Lessons Learned

In no particular order, some things that I am learning and hearing from God lately… all of these are probably worthy of a full post (or series), but for now… just bullets:

– More than ever, I understand that every believer is in full time ministry (or should be).  I find that I can’t escape it, nor do I want to.  It is unfortunate that we have so professionalized ministry that we leave it to the “paid pros”.  If you are a Christ-follower, you are a minister of the Gospel!

– That said, there is still no group of people I respect more than local church pastors.  They are my heroes — under-appreciated, under-resourced, under-paid, over-worked.  But they do it out of passion for Jesus and His church.  

– Following Jesus is much simpler and easier than I ever realized.  It really is.  Religious institutions, inevitable Pharisaism, and our own hangups tend to make it more complicated. But following Jesus is simple and easy and the burden of his yoke is light.  I get that now.

– More and more, I am drawn to the ministry of discipleship and community, believing that authentic mission, worship and ministry will flow forth from good life-on-life discipleship and Christ-centered community.

– God likes me the way I am.  Which is not to say that He doesn’t want to grow me, change me, sanctify me.  He does.  It is just that he won’t like me anymore then than He does now.  (The same is true of you).

– Our faith is mystery. Any attempt to eliminate the mystery with easy answers and systematic solutions inevitably leads to legalism and religiosity.  Christendom is the result of trying to eliminate the mystery.

– In light of the mystery, “LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE” is a pretty good way to live your life.

– I could study the Sermon on the Mount for the rest of my life and still not get it.  The same is true for you.  In fact, studying it for the rest of my life might not be such a bad idea!

– In our desire to develop effective evangelistic methods and create systems for spiritual growth and metrics for spiritual maturity, we have lost the radical, counter-cultural reality of the Gospel which is all about radical inclusivity, life transformation, and pursuit of the Kingdom of God in our midst. Everything else is counterfeit Gospel.

– God is stirring in my “holy discontent”… not yet sure how this will play out, but am pretty sure it will somehow.

More thoughts tomorrow…