40 Days of Spiritual RebootSample

I would like you to re-read a part of yesterdays material. This will take several readings before it sits at the bottom of the ocean floor and gives you a sense of purpose. So do work with me on this.

As we look at the great commission and the great commandment, we pick up on five crucial reasons for our existence post the resurrection. Jesus died and rose again for these purposes. The Great Commandment says ‘you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength.“ That’s worship! It goes on to say that you will love your neighbour as yourself. That’s ministry! In the Great Commission we pick up three more. He commanded his disciples to go into all the world and proclaim the good news. That’s mission! He instructed them to make disciples by enabling them to identify with Christ and His body through baptism. That’s Fellowship! And finally by teaching them how to obey all that Christ commanded. That’s Discipleship!

So we have five purposes that we as believers live for. Worship… to celebrate God’s presence amidst us. Ministry - to demonstrate God’s love. Fellowship - to assimilate God’s family. Mission - to communicate God’s Word to the world and finally, Discipleship - to educate God’s people. To be a balanced healthy disciple of Jesus, we need to be balanced in our obedience and execution of these five purposes. If we give equal importance and attention to these five in our personal lives, we will find ourselves balanced and healthy.

CENTRE DOWN

Have you been practising breathing as an exercise to calm down? Don’t forget this. Breathing is an integral part of the soul. When God created man he breathed into him the breath of life. When a man dies, he breathes his last. When people are sick, doctors monitor their breathing. When the environment is polluted we worry about breathing. Spirit in eastern languages is translated Ruah or breath. It is synonymous with life itself and when we concentrate on our breathing we’re putting a stethoscope to our spirit as well to check for health. We covered some of this in meditation. Revising every discipline, habit and commitment is vital to staying fresh.

Today let's think about Ministry. We were created to demonstrate God’s love. God created us in community to reflect his character to each other. No one can be loving on their own. It is in context of other people that we are loving or unloving. This is enhanced or tested even more when the people we are surrounded with are a challenge to love. Either they are unloving to us, or they are unloved, or they cannot receive love, or they just don’t want to love back. Thats where love is put to the test for its genuineness and authenticity. With all that happened after the fall, when man turned on each other, marriages were damaged and hope was lost. It was then that God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus to cover the sin and wickedness of all men over all time. He forgave, healed and reconciled man to God through his death, resurrection and current advocacy. He then gives the mandate to man to ‘love one another’ even as I have loved you. By this, he says, the world will know that you are my disciples. So Christ deems every fellowship of believers and every Christian marriage as the testing ground for love.

We have been placed on earth to love. There is no higher cause. No greater purpose. There is nothing else you will do in your life… for your whole life… but love. You won’t work for your entire life, you won’t parent, you won’t study, you won’t travel, you won’t lead, you won’t exercise. From birth to death, we are called to love. Now… if you’re caught up in the romantic notion of love or the sentiment of being nice or perhaps associate it with sex…. Snap out of it!!! Take a hard look at the cross…. come on!!! stare at the cross…. stay a while at the foot of the cross… listen to the jeers of the crowds and soldiers, read the inscription above Christ’s head, look at the injustice between his crucifixion and the other robbers… they were hung there for the comparison. Do you see flowers, date nights, sex, romance, ‘finding love’, hearts and balloons? No right? Then snap out of it and call lust.. lust, romance… romance… and let Love be what God meant it to be.

What should you see when you look at the cross? What should you hear Christ say? You should see the limitlessness of the patience and forgiveness of God. The distance He was willing to go to ‘cover’ your sin. You should understand that there is NO extent of sin or rebellion that Jesus cannot cover. A cover is a blank cheque to take care of expenses. Whatever it cost to pay the debt. A cover is a protection from shame and guilt. A cover is a shield from the wrath of God. Thats how Christ loved us… by covering us. So when we love people, we become limitless in our ability to forgive and show patience, we cover their shame and guilt rather than expose it, much less throw it back at them… and finally, we remember that we were shielded from God’s wrath so our love covers people from our own anger. We renounce anger, bitterness, an unforgiving spirit and a revengeful memory… for the sake of love. THAT… my dear brothers and sisters is love.

From whom does God expect to see this kind of love? Answer… in those who have received this kind of love! Because ‘ his' love… carries forward. It doesn’t stay with the same person. Romance ends with the one you're romantic with. Sex ends with the one you have it with. Charity ends with the underprivileged person you care for. But God’s love keeps going and going and going.

It all begins with selflessness. And you can put a habit into place to develop selflessness. This is an opportunity that the church family provides. We call it ministry. Serving helps you bend your back in humility and care for others. Ministry is more about you serving… than about meeting others needs. God could meet their need in a heartbeat. But he places you as an agent of grace, an angel of mercy, an investor in eternity. He promises, not one glass of water given in His name will go unrewarded.

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

Galatians 5:13 - For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 7:6 - But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

1 Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

COME CLEAN

Begin small and ask God to help you identify your strengths and resources with which you can make your life about others. Please don’t think about this as good works, humanitarian aid and all that. This is about you and I becoming unselfish. One of the ways to renew your spiritual life is to get a ministry. Find a way to give yourself away. I’m not going to tell you what this is. But you must find it.

Begin somewhere and get involved. And as you think about how you can have a ministry to others, also note down the number of things in your life that actually hold you back from allowing you to be a loving person.

Talk to your pastor or small group leader. Ask them to help you find your ministry.

The greatest use of your life is love. And the greatest expression of love is service. Believe me when I tell you… when you are a servant of God, no one can master you.