Do Whatever

Jesus' coming out party took place at a wedding. Not His but we're never told whose wedding. 

The first miraculous act displaying His glory happened at a wedding (Read here). Wine was important not only because it was the drink of celebrations, but because suitable drinking water or other substitute beverages weren't available. The poor people of Israel didn't yet have the joy of some sweet tea!

When the wine ran out, the groom and his entire family were on the verge of losing face and being shamed publicly. Regardless of whether it was poor planning on their part or people enjoying the wine a little too much, they ran out and this was not a good situation.

Jesus' mom was at the wedding and probably serving the guests. When she learns that the wine is gone, she goes to tell Jesus.

Mary didn't necessarily know what Jesus would do. She just knew He could help.

She tells the problem to Jesus. And though I'm skipping some details here, she then tells the servants standing nearby to "do whatever Jesus tells them to do."

The greatest advice I could ever follow with my life or give to another are those uttered by Jesus' mom to the servants that day. Whatever Jesus says, whatever He commands, whatever He asks for, we should do it. It may not follow human logic. You and I may not be able to reason why He wants us to do so.

Who was Mary to tell them to obey Jesus? And yet she did. Who was Jesus that they should obey Him? And yet they did.

Not without risk and faith. Wine was what they needed, yet Jesus tells them to fill six pots with water. They had to trust Jesus by faith because what they were seeing were pots filled with water. And yet, because they believed and did exactly what He said, they witnessed the glory of God on display in the life of the only Son of God. All six pots that had been filled with water were turned to wine. A fermentation process that normally happens over days with pressed grapes happened in moments with ordinary water.

What will you and I witness, what will we get to be part of, how will He use us, in what ways will the mission of God advance when we simply by faith trust Him enough to do whatever He says to or asks of us?

Make Us a City of Light

Jesus is the Light of the World. In Him is life and His life is the light of all people. When He entered into the world, darkened by disobedience and rebellion, the Light shone into the darkness and the darkness could not understand it. The darkness even sought to extinguish the Light by putting Jesus to death on the cross. But the grave could not hold Him and darkness could not put out the Light.

By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter says we have been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christ died once for all to rescue us out of darkness and convey us into His kingdom. Now as His followers, Jesus teaches that we are to be a city of light. He taught that His disciples are a city set on a hill to shine the light of Christ and the gospel into a dark world. 

Being a city of light includes living in such a way as to display to the world what life can be when individuals surrender to worship and obey Jesus Christ. Jesus' followers are anything but perfect. But the unfortunate truth is that the church has often struggled to be a light to the world. We either have hidden our light from the world, we have run from the darkness in fear, or we have simply looked and lived more like those outside of the kingdom of God than those who ruled and rescued by Jesus Christ.

God has made you, re-made you in Jesus Christ, and placed you where you are today. You are there as a Jesus-follower to display what life in Jesus Christ looks like. You are there as a Jesus-follower to declare how life in Jesus Christ is received. 

Take a Daniel moment:

1.  Celebrate that Jesus is the Light of the World and that His light never dims or goes out.

2.  Give thanks that the full assault of darkness on Jesus Christ could not extinguish His life or light.

3.  Thank God for calling you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

4.  Pray that God will make you a city of light.

5.  Ask Jesus to make clear specific ways you can display and declare His light to the world beginning right where you are today.

Why Not You

There are scores of people throughout history God has used who couldn't fathom that He would use them.

Moses didn't think God could use him to lead Israel out of Egypt. After all, he did have a speech impediment.

Jeremiah didn't think God could use him to be a prophet to the nations since he was still too green.

Gideon didn't think God could use him to lead Israel in victorious battle over Midian.

Israel had rejected God and God had allowed them to be overtaken by their enemies. He faithfully raised up one deliverer after another to free the people when they repented and turned back to Him. Gideon, though, couldn't imagine that God would be able to use him.

Gideon informed God that his clan was the smallest (if God didn't know that already).  He also told God that he was the youngest in his family (again, as if God didn't place him in his family as the youngest).

Translation: Why me God? Mighty warrior? Yeah right. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, not the strongest. And I'm the youngest in my family. There's no way you can do this with me.

Even when Gideon appears to have signed on to go, he looks for final confirmation that this indeed is God's doing. You've likely heard someone refer to putting out a fleece. That comes from Gideon. He tested God to insure God would indeed do what He said He would. Gideon laid a fleece out overnight and told God if only the fleece had dew upon it and not the ground then he would know. God did it!

It still wasn't enough for Gideon. Gideon reversed it and threw it back to God, telling him to keep the fleece dry and only allow the dew upon the grass around it.  God did it again!

Gideon looked at himself through the lens of his limitations rather than through the limitless power of God.

He kept asking "Why me?" He kept examining the situation from his human perspective. 

What would God do if you and I stopped asking, "Why me?" and started asking, "Why not me?" 

Why not surrender everything to God?

Why not allow Him to use us however He pleases?

Why not devote ourselves to worship and serve Him every day for all our days?

Why not be people who seek to display and declare the good news in bold ways?

Why not be the people who earnestly pray for God to move among us and accomplish the unthinkable?

Why not us? Why not you? Why not me?

 He simply wants us to come to the point of Isaiah who heard God ask "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah simply raised his hand and said, "Here am I, send me." Isaiah said, "You need someone? Why not me?" 

What God needs is not our intellect, skill, power, contacts, or money. What God needs is our full surrender.

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that who He is, is more important to who we are than who we are. Celebrate that our limitations do not limit or hinder God.
2. Surrender the areas you're holding onto tightly.
3. Ask God to make clear where He wants to use you. 
4. Pray for God to work in great ways and allow you to be a part. Pray, "Lord, why not me? Use me, send me, accomplish through me Your work."

Prepare the House

When you have guests coming over to your home, do you prepare? I know that's a dumb question. You don't invite people over and leave the garbage overflowing in the kitchen with a sink full of dishes.  Laundry isn't spilling out of the laundry room into the hallway.  An inch of dust doesn't line every surface in the den.  You prepare.

When your guests arrive, do you greet them warmly and welcome them into your home?  I know that's a dumb question too.  You don't leave them standing at the door waiting for several minutes before someone to comes to answer the door.  When you open the door, you don't say to them, "Oh. It's you."  Nor do you refuse to invite them into your home and make them feel welcome.

While guests are at your home, do you simply sit back and bark out orders for them to serve themselves or serve you? I don't need to say it again. That's crazy. You serve them because they are not some unwanted "visitor."  They are a treasured "guest." You invited them and expected them to come. You want to insure their time in your home communicates your love for them. 

We can think of Refuge Church in similar terms.  Here's the points I'm making:

1.  People most often come by invitation. At Refuge Church, if we want people to come, we must invite them.  "If you build it, they will come," typically only works in Field of Dreams.

2.  You prepare for what you expect. If you expect guests are coming to your house, you prepare for them. Are we inviting, praying, and expecting guests to come. Will the presence of guests catch us off guard as though we didn't expect them to come?

3. Guests are wanted while visitors are often considered intrusions. You'll constantly hear me call non-regular attendees by the name"guest." They are treasures we want and expect. We intend for them to return. They are not leeches on our time or resources or intrusions into our group. 

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4.  Guests are our responsibility. They didn't come to serve us.  We are there to serve them. They don't know where everything is located or how everything operates. Therefore, we are responsible to explain and show. We take them where they are going instead of point and send them off alone. We don't make them retell their information in every handoff.  Those we serve are just as important as the ones who serve.

5. We all can remove the roadblocks. Our mission is to display and declare the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ to individuals near and far in order that they will encounter and be transformed by Jesus Christ.  Churches are often cluttered with numerous roadblocks to the gospel. On Sunday mornings, we want the only thing that offends to be the gospel.  It is offensive, but it's the only thing that should be offensive. In a real sense, all of us are either creating or removing roadblocks.

SEPTEMBER 8 is the official launch. How are you preparing? Invite, pray, expect, value, serve, and remove any and all roadblocks.

Shadrach the Bird

I had an African Grey bird when I was in college.  His name was Shadrach and his stay with me was short-lived (that's another story). But he stayed long enough that I learned what the word repeat really means.

African Greys are  medium-sized parrots from the rain forests of West and Central Africa.  The African-Grey is regarded by many experts as one of the most intelligent birds in the world. 

Shadrach's mimicry amazed me. He would repeat the words I said over and over to him with precision of both the words and the tone of my voice.  At other times, he would seek to mimic the tone of others including my sister-in-law.

It wasn't until I had spoken the word or phrase to him numerous times that he finally picked it up.

Richard Nixon had a good quote.  No, not the "I am not a crook" quote.  He said, "You know, when I'm tired of hearing it, I know my staff has gotten it. And when my staff is tired of hearing it, I know the press corps has gotten it. And when the press corps is tired of hearing it, I know the nation has gotten it."

As we put in place foundational pieces upon which the life and ministry of Refuge Church will be built, there are foundational truths that will be repeated over and over again. That isn't an apology but a promise.  For I, like most, can easily become distracted and lose focus of not just the what, but, more importantly, the why.

One of the most important statements I will repeat is our vision/mission statement.  This statement encapsulates not only why I believe Christ led us to begin this new work, but also how we desire to do this. 

We want to be a church that displays and declares the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far.

Refuge Church is the work of God to display and declare the good news of His kingdom to those of every tribe and nation, beginning where we are, for His ultimate glory.

We desire to accomplish this vision by leading individuals to connect in a relationship with Jesus Christ, belong in community with other Christ followers, and serve the world by displaying the gospel in action and declaring the gospel in word.

This is our focus and 'why' Refuge Church began.  This is our mission and purpose in God's redemptive plan.  This will be repeated a lot, along with a number of other key principles and truths for Refuge Church. When we are tired of hearing it, then we may have only begun to accomplish it.

Flow

The Encounter Series at Refuge Church continues to look at the lives of regular, ordinary people like us coming face-to-face in a life-changing encounter with an extraordinary, all-surpassing God.  

In the latest message from Isaiah 6, we looked at how Isaiah saw God high and lifted up.  His majesty filled the temple.  His glory floods the earth. His power shakes the foundations and his character is pure and holy.  

When Isaiah encountered the majestic, glorious, all-surpassing, transcendent King, his response was appropriate.  "Woe is me!" Compared to the devil, I'm great. Compared to others, I'm good.  Compared to God, I'm ruined.

Isaiah declared the woe of seeing himself in light of who God is.  Encountering God for who He really is allows us to see ourselves for who we really are. We see His holiness and our wretchedness.  We see His transcendence and our lowliness.  

Seeing himself for who he really was led Isaiah to recognize what he deserved.  "Woe is me, for I am ruined."  I'd paraphrase it this way, "Woe, I'm going to die."  Isaiah's sin in the presence of God's holiness led to a reality check that death was deserved.  There was no reason to try to hide and definitely no reason to try to make himself appear better than he was.

What comes next is just breathtaking! God doesn't recite the list of Isaiah's sin.  God doesn't lecture him for hours about his shortcomings.  Isaiah is already fully aware of his gross disobedience and his deserved death.  Instead, God cleanses him with a coal from the sacrificial altar and declares to him: "Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."

The one who deserved death, received life. The one who had committed offenses had them removed.  The one who had failed to meet the standard of God's holiness was forgiven. 

This is powerful but it is the story of the gospel. Christ was sent by the Father, wrapped in human flesh to die the death I deserved. Instead, I who deserved death received life.  And not just any life, but the life of the One who died my death--abundant, eternal, joyful, full life.  My iniquity was taken away and my sin forgiven because Jesus Christ died and rose again in my place.  "This is mercy, this is grace, Jesus in my place."

Immediately God asks: "Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?"  Enter Isaiah, a redeemed man, forgiven of sin and extended life instead of death.  His hand thrusts into the air and he volunteers before he even knows what God is asking, what it will cost.  "Here am I. Send me!"  With passion and eagerness, Isaiah surrenders to go wherever God wants, to do whatever God wills, to whoever God plans because he has received so abundantly and graciously.

We were never meant to be reservoirs. We were meant to be conduits.  We who have received much should give much. We who experience the blessing of God's mercy, grace, and love should then be the means of that mercy, grace, and love flowing out into the lives of others.

When I was speaking to students once, I mentioned this very truth.  Where are the grateful people of God who remember what they used to be and how God's mercy and grace altered their lives?  Where are those who have received so freely from Christ who are so freely giving and pouring out into the lives of others?  Then I said, "Too many Christians have become reservoirs instead of conduits. I'm praying if that is us, God will bust some holes in our dam so that we spring some leaks."

My prayer for Refuge Church today and always: "Here are we. Send us!"  May we display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to others near and far until the day we see Jesus face to face.

Who's Your One

Forbes Magazine recently ranked the Raleigh Metro Area the fastest growing city in America.  The growth in the Raleigh-Durham and surrounding areas continues to explode. In the North Raleigh and Wake Forest area, significant growth and development have occurred in the last ten years.  The expectation for future growth remains optimistic, with the anticipated growth occurring north and east of Capital Boulevard in North Raleigh.

When Sarah and I, along with a small team, began praying through and discussing the planting of a new church, God used this realization of the population growth coupled with the great spiritual need to confirm His leading to begin Refuge Church.

The desire to begin Refuge Church was birthed from a desire to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far in order that lives would be transformed for the glory of God.  A new church planting movement across North America and around the world is, encouragingly so, motivated by this heart.

Therefore, we must collectively and individually be constantly asking how we are displaying and declaring the gospel.  We cannot afford to lull ourselves into a place of thinking we  enough people or we are financially stable enough.  

For Refuge Church, we know that in our immediate target area there are 70,000 people who are unchurched. (Yes. Our target is the world. That's 6.9 billion.)

Who's your one?  

It is easy to see large numbers and be overwhelmed.  It isn't surprising that faceless numbers never become a passion.  But the face of a friend, neighbor, family member, hair-stylist, car mechanic, landscaper, etc. can help us to see the need not as a number, but as people who need the gospel.

Think of one.  I'm thinking too.  

You may not have to think long.  You may think of ten.

But who is your one. And let's set out to display and declare the good news (and it really is good news) to that one.  How can you serve them?  How can you love them?  How can you share with them?  Who is your one?

Ten Awkward Minutes

Last week we looked at the Ten Most Important Minutes for a guest at church. Today we talk about another ten very important minutes for a guest in many churches--the Awkward Minutes.

The Ten Most Awkward Minutes for a guest at a new church are the five minutes before the service begins and the five minutes after the service ends.

Before the service begins, guests make their way into the worship center, find their seat and sit down.  As they wait for the service to start, in many churches, no one speaks to them.  It is awkward. Often they sense others looking at them and trying to figure out who they are, what their connect might be to the church, and if they have visited another Sunday previously. Yet the guests are simply there and no one speaks.

When the service ends, these same guests collect their belongings and make their way to the exit and often find no one speaking to them on the back end of the service either.  

In the days of traditional buildings and traditional practice (like the church of 66 in regular attendance I spent the first 14 years of my life in), the service would close with one last song, long enough for the pastor (and his wife) to walk down the center aisle to the back doors (or are they the front doors), where they would greet everyone (but rarely a guest cause guests were rare) on the way out.

Don't get me wrong.  The pastor should have a personality better than shoe leather.  He should show care and compassion, be neighborly and kind.  But the pastor alone doesn't create an inviting environment and neither do a select few.  Rather, the people as a whole must prioritize making an inviting environment.  This means making a great first impression in a guest's first ten minutes and eliminating the awkward ten minutes when a guest wonders why everyone was so friendly when they arrived but seemed to drop them like they were hot once in the facility.

Next time you happen to be a first time guest at a new church, take notice of those Ten Most Important Minutes and Ten Most Awkward Minutes, while vowing to never lose the guest mentality.

Life Groups

Call them what you will.   Most churches have some form of small group that meets together. In a more traditional setting, you are likely to call them Sunday School classes, often meeting on Sunday morning at the church campus.  Others refer to them as small groups, community groups, core groups, or something similar that meet together throughout the week in homes.

At Refuge Church we call our small groups Life Groups. They meet in homes throughout the week as a crucial part of who we are at Refuge.  In fact, church growth experts indicate that individuals who do not build 7 meaningful relationships in their first year at a church will likely not remain.

Our Life Groups enable meaningful relationships to form as individuals live the gospel together.  This is the beauty, power, and purpose behind Life Groups.

Those who have connected with God through faith in Jesus Christ are now able to belong in biblical community with other believers as God made us to live. This is not to say that those who have not begun a relationship with Jesus Christ cannot be part of a Life Group. To the contrary, the display of the gospel as believers in the Life Group live the gospel together can be as powerful a testimony to lead a person to faith as hearing the gospel declared alone.

The gospel is lived together in Life Groups in four ways.

Belonging ::

All people, Christian or not, are made to live in community with other people.  Tragically, our rebellion against God not only severed the relationship we were made to have with God, but also the relationship we were created to enjoy with one another in community. The gospel makes community possible by bringing individuals to belong together in Christ.  Brad House writes, “Community is for us a declaration of the overwhelming love of God, a tangible proclamation of the reconciling work of the cross.” We are reconciled to Christ and to one another by Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Discipleship ::

Those reconciled to Christ and one another take the word of God to apply it in living life together, individuals learn and teach the gospel. Life Groups move out of the arena of seeing one teacher with many disciples to the arena of a community of disciples who disciple one another.

Care ::

The church is responsible to love one another and care for one another as we live out the gospel. Christ is the Great Samaritan who came to care for the great needs of humanity. As we care for one another, not just in the crisis moments but in every moment, we display the gospel with our lives. We will be known as Christ-followers by our love for one another.

Mission ::

God’s greatest resource in accomplishing His mission is people.  Living the gospel together means growing in compassion for those without Christ who have yet to be transformed by the gospel as our lives have been. Life Groups engage in missional service to see the good news of Christ’s kingdom displayed and declared.


Life Groups are about belonging in community to live the gospel.  All four of these are, for believers, an outflow of good news received. Everyone was made for community, to belong and be accepted, to love and be loved.  Even more do those reconciled to the Creator through Christ have a desire to belong in community with other believers who are the family of God.

Connect :: Belong :: Serve

This blog revisits last week's blog post on the Refuge Church mission in order to expand on it briefly as I take a look at how we accomplish this through Refuge.  The follow-up posts this week will examine our worship, life groups and serving (cause I know you have questions about all three). But for now we return to the overarching mission.

Our vision/mission at Refuge Church is to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far.  How this practically looks in the life of our church can be summed up in three words: Connect :: Belong :: Serve.


Connect ::

The greatest need of every human heart and life is to connect with God in a relationship through Jesus Christ. In displaying the gospel and declaring the gospel of reconciliation and hope, we desire to lead others to connect in this eternal relationship. As a result, we live to worship and make famous the glory of God.

Belong ::

All people, whether Christian or not, are made to live in community with other people. As the old saying goes, "No man is an island unto himself."  Better yet, no man was made to be an island unto himself. Connecting in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ enables us to enjoy and belong in community with others as we were intended. 

Serve ::

Christ came not to be served, but to serve. In serving others, we fulfill the second greatest commandment to love others as ourselves.  In this we display the good news of Christ's kingdom as we seek to declare the gospel (good news) of Christ's message of salvation and hope. Serving should be purposeful and intentional, for Christ came with purpose and intent to serve our spiritual need (forgiveness of sin in order to connect with God) and our physical need (restoring all broken things to Himself).


Refuge Church exists to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far, by leading others to connect in a relationship with God, belong in biblical community, and serve the world for the fame and glory of God.

Amnesia

And Jesus was going about all the cities and villages...proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness...  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."  Matthew 9:35-38

Southwest Airlines entered the commercial airline with the intent to provide the lowest airfare possible to customers. For this reason, to this day, Southwest Airlines doesn't have all the frills and extras that other airlines may offer or possess. In fact, when an executive once presented the idea of adding a small meal to longer domestic flights, the CEO asked the question, "How does this help us accomplish our mission?"  

That question caused an evaluation of the suggestion against the mission. The CEO easily vetoed adding this amenity because it would have added cost.

Churches decline and the gospel doesn't advance because believers forget the mission.  Many churches in North America suffer from amnesia.  They simply no longer remember the mission.  The mission sets direction and provides evaluation. 

Knowing your mission determines where you go, how you get there, and what things you will and won't do along the way.

As God led and affirmed the starting of Refuge Church, He reaffirmed the mission in my heart for me personally and the Church collectively.

Our mission is to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far.

Jesus did nothing less than this in His earthly life and ministry.  

He declared the good news of the kingdom. He traveled to every city and village (individuals near and far), teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom (declaring the good news). With His words, He spoke of the kingdom promised from the Fall. He declared redemption and restoration.  He proclaimed reconciliation with God through faith and repentance.

He displayed the good news of the kingdom. Yet Jesus also healed every kind of disease and sickness and demonstrating compassion (displaying the good news of the kingdom). When Jesus healed the sick, when He resurrected the dead, when He restored sight, and when He touched the untouchables, Jesus was displaying through tangible acts what the kingdom awaited for would be like. No more death, sorrow, disease, and untouchables.

Declaring and displaying the good news go together. Displaying the good news meets real need, provides credibility, and paints a picture of that which is to come.  Declaring the good news gives clarity to what we do as something far more than philanthropic.

Our mission is to display and declare the good news of the kingdom to individuals near and far in similar manner so that outsiders become insiders. God has set His affection upon those outside of the kingdom, desiring that they come to find refuge in Christ in His kingdom to the glory of God.

Every church, Refuge Church included, has this as our mission.  I pray we never suffer from forgetting our mission.