The Church and Discipleship (Part I)

The Church is an amazing thing. It is one of the oldest “societies” in the world. It is living and breathing and moving and has been for a very long time. Founded on the Savior of the World, called to go in His name and proclaim the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth, the Church has the single greatest purpose of any group of people ever. It is the most powerful thing in existence… There’s just one problem. It’s full of some of the most complacent, hard-hearted, and lost people in the world. Don’t believe me? Let’s compare the church in America to the example of the church outside of the United States, especially in places like China and Africa.

Before I go any further, let me say that I have very limited knowledge of the Church outside of the United States, because I haven’t studied it in depth. However, I feel like I know enough to assess the differences between church here as opposed to church there. The “Westernized American” Church is the focus of this blog, and here’s why. Unlike anywhere else in the World, here, we have freedom of religion. No one questions us when we build a Church and hold a block party in our neighborhood, and why should they? We’re free. Yet with little opposition, comes a level of comfort that makes for a very lax and complacent group of people. Contrast this to the church in China: though illegal, with death or imprisonment a real possibility, Christianity is more on fire than ever. In Africa, with threats of Muslim oppression and witch doctors running rampant, the Church is growing more rapidly than just about anywhere else. So what’s the difference between our American Churches and the oppressed churches overseas? Boiled down to just one word, I think the church in foreign lands is hungry for a saving Gospel.

Hunger.

The American Church isn’t hungry for the Gospel like the foreign Church is. But you say, “Josh my church is plenty hungry for the Gospel.” I’m not bold enough, nor would I ever say that all churches everywhere in America aren’t hungry for the Gospel. Please don’t confuse what I’m saying. I am simply making the observation that in many Churches there are those who are “on fire” for the Gospel, and then there are those I talked about in my last blog, who are “check-box” Christians. We have all been the “Check-box” Christian before. I know I have.

See, Americans are spoiled. Instead of the Church educating people about the dangers of falling into the American lifestyle, it’s bought into it. Pastors are living in enormous houses, driving expensive cars, and living very wealthy lifestyles. This in turn is encouraging their congregations to follow suit. Sermons turn into pep talks instead of long hard looks into God’s word for instruction. Many times the Bible takes its place referenced at the beginning of a sermon, and then the Pastor’s opinions take center stage. Sadly, due to a lack of sound theological training, many Church members don’t notice this at all! They are fed the same thing week after week, checking their happy little boxes, and moving on down their happy little way. Meanwhile, in reality, God’s heart is breaking because His children, whom He gave His Son for, are essentially building up for themselves a “Golden Calf” church experience (See Exodus 32). We have all of the flashy, exciting, “relevant” things about worship, learning, and a “Christian walk”, without digging in and finding out who our real God is…

So, what’s the problem? What is causing the Church to throw itself at the pursuit of being “relevant” to a modern culture instead of falling back on the truth of the Gospel and its relevance to any situation? Satan. The father of lies spends all of his time here on earth causing as much confusion and disagreement as possible, especially within the church, and he is very good at what he does. Division is the name of his game. He swoops in and causes us to focus on things that seem extremely important at the time, but in the end only distract us from what is really needed in the church.

Jesus gave very clear instruction on what the Church was supposed to be about. He laid it out for the disciples in Matthew 28 as we saw in my last blog. (http://joshuapeppersblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-changes-continued.html) Discipleship, personally training, one on one with other members of the church as well as those who are lost, is how we are to approach Church. With Satan diagnosed as the source of the problem, we can attack back with Biblical training and instruction. It’s hard to fully grasp how it can work so well and yet be so simple. Look again at the church overseas, growing like wildfire. There are no big stage designs or fancy worship leaders, props or big sound systems. There is only The Gospel! The Gospel changes lives. The Gospel shapes leaders. The Gospel convicts sinners. The Gospel gives hope to everyone! The Gospel saves us from Sin, and that is Good News!

People of God, why are we trading in the simple message of the Gospel for a complicated, flashy, and in the end false, view of what Church is? Church doesn't exist to serve its members. In fact, it's quite the opposite; we exist for Christ, for His purpose, and for His church. When we finally grasp that, we will truly become "relevant" to a lost generation, because we will no longer feel the need to impress, but all of us will be compelled to serve.

Please, do not get me wrong. Let me be very clear. I do not have a problem with lights or a great worship band (I’m in the one at my Church). What I am opposed to is too much emphasis being put into the lights and band and props, without enough focus being put on discipling the members of the church and the growth of a congregation toward more Godly lives.

In the next part of this blog, Discipleship and the Church Part II, I want to unpack whose responsibility it is to right this situation within the church. It does not fall on your senior Pastor alone, nor is it the Church staff; rather it is the responsibility of every single member of the church. We will explore Paul’s letter to Titus in the New Testament and view the way he instructed Titus to lead the Church. It gives very clear guidelines for the people who are to be in church leadership, and it has a message for every man, woman, and young person in the church. I encourage you to read Titus before reading my next blog, and then we will walk together through Titus, passing over the first part of Chapter 1 and focusing mostly on Chapter 2, especially the end of this chapter.

My prayer is that this blog will help us all, myself included, gain knowledge of His word, and together take back the church for God’s glory. It’s time that the Church awakens to find itself strong and vibrant, carrying with it a relevant word for a lost and dying world in need of the Savior we call our King!

Thanks for reading; please comment and share your thoughts!

I hope you’ll join me for part two!

Jp

Blog Changes Continued.

This blog IS NOT about bashing the church, it is not about tearing down the direction our Churches are going, it is to remind us all, that God started His Church and told us plainly in Scripture how to make it work!

Have you ever gotten out of bed one morning and felt restless for no reason? Like something bad is about to or has already happened? Like you forgot something really important? Even worse, you wake up and that feeling is a reality and you HAVE forgotten something of great importance? I hate the feeling that I get when that happens, that twisted knot of gross, sickening, overpowering muck right in the center of my chest. It makes me want to scream. Can you identify?

It’s funny how the human mind and our emotions are tied together. Our thoughts and realizations generate real sickness over an idea. Do you get the picture I’m painting? Some of you are reminded to the point of actually feeling that gross feeling right now.

Now, when was the last time you felt that gross sick feeling for the things God is sick about? Many times we are sick because we have forgotten a birthday or anniversary. In my case I usually feel that overwhelming sickness when I wake up and have slept through my first two classes of the day. (Horrible feeling by the way…) Yet so many times, I read my Bible and see a rebellious people that God is longing to romance, and instead of it breaking my heart, instead of me seeing the message in that Scripture for me, I check off my, “I’m a good Christian for doing my quiet time” box, and move on with my day… Oh how we have missed it.

Far worse, the church has become accustomed to this same “check-box” mindset. We, including myself on a near weekly basis, file into church at our designated times, go to our predetermined seating, drink our customary two cups of coffee (1 cream 2 sugars), settle in for a few entertaining songs (but not too loud), listen to the sermon (but only sort of because I was texting during that last point, and before that I was checking my Regions app to make sure I could afford lunch today, after I tithe… Heck, many of us don’t even tithe!). Church has become part of the routine. For Christians, Church IS the routine. Christianity is our routine. However, we couldn’t be further from the truth! Christianity is the single farthest thing from a routine life ever to exist in Heaven or here on earth, and we have missed it. We have watered down our walk into a society of people who gather weekly and pat each other on the back, tell ourselves that we’re doing the right things, and in the process, facilitating within ourselves the cancer that is making us irrelevant to the lost people of the world. Slap onto that a catchy Christian t-shirt, and you’ve got the Westernized American Church. Have we forgotten that Christianity is a call to GO and to SERVE and to DISCIPLE? For some DEATH will take them early as they push the Gospel to new heights around the world. Christian means “Little Christ”. When did we quit telling people that all of His disciples except one, died for His cause?

Yet, God is God. He wasn’t caught of guard by this series of events. He knew they were coming, knew that we would miss the mark, and yet He STILL uses our broken down mess we call church to change lives in our communities, in our states, in our country, and around the World! Hallelujah! We are not hopeless, we can change. God will renew what He started in us! This blog IS NOT about bashing the church. It is not about tearing down the direction our churches are going. It is, rather, to remind us all, that God started His Church and told us plainly in Scripture how to make it work!

Just like you can’t build a model airplane without the directions, if the Church relies on the ideas of leadership without taking into account what God has for His church, the results will be just as useless as an incomplete model. But, thankfully, there are directions for the church… And it all starts with one single command:

Matthew 28:18-20:

“Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Jesus is laying out the plan for how knowledge of Him is to be passed on. It’s not some long drawn out eight tiered plan for a ten year spread of the good news. It’s actually about as simple as it gets. You, an individual follower of Christ, have been given all authority through Christ Jesus to GO and disciple others, teaching them all the things you have learned of Christ.

My friend, this is what it is all about: God came to earth as a man, died for us so that we can live, and then when He left, He gave us all of that power through Him. The only thing He demands of us in return is our love of Him and our willingness to serve Him wholeheartedly.

Now, as we unpack this more, I want to discuss what real discipleship looks like, how it works in the modern church, and how it will affect us if we will make a stand for the Gospel as the chief purpose of the Church. We will also discuss how the Church has become sick, getting caught up in an attempt to be relevant, and in some cases completely abandoning the call to disciple in the process. Remembering always that God is still in charge, not going anywhere, and enthroned above all to rule forever!

Join me as we take a look at the Great Commission and what it means for the Church! More to come!

Thanks for Reading,

Josh

New purpose, new topic, same Gospel.

First of all, if you read my blog on a regular basis, thank you. You are too kind. I pray that the few blogs I wrote on Biblical manhood have helped you in some way, shape, or form. However God has been doing some serious work in my life, in my heart. I waited to blog again until the new year and now I feel more direction than ever before. A new focus has been placed within me, a new goal.

God is good. He is faithful. He is also full of surprises and changes. In my new post soon to be released, I will discuss with you the new changes my blog is about to undergo. No longer will I be ranting a raving about my opinions on Biblical manhood for that is far too much of a distraction from the thing God has put nearest to my heart, Discipleship. It will be the new focus of this blog, making disciples in the context that Jesus gave in Matthew. We will unpack Matthew 28:18-20, looking at what it means for Christians as individuals and also as the Church.

God has put it on my heart to make Discipleship the number one thing I talk about, it is the very thing Jesus told us to do as His followers, and it is the one thing the westernized "American" church has messed up. Instead of telling people that the Church needs fixing and that we have to get going ASAP, I have to get going and change ASAP. Ghandi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I feel that that quote hits the nail on the head. If Josh Pepper wants to see change in the Church, HE has to BE the change in the church. Ghandi also said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." It's high time we change our image as Christians and it all starts with discipleship. But we'll unpack this down the road.

So, stay tuned, I don't know what God wants for this blog but I promise to you my readers that I will not blog until I feel God has put something in me to say. If you, like me, are tired of being a part of an Americanized Church that has lost it's focus, walking away from discipleship, and trading it for comfort, be the change.

In order to change the way others think, we must change the way we think.

The Gospel has to take it's place once again ahead of all other things in our lives.

The Me's and I's and My's in this blog are going to have to disappear.

Jesus and His purpose, has to become first.

Pray.

Jp