jesus, "What about him, Lord?" Jesus replied, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me." (John 21:20-22 NLT)

So, I follow Him. How about you?

The Crux: My Calling

Walking together with God gets really personal when we take responsibility for our own relationship with God and face our own shortcomings. It gets even more "real" when we realize the real reason for God's work in our lives: ministry. God does love us. He is willing to forgive us. He did lay down His life for us and He does send His Spirit to dwell in us. He doesn't, however, do these things just to help us feel better or enjoy a better quality of life. He has something for us to do.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV)

We are all called by God to be His ambassadors, making disciples of all nations. We have a job to do. Forgiveness, reconciliation, resources, gifts, and His Spirit are all given to help us collectively accomplish His mission. Your specific gifts are given by His Spirit to empower you to do your specific ministry. He empowers you to do your part in His Body...The Church. Nobody understood this better than Peter. Jesus didn't forgive Peter and reconcile with him just to help him feel better.

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these? " "Yes, Lord," Peter replied, "You know I love You." "Then feed My lambs," Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: "Simon son of John, do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord," Peter said, "You know I love You." "Then take care of My sheep," Jesus said. A third time He asked him, "Simon son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, "Lord, You know everything. You know that I love You." Jesus said, "Then feed My sheep. (John 21:15-17 NLT)

What is your calling? What specific part (or parts) of His plan have been entrusted into your care? Are you living it out? Living your ministry...that's the crux of the matter.

The Crux: My Relationship

"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  (John 21:3 NIV)

Peter just spent the whole night fishing.  He had a whole night to do nothing but cast nets, wait, and think.  I wonder what went through Peter's mind.  Peter knew that he had denied Jesus three times when Jesus needed him most.  Peter had seen Jesus alive since his death, but they hadn't talked about the denial, well, his sin.  I wonder if he thought about his friend, Judas, who sinned, too.  I wonder if he thought about the way Judas dealt with the guilt.

"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.  (Matthew 27:4-5 NIV)

Whatever he was thinking, he would have snapped out of it when the morning sun broke over the horizon and gave light to a figure standing on the shore.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. (John 21:4-7 NIV)

You know the difference between Peter and Judas?  It wasn't the severity of their respective sins.  It wasn't the guilt they felt after they turned against their Lord.  It was the way they responded.  Judas ran away from God.  Peter ran toward God.  The result made all the difference in the world.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. (John 21:8-9 NIV)

When it comes to building a relationship with God, none of us can do it for someone else.  I can do the things to build my relationship with Him.  You need to do the things necessary to build your relationship with Him.  We can't do it for each other.  The great part, though, is that God is always ready to build a relationship with us.  He's waiting on the shore with breakfast cooking.  Will you join Him?

Who Lives That Way? (Obedience)

Be careful to obey all my commands, so that all will go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and pleasing to the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 12:28 NLT)

Obedience has been key to walking together with God from the very beginning. The Israelites were given victory over their enemies in the Promised Land because they did obey God. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they didn't obey His command.

The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego. But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. (Daniel 1:7-8 NLT)

Daniel understood the connection between blessings and obeying. He was in captivity now because God's chosen people did not obey. They turned away from God. They lost the promised land.


"If you love Me, obey My commandments. (John 14:15 NLT)

Now that we have the New Testament, our tendency is to focus on the Love of God.  We like to remember that His Greatest Command is to Love.  What we tend to forget, though, is that Loving God comes before Loving our Neighbor.  Not only that, Jesus said that we show our love for God by obeying his commands.

Anyone who doesn't love Me will not obey Me. And remember, My words are not My own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent Me. (John 14:24 NLT)

The opposite is also true. When we disobey, we show God that we don't love Him. It all comes down to obedience.

"I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love. When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father's commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! (John 15:9-11 NLT)

Love God

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (Mark 12:30 NIV)

I was grateful for the people who helped me move from encounters with God that were based on fear and obedience to a relationship with God where I approached Him more freely. Loving God, however, would still take time. The whole idea of loving a God who I couldn't see still escaped me. More than that, applying the word "love" to that relationship really created problems for me. Do I love God the same way I love my wife or the way I love a good cup of coffee?

Over time, I learned that the New Testament was originally written in Greek. This helped me because I found out that the Greek language of that time actually had four different words for love. Eros, the word for romantic love (like with my wife), was never used in the New Testament - not at all. So, I don't need to love God in a romantic way. (That's a relief.) Storge, the natural affection a parent would have for a child (for instance), is not used either.

The two Greek words that are used in the Bible are phileo, where we get the word Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love), and agape, a self-sacrificing love where we care about the interest of the other. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament command to Love God, he used the Greek word agapao - love God by caring what is in His best interest, knowing that He already loves us and cares about our best interest.


Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:8-10 NIV)

You're going through tough times? He loves you and wants to help. You've turned away from Him? He loves you and will even lay down His life to get you back. He loves us first. He loves us perfectly. Our response can be nothing less than to love Him back.

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NIV)

I'm so glad that I don't worship a god who demands obedience with threats that produce fear. I'm glad I don't worship a god who simply acts like a friend just to send me down a bad path. I worship a God who reaches out to me, befriends me, and directs my steps perfectly...because He loves me. I love Him, too.

When You're In Love

Two weeks of discussion about lukewarm living can really start to get me down.  I don't know about you, but constant focus on my weaknesses, shortcomings and/or sin starts to make me wonder if I can really be a Christian.  Am I going to have to memorize the whole Bible now?  Worse yet, will I need to do everything I says in order to stay saved?  Forget the effort, will I ever be able to accomplish all this?

The response to the discussion of the past couple weeks isn't supposed to be "trying harder."  The response He wants us to have is to "love more."

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV)

When we love God, we make Him our highest priority.  We look for opportunities to spend time with Him.  We want to get to know Him.  We want to hear His voice because we know that His words are worth hearing, valuable, and true.  We enjoy being in His presence and we hurt when we sense He is away.  Our love for God is more important than anything else in our lives.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8 NIV)

When we love God above anyone or anything else, we find ourselves doing strange things like talking to Him all the time (1 Thessalonians 5:17), listening to Him and putting it into practice(1 John 5:3), and even loving every person we meet (1 John 4:21, Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 5:43-48).  You even find yourself at peace, not fearing anything because perfect love drives out all fear (1 John 4:18). Love really does conquer all.

Do you love God with everything or do you hold some things back?  
Are you in love with God or in love with the idea of a God who will be on your side?  
What does your life look like when you're in love?

Serving Leftovers

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB)

Francis Chan challenges us with a concept that clearly challenges him this week: "Is there such thing as a lukewarm Christian?"  His conclusion from the Scripture above (and others like it) is clearly, "No."  How can we claim to be followers of Christ and yet live as though we are children of the devil?  "Child of the devil," you may think. "I'm a child of God, even if I do make mistakes and sin."

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7-10 NASB)

Doesn't Scripture say that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus?  Yes it does.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV84)

"How can sinning after I'm saved, then, make me a child of the devil?  I thought Scripture said that I'm always going to sin."  Well, this second part is not true.  It doesn't say you are always going to sin.  In fact, it says the exact opposite:

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV84)

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14 NIV84)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation--but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:12-14 NIV)

Lukewarm Christians refer to people who call themselves disciples or followers of Christ, yet sort-of follow Him - sometimes following...sometimes not.  God told a whole part of His Body (the church) that He would spit them out for living in this way.  Can we be Christians and still serve leftovers to a Holy God?  Maybe Chan isn't the only one who should be struggling through this concept.

The Wind Blows

Well, winter has arrived in Northwest Indiana.  Today the temperatures are in the single digits and we see a little snow out there.  Travel further Northeast and our friends are getting as much as a foot of snow.  Travel further Northwest and you will find temperatures in the negative double-digits.  Yes winter has finally arrived.

It's easy on a cold day like today to want to stay inside someplace where it's nice and warm.  Some winters this kind of weather has continued over long periods of time.  After a long time of this, people start to go stir crazy.  They want to get out.  They're tired of the cold and snow and wind.

The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. (Ecclesiastes 1:6 NLT)

Solomon was tired of the wind blowing when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.  That wasn't the only thing he was tired of seeing.  He spent most of the book talking about how "everything is meaningless."  He wasn't talking this way because he was locked up in his house for a cold, long winter.  On the contrary, Solomon had every luxury and pleasure available to mankind.  Yet he still looked at it all and said "everything is meaningless."  It's as meaningless as watching the wind blow round and round in circles.

Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8 NLT)

I'll never forget the experience I had when I first started learning Koine Greek (the original language of the New Testament).  I learned, among other things, that Greek words often have several possible meanings depending on the context of the sentence.  The word for Spirit (pneuma) can also mean wind, current of air movement or breath.  It was so cool to learn that the Spirit of God is as invisible, elusive, and yet perceptively present as the wind.  We can't see it, yet we know it is there.  We can feel it - even, to some extent, measure it.  Yet, we cannot see it, hold on to it, or capture it.  What a beautiful description of the Spirit of God.

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5 NLT)

Solomon didn't conclude that everything is meaningless in his book.  He concluded that everything is meaningless without the existence of God.  He concluded that God gives life and breath and purpose to life.  We find meaning when we follow him.  That remains just as true today as it has ever been.  With God, nothing is meaningless.

And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us. (1 John 4:13 NLT)

Now that I hear the wind blowing outside, I remember God's Spirit.  I'm reminded that life is not meaningless but is filled with purpose.  I remember that He has given me His Spirit and, through His Spirit, a purpose for my day.  He has placed a calling on my life.  He has given me specific gifts to use in that calling.  He has given me the wisdom I ask to receive and the power to follow that wisdom...all through His Spirit.  That's what I think about when the wind blows.  What do you think about when the wind blows?