Tag: Everyday Life

5 Ways A Disciple-Making Attitude Changes Everyday Life

At New Life Church we highlight the fact that our main mission as followers of Jesus Christ is the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Our mission is to make disciples who make disciples. What would it look like in everyday life if we were seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ? How would it impact the way we live if we took the Great Commission seriously? Here are 5 ways a disciple making attitude changes everyday life. 

  1. When you attend Sunday morning worship (or other church events) you have your spiritual eyes open for how you can connect with other people relationally and help them grow in their faith. For example, as you gather with your church to worship you are not there just for your own spiritual good. You make it a habit to reach out to others and show them the love that Jesus Christ has shown to you. You begin going to retreats, socials, events so that you can be a blessing to others. It is more about others than it is about you. “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” -Philippians 2:3
  2. You no longer see the workplace as a secular environment, or something that is outside of your Christian calling. Jesus is Lord over everything and that includes where you work and go to school. It does not mean that you are walking around thumping people on the head with your Bible. Instead it means you are open to the idea that God wants to bring people into your life at work so that you can build a relationship with them and point them to Christ.
  3. You understand that God has called you to your neighborhood to be a disciple maker. The one thing your neighbor needs more than anything else is to know the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Do we think it is a mere coincidence that we live where we live? We are there (our home address) first and foremost as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
  4. You are less bored with everyday life in general because you realize that God is calling you to follow him in the middle of it. When everyday life becomes your mission field you realize that God is always at work and he is calling you to join him in the work that he is doing.
  5. You will have an friends who are not Christians. On another blog post I wrote this line, “I think the greatest weakness in the American church today is that we are not good at being a friend to sinners.” You can find that post HERE. It is so easy for us (I am including myself in this) to become isolated from those who are lost and need to know Christ. One way to measure how much we are motivated by the Great Commission is to think about how many friendships we have we people who do not yet know Christ.

If we took the Great Commission seriously it would have a powerful impact on the way we live everyday life. If you can think of other ways a disciple-making attitude would change a person’s life I would love to hear from you.

My book of the year, “Enjoying God” by Tim Chester

Tim Chester is a pastor and author (more than 40 books) and he lives in England. Back in July of 2009 Tim accepted my invitation and came to do a seminar at my church in New Jersey about the gospel, community and mission. Most of what he taught us was based on his book, “Total Church“.  It was neat to get to know Tim just a little bit and see up close his love for God and God’s people.

I believe it is fair to say that in my theological circle we have the tendency to emphasize knowing about God over experiencing God in daily life. I love to read and learn and so I know, unfortunately, this tendency is alive and well in me. That is the reason that I love “Enjoying God” so much.

Michael Horton wrote this endorsement for “Enjoying God”:

We talk a lot about knowing and glorifying God, but what about enjoying him? And not just as an abstract Being, but as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-enjoying each Person in all of his difference as well as divine unity? And not just in happy times or at church, but in every circumstance in life. It just keeps getting better and better as you turn each page of Enjoying God. This book will life you into the presence of the Source of all joy.

So how does Tim go about helping us to enjoy God in everyday life? Here is the table of contents:

  1. More (Do we ever wonder if there is more to the Christian life?)
  2. Joy (What does it really mean to taste and know that the Lord is good?)
  3. In every pleasure we can enjoy the Father’s generosity
  4. In every hardship we can enjoy the Father’s formation
  5. In every prayer we can enjoy the Father’s welcome
  6. In every failure we can enjoy the Son’s grace
  7. In every pain we can enjoy the Son’s presence
  8. In every supper we can enjoy the Son’s touch
  9. In every temptation we can enjoy the Spirit’s life
  10. In every groan we can enjoy the Spirit’s hope
  11. In every word we can enjoy the Spirit’s voice
  12. In one another we can enjoy God’s love
  13. In daily repentance and faith we can enjoy God’s freedom
  14. Under the hood

What Tim has done is look at all the ways in everyday life (pleasures, hardships, failures, temptations) that we can experience and enjoy the presence of God.

I have already purchased a bunch of these books and plan to use them to teach an Adult Sunday School class here in Watertown, South Dakota. As a pastor I believe strongly that one of the greatest things I can ever do for my people is guide them towards enjoying and worshipping God.

Excerpt from Enjoying God

I wonder if some of us don’t “feel” the work of the Spirit because we’re not on the frontline-we’re not on the frontline of the battle against sin or we’re not on the frontline of the battle for mission.

Imagine you’ve been driving a small car with a beat-up engine which struggles to go much over 30 mph. Then one day someone gives you a powerful new car with a large turbo-charged engine. A week later you shock them by saying, “I haven’t really noticed much difference.” But then they discover that you’ve never driven it over 30 mph. You’ve got this car that can accelerate to 70 mph in three seconds. But you don’t notice the difference because you’ve never hit the accelerator. Don’t make your life so safe that you never have cause to notice the Spirit’s work.

How do we live in communion with the Holy Spirit? We rely on him. We expect him to work. If you want to see the Spirit at work in your life, then attempt things that you feel you can’t do without his help. Everything we do for God is done with the Spirit’s help, whether we feel it or not. But if you want to feel the Spirit’s help, then attempt things that feel beyond you. Do not complain that God never does anything dramatic in your life if you never attempt anything outside your comfort zone.  p.118-119