Paul talked about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. In Philippians 1 he is discussing being with Christ or staying in his body to be with them. He notes that being with them is fruitful labor. He lived his life with meaning. It’s a powerful statement.
A comment I read from George Wood in his book, Living in the Spirit, said, “Fruit is meant to be tasted.”
My life yielded to Christ is incredibly meaningful. May people truly taste and see that the Lord is good from my life.
Over the past few months I have been preaching on the Holy Spirit. One of the key areas of Spirit-filled life I’ve examined is Acts 2:42. The Early Church had a “system” to catch what the Spirit was doing in their lives.
1. The apostles’ teaching
2. Fellowship
3. The breaking of bread (which I think emphasizes the Lord’s Table)
4. Prayers
These forms came out of their Jewish heritage. They were already in place and God had set it up for them. It’s a good lesson! There are basic things we need in our lives and too often we’re out looking for God to do a “new thing.”
What I wonder is this: There may be a need for a “new thing” in how these disciplines look in our lives. Maybe THAT is the “new thing.” So, how do I lead my church in a way where the power of the Spirit is touching us and we have these “systems” in place?
What forms do we take on that are useful for our day? For teaching, for fellowship, for the Table, for Prayers. What do we, as a church, create to make sure we are capturing in our lives what the Spirit is doing?
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness taht comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil. 1:9-11, TNIV)
The language of Paul is so rich. He asks for an abundance in the lives of the church. Not an abundance of things, but of intimate knowledge of the Lord. He asks for a depth of insight. All of this is so they could discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
Paul is someone who had the end in mind. He was driven because he knew the destination. The Kingdom had impacted him. When he was consumed with an intimate knowledge of the Lord, it was life changing. He could see what was best.
We settle for so little in our lives. We settle for good enough. We settle for what gets us by. We settle for our own reasons. The Kingdom of God isn’t in view. We don’t have the end in mind. We live for the moment.
Paul could live with incredible passion, even in prison, because he knew the end! He knew what it was all for: the glory of God. It wasn’t his glory or reputation on the line. It was about God.
I need to have the destination in mind! I need to test what is best for my life and quit settling for good.
I had to get that in somewhere!
Spirit Led Leadership
This weekend I am leading a retreat and we are reflecting on Spirit-led leadership. I love learning from Moses, so I jotted down some of these thoughts about the leadership traits of Moses:
1. Hearing God
He heard God from the burning bush. He kept on listening. His prayer life was conversational with God. All through his leadership there is a constant conversation going on. He needed direction for what was ahead. He HAD to have the presence of God.
2. Obeying God
3. Confronting Evil
He could look Pharaoh in the eye and demand that God’s people be let go. He could stand with his rod at the Red Sea and see God take on the enemies of Israel. When rebellion needed to be dealt with in the camp, he stepped up.
4. Correcting the Saints
He also had to deal with confrontation inside the camp. If his leadership was questioned, he needed to respond. If they questioned God, he needed to respond. AND he needed to respond with the right words. He needed to hear from God! He needed to speak the right words. He needed to have a spiritual backbone to step up.
5. Interceding
He went toe-to-toe with God, so to speak. When God was ready to destroy Israel, Moses stood in the gap. As rebellious as Israel was, Moses knew the promises of God and called God to uphold his word.
6. He was human
He had a temper. It cost him the Promised Land. But he had emotions. It wasn’t in him to step around his emotions. He had failures. He was a murderer. And in his human condition, God used him.
7. Mentorship
He had Joshua. He taught others. He knew how to lead by example and teach the principles he was learning.
8. Learn to grow
Dr. Don Meyer (now president of Valley Forge Christian College) had a saying I loved, “Never stop yearning to keep on learning.”
We have to have a thirst for learning. We step out in the Spirit and we learn. There are things that go wrong. There are things that go right. We examine our lives, we take inventory. We evaluate.
We learn from others. We learn together. There are lessons to be learned from those who have gone before. We need to attach ourselves to people who are growing. What have they learned? How did they learn? What can I gain from their spirit?
9. Perseverance.
We stick to it. We don’t give up. Moses led them to the door of the Promised Land twice. He couldn’t go in himself, but he kept at it. We need perseverance. Let us hold on in prayer! Let’s not give up!
I’ve not participated in any of these as yet. (Although I did happen to win an ill-fated TNIV Renaissance Bible from Zondervan.)
Connect to this blog and follow the simple rules. I don’t know why I’m telling you. I am the one who wants to win!
I love giving myself to the study of the Word. There are times when one word can leap out at me and I am lost in the wonder of what God is saying to me.
Philippians 1:1 — “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus…”
The word is slave. Our cultural communication has harmed the ability to use that word, so I understand the use of “servant.” But the word is slave. Paul gave himself over to the will of another. There could be no regard for his own interest. Someone else called the shots. Completely.
Am I his slave? Does Jesus truly call the shots? Have I given up my interests for his?
I love baseball. It’s been my lifelong passion as a hobby. Unfortunately, I grew up in Kansas City. It wasn’t unfortunate when I was growing up. We had pennant chasers back then. Three years running in the 70s we took on the Yankees every October… and lost. But we were THERE. In 1980 it was the World Series… and a loss against the Phillies. Who cared? We beat the Yankees! Then, 1985… WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS. (Yes, courtesy of a bad call in Game 6. That’s why I am personally against instant replay in baseball.)
Since 1985? Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Losing seasons all the time.
Last year, I finally gave it up. I hadn’t lived in KC for years, why was I languishing with this team? So, after another predictable losing season, I declared my allegiance to my new hometown (of 12 years), the Minnesota Twins. A lot of good that has done. We have Joe Mauer, who is Uber Player. But they keep giving away games.
I’m in for the Twins anyway.
But I can’t help but looking over at the Royals trainwreck of a season from time to time. They have a new GM who has tried to get them on track. He has learned from the Atlanta organization, so there was hope this guy could lead KC out of the wilderness. So, what does he do as this miserable season limps to a close? He says the manager will be back next year!
I am thankful I am letting this team go! The GM is nuts! Here’s to looking forward to a 2010 trainwreck in KC. Here’s to looking forward to a new Twins stadium on 2010.
This excellent article served to encourage me as pastor of a small church. I also found it interesting because, as a minister in a Pentecostal denomination, I thought WE were the only ones in danger of the cult of personality!
Chip Ingram has a book out called Good to Great in God’s Eyes. I am using as a staff book for my church. While the first chapter is a bit more simplistic than I had hoped, there are some great thoughts.
One of the key areas to greatness in the Kingdom of God is to think great thoughts. One idea Ingram brings is to meditate on spiritual insights. When the Lord reveals something to you, take into account the impact of that thought. Mull it over. Don’t let it slide by, but meditate on what the Lord is teaching.
The application he gave was had an impact on me. It sounded like me. He wrote about his own insecurities in the past. It intimidated him to where he kept thinking about how he could get on someone’s “good side,” or impress a church official, etc. He then came to the realization that all people have some degree of insecurity. Just be authentic.
He wrote that if you get into the game of “comparing spiritual gifts” there are only two places to go: Inferiority or superiority. Either we judge someone for having a “lesser” gift and become arrogant, or we think our particular gift doesn’t match up, so we feel inferior. It’s a lose/lose deal.
My life needs to be lived authentically. I need to hear the voice of the Spirit and obey that voice. Period.
Dazed and confused, it’s possible I figured out how to get my browser to point to wordpress after all. Total accident. It’s quite possible I’m now STUCK here.
So, maybe it’s time to be off into the world of WordPress and make this work even better than Blogger.
