The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church

Till we all come. . .to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:13

The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconcilication of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually but also in our lives collectively. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.

from One-Minute Devotions

The Spiritually Vigorous Saint

That I may know Him. . .
            (Philippians 3:10)

A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him.

The aim of the spiritually vigorous saint is "that I may know Him."

                       from One-Minute Meditations

Is the Gospel Worth It?

Is the Gospel Worth It? Martin Luther is credited with saying “The Gospel cannot be preached without offence and tumult.”[1]

Isn’t the person of Jesus Christ supposed to be the very essence of peace, compassion, forgiveness, and charity? Why then this talk of offence and tumult?

First, it is not the purpose of the preacher or the Christian bearing witness to the person of Jesus Christ at work in their life to cause division or strife. However, any person seeking to proclaim Christ can proclaim no other Christ than the one revealed to us through Scripture.

It is not the disciple who brings strife. Neither is it the Gospel that causes division. It is the presence of the sin of pride, that prince of all other sins, which prompts the one confronted and convicted of their own transgression to hold on to those same transgressions rather than to kneel before the cross of Christ in repentance and plead for mercy.

We reject the righteousness of Christ, which convicts us of sin, which leads us to the cross, which justifies us before our Heavenly Father, which sets us back in a proper relation with our God and Creator. Instead, we claim to be more enlightened, to have a new revelation which nullifies the claim of the Gospel on our life and allows us to set aside that call to righteousness and holiness commanded by the Old and New Testaments. In doing this, we become more tightly bound to our sinful selves and enslaved to a dead end theology with no hope of being made anew!

Thanks be to God for the graciousness of our Heavenly Father, who continually holds before our eyes the person of Christ, calling us to abandon those unfulfilling ways and rest in His forgiveness and peace. We only first need to recognize the emptiness of our efforts and trade our path to destruction for a path of life and peace.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare![2]

Pastor Craig

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[1] Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther

[2] Isaiah 55:1,2

Life As Mission

Life as Mission: How does one describe a week of mission work? Granted a week is a sorry limit to what one can and should do in service to Jesus

Christ and his kingdom.

This year is different than last year’s trip to New Orleans. In New Orleans, the buildings, at least the vast majority of them, were still there. They were just abandoned. In Joplin, there are no buildings. Vast stretches of what used to be neighborhoods are now fields with a few broken trees, some trying to sprout leaves from what remains of their branches. This is all that remains in some places. Oh, in 10 years or so, you won’t recognize the city. One of the reasons we were tagging streets is that some residents already have trouble recognizing it with old landmarks gone and new street signs not in place yet.

Each year we make these trips I come back challenged. I struggle concerning what to do with what the group has seen and learned, what we have done and experienced. I think of mission as a way of life. This year I see something different. I see life as mission. Yes, go back a sentence of two and read those two phrases. Take out a piece of paper and write them down side-by-side if you have to.

Mission as Life involves throwing one’s self into the mission as experience and having that experience invigorate an individual or group. It isn’t a bad thing, no, certainly not. The problem is that it is simply inadequate. The motivation cannot outlive the feeling, the spiritual high of the moment.

Life as Mission involves a total commitment of the self. Not to the mission experience, but to mission itself. Not a mission, but to the mission. Not to a single project, but to a relationship.

“One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”[1]

The following is a daily, life long, journey that will lead you to the greatest life experiences you can ever have.

Pastor Craig

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[1]   (2009-03-19). Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible (NASB 1977 edition) (Kindle Locations 34714-34715). The Lockman Foundation. Kindle Edition.