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Who’s Your Paul?

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By Brian Sharpe

As I look at my life, I can remember names of people who invested in me. I had friends who pointed me to Jesus. When I started at Elim, I was in a new place and didn’t know many people. After being here for awhile, I felt the need to invite someone to mentor me as a man, since I have always valued people speaking into my life. So, I started to think and pray about who could mentor me.

I decided that I was going to ask a certain man to meet with me and mentor me. I remember that being really hard, and it made me feel insecure. I even felt emotion well up inside of me while I was asking. For those who know me, you know that is not normal. But I did it; I asked this man to mentor me. It was great — we met twice and everything was going well. But then we never met again. To this day, I don’t know why. It could have been because I didn’t pursue it, but I just don’t know. This experience could have turned me off to inviting people to speak into my life. It did make asking someone again a little harder.

Fast-forward a couple years. While I met with some guys, I still didn’t have an intentional mentor whom I met with consistently. It was September, and I was at meetings at the EFCA National Office for ReachStudents team meetings. At these meetings, I was sitting waiting for a dinner to start. A guy on the same team as me came and sat next to me. His name was Jim. Jim was a guy that had been in youth ministry twice as long as I had. He was about 10 years older than me. He sat down next to me and asked me if I would be interested in staying in contact with him on a monthly basis. I said yes. It was at that meeting that God gave the gift of a Paul in my life. Jim and I have been meeting together monthly for the past eight or so years now. He has taught me a lot about life, ministry, and God. He has helped me grow as a leader and as a man.

I believe that is God’s heart for us, that we live in community, invite people into our lives, and let these people help us navigate this thing called life and faith. When you hear us say, “Who is your Paul?” this is what we are talking about. It is inviting someone into your life to whom you are giving the freedom to help grow you into whom God is calling you to be.

I guess the question is, has God done a work in your life that you need to be sharing? Are there people in your sphere of influence whom you believe you can help grow? Then maybe God has equipped you to be a Paul. If He has, then, who are you meeting with?

If you feel the need to have someone speak into your life, then the question is, who can you invite into your life to be a Paul? Is there someone you look up to spiritually? Is there someone you feel like you can learn from? If a name comes to mind, maybe you need to invite that person into your life to serve as your Paul.

I believe God uses these relationships to transform us into His image, into His likeness. I believe every Christian needs to have a Paul in his or her life. Who is yours?

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The Three-Legged Stool

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By Larry Short

How do you define what a true follower of Jesus is? Some say, “A person who believes in Jesus.” Others say, “A person who’s life bears the fruit of his faith.”

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the relationship between Paul’s epistle to the Romans (focusing on faith in God’s grace) and James‘ letter (focusing on faith proved through action). Recently I read a very eye-opening blog by Christian Piatt, writing in the Huffington Post, which put many things together for me. (I’m not a huge fan of most of Piatt’s work, but he is a provocative thinker.)

His blog, titled “Following Jesus isn’t primarily about beliefs or actions,” caught my eye. At the face of it, the “battle” between Romans and James seems to be just that, a battle between belief (faith) and action (works). So, what else is there?

Piatt explains:

“Right thought or belief is generally called “orthodoxy,” while right action is called “orthopraxy.” And sometimes we seem to assume that these are the only things to focus on, or even that one is somehow superior to the other.

In studying the teachings and words of Jesus, however, I’m coming to embrace the sense that “orthopathy,” or right-heartedness, is a critical third leg of the proverbial stool. Furthermore, I have the growing sense that this right-heartedness actually helps lead us to the path we’re seeking for the other two.”

It makes sense. You can be orthodox, or have the right “beliefs” about everything. Or you can be orthoprax, and have the right practice. You can even theoretically be both of these things, without having the right heart: to believe in God’s Word; to practice God’s Word and commands.

Ultimately, right-heartedness seeks sincerely to obey and fulfill the Greatest Commandment — to love God with all that we are, and our neighbors as ourselves. Orthopathy!

I like the idea of the three-legged stool, but I daresay orthopathy is a synthesis of both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. It’s faith and actions, together; or rather, it’s the fundamental motivation that makes James’ “third kind of faith” work itself out in our actions.

Learning to Love James

So, while like Martin Luther I used to struggle with James, I am now learning to love that book. The man who wrote it is an interesting character. The New Testament reveals that Jesus had four half-brothers (born to Joseph and Mary), and an unspecified number of half-sisters. (“Half” in the sense that Christ himself was not an offspring of Joseph, as his half-brothers and sisters were.) James was the first mentioned of those half-brothers. Early on, during His public ministry, it’s implied that his own family members apparently struggled to believe that He was who He was. But later, after His death and resurrection, it’s clear that James at least came around and ultimately was a leader in the early Christian church, taking a key leadership position in the church at Jerusalem after the disciples were dispersed.

Leading a church in the crucible of persecution would definitely give one a sense of what “real” faith looked like. And knowing the authentic, compassionate Jesus, as intimately as James did, would put you in a unique position to write about it authoritatively!

I think James issues a challenge to each of us who name the name of Christ. Don’t “just believe,” prove that you believe, through the way you live your life. Let God change your heart as well as your head, and you will see the fruit of that change working out through your lips and your hands.

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What Matters Most to This Pastor?

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By Martin Schlomer

The year 2014 has been a year of many blessings as well as spiritual growth! God’s faithfulness and grace is evidenced in the lives of many who have been baptized and in those who continue to grow in following Christ.

As I look back on 2014 and write this report, I ask myself, “What matters most?” I could talk about the blessings of increased attendance, new people coming, near-record giving, strategic efforts to develop disciples (efforts which need a lot more work), missions trips, building projects we’ve accomplished, or challenges we’ve faced where God has grown us. All of these metrics—and many others not mentioned—matter a lot! However, in this season of my life and ministry, they are not what matter most to me.

What matters most to me? Elim being an oasis for renewal (life-changing redemption) with God and one another so that people become passionate followers of Jesus who live out the compelling realities of the Kingdom of God in the midst of our increasingly lost, hopeless, and hostile culture! Are there metrics from this last year I can write about that would indicate this is taking place? I suppose what I mentioned are some worthy indicators. However, while they measure things that can be seen, they don’t necessarily reveal the passions of the heart.

Passions of the heart that would indicate whether or not what matters most to me is happening are discovered through story. For instance, in the community group Kim and I lead, we are listening to life stories for the first few months. As I listen to these stories, I hear a common theme of how God is using Elim to redeem these people through the grace and love from this community, the preaching and study of the Word, and prayer. “Elim has been an Oasis for me,” is a common statement. As I look back over this past year, this is what matters most to me. As I look forward to 2015, this is what matters most to this pastor!

What challenges do I face when pursuing what matters most in 2015? I need to make sure that what matters most continues to be what matters most. My heart can be fickle and easily distracted by good but lesser things. I believe that if I focus on what matters most, the good but lesser things will follow. For those planners among us, I realize there needs to be strategic planning. However, I’m also realizing I need others who will take that on so I can focus on what matters most.

As I focus on what matters most, I need to transmit this focus and passion throughout the fabric of Elim’s core leadership. I want to do my best to make sure they “catch this virus.” This is essential because those they lead need to catch this virus also. If the leaders don’t have it, the followers won’t catch it. This means I also need to work with others to develop a leadership pipeline that will infect leaders with the virus of what matters most.

As I focus on what matters most, I need to transmit this focus and passion throughout the fabric of the congregation through preaching and leadership. I desperately want every attender to choose to become a passionate follower of Jesus! I pray that God will do whatever it takes to make this happen in your life, because following Jesus is what is most important in all of life. This calls me to greater levels of boldness and clarity as we enter this new year.

There you have it! This is what matters most to your pastor. I hope you will join me in this pursuit.

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Results, I Want Results!

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By Stan Peterson

Disciple-making is a transformational journey. This journey is not the end, but is simply a means to the end, which is to obey the teachings of Jesus and teach others to obey as well, thus giving glory to God. This should be a joy-filled process. We should be full of excitement about what God is doing in the midst of us and full of anticipation about what God is going to do in our lives and in the lives of those we influence.

 I have often found myself focused on the results. I want to see the results—results of transformation in my own life and in the lives of those I am discipling. Yet when I find myself focusing on the results, I lose focus of Jesus; I am no longer following Jesus, but I’m following my own selfish desires while masquerading in a religious robe. I actually miss out on God’s desired outcomes because I am blinded by what I want and when I want it.

 When sowing to the flesh, I become discouraged, disheartened, frustrated, and tired. I tend to spend more time talking about others than praying for them. I quickly become irritated with others and I find myself snapping at my wife or my children. I am no longer a well of refreshment, but I am one of despair. I am no longer loving God, I am loving myself. I am no longer encouraging others, but I’m causing them to stumble. This is not a grace-based life. A false gospel creeps in, and it places emphasis on a performance-based identity rather than a GRACE-based identity.

 But—Ah, yes, there is a BUT!—when I focus on the glorious grace that was lavished upon me through the Son of God, I am forgiven, I am clean, I am adopted, and I have a new nature, for Jesus is with me unto the end of the ages (Mt. 28.20). I become refocused on the one thing that matters most, and that is being preoccupied with the person of JESUS. I am captivated by His teachings and my desires are transformed from the inside out. And I am addicted to JESUS and hanging out with those who he would hang out with.

The command (any of Jesus’ teachings) is no longer a burden, but it is a delight. The results come, but they come in a way I would have never thought or imagined. God always overwhelms me with His love when He surprises me by His ways. I see this most in the cross, and it creates a desire in me to carry my cross and follow Jesus!

 

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I’m Gonna Follow You

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By Tom Chase

Jesus called and still calls His disciples with the phrase, “Come follow Me …” (Mark 1:17). Later, Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25).

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? As I have been processing this question, several things have come together for me.

First, I am seeing that the Christian life is not intended to be lived out of convenience. We get that from the verse above “denying one’s self” and “take up your cross.” These are not terms of a life lived the way we have been programmed by the world to live. We have been called to the opposite:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Michael Ramsden (with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) also talks about not living life out of convenience from the story of the Good Samaritan. You might remember the story in Luke 10:29-37, about the man who was beaten, stripped of his clothes, robbed, and left for dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite came by, but both avoided the injured man. It was not obvious that the injured man was a Jew. If they knew he was a Jew both of these men would have been compelled by the law to help him (Lev 19:17-18).

We might assume that these men were callous or simply too busy (as suggested by VeggieTales.) But they were not simply too busy and they were not callous. This road was notorious for life-threatening danger and robbery. It was given the name “Bloody Pass” as a result. The man lying there could have been the perfect setup to initiate a robbery. The priest and the Levite act in self-preservation; they want to live.

The story continues and finally a Samaritan came by and helped the man. He ignored the dangers, bandaged the injured man’s wounds, put him on his donkey, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day the Samaritan left but gave money to ensure the injured man would be alright. Absolutely none of this was convenient, and his actions went far beyond simple inconvenience. We have heard about the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. Apparently it went both ways and ran deep like the feuds between the historical Hatfields and McCoys. Because of this hatred, it is interesting to note that there are no Samaritan towns even remotely near this road — only Jewish ones. He takes an injured man (likely a Jew) into a Jewish town. Not only does this Samaritan risk his life by stopping to help, but he probably also risks his life by taking him to the inn. This is absolutely incredible, inconvenient, self-sacrificing, life-endangering stuff here.

Then, following this parable, the words of Jesus to the expert of the law are amazing and alarming: “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37b). This cuts me to the core; when I look in the mirror of my life, I’m not sure the reflection is too appealing.

Second, this call to follow Jesus again hits me between the eyes from a book I have been reading, The 10 Second Rule by Clare De Graaf. I certainly cannot do the book justice in the few words I have here, but it challenges believers to live a life of simple obedience to Jesus. The author was challenged by the words of Jesus in the Gospels that he found “amazing” and “alarming,” like:

“Do good to those who hate you.”

“Deny yourself daily.”

“I came not to be served, but to serve.”

“Whoever wants to be first … must become last.”

“No man can serve two masters.”

De Graaf didn’t know many Christians who lived like that, but he began a journey to pursue a life of following Jesus with the motto he calls “The 10 Second Rule”: “Just do the next thing you’re reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do.” Simple obedience to Jesus is anything but simple. When we look at the standing orders He has given us we understand that life will be anything but sensible. It will not necessarily be safe, but it will be an adventure of walking with Jesus daily! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). I know that just doing the next thing you’re reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do sounds very simplistic at first. It has the benefit of not getting bogged down in the “God’s will for me” debate and allowing one to begin following Jesus today. The 10 Second Rule is in short a way to move me from inaction to action. Many of the things I am reasonably certain Jesus wants me to do I simply do not do because they go against my sensibilities and I can talk myself out of doing them. The book goes on to share some real, practical ways of how to begin and continue walking this radical way of living, which is in fact following Jesus.

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.
It has been found difficult and left untried.”
– G.K. Chesterton

I don’t want to be that guy who has been unwilling to follow Jesus. So I am being challenged to live out this life not just when it is convenient for me but to live in simple obedience to the One I have committed to follow. It is my desire to pursue Jesus with a lot less self-centeredness and a renewed willingness to submit to His direction. I am reminded of an old song, “I’m Gonna Follow You” by Silverwind. I think it expresses some of my heart. If you’re also a bit challenged by all this, maybe this song can be your song to Jesus too!

I never thought that I could ever feel this way
You’ve got me falling more in love with you each day
You made my life matter, like no one could do
So for ever after, I’m following you.
I’m gonna follow you.

Some people tell me that I take a road so rough
They say I’m crazy but I say it’s only love
No it doesn’t matter what people may do
‘Cause forever after I’m following you forever
I’m gonna follow you.

Though the road may be narrow and the road may seem hard
Lord I’m still going to follow and I’ll never turn back and I’ll get through ‘till I do
I’m gonna follow you!

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What Does It All Mean?

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By Dan Amos

“I’m not sure you know who we are,” I said to our visiting district superintendent. He had come to help the Elder Board process leadership and direction for the new year. I’d just set the stage for him with where we had come from in the last couple of years and where I think we are heading, particularly in organizing for the growth we’ve been blessed with. Instead of staying on the topic of attendance, however, he challenged us to forget about all that and focus on making disciples.

Discipleship has been an emphasis at Elim, but it hasn’t been directly talked about as much recently. Instead, I see it practiced in the actions of people like Beau, Shauna, Dave, Fran, Bob, Jackie, Stan, and so many others. But, in processing it with the Elder Board, it was clear we still don’t have a unified vision of what it means.

Is discipleship a formal process of mentor and mentee meeting together for Bible study and prayer? Or can discipleship also mean processing life together with fellow believers, seeking wisdom, encouragement, challenge, and rebuke in the context of biblical truth? Is it building on the teaching we receive when we come together corporately and in small groups? Can it be all of these things and more?

At the annual meeting, we as a body will wrestle with practical application of discipleship and cast a vision for infusing it throughout Elim. We’ll also consider what this looks like as we meet the challenge of growth that we’ve been given. Whether you’re a member or new to Elim, come join us on January 27. It will be a great time in the life of our church.

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