It’s late right now. I am getting ready to go on a quick trip to the Gulf, early in the morning to see one of our Katrina Relief Service Projects. I had a wedding of one of my original youth from my youth ministry days this past weekend. When I get back I have family and friends, meetings and ministry that all need and expect my attention. So in the midst of juggling my schedule, in the same way you juggle your schedule, this question came to me. What matters? And so my mind began to race to order my life by my priorities and then what was urgent and even by my interests, but after a few moments my mind began to clear and a word came to my mind, one simply word,…….. GOD.
I know that is the easy way out, the pat answer, but not this time. This time sometime else came to my mind when the answer came up God. God said to me, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.(Rev. 21:6) God has always been important to me and sure, we know He is the most important of all, but God calls us not to live as if He is important, but instead as if He is IT! The beginning of every day and end of every thought, the beginning of my longings, the end of our brokenness that leads us back to him.
What I am trying to say, is that He is not the most important part of life, but in fact He is life. Remember, I am the way, and the truth and the life. God is not the most important thing in my life, He is the only thing that truly matters. All other things flow from Him. Now, before you start to thinking this is more of a philosophical concept to be discussed by philosophers let me make it a little more practical. When I try to make a decision, when I set my schedule, when I have a meeting, when I interact with people at work and in the world, when I spend time with my family, when I serve in church, when I go to Africa, when I do anything without Jesus Christ from the beginning to the end of it, then I have done something that doesn’t matter. Wow! How can I say that? When I go on mission trips or serve in my church or spend time with my family, then that should matter whether God is in the middle of it at that particular moment or not, right? Well, not according to Jesus, In John 15:5 He simply says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” In other words what you do apart from Him amounts to nothing. It doesn’t matter. Although that may sound extreme or maybe even harsh the reason it is true is because you were meant for God. He designed you that way. When He fills you, whatever you are doing matters, whenever He is with you, your life becomes what it was intended to be. Now, here is even the greater news! If He become all that matters, He will beginning to arrange your life and create your schedule and remove your unnecessaries, but more than that simply having his Spirit alive within you, will make everything matter! It will matter because He is in it, bringing about His will, His purposes, even His Kingdom. Then your life will be a life that matters. Tell me what you think!
Carey
One year ago this week my family and I moved from Tuscaloosa, AL to Marietta, GA to embark on a whole new journey of following God. We changed states, size of churches, and home address. We continue to add new friends to our lives and learn more about how to do ministry in a very different setting. I even changed ministry responsibilities. For the previous ten years I had done youth and contemporary worship. It took me many months to work through the pain of letting go of the relational style of ministry that youth inspire. Just a few months ago I was hit with a powerful revelation. It occurred to me that the ministry setting and responsibilities had changed, but the mission and style was still the same.
The differences aforementioned are obvious, but the purposeful mission statement I developed in my first year of ministry is just as applicable here as it has been in each of the four growing churches we have served. The statement that has guided my ministry and activities is “Winning, Building and Sending people for Christ”. Here too, there are many people who have not entered into a real personal relationship with Jesus. There are many more that began the relationship, but stayed at an infancy level of faith and knowledge. Still there are perhaps thousands of others that have developed a knowledge of who God is and who they are in Him, but have never served anyone other than themselves and perhaps a few family members.
The style in which this mission will be carried out is still through real relationships. I didn’t realize how powerful the temptation to step back could be, but is a real force in the world. The conviction of my heart is that we are best able to share the love and grace of God when we are in real relationships with Him and others. What a joy it is to be a pastor in this church and what a joy it is to have a loving God loving others through us. God bless each of you as we carry out the mission together of “Winning, Building and Sending” ourselves and others for Christ.
Rev. Vaughn Stafford
Minister over Contemporary Worship
What does it mean to be a Christian? I’ve asked different people at different times throughout my ministry what they thought it meant to be a Christian. I have always been amazed at all the different answers. To go to church, to do good things, to believe in Jesus, to read your Bible regularly, to be part of a community of Christ-like believers and the list goes on. I have asked myself the same question and wrestled with the answer. I have a churchy bible answer, (I won’t take space for that, you probably already know it too) but what does God’s living word and His life-breathing Spirit tell us about being a Christian. Let me give you my short answer. There are many scriptures I could use but Luke 9:23 seems to always capture the heart of it for me. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up this cross daily and follow me. (The me, being Jesus) You could answer the question what does it mean to be a Christian in many ways, but it always comes back to this, deny yourself and follow Jesus. Deny yourself means not living for you and following Jesus means living for Him completely, but here is the kicker, not living for you but living for God instead always leads to caring and sharing with others.
When Jesus is asked for the greatest commandment, he can’t help but give the second greatest commandment as well, because the first is always followed by the second. Matthew 22:37-39 puts this way, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Notice the language, “the second is like it”. Loving others is so closely tied to loving God we are told that it is like the first command. Love for God that has it full expression in loving others is what I call a Missionary Christian. A Missionary Christian is one who is always on a mission. The mission is to express the love of God that they are experiencing by loving others. The love is not given because you should love others, but more because you can’t help but love others.
It is an outpouring of His Spirit. To be a Missionary Christian is not a duty or a responsibility, it is the overflow of one who is close to God. So here is the question to you and me. Are you a Missionary Christian? Are you overflowing with love for others? Is your life so close to Jesus that there is a natural (or should I say a super-natural outpouring)?
Here is my answer. When I follow His command to deny me and love Him, the answer is yes. When I say yes to Him and no to me, I fill up and overflow. But here is my second answer, not enough. More times than not, I am trying to serve Him from what little is left in my cup. A Missionary Christian is God’s desire for each of us. God wants us to draw near to him, to fill up and to overflow. Nothing is more exciting than a life full of Christ pouring out all over everyone else.
Rev. Carey Akin
