The Dawn of a new Day

I grew up in the church….man…I could have been born in a pew. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s (born in 74) and I had a good first hand look at church culture. I always marveled at the handful of mighty Men of Woman of God that had a platform to lead, speak, and influence others from. We seem to love to identify ourselves with a dynamic leader whom we respect and is having an influence. Heck, in 1 Corinthians Paul had to address this issue with the church because they were saying ‘“I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”’. It seems to be human nature to want to belong to a certain camp. Actually, the real issue is we really want to belong to someone and something that matters.

So this brings me to my main point here. Typically, in Christian western culture we have a tendency to exalt Christian celebrities and to identify ourselves with them. This is not all bad, because we need strong leaders and reformers in the Church. The main issue here is that Christ is not divided. He is whole. I think a contributing reason that we act like this is because we all want to have a voice. We all want to be identified with what is true and we want our lives to make a difference. These are healthy things. The problem is we have and “us and them” mentality. Do you realize that we have this vocabulary of “laypeople” and “clergy”? I understand this language is not as common as it used to be… but I think the mentality it created is still common. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is raising up an Army of lovers in these last days. He is not raising up an Army of Clergy in these last days….His body is starting to wake, stretch, and arise from the shadows. It is the job of Christian leaders to equip you to minister to the world around you. You are to heal the sick, feed the poor, love the dying, displace hate, and re-present Christ. You are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see. The Kingdom of God (His domain) resides within you. If you know Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you….you are called into ministry. Your primary identity is to be a son or daughter of the Father. Your default role is that you get to minister of His goodness to those around you. The Gospel is called the Good News…..is your news good?

(Practical) I am so busy right now I can’t see straight. I feel like time is not on my side… but at the same time I don’t want to be just be that neat church guy…I want to take my walk to the street. We can listen to His voice. Last week after church we were in a busy restaurant and it was packed. There was this bus boy and he was working his tail off. One of the folks at our table said “Man, look at that guy, he hates his job”. It was a statement said with sympathy. I started watching this young man and he was working very hard. He actually had too much work for just one dude. This is not the type of restaurant that you normally tip at. You pay at the counter, eat, and leave. I could not stop thinking about him as we all were enjoying ourselves and visiting. The kid looked beat down and I don’t think he had much self esteem. So, it came time for us to go and we walked outside and the Holy Spirit was poking my heart. I was thinking what can I do for this guy? But, in my heart I knew. So I took most of the cash in my wallet (that I was saving my tattoo!) and walked back in. It was perfect…he was in an area by himself. I walked over and gave him the cash and told him that I had been watching him and that he was such a hard worker.  I said that his strong work ethic will take him places in life (I actually felt this was a prophetic statement) and we sure appreciate the service you gave us. I told him I was a minister (just like you are…feel free to steal that line!) and gave him my card with my cell phone# on it. I said if you ever need to talk to someone feel free to call me. I put my arm around him and squeezed His shoulder like a father would. He was stunned…and just said "thank you sir"…and kept staring at the card I gave him.

I didn't cure aids that day. I didn't see someone get out of a wheelchair. I just listened to the heartbeat of heaven and did my best to love. The Father loves that young man enough to tell him that He sees his hard work. Actually, the Father loves that young man so much to show him the HE sees him. That was good news to that young man that day. I planted a seed and God will water it and cause His Sun (Son) to shine on it. 

Don’t look to a platform or a leader to identify with. Look to the hurting, lost, addicted, and selfish to identify yourself with. You don’t need to identify with a certain camp or party. You are the body of Christ….Now Rise…and walk on.