Tag: The Story of Us

A Simple Matter

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This week we are wrapping up our series, The Story of Us. This final part won’t take us to the end of Luke’s narrative of the early church in Acts, but rather to the halfway point. From here his focus shifts from the church itself to Paul and his missionary journeys. This halfway point marks what is perhaps the most significant moment in the story. The question on the table was frightfully important: just how complex a thing was following Jesus going to be? The debate was fierce, but in the end, they decided to follow Jesus in making it a very simple matter. Let’s see together how this all unfolded and what exactly it means for us. Thanks for reading and sharing.

A Simple Matter

Have you noticed that things tend to get more complicated over time? If you haven’t, perhaps some examples would help. Let’s start with the tax code. The original 1913 income tax law was 23 pages long and took about 400 pages to explain. Today, the tax code comes in at about 70,000 pages of text. No wonder politicians from both sides of the aisle regularly promise to reform and simplify things! Or consider a business. Apple started with two computer nerds in a garage. Today it is the most valuable company in the world, employing thousands of people, and is vastly more complex than it was in 1976. Or perhaps consider…churches. Most churches begin very simply. They have a vision and a message. Then over time they add programs and committees and policies and by-laws and buildings and furniture pieces and ministries all of which become enshrined both in structure and in placement such that the message and vision become a mere sideshow to the main event of tradition. And tradition is a complex thing. 

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Not Merely Converts

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After a couple of weeks off, this week we are picking back up in the incredible story of the church in Acts. My Minister of Students walked the congregation through Acts 12 last week (click here and tune to the 35:30 mark to catch his excellent treatment of it), so this week we are on to the next part of the story in Acts 13-14. This is where we find the travelogue of Paul’s first missionary journey. Travelogues like this can make for tough point-seeking, but as the story unfolds on Paul’s disciple making efforts, we discover a series of principles worth considering in our own similar efforts. Let’s explore these together as we see that merely making converts to the Christian faith is not our goal.

Not Merely Converts

For nine weeks now we have been working our way through the story of us; the story of the church as told by Dr. Luke in the incredible narrative of Acts found in the Scriptures. And we’ve learned all kinds of things along the way about how we should be doing church if we are going to rightly stand in the long history of tradition that stretches out behind us. We’ve learned that people best connect to Jesus through the three-fold ministry of powerful words, loving actions, and an attractive community. We’ve learned that the way we survive the myriad of challenges all churches face is by being boldly committed to advancing the message and mission of Jesus and by taking the church as seriously as it deserves. We’ve learned that sometimes this kind of boldness sparks persecution, but also that the only response that will get us through these challenges is to double down on Gospel boldness. We’ve learned that when we do our part, pairing our efforts with those of our Father who always does His part, the church grows, and that having as many people as is possible in the church is the point of the whole endeavor. Indeed, if we’re not reaching people with the Gospel message then what on earth are we doing wasting our time and money on all of this for? We’ve been impressed by the fact that our whole identity as Jesus followers is built on the idea of including everybody. “Christian” is an inclusive identity. Just last week, after taking a week off to hear about all the work God did among our students this summer at camp, Nate walked you through the remarkable story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, and helped us see that when we pray big, bold prayers, God just may answer them and we need to be ready for that.   

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An Inclusive Identity

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This week, as we continue working through the story of the church, we are taking a step with the disciples in a bit of an uncomfortable direction. Just when they thought they had really hit their stride, God called Peter to go and share the Gospel with a group of people who were the very last people in the world He expected to ever be sharing the Gospel with. Yet He obeyed, and the whole church learned a very important lesson we are still trying to learn today. Read on to find out what this is.

An Inclusive Identity

Do you know what one of the most polarizing words in modern English is? “Christian.” That word is the cause of not a little angst on the part of many people both in the church and out. There are some in the church who don’t like the title because of the cultural connotations it has come to have. In the same vein, there are a lot of folks out there who hear the word and associate a whole host of negative adjectives with it: judgmental, small-minded, exclusive, bigoted, intolerant, homophobic, unloving, uncaring, and the list goes on. Then, of course, there are the folks who wear the title like a banner and are kind of judgmental toward all those who don’t. But, have you ever wondered where the word “Christian” came from? Some of the Bible scholars in the room may know that it was not what Jesus’ followers originally called themselves. They preferred the much simpler and, frankly, more descriptive title “disciple.” So how and when did the name change start to happen? Better yet, what does it actually mean to be a Christian? I mean, if we’re honest, there are a whole lot of different kinds of people who believe and do a whole lot of different kinds of things who all claim the title as descriptive of them. A little clarity here would surely be helpful.  

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Playing a Part

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Last week on our journey through the story of the church, we saw what some of the fruits of our Gospel boldness can be. They weren’t particularly sweet. Persecution never is in the moment. Yet the church kept at it. They did their part while relying on God to do His. When both parts were working like they should, something pretty incredible happened. Let’s take a look at what this was in the next part of our story. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Playing a Part

In 1996 a young man named Bob was drafted out of the University of Tennessee by the Texas Rangers as the 18th pick in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. Like any person in his position he entered the Majors with boatloads of optimism. He was offered a nice signing bonus and seemed set to make a quick trip through the farm system to his eventual big league debut. He was even invited to join the U. S. Olympic team competing in Atlanta that summer. Early on in the process, however, a doctor for the team noticed in a team photo that his arm was sticking out funny. This led to some testing and it was discovered that he was missing a piece of ligament in his throwing arm. Doctors were amazed that he was even able to turn a doorknob without excruciating pain. The reaction was swift. His signing bonus was cut to 10% of the original offer and for most of the next 10 years he languished in the minors. 

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The Fruit of Boldness

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For the last three weeks we have been talking about the initial explosion of the early church and the boldness with which they pursued the advance of Jesus’ mission. We’ve talked about just how seriously they were taking the church in those early days. Along the way, though, a question has started to bubble up without much of an answer just yet: what happened to them? So they did all this bold Gospel work. What happened? How did things go for them? In this next part of our series, The Story of Us, we’re going to get an answer to that question. It may not be what you expect. Read on to find out how things went.

P.S. My family is taking some downtime this next week, so this will be the only post for this week. Enjoy, and see you in a week.

The Fruit of Boldness

A few years ago, I picked up a copy of David McCullough’s book, 1776. It’s a gripping story of the events of that incredibly consequential year in the history of our nation. The story, however, is not what you might expect going into it. When we think about the year 1776, our thoughts are mostly shaped by the momentous event that happened on July 4th and which we are in the midst of celebrating, with the main events coming on Tuesday. That, of course, was the day we officially declared independence from the British crown, establishing ourselves as a sovereign nation. 

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