An Idiot's Guide to Life

“Before the first note is ever played for our first-time guest (let’s call him Will), production volunteers have been up for hours, transforming the rented high school auditorium where we meet into a habitation for the presence of God.  The guy who pulled the trailer at 4:30 a.m. and the girl who set up the cameras–they are connectors to the current of the power of Christ.

By the time I open my mouth to start the sermon, Christ has already been preached.  When Will raises his hand to receive Christ after attending for three months, he may say the inspiring songs and my brilliant sermons changed his life.  But, the real miracle happened outside the service, with hundreds of ordinary people doing ordinary things with extraordinary passion for the glory of God.

No act of service is insignificant when done for the most significant purpose in the universe: proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When you see yourself as a connector to the current of the power of Christ, everything you do takes on meaning.  You’re not just a normal Christian.  You’re not just a volunteer.  You’re not just a church member or just an employee.  Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you’re a connector to the current of the power of Christ.  You’re a servant of the most high God.”

- Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick

Our lives are an offering before God.  Romans 12:1, urges each of us “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”  Sadly, in the typical local church approximately 20% of any given congregation actually serve and give regularly.  Right now, ACC falls in line with such statistics.  What this says is that our church falls in line with the average church in America.  Average?  Is that really okay?  We do not serve an average God, who calls us to live average lives.  We serve a big, awesome, amazing, all-powerful God, who has called us to an extraordinary purpose…to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).  In light of this, I want you to ask yourself a serious question… “What am I offering as an act of worship before God?”  Can you honestly say that your life is a living sacrifice?  Worship is not just a Sunday thing to attend.  Worship is a 24/7/365 offering that we give.  It is a lifestyle that we live.

Therefore, let me urge you as well, in view of the mercy of God, do not simply sit back as a common spectator, but offer yourselves fully to God.  Choose to live a lifestyle of worship that is holy and pleasing to Him.

“And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him, said, “Lord have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly.  For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.  And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”  And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?  Bring him here to me.”  And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.  The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?“  He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”          – Matthew 17: 14-20

As a pastor and a church planter, I have certainly suffered my share of defeats, as I am sure that we all have.  This can often leave us confused, because as followers of Christ we are to be “more than conquerers,” right?  The truth is, that we can be servants of God and yet will suffer a defeat every now and then.  In Matthew 17, we see the disciples attempt to cast a demon out of a boy, but were unable to do so.  This left them looking a little bush league, so the father of the boy had to take his son to the big guns, Jesus, to heal him.  After Jesus casts the demon out of the boy, the disciples come to him…defeated, embarrassed (notice they came to Him in private) and seeking answers.  “Why could we not cast out?” the disciples probe.  And Jesus replies with a gentle rebuke, “Because of your little faith.”

There is a key word that sticks out to me as I read the disciples question.  “Why couldn’t WE cast it out?”  WE?  If they weren’t placing their faith in Christ, who were they relying on to heal the boy?  Answer: themselves.  You see, they had mistaken their own abilities for God’s power.  However, before you get to down on the boys for such a bonehead move, ask yourself whether or not you often do the same.  For example, there are times as a pastor that I get discouraged (as the disciples did) because attendance is low on a Sunday, or people aren’t very responsive.  My immediate response is to think, “was it something I said?”  Without fail I think, “am I not a very good leader?”

The bottom line is, we often put faith in our own abilities and call it faith in God.  No doubt, the disciples thought they were doing the right thing…the godly thing.  The problem was that they were trying to do a God sized task…independent of God.  How many times do we do the same thing?  God desires to use each and every one of us to be agents of redemption, to be proof of Him to a broken world.  God calls us to do big things.  However, it is impossible to do those things apart from Him and independent of His power.  If we are to tackle such God-sized tasks, we have to go to Jesus before and not after.  True faith seeks Him first, apart from whom we can do nothing.