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My Wife Knows Jesus

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From time to time, all Christians struggle with how to know God more intimately. Depending on where you go and who you listen to, there are many different ideas on how to get to know Jesus better. Some say you need to study your Bible more, attend church more, have daily devotions more, pray more, or other such things.

One popular recommendation of getting to know Jesus is through speaking in tongues. Here is something that happened to my wife recently on this topic and what she learned about getting to know Jesus.

Will Speaking in Tongues help you Know Jesus?

There is a wide segment of Christianity which says that if you really want to know Jesus and experience Him, you need to speak in tongues, dream dreams, and have visions. The chills and the thrills prove that God really cares about you.

My wife has some friends who have been telling her this very thing. They are some of the most Godly women we have ever known, and I do not doubt their sincerity, or their genuine love for God and desire to be used by Him. But Wendy started to get confused because some of them were implying that Wendy was missing out on all that God had for her, and that if she really wanted to know Jesus, experience God, and have the close, intimate relationship with God that they did, she would have to pray for God to give to her all that He had for her (i.e., tongues).

She and I talked some about this.

Following Jesus Daily

Finally, I told her to keep praying and seeking God’s face in Scripture, and see what He reveals.

A few days later, she called me at work. She was so excited. She realized that knowing Christ intimately is not found only in “knowing Scripture” but in going along with Jesus in what He is doing in your day. As you read the Gospels, the disciples just followed Him around, listening to His teaching, observing what He was doing, and then helping out where they could. So Wendy set out to do the same thing.

Know Jesus by Loving like Jesus

Buying Bears with Jesus

Three days later, she was in our local supermarket. As she pushed her cart around, she noticed a little girl asking an older man, probably her grandfather, for a stuffed bear. The grandfather responded a little gruffly, “I told you No! Put it back.” The little girl obeyed and little reluctantly, and as they walked away, kept glancing back over her shoulder at the bear.

Wendy thought, “I wonder if I should buy that bear for that girl.” She walked over to the bear and looked at the price. It was only $4.99. But she thought, “She probably has many toys at home, and all little girls like stuffed animals. What does she need one more for?” So Wendy walked away.

But she couldn’t shake the idea, and just as she was about to check out, she saw the grandfather and little girl headed toward the check out line as well. So Wendy grabbed the bear, and bought it with her other groceries. Then she went over to the grandfather and introduced herself and explained that she had saw the girl ask for the bear, and had overheard him tell her no. “God has been so generous with us, and I really felt God wanted me to buy this bear for her. I hope that is okay.”

Wendy said that the man’s face, which seemed to be somewhat angry and worried, melted into joy and disbelief. He said, “This is my granddaughter. She wanted the bear for her mother, my daughter, who is in the hospital. When we got here, I told her she could either buy flowers or a stuffed animal for her mother. She chose flowers first, but then wanted the bear as well, so that her mother would have a friend tomorrow after the surgery. You have made her very happy. Thank you.”

Indeed, the little girl was beaming and hugging the bear.

This is my wife…the close friend of Jesus.

The Love of Jesus

Tonight, with Thanksgiving coming up, she is taking a Pumpkin Pie over to our neighbors. We have been trying to develop a relationship with them, which has been difficult since they don’t speak English very well and we don’t speak Spanish. Wendy had been giving free English tutoring to their girls on Thursday nights. Anyway, they have never had a pumpkin pie before, so she made one for them. It is just another way she is showing love to our neighbors.

Now seriously… who needs to speak in tongues or have dreams and visions when you see Jesus loving others  through your life in such tangible ways?

The Kingdom of Heaven is not about speaking in tongues, dreaming dreams, or seeing visions. It is about loving others like Jesus. If you want to know Jesus, all you really need to do is look for opportunities to love others. In so doing, you will reveal Jesus to others, and Jesus will reveal Himself to you.

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Are you one of the brightest and best? Plant a church!

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Church planting is just starting to pick up steam.

Here is an article about modern church planting from The Leadership Network:

Church Planting
Average number of baptisms or conversions in a church plant is 10 the first year, 11 the second year, 13 the third year and 14 the fourth year.

Church planting in the United States appears to be undergoing an extreme makeover.

According to the findings of a new research study, interest in church planting is on the rise, some of America’s best and brightest ministry leaders choose planting as their career path and church planting efforts are much more successful and promising than anticipated.

Read the rest of this article on church planting here.

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How can we do church? Make Disciples!

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Once we understand what church is, we realize that we cannot go to church. Others in the world have come to understand this as well, and have started telling Christians to “Stop going to church…instead be the church.” Though shocking to some, it is right on target for how we need to be thinking. We cannot “get credit” for church by showing up in some building for an hour on Sunday morning, singing a few songs, smiling a few smiles, and listening to a sermon. That’s not “church.”

Do Church - Make Disciples

If, as we suggested yesterday, church is something you are, then it is something that you are part of all the time. Just as you are part of the human race everywhere you go, so also, you are part of the church everywhere you go.

So the question isn’t “Where do you attend church” or “What do you do in your church service” but instead, “As a part of the church, what can you be doing to strengthen it?” or “What does church do?”

The Biblical answer to this is simple. As the church, our task is to make disciples.

Make Disciples

And there are few “church guidelines” on how to do this. We have several examples of what various believers did in the first century do make disciples. They met together, prayed, ate meals, learned the teaching of the apostles, and served one another. Also, it seems that a big part of their disciple-making process was telling others about Jesus.

In history, we have many more examples of what other believers did to make disciples. Some of them worked for a time, but then became alarmingly ineffective. our modern day “church service” is a great example of this. At one point in history, it was a great way to reach the community for Jesus and teach and train these new believers about Jesus. It was where people came to serve and be served, hence the name “church service.” But this method doesn’t seem to work any more for most people. So why hang on to it?

What is the church supposed to do? Make disciples. So let us stop trying to figure out how to do church and instead figure out how to make disciples. 

In our day, we need to reexamine the ways we try to make disciples and if they are not working, ask ourselves:

  • What will work?
  • How can we best make disciples?
  • Are meetings necessary?
  • If so, when/where should we meet, and what should we do when we meet?
  • How can we get believers to know what God wants them to know and do what God wants them to do so we can be the church in our community?
  • How can we best tell people about Jesus?”

The answers to these questions will be different for different groups of believers living in different cities. But they are questions that every group of believers must ask if they are going to effectively make disciples.

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Who is the Church Service for?

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I recently asked the question, “Who is the Church service for?” The two basic answers are that the church service is for believers, or that it is for unbelievers. Some churches focus on teaching and training Christians, while others focus on reaching out to unbelieving seekers. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

The Church Service in Teaching Churches

Church service in Teaching ChurchesTeaching churches focus on training Christians, but do a relatively poor job of reaching the lost. They will often say that outreach and evangelism is the job of the individual Christian, and you will hear them say things like “Healthy sheep naturally reproduce.” But in reality, little evangelism actually takes place.

And as it turns out, though many of the believers in these churches know their Bibles well, few of them actually live out what they know in their day-to-day lives, nor are they reaching out with the gospel, which challenges the idea that these sorts of churches are actually doing a good job making disciples.

So teaching churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Church Service in Seeker-Sensitive Churches

Church Service in Seeker Sensitive ChurchesSeeker sensitive churches try to correct the weakness of teaching churches by making their church programs and services more welcoming to unbelievers. They seem to do a great job at this.

They often offer Saturday or weeknight services for the Christians to help them mature, or will encourage believers to get involved in home groups for discipleship.

But in reality, seeker sensitive churches often fail to bring new disciples to maturity.

Furthermore, it has become increasingly evident that although seeker sensitive churches do grow numerically, most of their growth is transfer growth from other churches, rather than actual evangelism growth. So in reality, unbelievers are really not being reached by seeker sensitive churches either. Seeker sensitive churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Problem with Both Types of Church Services

The problem with both church models is the same: the church cannot focus primarily on training believers or primarily on reaching unbelievers. Both are needed. But even churches that try to do both are generally quite weak in one or the other. So who is the church service for – believers or unbelievers? The answer is: “Wrong question.”

The correct questions are “What is the church?” and “What is the church service?” We will look at these questions in future posts.

If you want to read more now, try two books I have written on these topics:

To answer the “What is the church?” question, I wrote Skeleton Church. There is now a free online course that goes along with the book. Join the discipleship area so you can take the course today.

To answer the “What is the church service?” question, I wrote Put Service Back into the Church Service.

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Is the church service for believers or unbelievers?

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Church ServiceOne question I have been mulling over recently is “Who is the church service for — believers or unbelievers?”

There are some who believe the church service is primarily for believers, while others believe the church service is primarily for unbelievers. This belief reveals itself in different ways depending on how it is answered.

The Church Service is for Believers

Those who say that the church service is for believers will often have church services that cater to the needs and desires of Christians. There will be an emphasis on programs and teaching that meet the needs of Christians. The sermons will often center on teaching Christians what they need to know to be better Christians. The songs will often use terms and ideas that Christians are familiar with. The programming will center around issues that Christians are dealing with.

In the churches I have pastored, this is the approach I used. But we always did a poor job of reaching unbelievers, as do most churches who follow this model.

Unbelievers who visit a church that is focused on “making disciples of Christians” will often be confused and weirded out by what goes on. They will ask questions like:

  • What’s with all the teaching from Romans?
  • What does “justification” mean?
  • You say Jesus is coming back? That sounds a bit like the legends that say King Arthur is returning.
  • Why do I want to learn “Christian business principles”?
  • If I want to become a Christian, do I really have to be “washed in the blood of the lamb” and become “the bride of Jesus”? Both ideas give me the willies.

The Church Service is for Unbelievers

Then there are church leaders who say that the church service is primarily for unbelievers. In these church, the leadership understands that much of what the church does and says is a little strange to unbelievers, so they try to look at things from the perspective of an unbeliever, and make the church more “seeker sensitive.”

They gear the church service not toward the Christian, but toward the non-Christian who knows next to nothing about the Bible or church traditions. This tends to attract lots of crowds, and even generates lots of new believers, which is great, but ends up allowing most of these new believers to remain in relative immaturity. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have recently announced this fact for their own church. The “seeker sensitive” model, while it attracts large crowds, does a poor job of bringing those crowds to spiritual maturity.

Is there a balance or middle ground between the two? I think there is, which we look at in the next post: “Who is the Church Service For?.” 

Also, for more on this subject, check out my book, Put Service Back into the Church Service.

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