All-Church Celebration

Last February: a small group setting with 6 pastors, this topic came up. God spoke to us.

Last April: a different setting with 20 pastors, same topic.

Last August: a different setting with 200 pastors.

October: 100 pastors, a different setting, same topic.

All of these were in church leadership gatherings and at first I thought it was just something God wanted to say to me, but I think it’s more for the whole church in North America.

Here are the questions these guys were asking and trying to answer:
1. How (are we) am I developing and ensuring soul strength over the long haul?
2. How can I build stamina in my spiritual life?
3. How can I ensure that spiritually the final 1/3 of my life will be stronger and better and more effective than the first 2/3’s?

Essentially, what does spiritual maturity really look like over a lifetime and how does it happen?
So, I’m gonna pass on what I’ve been learning and my hope is that I will not get in the way or drop the ball. Try to get what God is saying TO YOU. A simple message to learn, but hard to master.

Colossians 2:6 & 7 (NIV)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Philippians 3:7, 8 & 10 (NIV)
Paul gives this testimony from a jail cell:
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.

How did Paul develop that kind of faith that even while in prison for declaring his faith in Christ, his focus on Christ became even greater.

Let me tell you about 2 fellas that have been on my mind this week.

Rufus and Lloyd

Rufus Jones was born in 1863 and lived to be 85 years old. Rufus was a writer and editor and a college professor. But most of all, Rufus was a man of God who’s faith was real and authentic and continued to grow, develop and deepen throughout his entire life. Rufus was a Quaker, and dedicated his life to seeking peace in non-confrontational ways to seek resolution to divisions whether that be in relationships, in the Church or in the World.

Now, Rufus accomplished a lot of things in his life, but most significantly in his 60’s and 70’s and even into his 80’s. Rufus was called upon more and more to use his wisdom, experience and faith to change how things like missions were approached worldwide and to create change in world views about humanitarianism aid to 3rd world countries.

At the age of 75 in 1938, he went with a delegation to Germany to try and find a peaceful way of dealing with the Nazis.

Now, I tell you about Rufus Jones not because of his accomplishments, but because of his faith. Rufus Jones’ spiritual life and his relationship with God developed over time. So much so, that he was actually more loved and more effective as the years went by.
His faith developed, then multiplied over time so that he was sweeter, wiser, and more used by God at 75 than he was at 40.

When I read about Rufus, I thought “there’s something about spiritual maturity that he got that lots of us are missing.”

I want to tell you about Lloyd Colbourne. Lloyd is 80 something years old…..he’s just OLD. He couldn’t be here tonight and is frustrated by that. But Lloyd, like Rufus, has found a way for his faith and life to get stronger, deeper, sweeter and for it to have a huge impact on young leaders in this church while in his 60’s, but more in his 70’s and 80’s than ever before in his life.
When they took away Lloyd’s drivers license a few years ago, he said, “it’s hard…but God knows what I need and He’s good. I’ve got lots to be thankful for”. When his eyes got so bad he was called legally blind, he said, “Dean, it hard without my eyesight, but my spirit is strong and God is so good. Why wouldn’t I be thankful”?

Lloyd has seen church changes and worship styles change and young preachers fumble in the truth…and yet he has stayed with us.

And now, Lloyds ministry is to pray. Lloyd says, “I can’t do anything else. I don’t have a ministry, so I guess I’ll pray”. Lloyd prays everyday over a list of 135 names that are memorized because he can’t read anymore. 135 youth leaders, children’s ministry leaders, staff members and board members. Lots of you.

Now, whenever I see Lloyd I can’t help but think that his prayers are having a huge impact in the Kingdom and in our church. I am always so humbled when I’m with Lloyd because here’s a man who has little or no activity yet his faith is moving mountains and changing lives.
So, how is it that Lloyd has been able to take his faith deeper with age and how is it that his faith has made him sweeter and wiser and have greater impact at 84 than others have at 40?
How is it that in the final 1/3 of their lives, guys like Lloyd and Rufus have been so blessed by God?
I read Psalm 1 this week and it reminded me of Lloyd….

Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT)
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Somehow, Lloyd and Rufus were able to put down deep roots spiritually throughout their lives and now during old age, when life can be somewhat dry, their roots have found water and their spirits are flourishing when everyone else’s are fading.

So folks, my question when I read those verses and when I hear stories about guys like Rufus Jones and guys like Lloyd Colborne is always the same. How can I get to be like them when I am old? What road do I need to walk on to become like them? The next question . . how does that kind of spiritual maturity happen in our lives over the long haul and wouldn’t it be the goal for us as a church to graduate 1000’s and 1000’s of people from this community into heaven that looked like and acted like Lloyd and Rufus? And Jesus? And really, that’s it - isn’t it? The reason we love to hear stories about people like Lloyd and Rufus is because somehow throughout their lives, they became more and more like Jesus every day and deep down we know that that is the goal, don’t we? I mean, even if we find ourselves in an incredibly demanding and busy season of our life right now when our prayers are whispered on the run and our bible hasn’t been opened in weeks, we know that none of that “busy stuff” is the real goal, don’t we? We know that the real goal is to somehow become more and more like Jesus. Or, even if we have just come through a dry season or a dark season or a sin filled season spiritually, we still know the goal don’t we? That we somehow must become more like Jesus as we walk through this life.

So, my question is how does this really happen?

Well, there is some good news because I think the answer may not be as complex as we might think it is.
The verses I read for you before, I think they all say the same thing; that spiritual maturity happens by simply walking with Jesus every day. I don’t think it’s any more or less than that . . .
Now, I don’t want to over simplify things but again, my role tonight is to tell you what I think God has been telling me for a few months about us. The message is simple, but it is not easy. Simple to learn, hard to master. I think God is asking us to re-focus and recalibrate and reignite our walk with Him and I think my job is to simply tell you that God wants us to quicken our step spiritually during the days and months and years ahead.

Lets look again at Colossians 2:6 & 7 (NIV)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Look at the wording. It says, “just as” or “in the very same way” that you received Christ into your life, continue to live in Him. As you continue to live in Him what happens? It says your life and faith will become rooted and established and built up and strengthened and mature. Sounds simple doesn’t it?
But what’s the key? The key is the more we walk with Christ the more we become like Him.
Now, let’s chase this a bit further. Paul says here that our faith gets rooted or established or mature. How? In the very same way we received Christ. So let me ask you a question. How did you receive Christ? Everyone think of one word to describe how you received Christ.

Answer: by faith, by seeking, by asking, by obeying and by following. As you got to know Him and trust Him, by faith you said, “okay Jesus, I really do believe, I really do need forgiveness, I really do want to be changed. I really do believe you can create something different than I could with my life.”
Paul says our maturity in Christ happens in the very same way we accepted Him. Paul says that we will become mature spiritually simply by humbly following Jesus by faith. “The more we walk with Christ the more we become like Him”. Now, wait a minute. Isn’t that what the 12 disciples did as they followed Jesus? Didn’t they just walk side by side with Jesus interacting with Him as they meandered down a road together or as they sat around the supper table or as they drifted off to sleep around a campfire?
Isn’t it true that those 12 guys got rooted and established and mature in their faith simply by walking and watching and listening to and learning from Jesus. And then what happened? After only 3 years of that, Jesus left one day and said, “okay fellas, here’s the keys to the kingdom. Go and build my church”, and so they went. As they continued to walk, and continued to develop their souls, and to experience Christ on their journey toward spiritual maturity, the good thing happened and the church was born. The gospel was spread and the world was changed forever. Notice how I said that. I said as they continued on the journey toward spiritual maturity the good thing happened because, catch this, when Jesus left them and gave them the keys - I bet very few of us would have called them “mature.” They were just too young, too uneducated, too radical, too unconventional, too hot headed, too mouthy, and too confrontational to be mature.

I mean, when you study upon who these 12 guys were, NONE of us would have called them mature or deep or even knowledgeable. But, they had been with Jesus and that seemed like it was enough. See, it could be that our picture of “spiritual maturity” is the wrong one.

Maybe maturity is a continuous daily journey and not nearly as much of a destination as we might think. Maybe it doesn’t look exactly like we think it does. Maybe maturity really is about today and about my heart’s direction today and about my mind’s desire to learn more about Jesus today. And maybe our level of maturity is really only about our level of desire and commitment to follow Jesus today and every day.

Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.” I want to know Christ.

And folks, here’s what’s true in my life these days. The more I know about Jesus the more I actually want to know Him.
· and to have the experience of intimacy with Him
· to experience His friendship every day
· to experience the unbelievable energy and joy it is to follow Him
· to experience that spiritual safety in the midst of pressure and tension and fatigue
· to experience that relaxed centeredness in a place of complete acceptance.
Paul didn’t say I want to know more about Jesus, but simply to know Him. Paul didn’t say I want to know more about the resurrection. He said I want to experience that kind of power in my life; power to raise a dead man to life. That’s what I want in my life; power that can transform a sinner into a saint, power that can heal the diseased and power that can make those locked in the chains of addiction get free. Power that can change me to be more like Jesus, so I am not afraid to die or to live; so I can not just exist, but I can live very fully.

Paul said I don’t want to hear about that kind of power. I want to know it and experience it and taste it lived out in my life.

So people here’s what I think. I think everyone of you wants that kind of power in your life too and I also think everyone of you wants that kind of maturing faith that is continuously being rooted and established deeper in Jesus Christ. I think you want that and I’m glad you want it. However, wanting it and getting it are two different things. And to be honest I think we, meaning the church as a whole in North America, are a bit misguided as to how maturity happens. In North America we think maturity simply happens by coming to church or by going to the right kind of church service or by attending a specific teaching class or hearing a certain style of message.

I hear it all the time and it is sometimes even my mouth saying it; that maturity happens by coming to church.

Now, I’m the first one to say, and I’ll say it more than most, that coming to church helps and if you want to hear from God there’s no reason not to be here. My personal feeling is that most of us most of the time are way too inconsistent with our church attendance. However, if we think we will get mature simply by showing up at church for an hour or two we are deceiving ourselves.

Maturity at best is resourced by the church, but here’s what I have come to believe. Maturity will happen in your life if you aggressively follow Christ everyday in your own personal spiritual walk.
And, here’s the conclusion I am coming to:
your personal spiritual walk determines the level of your spiritual maturity.
And so my suggestion is that we better learn how to walk with Christ. If the goal of our life is to be mature and if as a church community our goal is to graduate 1000’s of awesome and mature old people into heaven then we better get this stuff figured out!

How can we quicken our walk personally in Christ during these days?
Paul put it like this…
I Corinthians 9:24-27 (NLT)
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Let me get practical. My goal is this: to try and motivate and then resource everyone of you to begin to train yourself spiritually and to quicken your walk with Christ and for us as a church to learn to do spiritual practices over time that will enhance and expand our ability to walk with Christ.
Here’s what I’m suggesting. I’m saying that you and I need to get on a strict diet spiritually and a strict training schedule of spiritual exercise because I think there’s a very good chance that we’re a bit out of shape. If we really do want to be mature like Lloyd and Rufus and Jesus when we’re old, then we need to step up and walk with Christ NOW, not just hear about somebody else who walked with Him. We need to get to know Christ, not know more about Him.

Sounds harsh, but I think we’re often under the impression that somebody else is gonna do it for us and its not true.

Hear this – we do not naturally drift towards spiritual maturity. No. In fact, the natural drift of our lives, if left alone, is to move away from Him. Here is the practical stuff: God is calling us to get into shape spiritually.

Suggestions
1. Begin a daily alone time with God. Tomorrow morning.
· Read/pray/journal/worship
· Learn to do these things 30 minutes a day minimum – carve out the time and make it a priority

2. Walk beside someone else -find a mentor
· Small groups
· Ask 1 person. Get a hold of Brad, Elizabeth, Gloria or Jacqueline and say “I need to follow somebody who knows how to follow Christ”. We’ll look you up!

3. Come to church on weekends – learn every chance you can
· Worship – great connection with God
· Classes – weekends in January – teaching on spiritual disciplines and daily walks with Christ. People always say they want to get deeper with Christ, but then they often miss out on what God is saying to our community because they don’t come to church. If you want to grow spiritually, show up every chance you get.

4. Monthly day of fasting and prayer
· Great step – sign up for this – James Gibson, an intern pastor with us is leading us in a monthly day of prayer and fasting.

Here’s a phrase I want you to remember: Spiritual maturity is about continuous conversion. It’s like we said in Colossians 2, just as you received Christ, continue to live in Him.
Our spiritual life, our spiritual walk, our conversion inside is not a past tense event. It is waking up every day and saying, “today I will follow Christ, today I will receive Christ, today I will quicken my step and walk closer with Jesus”. Folks, our relationship with Christ is a journey and a choice and it’s continuous.

And folks, our walk towards Christ and maturity should be compelling and should get us out of bed in the morning and each day we should be saying, “God, are you still calling me and is my walk relevant?”
And folks, it’s in this everyday gotta have it, gotta want it, gotta see Jesus, gotta learn more about following Him, gotta get a little more hungry kind of pursuit; it’s in there somewhere that maturity happens. Maturity is continuous renewal, okay? And what better way to restart and refresh the call of God on your life than with communion.