Jesus is not Customizable

I've been reading a great book by David Platt called, "Follow Me." I encourage you to read it. It is explaining the true meaning of Jesus calling us to follow Him.

I read this section and it reminded me of how I need more of Jesus and less of me: 

"Almost unknowingly, we shrink back from this cost, choosing to redefine Christianity according to our personal preferences, church traditions, and cultural norms. Slowly, subtly, we take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into someone with whom we are a little more comfortable. We dilute what he says about the cost of following him, we disregard what he says about those who choose not to follow him, we practically ignore what he says about materialism, and we functionally miss what he says about mission. We pick and choose what we like and don’t like from Jesus’ teachings. In the end, we create a nice, non-offensive, politically correct, middle-class, American Jesus who looks just like us and thinks just like us. But Jesus is not customizable. He has not left himself open to interpretation, adaptation..."

We do not define Jesus by our culture, but by what the Bible says.

My life should be customized and changed by Christ not the other way around. Following Christ is a continual change and renewal to become more like Him. This is what it truly means to be customized.

Be encouraged! Jesus' customized life for us is better than what we could ever dream up on our own power. 
 

InstaLife Series Week 2 – Message in 10 Tweets

#instalife series – week 2 “#selfie”The teaching from week 2 in 140 characters or less…

1) Recap of Week 1: God is who determines our identity, not how many “likes” we have online! 

2) The word “selfie” has a root word, “self.”

3) At the root of sin is SELF. It is the word, “pride.” 

4) If we only focus only on people liking us, we lose sight of what God says about us.

5) Focus upon pleasing God and not pleasing people (1 Thessalonians 2:4, Galatians 1:10).

6) Live from God’s approval and not for the approval of people.

7) Stop taking pictures with a motivation to have people PRAISE you. God is who created us.

8) Proverbs 29:26: “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”

9) Jealousy based upon outward appearance hurts everyone (Proverbs 14:30).

10) Life is not about drawing attention to self, but denying self to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

To watch any of the series messages, check out vimeo.

One Excuse that Limits our Lives

We all have excuses don't we? Excuses of why we don't want to do the dishes or excuses of why we made a mistake. One of the biggest excuses I see is this one, "why go overseas to reach people when we have so many people here that need to be reached?"

To start off, Jesus didn't believe this thought process. Jesus said this in His final words before heading home to Heaven:

"Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

I'm sure you have read or heard of this passage before. I believe it is the foundation of the mission of the church. It is Jesus' marching order for the church in every generation.

Notice Jesus did not say, "Go and make disciples of Jerusalem" or "Go and make disciples of the country you live in" but went with a global mission rather than just one-dimensional.

The big excuse is to limit the mission of the local church to be one-dimensional.

Look at the layers of mission that the early church began with in Acts 1:8:  "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The kind of mission Jesus called churches to seek to become is making disciples of all nations.

Why?

First, Jesus commanded it. Second, it teaches us to not become comfortable reaching people we are comfortable reaching. Third, Jesus has a heart for all people to be saved, not just Americans. Fourth, the local church exists to reach everyone. Fifth, Heaven will be populated with every nation.

Finally, I believe one of the biggest ways to help develop mature disciples is to give them a worldview of the gospel.

Lead people to go on mission to experience it short-term so when they return they will live with a better understanding of how God is moving all over the world.

A God-sized mission that doesn't include missions outside of America doesn't live up to the mission that Jesus delivered moments before returning to Heaven.

Let's always ask God to help us reach people that are far from Him locally, nationally and internationally.

The question instead of "why" should change to "why not" in reaching beyond the shores of America to the world.