Daily Walk|a blog by Jim Smyrl

Family Worship Guide

James 1:1-4      God’s Way to Succeed in Trials

Opening the Communication Channel:

Ask: What is the last act you saw someone perform that you would consider an act of service? How does a servant act?

Ask: Is there anything on your mind that is really a big struggle for you right now?

Note: We are going to study through the letter that James wrote to a group of Jewish people that had Read the rest of this entry »

Discussing the implications of our nation’s current course, two high school students asked me, “What can we do that will make any difference?” The question should resound in the heart of every believer. I do not imply that every believer needs to become a social activist or political lobbyist, but rather that every believer should become a spiritual transformer. The issue of making a difference is really not one that we should passionately pursue. The issue of making disciples must become our consuming passion.

Let’s be honest, you and I will probably never have the ear of the President, but we do have the ears of hundreds of lost people every week. More than likely we will never address Congress, but we daily address people that remain dead in their sin throughout our city. We do not sit by the phone waiting on the United Nations to call us for our opinion on current international crises, but we have already received the call of God to spread His gospel to people in spiritual crises. The greatest audience is not one in Washington or New York, but rather the audience of one God who has called us to make disciples of all nations.

It seems odd to even write words directed at stimulating the heart towards evangelism. Isn’t evangelism a result of a spiritually healthy heart? Don’t disciples that are in love with Jesus make other disciples? Is there any biblical category for people who walk close to the heart of God yet remain quiet regarding His plan of redemption? Instead of continuing down this Socratic pathway, let me answer: yes, evangelism is the result of a healthy heart; yes, disciples that love Jesus make other disciples; and, no, there is no biblical category in which silence and maturity co-exist. The oddity of continuously pushing the church to do evangelism exists because the Bible focuses on healthy hearts, not behavior modification.

Throughout my years watching Southern Baptists attempt to reinvigorate members to evangelize, I have witnessed everything from youth ministers swallowing fish to pastors shaving their heads. I too have been guilty of tactics that aimed at behavior modification. It is embarrassingly pathetic to see the lengths we go to in order to accomplish what God said we could only do through His Spirit (Acts 1:8). We preach and teach Acts 1:8 as a Spirit-empowered call to witness; then, for the sake of increasing declining numbers, we invent every gimmick, slogan or theme we can in order to appeal to the carnal nature of believers. There are a lot of fish in the belly of youth ministers and pastors with shaven heads, yet the souls in our cities remain lost and the hearts of our people remain in spiritual recession.

What is the answer? It is returning to the heart of Acts 1:8. Not to the heart of the disciples who were ready to conquer and build a kingdom, but to the heart of the One who gave the promise. The answer for spiritually weak hearts and spiritually bankrupt souls is the love of Jesus. Perhaps rather than calling our people to behave out of a weak heart, we should lead them to fall in love with Jesus. Seasons of evangelism come and go. It is easy to cheer the team into a lather to knock on doors and pass out tracts. But hearts for Jesus endure to the end. Hearts in love with Jesus know no boundaries to going and making disciples. Hearts in love with Jesus need no slogan or theme or gimmick. Hearts in love with Jesus are content to rely on the Spirit of God implanted in their hearts at the moment of salvation. So, if evangelism is powered by the Spirit, why do we spend so much time and so many resources trying to start the motor of lethargic hearts with man-centered, man-powered and man-inspired motivation?

Last night I began what I pray will be a life changing, church transforming, city conquering, and global impacting series through Acts. In the introduction I shared some facts from a book I am reading, “God is Back” by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. The introduction of this book describes the great riff that exists between European views of religion and American views of religion. The authors state that by the 20th Century nearly all intellectuals agreed that modern man had outgrown a need for God. The picture, at least in the introduction, presented is very bleak. However, in a time of such low moral, spiritual, political, and social woes, America has witnessed some of the great movements of God. Both the First and Second Great Awakenings exploded during seasons of corruption, immorality, and religious apathy. The Jesus Movement launched in one of the darkest times in our nation’s history. I shared with FBC last night that the depraved depths to which are nation has fallen may just be the perfect place for us to see a movement of God.

Acts 1:1-8 served as the road on which we traveled last night. The first three verses establish the foundation of the faith, which the disciples were called to herald, was not a foundation of uncertainty. Luke reminds his readers that Christianity is a faith built on demonstrable evidence, particularly the evidence that Jesus physically rose from the dead. I witnessed to a young man last week at a motorcycle shop. He believed in a higher power, but adamantly stated his disbelief in the “Christian God.” He said that no God could possibly know everything nor be all powerful. I asked, “What if what your god does not know negates everything he does know?” He looked at me with a blank stare that communicated loudly my lack of clarity. So I responded, “What if your god’s knowledge is fire, and what he does not know is water. What happens when the two meet?” His god would cease to exist and a god that can be conquered or eliminated is really not a god at all and certainly not one to whom you would give your life or devotion.

Verses 4-8 demonstrate the finite nature of man as well as the sovereignty of God. The disciples ask Jesus if He will restore the kingdom to Israel. It is a question that reflects the unchanged condition of their hearts. In Luke 22:24ff the disciples are seen quarreling over which one of them would be great in the Kingdom of God. In Acts, their question is again one that reveals their heart to rule, reign, and come into power. Jesus basically tells them in verse 7 that the time of Kingdom restoration is none of their business, but rest solely in the will of God. Then the shocker comes. Acts 1:8 has been molested in recent days as a catchy evangelism strategy. In reality, it is a correction of the disciples’ perception of Kingdom citizenship. They wanted to be great, but Jesus tells them that they will be His witnesses. Witness is a word from which comes our English word martyr. The disciples desired to be kings, but Jesus’ call was one in which they would suffer and die so that the nations of the world might hear the gospel and be saved. He even called them to be martyrs for the Samaritans, a people that the Jews despised.

The power to which Jesus refers in Acts 1:8 is not dynamite power as is often preached. Dynamite did not exist in the first century so it is erroneous to translate power into an image that the disciples possessed no knowledge. Jesus used the word power to again correct the disciples’ perception of their role in the Kingdom. Their power would not be one of overseeing provinces and ruling on political matters, but rather one of heavenly ability to follow Christ all the way to the grave. Jesus prepared them for this mission in Luke 22:24ff by telling the disciples that true greatness is not found in ruling, but in serving. They would receive power to face a martyr’s death.

How similar are we to the disciples? The very structure of most Baptist churches is one that capitalizes on man’s sinful desire for greatness, yet minimizes the call of Christ to go to the dark and dangerous places and die for Jesus. Our corporate structures in Baptist life invites men to strive for positions of leadership and authority in which they can hide from the call of Christ. Acts 6 reveals three characteristics of men that are called to servant leadership in the church. One of those characteristics is that they be filled with the Holy Spirit. Although the filling of the Spirit has been reduced in most Christian circles as a means to make it through a stressful life, the disciples’ only point of reference of the filling of the Spirit was in the first chapters of Acts. They knew that the filling of the Spirit in a man was recognized by that man’s passion to give all so that others might hear the gospel. Oh to see that requirement serve as the chief rule by which we choose our leaders in Baptist life. What will it take for the church to recognize that men are not called great in the Kingdom by the size of their wallet, company, house or standing in the community, but rather by their power to endure suffering for cause of Christ?

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men/how-to-treat-daughters

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