America Will Never Be the Same

America Will Never Be the Same

The election has changed the way American life will be lived from now on!  It will cause the continued erosion of the traditional values of The Republic.  Large, Big Brother government will now become the norm. In the near future government will begin to dictate what the church can say and true free speech and religious expression will become severely restricted (unless you obey strict "party lines". If you believe this could not happen, ask Dietrich Bonhoeffer, oh wait, you can't because he was killed for speaking out and acting on his beliefs!).  The vast majority of those who voted for 4 more years of the current administration have no idea how this will affect them, or that their fundamental rights, those not given to us by government, will be changed.

These rights that the Founding Fathers enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are not rights given to us by government or by man. This are rights bestowed by the Creator. Government, as conceived in this "American experiment", is a protector of those rights. One half of Americans have just voted to give government the authority to give and take those God-given rights at its will.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I will obey the scriptural admonition to pray for the President as one who is in authority. However, I cannot recognize that government, not this government, not any government, "gives me" those rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are given by God and may be restricted by government, but cannot be taken from me. It is up to me to live these gifts from God out...the government cannot guarantee them! As much as this government or any government can say they will, they cannot!

In the difficult days ahead, it is imperative for those who believe that Jesus is the one and only way, those who follow as His disciples, firmly grasp the truths and comfort of scripture to guide us!  In the darkest days of the Revolution for the nations independence from tyranny, those who began our great nation turned to scripture and prayer. These two spiritual disciplines are needed now. Maybe in the midst of the coming crisis in America, the real Patriots will once again turn to the divinely inspired Word of God, the Bible...and down on our knees pouring our heart out to God prayer. This will Become the focus of my ministry...the ministry of the Disillusioned Disciple.

God Bless America, God Protect the Republic!

“Rooted…Built up…Established”

Colossians 2:6-7

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Col. 2:6-7 (ESV)

“How did you receive Christ?” That is the Key Question not where, not when… but how? Did you receive Him as Lord? This is the issue for many people; they want the benefits of salvation, but not the Lordship of Christ in their lives. “Yeah, I want to go to heaven, but I don’t want to really have to change my life.” When a person truly receives Jesus Christ…as Lord and Savior…then the walk begins. If there is no walk, then we must question the receiving.

So, just what does that walk look like? Verse 7 of the passage gives an overview of what the walk looks like. Think of a tree, like the one below, and consider what the walk looks like:

· Rooted: prepared to grow, roots drawing nutrients from the soil that are needed for growth.

o A tree is a self-feeder; no one has to tell it to feed. God has made the tree so that when the roots go into the soil, it feeds. When a person receives Christ, they should want to feed on God, on His presence in their life, in His Word. If a person desires to be a disciple of Jesus, that person must become a self-feeder.

o Do we have to be coaxed to feed to grow, or is it natural (1 Cor. 3:2)? A disciple of Jesus does not need awards; prizes or even recognition to grow…it is part of their spiritual DNA! Does that disciple need to be taught how to grow…of course. Does the disciple think it is an option…never! A disciple is always looking for someone to help them grow, to mentor, disciple…give them a good swift kick in the seat of the pants to get them going and keep them going in their Walk with Christ.

o We must become self-feeders! This does not happen naturally, unfortunately, but it is essential to a fruitful disciples. The desire to grow and have spiritual intake should be natural, it is the tools and disciplines that need to be taught. The disciple must have daily intake of God’s Word in their life through quiet time and scripture memory as well as a consistent time of Bible study and prayer. These are the roots that the rest of the walk is built upon. Disciples of Jesus take personal responsibility for their growth in Christ!

· Built up in Him (in Christ), this is the trunk, fruit and leaves of the tree. As a tree nourishes itself, it grows. As it grows it produces fruit. So it is with the disciple of Jesus, as growth comes, so does spiritual fruit.

o Producing fruit for the disciple is:

§ Trunk grows to make tree strong. As the disciple grows, he becomes stronger in the their faith. This strength comes as a disciple becomes consistently intimate with Christ. It is the consistency that brings strength to face the trials of life and the temptation of Satan.

§ As the disciple is built up, he bears fruit. This fruit is revealed in two ways: first, in Christian character being lived out, the Fruit of the Spirit becoming a natural part of life; second, reproduction of disciples through personal and corporate ministry to the world.

· Established in the Faith: A solidness that stands in the face of trials and pressure of the world. This is the whole life of a disciple, established, living in the world in the face of trials, in the face of temptations, in the face of failures and even in the face of success! As I sit writing this I can see out of the window of my study and see trees growing…well, I can’t really see them growing, but I can see the result of their growth. Over time, I will see them produce fruit in season and grow taller, stronger and become more established. The world must see the fruit of Jesus’ disciples, because in seeing the fruit, then they will see Jesus!

The Tryanny of Inconsistency

As a disillusioned disciple my struggle has been with inconsistency, my own and in the church. As I consider the current state of Christianity in America, I see this as a root problem. Things look good from the outside with performance oriented big events, but that has nothing to do with day-in-day-out consistency in the walk of a disciple. It is easy to get excited and fired up to make a commitment at an event, but it is the long haul that counts. The church has become enamored with specialist who come in and do their program, get "commitments" and leave...wham, bam thank-you ma'am! Then on to the next event, a "one-night stand" approach to ministry!

What is needed is guidance into long term consistency. The church needs help into developing a core group of Jesus followers who live consistently in faith, and can pass it on to others. This is not a short-term fix, it is not a program, not a church growth strategy; what it is, is a commitment to personal growth, to Kingdom growth...to New Testament discipleship. What we need is gatherings where there are small groups of people who can interact, ask questions, be asked questions, focus on application, on the personal!

A culture has been created that simply lives for the next big mountain top experience. This has bled into our worship services where an experience is sought after with all the bright lights and snappy music; or through creating a service with a huge, majestic organ music and a sense of over the top grandeur. This is not what will help people grow or will deepen their walk or move them toward discipleship. Out of this come church members who move from place to place looking for the slickest Sunday morning production; whether it be traditional, contemporary or "old-fashioned gospel music"...the outcome is the same, superficial Christians who can't walk for the long haul.

The long term is what matters (Col. 1:22-23). This call to continue comes implicit with the idea of growing and deepening the faith. It is focused on becoming more and more intimate with Christ, growing both in knowledge and love. A growing consistency is the guide to see this happen; it can't happen with the performance or one-night-stand mindset!

This will require a fundamental change in how the church operates...it really is simply a return to discipleship as outlined in the New Testament. We don't need "Christian superstars" coming for one night only, what we need is people who are willing to invest their lives in the lives of others (2 Tim. 2:2). Only then can we transfer what is being learned and mastered, to what is being lived consistently in the lives of those who would be followers of Jesus. It does not matter if it is in a high school classroom or a corporate boardroom, the ethics of the life of a disciple of Jesus must be lived out! Right now, it is not happening and our country is slipping farther and farther into godlessness. This is the only hope to stop the slide...God help us!

Making a Living vs. Living

While driving to my substitute teaching job on Monday morning, I was meditating on the verses I've been memorizing in Ephesians 1. I was thinking about how it applies to my life right now, as well as how it applies to where I have been. This thought came to mind, "how you make a living is not near important as how you live." I know this is not an original thought to me and I am sure I have heard it or read a form of it in other places, but this day it spoke deeply to me!

For most of my life I have stresses over what to do to make a living (especially now that I am unemployed), dealing with how I am going to support my family and myself. Now granted it is important that I support both my family and myself, in fact it is a biblical mandate (1 Timothy 5:8). In my case spending 25 plus years as a minister, the issue was I spent too much time making a living as a minister and not enough of my life living as a disciple of Jesus! The part of this saga that hurts the most is that I knew better, yet continued to do it!

I spent too much time trying to grow the church and not enough time growing people. There were times I did some discipleship, but by and large I focused on doing things that sought to grow the organization of the church as if I was growing a business. All of this was justified with the rationale, "that is how the system works"; always knowing in my heart that the system was broken and I was wrong! Yet I continued doing the same thing and getting the same results, moderate success and lots of frustration. It has been attributed to Albert Einstein that "doing the same thing over and over and then expecting different results is insanity"...and it was driving me crazy!

The Christian philosopher and minister, Francis Schaefer asked the question, "How then shall we live?" This is my question, and I choose to live as a disciple! Will my life be based in the core principals of discipleship and spiritual reproduction or will it be consumed with simply making a living? The difficult path is to live, for it is in living that making a living finds purpose beyond itself! To truly live will be costly (Luke 9:23). Focusing life on making a living is focused on self, to live is focused on Christ (Ephesians 1:112-12)! Paul says in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind....". The pattern of the church that focuses on marketing, growing numbers and offerings (I can almost hear Martin Luther responding with his theses on indulgences here) must be rejected.

It is evident that what we are doing is not working; as we increase the numbers in churches (and buildings and budgets and staff and productions, etc.), we sink deeper and deeper away from biblical principals and personal discipleship. The church is becoming like our government, thinking it can spend its way out of a problem and the more it does not work, the more that is spent. Getting back to the simplicity of the personal responsibility of personal discipleship is, I believe, the answer.

This begins with me, and that is the scary part. It is easy to talk about personal responsibility, until I begin to apply it to my life. Each of us will have to make that decision, no matter the cost, if there is going to be change. Thus begins the journey!

Where do I begin?

A journey has a beginning, as a disillusioned disciple begins the journey into "illusionment" (I think I've invented a new word), where is the starting point? Where are the first steps taken to grasp not only the call, but the action of becoming a disciple of Jesus, a maker of disciples, and a maker of disciplemakers? Quiet simply it begins with Lordship, with Jesus Christ becoming the center of life.

There are two key verses for this action in becoming a disciple of Jesus, Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. There are many other passages to use, but these two give a stepping off point for the journey and it is imperative that the truths here be grasped and applied. The power, the engine for a disciple's life is found in this truth and the rest will be futile and lead to disillusionment without this fact driving the disciple's life.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. " Galatians 2:20 (ESV) This verse needs to be thought about long and hard. The truth behind this passage is devastating! Listen..."I have been crucified with Christ..." that means only one thing, death! The disciple's first move is to die voluntarily just as Jesus did. A dead person owns nothing, has no claims on possessions, power or positions...self dies on the cross with Jesus. The issue for those who examine the call to discipleship today is the unwillingness to die to self.

This is not self-denial or some sort of self flagellation to prove one's spirituality, it is the moving of the locus of control of life from self to Christ. The total identification of life with Christ, so literally..."I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." The western church has an issue with this because it has become soft and is unwilling to give up self. Yet, if one is to live as a disciple of Jesus and not merely a church-member, this is the key issue.

The daily living of the Christ life, as a result of what Christ has done, is the result of Lordship. It is not perfection, but it is the daily journey; it is living in awareness of how I live, of my identification with Christ in all areas of life. It is here where the separation of secular and spiritual dies, for it is in Lordship where all of life becomes sacred, holy and dedicated to Christ.

This comes to the place where the disciple sees their self "in Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Being in Christ is being a new creation, it is putting the old self, not just away but according to Galatians 2:20, to death! Becoming a new creation is not being a rebuild, but a new production...that is what it means to be born again! Not a religious act, not the joining of an organization or an institution, but nothing less than making Jesus Lord!

The place the church lives now is "costless Christianity", the focus on saying the right prayer and becoming a part of the social institution. Religious duties are performed, but there is no call to Lordship; therefore, there is no Biblical discipleship. Bonhoeffer would say, "cheap grace."

With the Apostle Paul, I say, "not that I have already attained, but pressing on...." All of the goals in my life hinge on this one issue, will I make Jesus Lord of my life...daily! The journey from disillusionment to fruitfulness begins right here. The spiritual disciplines of devotional life, prayer, Bible study, memorization and meditation are the beginnings of this journey into Lordship. Accountability is the compass to keep true north, true north and not allowing the tyranny of the urgent or what is good to override what is the best.

Your Servant forJesus' sake,

Keith

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

It has been several months since my last entry...oh I have written several but not posted them. They were pretty bitter sounding...angry even. There are times I feel we need a little "righteous indignation", but the problem is most of the time it just comes out as sounding/being self-righteous in nature. That is an easy trap to fall into, but not one that bears fruit, and fruit that will last and reproduce is the reason for the Disillusioned Disciple.

I have been substitute teaching a good bit lately...for income and without realizing, a sort of a research project into our nation, culture and spiritual temperature. It has given me an opportunity to look at hearts, to see how students, teachers, administration and staff react in a microcosm of society. What I have discovered, is that we are overwhelmed with religion, church and pseudo-spirituality...but there are few, if any real disciples of Jesus. The heart of the matter is, there is an urgent need to stop playing games and begin making disciples of Jesus...no matter what the cost!

The door of opportunity is slowly but consistently shutting. The question must be answered, "what can be done?" We must renounce marketing and growth programming and focus on the content of the gospel and the command of the commission of Jesus to His followers..."make disciples" of all groups of people! There is no program or name change that can make this happen, it is a matter of the heart!

There must be a heart that is about making disciples, it can't be a side light or an add on...it must be priority. Until this becomes our heart, nothing will change and the slide into chaos and anarchy will continue! It begins with "I must become a disciple." Intentional, focused...that is where I am right now; this is the direction for no longer being disillusioned. The system will only change when I begin the change in me!

The Disillusioned Disciple is a place for those with a kindred spirit. The Disillusioned Disciple is not for everyone, it is for people: who are at a place where good enough is not good enough; for people who have come to a place where striving for consistency is important; who know that moving forward is only possible if we are firmly grounded in our past; who believe that leadership is servanthood...nothing more...nothing less; is for those who really believe that following Jesus has the answers, and is willing to endure the struggle of that journey of faith; is tired of religion and churchianity! It you identify with one or more of these things, you are invited on this journey of faith for all of us disillusioned disciples!

Consistency Produces Confidence

Recently I was visiting a small group Bible study that was beginning a study of the book of Romans. The seemed to settle in on Romans 1:16-17. As they considered v. 16 that says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel..." the discussion of "boldness" came up. I began to think this says, "not ashamed" and not boldness; there is a difference.

It seems that modern Christianity, especially in the United States, has mistaken or exchanged Paul's call to be "not ashamed" with this idea of boldness. What this boldness becomes in many cases is simply obnoxiousness. The message of Christ carries a firm and definitive message that should not be mistaken as tolerance for the beliefs of everyone. No, Jesus says that there is one way to God the Father and that is through Him. If the world has a problem with the, don't blame me...see the Author.

What we have done is mistaken this being not ashamed, with a sales approach to our witness in the world. Our marketing approach has taken "1 million served" and made it "1 million saved." That is fine for hamburgers, but it stinks for people who God loves as individuals. In many cases, people have been reduced to projects to get saved.

Look at what Paul was saying-"I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...." (Romans 1:16, ESV) What made Paul able to say that he was not ashamed? There are 3 things I think affect his profession:

1. Paul was absolutely convinced to the truth of the gospel. He had gone from one who hunted, persecuted and killed followers of Jesus, to one himself. Not only was he a follower of Jesus, but was one of the most well known proclaimers of the gospel. This rabbi/pharisee was willing to suffer the loss of all things; his comfort, his resources, his family and indeed his life for the truth of the gospel.
2. In his conversion to a follower of Jesus on the Damascus Road, Paul became aware and committed to the call on his life to proclaim this gospel "first to the Jew and then to the Greek." He became known as the Apostle to the Gentiles. This message was the the entire world and Paul knew the His Call was to go.
3. In my thinking, this may be the most important reason for his confession...Paul could say he was not ashamed as a result of his confidence in his faith, that was developed in and produced by his consistency in walking in his faith. There is no magic formula here, it takes time and it takes effort, but it is the key to the statement, "I am not ashamed of the gospel."

The daily consistent walk with Christ produces a confidence that allow the follower of Jesus to live a life that is not ashamed. It is a life that applies the gospel to every area of life and in every situation in life. It is the essence of discipleship, Luke 9:23, "Jesus said to them all, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (my italics)

Consistency is a result of living out the classical disciplines of the Christian life. It is in the effort to grow in intimacy with God through these disciplines that we become consistent in our faith. These disciplines do not earn us grace, it is not working toward salvation. Out salvation is a gift from God, it can not be earned (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

It is in the disciplines of Faith that we "workout our salvation with fear and trembling(Philippians 2:12). There are several excellent books on Spiritual Disciplines, these do a much better job in making these clear than I could in these few lines. I would recommend, A Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster, Renovation of the Heart, by Dallas Willard, and to put the whole idea of transformation, consistency, and growth into perspective with the disciplines, The Great Omission by Dallas Willard.

This confidence produces a result of consistency is what makes the follower of Jesus unashamed. It is not based in how much one knows, but in the depth of relationship. It is often time knowledge that puffs up and makes those who would follow proud (been there done that, got the t-shirt), it is in the intimacy of knowing Christ that we can live unashamed in a world that wants us to apologize for our faith.

We live in a world looking for answers, not gimmicks, not programs but something that works in real life. The confidence that comes with consistency allows us, as followers of Jesus, to live real in the world. It allows you and I to live our individual call and to live it as disciples of Jesus. We live unashamed in the context of our call in life.

Paul was called to openly and often time radically proclaim the message of salvation and followship. Most of us are not called that ministry...most of us are called to live unashamed in the daily course of life. To expect everyone to be an Apostle Paul is a distortion of the gospel message, a distortion of God's Word,

As our lives are lived with this consistency, as the confidence in our faith grows, the gospel is lived out and both "Jew and Greek" hear the message and respond to the reality they see revealed in our lives. It is the Christ life lived in good times and bad, ti is the confidence seen in the midst of life's triumphs and tragedies that will reveal that we, as followers of Jesus, are unashamed and that faith in Jesus is real and is the answer.

I wish I could say that I have this all together, but it a struggle, it is a journey. I say with Paul, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me His own" (Ephesians 3:12). Join me in the journey to walk with Christ consistently so that we might live confidently..."not ashamed" of the gospel.

Keith

The Disillusioned Disciple