Filed under: DISCIPLES series | Tags: Bible, church, churches, Dearborn, disciple, God, Jesus, sacrifice
I know it doesn’t take much creativity on the part of the giver, but I don’t mind getting money for my birthday. I love money. That can be a problem since Paul told his young protégé that money is the root of all evil. That’s not right, is it? The love of money is the root of all evil. I love to spend money on myself. I do enjoy spending on myself, but that joy is short lived. When I expend my life on others and spend my resources (time, talents, treasure) on others, I find that life is much more enjoyable.
What are the objects of your affection? What do you treasure? Any chance you would give it up because you have set your sites on something else? You can tell what a person’s priorities are by looking in their checkbook. You can also tell by looking in their calendar.
Time and money are extremely valuable assets. Don’t you find it interesting that with all this technology, we don’t have enough time with the ones we need to make time for? All of what we have is supposed to help us save time and money, but it doesn’t. We start to realize that there may be better ways to spend our lives than on ourselves.
A friend of mine went to help pack and hand out turkey dinners this past weekend. Another friend takes his Saturdays to reach out to Arab Americans in east Dearborn. Another friend calls women to find out how she can pray for them. Some kids in our church save a portion of their allowance to give to God. Some guys I know spent many of their evenings making sure a young family had a working bathroom.
All of these examples are what Paul would call a living sacrifice. He wrote, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1-2)
Wait a minute, I thought worship was gathering together on Sundays, singing praises and listening to the Word of God. It is. But worship is much more. It’s how you live your life and what you live your life for.
What do you have your sites set on? What are you looking at? What are you spending your life doing? Whenever you give whatever you give, keep in view what He gave up for you.
Filed under: DISCIPLES series | Tags: Bible, disciple, dog, dogs, God, Jesus, obedience, Scripture
For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted a dog. I loved Snoopy growing up. Alright. I guess I still do. I still have pictures of Snoopy that I drew in grade school (budding artist that I was!). We’ve had cats for as long as Michelle and I have been married. Cats don’t really obey. They’re in their own little world. You can usually train a dog to obey. Usually.
When I was ready for our family to get a dog, I went onto a website where I could answer questions about myself and my family. That way we could pick the best dog for our family. The top two choices were a Jack Russell Terrier and a Beagle. When we told friends we were interested in a dog, they knew of a family that could not care for their’s. He was a Beagle. His name is Dakota.
When I took Dakota on those first walks, I knew I was in trouble. That Beagle nose likes to hunt. He wouldn’t slow down for anything. At one point he broke his collar as he pulled away from me to chase something. Obey? Not on your life. Not right then anyhow. Down the road my dear Dakota would learn. Maybe age slowed him down a bit.
Are you a dog or a cat? Can you be trained to obey your Master or are you in your own little world, like a cat?
“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6)
We know someone is a follower of Jesus because we see them following Jesus. They make time to listen to what He has to say. They follow Him to see His words in action. Then, if they are truly disciples, they obey. They put His words to action. They put feet on their faith.
Is that you? Are you trainable? Maybe you’re not obeying your Master all the time, but, like Dakota, you’re getting better. We show we love God by obeying God.
Filed under: DISCIPLES series
Did you ever notice how many books on leadership there are? I have a personal collection of over 70 books on leadership. Let’s see. My books on leadership: The Leadership Challenge. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders. Leadership Jazz. Built to Last. Developing the Leader Within You.Interesting. As I gaze at the volume of books on my shelves, I have none on followership. “What’s followership?” you might ask. If leadership is the ability to lead, followership is the ability to follow someone’s leadership. I don’t have a copy of Seven Habits of Highly Effective Followers. I don’t have Developing the Follower Within You. Why?
We’re enamored with leaders, not followers. I have a biography section on my shelves. There’s Bo. Go blue! I also have one on Bo Jackson. Billy Graham. John Gruden. Charles Spurgeon. Nixon. Lincoln. Iacocca. Reagan. Clinton. Falwell. Wesley. And I’ll be honest. I’m more interested in leaders than I am with followers.
Yet Jesus said something quite the opposite. “My sheep hear My voice; I know them and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) I pray that He will make me an effective leader, and then He says crazy things like, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:27)
Then I argue, “I’m not looking to be first. I just want to lead. You know, lead my life. Lead my family. Lead my church.”
Then He replies, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” (Mark 10:43 NLT) In essence Jesus is saying, disciples:follow.
We’re taking four weeks to look at what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus. Disciples:listen. Disciples:follow. “Hear My voice…follow Me.”
Hudson Taylor, a well known missionary to China, was scheduled to speak at a large church in Melbourne, Australia. One man introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as “our illustrious guest.” Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, “Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.”
Do you have a Master or are you master of your own life? Do you have a Leader or are you attempting to keep the reigns? If disciples:listen, what have you been hearing this week? What have you been listening to? As you make time to listen to God, how is He asking you to follow His lead? If disciples:follow, what areas in your life do you find it difficult to follow Him in?
Where is your life going? Who are you following? Who’s following you? No one? Look again.
