Just give me Jesus

I have been in the ministry for about 12 years now in different capacities.  I have gone to seminars, sat through seminary classes, and read countless books on the subject of church.  I have read a lot of books on how to grow your church.  Pretty much all of those books contain a chapter or blurb about a vision statement.  Coming up with a vision statement has been ingrained in my mind and it got to the point that I felt inadequate as a pastor if I did not have a cool vision statement that no other church had.  Do you know how hard it is to come up with a vision statement?  I have spent hours praying and even fasting over a vision statement, thinking that a vision statement would instantly grow my church.
Just recently I have come to a realization: the only vision the church needs is Jesus!  I am not saying that it is not necessary to be organized and know what direction God wants your church to go.  But, do we really need fancy vision statements that essentially say we are a church that follows the teachings, practices, and the person of Jesus Christ?  No wonder people are so confused as to which church is the right church.
The consumer driven society we live in has made its way into the church.  People want more than the Gospel.  They want more than Jesus.  They want a thriving youth ministry.  They want great worship music (I will confess that I am one of those people).  They want a great children's ministry.  But, what would happen if you simply offered people Jesus?  Would he be enough?
An old hymn that I like is "Be Thou My Vision."  This hymn is a prayer asking the Lord of our hearts to be our vision not some fancy statement.  If we are going to be the Church that Christ died for, He needs to be the vision of our churches.  We have to stop catering to consumers and start following the Savior.  We should never grow tired of the Gospel.  We should never grow tired of hearing what Christ has done for us.  We should be hungry and thirsty for more of Jesus.  We should never push away from the table and tell him, "I'm full."  Jesus himself said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).  But, the thing about being filled is that it is not a sense of fulness that is permanent.  Jesus fills that empty void in our souls, but he leaves us wanting and craving more of him.  This is how growth in our churches is going to happen.  If we become more consumed with Jesus and less consumed with consumerism, then people will respond to that.  We will be compelled to be involved in our churches.  We will be compelled to take the Gospel to our neighborhoods.  We will be compelled to be more like Jesus. 

So, what's my excuse?

In my devotional time tonight I read when Jesus predicted the disciples betrayal in Matthew 26:30-35.  We read this account and wonder what the disciples were thinking.  We think to ourselves, "How could you abandon and deny Christ?  You walked with him for 3 years!  Wake up!"  However, something hit me tonight.  To their credit, I don't think they really knew what they were getting into.  Jesus was about to die a horrible and painful death.  They didn't think this was going to happen.  They never thought about the Messiah dying on the cross.  They thought of the Messiah as a great conqueror of their enemies.  They would never have envisioned their King arrested, tried, sentenced, and crucified.  Fear overtook them.  But, one thing to keep in mind is that the Holy Spirit had not come upon them yet (see Acts 2).  This does not mean that the Holy Spirit never worked in the disciples lives before this.  He obviously did, but He had not come to dwell inside of them in order to transform them from men overcome by fear to men who overcame their fear. 
This is where I was challenged.  I asked myself, "So, what's my excuse?"  There are times where I deny Christ, whether it's through my actions, my words, my lack of words, etc.  There are times where I ignore opportunities to show the love of Christ or tell someone about His great love and grace.  I know I should find comfort and encouragement in the fact that the disciples did the same thing, but they did not have the life-transforming power of the third person of the Trinity known as the Holy Spirit living inside of them.  I am a new creation in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).  I am transformed and should no longer conform (Romans 12:2).  I am going to fear, but I do not have a spirit of fear that lives inside of me.  I have a spirit of power!  Paul writes to Timothy in II Timothy 1:7, "...for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power, love, and self control."  I no longer what to excuse myself from doing the Lord's work on a daily basis.  I no longer want to use fear as an excuse for not opening my mouth and proclaiming the Gospel with boldness and passion.  I no longer want to make excuses period. 

Seasons of Change

Last night as the snow was falling, I started to think about shoveling it the next day.  That is not something I like to think about, but that was not always the case.  Growing up in Arkansas, I saw snow maybe once or twice in my life.  When I moved to New England, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of white, fluffy, cold snow.  I remember my first major snow storm in New England.  It snowed 15 inches.  I remember walking out in it and sinking up to my knee!  I could not help, but laugh.  I had never seen so much snow in my life.  Now, almost seven years later, the allure has worn off.  I hate going out and shoveling the snow. 
So, last night as I was thinking about shoveling the dreaded white stuff, my mind shifted to thinking about the beauty that snow brings to God's creation.  Winter is so cold and harsh, but when the snow falls, it brings with it a calming peace.  It also brings beauty and perfection.  Sometimes I don't want to move any of the new fallen snow because it is so beautiful and perfect.  There are no seams or cracks.  It lays on the ground in a perfect covering of white. 
Then I began to think about the seasons and how they can teach us some spiritual truths.  When fall comes, fall brings a beautiful array of colors.  But, these colors do not come without a price.  The leaves change colors because they are in the process of dying.  This may seem morbid, but there is beauty in this death just like there is beauty in the death to our old sinful selves.  We need to die to our selves so that we may be united with Christ in his beautiful death on the cross brings us the forgiveness of our sins through his blood.  That forgiveness of sins through his shed blood led me to think of the snow that winter brings.  Snow is so perfectly white (before all the cars start splashing mud and other things onto it) and that is how God sees us through the shed blood of Christ.  Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."  This is the beauty of the shed blood of Jesus.  If we believe in him and embrace him as our Savior, God washes our sins away and sees us like snow, perfectly white.  This led me to spring.  Spring brings new life.  It is time for new leaves to replace the old ones.  It is time for new buds to spring up.  It is time for a new creation to replace the old through Jesus Christ.  II Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold the new has come."  Notice how Paul says the old has "passed away."  The old leaves and buds pass away during the fall.  Our old selves died in the fall of man; our new selves are raised with Christ a new creation.  Romans 5:17 says, "For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."  Finally, we get to summer.  Summer is a time to take a break from all of our hard work throughout the rest of the year.  Summer is all about relaxing and enjoying time with friends.  This what the new earth will be like.  We will be able to rest from the years of work that we put in on this earth.  A new earth will replace the old one and we will have one big party with God and all our brothers and sisters in Christ.   Revelation 21:4 says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."