FINISHING WELL: Who am I à who will I be à how will I live in light of everything God has taught me
How do you write a final update for a summer like this one? I have procrastinated writing this because part of me is sad that it is over. I would love to stay, but I know that it is time to go. The biggest piece that I have taken from this summer is a return to simplicity. I want to be faithful, to know Jesus and to be obedient to Him! I believe that living out of that desire as a community will empower us to change the world, literally.
The three questions I want to address with this post flow directly out of that simplicity for me. Who am I, who will I be, how will I live in light of everything God has taught me?
OUR IDENTITY IN GRACE à THE POWER IS NOT FROM US (who am I)
Beyond this we are a community of Grace. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not did not turn out to be in vain. On the contrary,(A) I worked harder than any of them,(B) though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” First in this verse we see that it is God’s grace that defines us. We once were lost but now are found; we are sinners saved only by grace, and because of this we love the world from a place of humility. We consider others better than ourselves! Second, this verse says that God’s grace for us was not in vain. Instead God’s grace in our lives has motivated us to work hard to bring the good news of Jesus to everyone we can. It motivates us to change the world. Third in this verse we see that the power comes not from ourselves, but from the grace of God in us. Our identity, motivation, and empowerment are all wrapped up in God’s grace. It is this grace He calls us to bring to the world - The same grace He calls us to invite the poor, the lost, the burdened, the sick, the orphaned, the widowed, trampled, oppressed, the captive, and the overlooked into.
“Our God is greater our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other”. If God is not the driving force behind our plans they will be powerless. “If our God is for us than who could ever stop us? If our God is with us than what could stand against?” Do we understand this, do we believe this? Friend it is no small thing to say that the spirit of GOD lives inside of us. The world hears this claim and asks us where our power is. It has to be God. The good news is that he is greater. We have the blessing of Pentecost, the power of the Spirit manifest. As I think just about returning to campus in just about every other thought and this knowledge gives me so much excitement and joy. There is an impossible amount to read, study, analyze, do, philosophize, or theologize about, but is this really what God wants for us? Know Jesus. Walk with him and develop relationship with him; that is what really matters. The power comes from God!
Who am I? Answer: I am a sinner saved, sent, and empowered by the grace of a God who dwells in me.
UNITY IN CHRIST (who will I be)
As I have studied Christian history this summer I have seen a lot of fluctuation in Christian practice. The church has gone from extreme to extreme, and has spent a lot of time arguing and fighting about how to practice belief. Many times this struggle gets so far from Jesus that the church even loses sight of him for a while, and instead pursues money, power, or authority. But, throughout history I have also seen a number of groups from all time periods and all over the world that are in unity. Groups that have never met or even heard of each other calling for the same reforms of the church, living similar lives out of the same values. Brian Sanders explains this phenomenon by explaining that Jesus is like a tuning fork, and throughout history, the church has fluctuated from his center like a sign curve. But, at times when that curve crosses the center, the original pitch rings out as the Spirit moves in a community of believers.
When I think about who we will be, I believe that we are called to this same unity. We are not called to structure, we are not called to denomination, and we are not called to a particular side of a theological debate. We are called to Resonance with Jesus Christ. We have to be a people willing to constantly evaluate and reform ourselves. To check ourselves against the tuning fork of Jesus and when we are off key to retune ourselves back to him. This is what unites us. Jesus unites us. On Sunday we had a guest speaker at Crucible named Hud, and one of the points that he made about this topic came from the story of the Prodigal Son. He explained that in the story there are two sons, one who thinks he can earn his sonship, and one who thinks he can lose it. But, the truth is that both are wrong, they are stuck, they are sons. They may be bad sons because they are not using their gifts/abilities to glorify their father, but he still wants to throw them a party. If we are in Christ, if we are surrendered to him we are sons and daughters. If we stay in resonance with Jesus we will be united with brothers and sisters around the world. Isn’t that awesome!?!
Who will we be? Answer: Sinners united in faith, sinners saved and sent in grace for the sake of the world. Members of the New Generation living in light of a resurrected Savior, and sent in God’s power to defy the reality of a fallen world.
BEING A COMMUNITY OF DRAW (how will I live in light of everything God has taught me)
The way that we live, the things that people see us do will be the biggest witness to what we believe. Thankfully, our job is to be drawing people out not persuading or convincing them (That is the Holy Spirits job). Like Jesus says to the first disciples in Matthew 12 “come and see,” our lives should say “come and see” to everyone who sees them. Our lives, our joy, our fullness, our rest, our contentment, our liberation, and our reality are draws. In them we should incarnate Jesus for the world to see, and that is what will draw people to him! We work so that the world might see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven. We live in a way that is set apart so that there is no doubt that our identity, motivation and empowerment come from Him and his grace.
But, there is an important distinction that we have to make. We live this kind of life not out of duty, but out of desire. We are not liberated from, we are liberated for - It was for freedom we were set free; free to follow our desire to love our father. We are free of duty, and in fact duty cannot take away or earn an ounce of God’s love for us. We have no right to be prideful because of stuff we do for God, and we have no right to be ashamed because of stuff we don’t do for God. Either one of these things is a perversion of God’s love. Jesus himself models this as we read in Hebrews 12 which says that Jesus endures the cross for JOY despising its shame. Jesus pushes away shame, he pushes away the isolation that comes when we feel like we have not fulfilled duty, and instead his primary motive for going to the cross was joy/desire. God wants us to be in relationship with him out of desire for the joy that can only be found in His will for our lives.
The biggest thing that I learn from these truths is that the greatest witness I have will not be an event, a speech, or any one moment. The greatest witness I have will be how I intentionally live my life. Everything I do can either be a witness or not. It can be done with purpose, or without purpose. Intentionally keeping an awareness in my head to be wise how I act towards others, looking for opportunities in all of my conversations, and continually seeking to invite and allow the spirit to convict! This can be as simple as telling my friend that I am going to a Christian event when they ask where I am off to. Or it can be something more elaborate like presenting the gospel to a stranger I started a conversation with. The goal is simply intentionally living for the glory of God in everything I do, instead of restricting him to parts of my life. Being a witness, the aroma of Christ, salt and light.
How will I live? Intentionally, invitationally, and a “liberated for” life.
A CONCLUSION: A community without walls
I am a sinner saved, sent, and empowered by the grace of a God who dwells in me. We are sinners united in faith. Sinners saved and sent in grace for the sake of the world. Members of the New Generation living in light of a resurrected Savior, and sent in God’s power to defy the reality of a fallen world. We will live intentionally, invitationally, and a “liberated for” life.
As sad as it is to leave a place like this, it is time to go. There is hope that this identity of grace, community of draw, and Unity bring. Wherever we go in the world we will have family. There will be believers who resonate with Jesus and in an instant we have an eternal connection with them. Taking this even further we also have hope and joy in the global community that we build. We can know that there are brothers and sisters working hard for the sake of the gospel, praying for us, and dreaming with us of a world made right. We can get excited for our brothers and sisters and know that God is going to use their passion for great things in the world even if that means we won’t spend this life physically together.
I know that I have family here in Tampa. They have challenged me, inspired me, loved me, and held me accountable. Just the other night I had the opportunity to go into Ybor to pray, worship, and converse with anyone who was willing. David, Sam, James, Kelly, Charlene (Bryant in prayer from home), and I set out with our bibles, a guitar, a small djembe, and an egg shaker. We set up right on seventh avenue and while Sam, James, and Charlene set up and began to worship in the midst of the chaos David, Kelly, and I prayer walked the street to try and hear from the Spirit and to lift up Ybor to God. After the walk I joined with the other three and Kelly and David went for another lap. Throughout the night we played and sang about God’s love and brought him praise in a place that his name is not normally heard. Everyone who walked by had a reaction, some good, some bad. I was amazed that even in the facial expressions of passer bys there was a stark contrast to how they reacted to the street preacher with a megaphone across the street. People were compelled as to why a group of young adults would sing about Jesus, what we were doing in a place like that. But, what I believe is Jesus would have been in places exactly like Ybor.
By the end of the night we had talked to a ton of people about Jesus. We were able to send all the donations offered to us across the street to our homeless friend Henry. We prayed for another homeless man Marco as he wept about the brokenness in his life. We talked with a young group of Muslim men from the Sudan about Jesus and got their permission to continue the conversation on facebook. We also were called hippies, cursed out, and generally mocked by a few, but it did not phase us. We knew that if nothing else we worshiped in, prayed for, and gave God all the glory we could in a very dark place.
With that in mind I want to leave you with one challenge/call. The opportunity to worship God in Ybor with brothers and sisters was incredible; but it cannot stop at that one night. Like the widow in Luke 18, in a world that is entirely non-God fearing we MUST persist. As I debriefed from the night with David we dreamed about the impact a group could have on 7th Ave just by worshiping God each night in the midst of the chaos. As we talked David said something that blew me away. He told me a story about coming to Ybor another night and hearing someone pray about how the Devil fears what they were doing. In response he couldn’t help but think that “Maybe the devil does not fear us because plenty of Christians have done this once.”
My call, my challenge is to persistence. A couple verses after Jesus tells about the persistent widow he asks these questions, “will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Does this last question haunt you a little. It should. Will there even be faith when Jesus returns? Are we willing to persist, to sacrifice in order to draw others to Christ. Will we call out day and night, cry out because of injustice? I know that this is the desire of my heart, but I also know that I cannot do it alone. I praise God for brothers and sisters around the world who will head this call alongside me. I praise God for the encouragement I feel in this community without walls. I cannot express adequately how much love and encouragement I have received from friends like David this summer. As I fly home today, he flies to the Philippines. And I know that in God’s grace and mercy he will persist there! That brings me so much joy.
