As moral truth becomes relative, moral lines become adjustable. And so we are seeing the change in morality as we alter the truth and believe a lie. We are seeing this in almost every aspect of life – education, economy, government, family, and even the Church. The Church is often seen as the guardian of moral truth. But, today many in society are ignoring the Church and forming their own truth and thus their own morality. They are determining what is right or wrong. And, the Church is becoming more and more ignorant of biblical truth in spite of the number of churches and the wide sweep of biblical teachings available today on television, radio, and the internet… not to mention the many local churches that dot the landscape.

It is good to remember in this post-Christian culture we are witnessing today that the Church is always vulnerable to the culture shaping “truth” more than “God’s truth” shaping culture. And, I believe that this is exactly the place we are in today. The culture is influencing the Church and thus we see and hear less and less absolute truth coming from those who lead the churches as well as those who follow the leaders. Those who call themselves disciples of Jesus are often indistinguishable from those who do not follow Him.

I work with young people in many nations and I am excited about what I see. I see in the younger generations a group of young men and women who are hungry for real biblical truth. They want to wrestle with real questions about real life. This is true of young people who are believers as well as those who have yet to make a decision to follow Jesus.

These young people are looking for committed and sold-out older people who can disciple and mentor them. They are not finding them. Oh, they exist. But, they are so busy with other things that they are failing to influence and thus impact the younger generation. We need to take the example of Paul the apostle to heart. He was always discipling and mentoring the younger generation – Timothy, Titus, Silas to name just a few. We need to invest our time wisely instead of wasting it on so many projects, programs, and people who really don’t want to change or get better.

And, for those of use who are discipling and mentoring the younger generation we need to become technologically savvy.  Technology will continue to shape how we tell Jesus’ story and how we help people to follow Jesus. Likely, more people will tell their own story since everyone has a “broadcast studio” in their mobile device. Furthermore, the Church will be less and less defined by its four walls and more by its mobile app and how it connects digitally.

There is a need to face the reality of the world today and adjust our ways so as to continue to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom to individuals who are looking for absolute moral truth. It is only found in the written Word and can only be successfully applied in life by having a dynamic and daily relationship with the Living Word – Jesus.

The Church was birthed in power. Jesus spoke to His disciples and said: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8). This power first came on the Day of Pentecost as seen in Acts, Chapter 2. This instantly allowed them to move out of the prayer room they had been in and witness about Jesus using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This was the first day of the Church – it’s birthday. This power continued to be seen throughout the book of Acts and is also seen in each Church that was birthed during the ministry of the early Church, the ministry of the original apostles, and obviously it was seen in the ministry of Paul (example: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

Today we often make excuses for the lack of power in our lives as disciples. However, God is bigger than our excuses, our inadequaced, and lack of ability or resources.

In the story of Gideon in the Old Testament God calls him and asks him to do something really outside his comfort zone as well as beyond his abilities. Gideon, from the start, has one reason after another for not doing what the Lord God was asking him to do. And, he didn’t hide the issues from God. He was bluntly and blatantly honest. “I am weak. In am the least. I am not cut out for this. I have no idea what I am doing.” And God was not bothered in the least.

God replied, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive” (Judges 6:16). Over the next couple of chapters, God seemed determined to prove how little Gideon’s weaknesses mattered. He even reduced the size of Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300 just to make the odds a little more interesting. Then God used those 300 warriors to rout an innumerable, impossible army.

Never once in the story does God appeared frustrated with Gideon’s lack of ability or manpower. We don’t see God demanding that Gideon work out the details by himself, with his own logic and resources. We actually see the opposite. In stages Gideon took on the courage and character of the God who called him. Gideon’s excuses didn’t change God’s mind. God’s empowerment eliminated Gideon’s excuses.

In this story Gideon’s claim to fame is not his leadership style, his motivational ability, or his military prowess, although each of these was eventually developed in Gideon’s life. It’s his faith, slow starting as it was. He was ultimately willing to believe and obey God. That is what God wants from us as well today. Not incredible strength. God already has that. Not our own natural power. His is greater and supernatural. He just wants us to have simply faith in Him. To be willing to obey Him because we believe Him.

In Mark 16, Jesus has given His last instructions to His disciples (apostles)… summarized – He tells them to go into their world and confront the darkness. He ascends into heaven. Then, amazingly, they actually do what He has asked them to do. They stand up and step out in faith (Mark 16:20) and, because they do, God shows up as promised and shows off .. .working with them to confirm their message.

So, today if we will stand up and step out in faith He will show up and show off demonstrating His power through us who are born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Those upon whom the Holy Spirit has come.

 

Believers need to know who they are “in Christ.” The Bible states that when we are born again we becomes “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But, when we have not taken the time to discover who we are “in Christ” then we live life insecure and lacking confidence in who we really are. We spent time proving ourselves (see yesterday’s blog) and justifying our behaviour. Worse, we live in insecurity and try to be who others want us to be living up to other’s expectations and demands. This results in us wasting our lives posing, pretending, posturing, performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving ourselves. Yet, in doing all of these things, we will never find our real self.

Recently Bob Dylan won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature. This is a man who is well known and highly respected by many. But, this is not really who he was. He changed his named many years ago. He was born and raised as Robert Zimmerman and later, when people began to be drawn to his music and poetry , changed is name to Bob Dylan. However, changing his name didn’t change who he was. Inside he is still Robert Zimmerman or maybe not. Maybe inside he has internal titles and names that he calls himself… that define who he really is.

We all see ourselves as different than the person we present to the world regardless of our known name. Maybe we have not changed our name – maybe we have. But regardless of what we call ourselves and who we present ourselves to be to the world nothing changes inside. We have names we call ourselves inside – failure, stupid, idiot, inadequate, fool, jerk, victim, socially unacceptable, unloved, rejected, insecure… and on and on the names go. And, in spite of our inner self-image we rename ourselves on the outside and thus waste our lives posing, pretending, posturing, performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving ourselves to others.

To end this vicious and pointless cycle of pretending and putting on a mask we need to take the time to visit inside ourselves. As born again believers we need to invite the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are as a child of God. We need to discover who we are “in Christ.” We need to discover that Jesus calls us His friend; that in God’s sight we are ‘the beloved;’ that we are a child of God; the ‘apple of His eye;’ and that we are accepted and forgiven.

We need to discover what God thinks about us and then, with that foundation, dig and find out who we are “in Christ.” Once we know that we are loved unconditionally and that His love will never change we can then have the courage to dig into who we are and why we do what we do… with His help, of course. Then we will begin to discover the real “me” and even have the courage to boldly change how you live and how you express the real you to those you relate to. Only then will you not worry about being rejected by others because you will deeply know the acceptance of Jesus who created you.

So, it is time to stop wasting our lives posing, pretending, posturing, performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving ourselves. It is time to discover the real you and learn to express who you really are so that the world can discover the wonderful “you” that God created without all the masks we tend to wear to protect ourselves. It is hard work – but it is seriously worth the effort.