Mentoring Minutes

(Romans 12:2)

Reaching a lost world begins with our own changed lives by the grace and salvation of Christ. But that’s just the beginning…that’s why we’re called infants in Christ!

He calls us to a new life with changed hearts and minds that no longer live for our own selfish flesh and desires but by His grace and for His Kingdom and glory.

This is done through real discipleship under His Lordship where He takes priority over every aspect of our lives. In order to gain our lives we must lose them for His sake (Luke 9:23-24). We also must understand that we are called to obedience as His disciples and as we mature in His Word and Spirit we take His message of new life to a lost and dying world. That’s why Jesus came and we need to share His Love and Lordship with all that we can.

I’ve said it many times but Biblically this begins and is to be done first in our families. If we are not doing the job as disciples in our homes the evidence is clear that just going to church is not getting it done. We must build up our families in The Lord that will strengthen His Church and prepare us to face a world that doesn’t even know they need Him or has outright rejected Him. This takes faith, humility, courage and Truth in Love!

Why Love & Lordship?  Authority is The Author’s Design

Lordship (Authority)–>Discipleship–>Relationship–>Sin/Issues/Problems

We must practically deal with the brokenness of our relationships and impurity of our sin and the related consequences and problems. To truly change and deal with the sin in our personal and relational lives and help those who are lost requires a heart change and there is ONLY ONE who has paid the price to change your and my heart and life. We must not only accept His free gift of salvation and Him as Savior, we must make Him Lord and walk as His disciples! (John 13:34-35)

Walking as Christ’s disciples ultimately means that we understand and mourn for those in the world around us who do not know Christ and certainly don’t know Love or how to love. Even many of those who sit in our churches do not understand His Love and Lordship (Authority). (2 Timothy 4:2-4; Colossians 2:8)  This is not a condemnation, just something we must recognize and work on as disciples of Christ.

They will likely be living by many, if not all, of the false assumptions covered in these posts. It is imperative that we understand His Word, that He reigns in our lives, and our desire is that we share it with others by word and deed. We must not make the mistake of thinking that most of the people we interact with grasp what this means in their lives and relationships.

Look around, folks. Even in many of our churches we’ve placated based on these wrong assumptions of His Love and Lordship. The evidence is overwhelming. We’re not getting it or passing it on as disciples making disciples in our homes, churches, or communities. There are a lot of converts but not a lot of disciples.  His final command and Great Commission to us is to be His disciples who make His disciples, teaching and training all who will receive His salvation to walk in obedience and grace in Truth and Love!

We can’t continue with the status quo! Christ’s prophetic warning in Matthew 7:21–23 has everything to do with a right relationship with Him that is lived out and observed by the world in our relationships, first in our families and then in His Church. We must truly receive by His grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10), and then strive to live out this priority relationship with Him (Philippians 2:12-13). This is what gives us His Authority in the lives of others as they will see it and invite us to have influence in their lives—His True Authority lived out in Love!

Living for Christ…or for people (Colossians 3:17, 23; John 2:24)

When we fail to place Christ above all else, as His Word commands us to do, we make many “good” things idols…good works, accomplishments, giving, success, people…even church. This is true in marriage, family, friendships, workplaces and yes, even in our churches. All of these things can and will be served and attained in His good will and for His Glory as we place him first!

The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way — if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.  —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I continue with more poignant and provocative thoughts in the following quotes…

Christ’s commission to the disciples is his commission to the church and is his plan for every single believer. No one has been chosen to be just a recipient of the redemptive work of his kingdom. No, everyone who has been chosen to be a recipient has also been commissioned to be an instrument of the work of that kingdom as well…It is sad so many of God’s people spend their lives searching for some significant endeavor to give themselves to when they have been chosen to be part of the most powerfully transformative work in the history of the universe. Part of our problem is that we tend to carry around with us an unbiblical definition of ministry that allows us to live comfortably as Christian consumers. (Matthew 5:13-16; Luke 14:34-35) —Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

One of the quotes from our book, The Authority of Love, says, “When we place the body above the Head we are in idolatry.”

More from New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp…

Your spiritual life is…way bigger that the surface Christianity to which it is often reduced. You could read your Bible every day and the entire Bible each year and still live for yourself. You could be faithful in your attendance at all your church’s scheduled gatherings and still live for your little kingdom. You could regularly place your hard-earned money in the plate and still not live with god’s kingdom in view. You could be an expert in the theology of the Word of God and still shrink your life down to what you want and what you tell yourself that you need. You could participate in ministries to the poor and needy and still not live for the big kingdom. You could do all these thing, and the trajectory of your life could still be more toward the kingdom of self than the Kingdom of God.  (Matthew 23:13, 23-26)  True Christianity is always a matter of the submission of the heart to God, something that only rescuing grace can produce.

One of the greatest ploys and draws of the enemy is to make us think that we must be liked and accepted in order to be effective. We must be gentle and respectful (1 Peter 3:15) but His Truth has always flown in the face of our sinful flesh and culture. We must be more concerned with speaking His Truth in Love (Ephesians 4:14-16) even when the world rejects that Truth and in many cases us…we are to love them and share His Gospel with them anyway.  Unless they simply reject it and we are told to move on (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5). Compromising His Truth leads to the following quote from The Authority of Love…

Talk of civilization or society crumbling over bogus and pseudo rights is not the problem. We won’t crumble because these are not protected, rather we will crumble with the lawless, immoral and unethical continuation of so-called “rights.” Every global power that has existed and subsequently “died out” did so from moral collapse within – and every bit of it posited as something good, right, just and fair – actually to mask the indulgent, selfish and pleasurable! How stubborn or downright blind do we need to be to see that the exact same immoralities posed as moral, right and good are what is deteriorating our culture and society today? It is happening (and is evident) in every part of our culture – government, media, education, religion (church) and home/family! Who will stand for the Truth about right, good and morality? That is who will either make a difference in pointing people to Christ and making disciples or be persecuted for trying and either way in the end will be proven right!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – We need to quit playing church, doing church and even being church…we need to be Christ’s disciples and that is only done in loving relationship and fellowship…everything then follows from our relationship with Him. Let’s live for Him and be a Church the gates of Hell cannot stand against!

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Discuss the areas in your life where Christ is Lord.
3. Now the fun part…discuss the areas in your life where Christ is not Lord?
4. Find someone more mature than you in the faith to disciple you.  In time, look for those who you can disciple.

(Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4)

Who’s discipling us and our youth?  The greatest attack on Biblical foundations and our youth today is pornography or porneia (Greek word for sexual immorality of any and all kinds). We like to think that our churches are discipling our youth but the results show something quite different…

Whoever is training our children up in the way they want them to go will have their hearts and minds. We are called to do this as Christian parents, first and foremost, and then with Godly ministers, teachers, and servant-leaders to reinforce. Remember we are commanded to be diligent in training up our children in what we provide for them and what we protect them from.

The overwhelming fruit coming from the roots and teachings in our schools, media and government programs are promiscuity, porn, depression, cohabitation, abortion, STDs, teen/unwed pregnancies, divorce, broken homes, and much more. All of these are a direct affront and attack on God’s foundations and order.

For the most part, how has the modern day church countered these and how well is it working?  

The current paradigm as peddled by our culture through education, government programs and media by Planned Parenthood, SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) and AFY (Advocates for Youth) leads to broken relationships, marriages and families and to sexual immorality of all kinds.

These groups set themselves up with compassionate and expert sounding names to draw people into their lies and deceptions while preaching and teaching their brand of relationships and sexuality apart from God’s Word. The message is rooted in “free sex” and promoted and encouraged through condom promotion, porn disguised as “sex education,” and abortion, with devastation and death left in the wake.

We have conformed to the world in subtle and not-so-subtle ways and are reaping what we’ve sown… (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 6:7-8)

The proof is in the pudding and we as Christ’s followers and as His Church need to graciously and firmly stand for His Truth and against anything that tries to compromise and/or blatantly or subtly counter that Truth. Here’s the fruit of today’s teachings and our lack of resolve to stand against it…promiscuity, porn, depression, cohabitation, abortion, STDs, teen/unwed pregnancies, homosexuality, gender dysphoria, divorce, broken homes, and much more, all a direct affront and attack on God’s foundations and order.

We learned in previous posts that in Proverbs 22:6 the Hebrew word for “train up” means to “bend or shape” and it applies to whoever is doing the “discipling or teaching.” Those sowing the “seeds of destruction” here in US are “discipling” our children with this message in our schools and media, and internationally through USAIDS dollars and the free sex agenda. BEWARE!

Again, I ask the question, “Who’s discipling our youth?” Let’s BE STRONG in standing in God’s Truth and sharing His Word to remind others that God alone can take what’s wrong and make it right. (Joel 2:25)  Oswald Chambers states this as…

“Do I believe that God can deal with my ‘yesterday,’ and make it as though It had never been? I either do not believe he can, or I do not want Him to. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost God the agony of Calvary. When Jesus Christ says, ‘Sin no more,’ He conveys the power that enables a man not to sin any more, and that power comes by right of what He did on the Cross.”

Current Church Paradigm: Symptomatic Response – Conformed to the World/Reaping What Is Sown

Romans 12:2 states that we are not to conform to the world and Galatians 6:7-8 remind us that the outcome of doing so is that we will reap what we sow.

There have been some attempts in today’s churches, but for the most part they have followed the knowledge-based teaching and a symptomatic response with little positive impact. These efforts and the fruit from the programs the modern church has implemented show clearly that the culture is having a much greater impact in discipling our youth and people in general than our churches.

Many who sit in our churches today are perfectly comfortable attending while entrenched in porneia or other sin(s) and often living hidden lives with very little pushback in discipleship or accountability…”just keep coming to church, giving your money and serving and we’ll all be fine?!?”

They’re at “peace”…until they are not because each will reap what is sown even when sown in the dark. God must be faithful to expose our sins so we will hopefully come to Christ for salvation and maturity in a discipleship walk with Him.

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33)

Churches usually engage with a symptomatic response of some great programs – marriage prep, enrichment, mentoring, reconciliation, divorce recovery, possibly Sexual Risk Avoidance programs that teach and encourage abstinence and building healthy relationships. This results in some saved marriages and restored families, which is wonderful, but far too many are still exposed to the filth and immorality of the “free sex” programs and mandates from education, media and government and reap the consequences.

How often have our classes, programs and ministries, again even with the greatest of hearts and intentions, fallen flat because we have either ignored His priorities and order or we have been blinded to them and based our success on numbers that nearly always ebb and flow. When this happens we have to come up with a new class, ministry, or program to keep the excitement rather than encourage, test, and hold accountable in loving relationships built on His Truths.

The fruit in the current paradigm remains overwhelmingly bad because of the seeds sown and ultimately the roots are bad; therefore, Scripturally, we must reap destruction as we pluck a few out of it. (Jude 1:17-23)

The roots and foundations of the horrific programs, media and messages remain the same with several hours weekly or even daily in schools and this is exponentially multiplied as they direct youth and children to their Internet presence. Contrast that with our churches combating the message with symptomatic programs that may add up to a few hours annually in youth group or a sermon or two.

Knowledge based information, evident in the programs and outcomes currently, is not discipleship. Unless we change the paradigm to obedience-based discipleship in loving relationships we will continue to win a few hearts but lose many, many more.

As stated earlier, I believe these are done with great hearts and intent, but the real question is, “Are they working?” We may “rescue” a few from the dangers and consequences of immoral relationships and sexuality, many that last a lifetime, but the enemy’s message continues to reach thousands through schools, Internet, and social media.  The destruction left in the wake is horrific and in many cases, eternal.

We must stand more strongly and faithfully on His Truth and build the relationships in loving obedience and discipleship with the expectation of living and encouraging one another to live in integrity and purity of heart, body, mind and soul to His Glory!

Proclaiming and standing boldly in God’s Truth against the corrupting and destructive tides of culture requires diligence, but it will be worth it as we see healthy marriages, homes, and families that are the building blocks of His Bride and Family, the Church. The life-infusing examples of marriages and loving, Godly relationships, others will clamor for this kind of love that they obviously are not seeing presently! This doesn’t mean there aren’t good examples and some wonderful relationships out there, but the reality is that in our churches and certainly in the larger culture there is a glaring absence of this.  (2 Peter 3:11-14)

I do not think at all that it’s because we don’t care. I think it’s because, in our desire to see people saved, we’ve “redesigned” His order to draw people in to hear the Gospel message, which is so important. However, the enemy has taken full advantage of our heartfelt but misplaced priorities when it comes to building loving relationships, making disciples and expecting obedience by the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. (John 14:15, 21; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 2:5; 5:2).

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:22–23)

According to God’s Word there’s a better way. Obedience-based discipleship under Christ’s teaching in our families with churches stepping up to reinforce the messages and help encourage loving relationships, obedience and accountability with grace and Truth! Strengthen the family and we all win!

The “New” Old Paradigm – His Loving Discipleship in Relationships

We’ve looked at the world’s destructive messages and schemes. We’ve looked at the churches’ symptomatic responses. Now let’s look at God’s plan in line with His Covenant Order…

The solution, in line with God’s Word, is obedience-based discipleship rooted in the love of marriage and family extended to all relationships. The Church partners with parents and families as well as good programs that promote Scriptural principles and prioritizes marriage and family to work at the root cause and lay a firm foundation for Kingdom fruit.

In the current paradigm 70+% are receiving an immoral and rotten seed and foundation through our schools, media and government…and even in many churches. What kind of impact would obedience-based discipleship in this and all areas of teaching and character have in your home? In your church? What impact would your church have in your community? (Colossians 2:4-8; Hebrews 5:12-14)

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – As churches prioritize Biblical marriage and family we will see the healthy fruit of loving relationships built on His Love and Lordship and obedient discipleship. What a difference it would make if people, couples and families were built on this solid foundation…in our homes and His Church!

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Determine who/what is having the greatest impact on your children and family.  If it is not you as married parents, make the changes needed to do so.
3. How are you placing your marriage and parenting as priorities in your family?  Is your church helping or hindering?  What will you do about it?
4. Seek out a mature couple to help you in your marriage and training up your children in The Lord and ask them to mentor you.

(Matthew 10:16)

We have been spending nearly a year in these posts looking at God’s Covenant Order…His salvation and Lordship in our lives; our discipleship response; building every relationship on His Love & Lordship; honoring marriage as the highest of human relationships; family as the foundation of society and building block of Christ’s Church; loving and relationally servant-leading our families and then Christ’s Church…Now that we’re serious about following His Word and making disciples who make disciples in His Covenant Order, He equips us to do what He’s called us to do…

Taking His Gospel message to a lost and dying world and it won’t be easy. Let’s quit fooling ourselves and trying to do it our way. It hasn’t worked. We are making weak church converts rather than strong disciples with a very family-like resemblance to Christ! This is a statement based on both working with individuals, couples and families and the general state of our culture…both the world and our churches.

In our microwave, convenience store, fast food, Internet-driven world, discipline and patience are almost afterthoughts. We “train” our new church converts in a four to eight-week class, call it discipleship, and send them out to show others how much God loves them, how much we love them, and to win their souls for Christ!

We are sending out “empty infants” in Christ!

On the other hand, Jesus, knowing His time for ministry was short, was not willing to send out His disciples until He knew they were ready. Ultimately He spent two of the three years of His public ministry training His disciples before sending them out. He then gave them the encouragement and warning found in Matthew 10:16 (KJ21), “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

How are we doing when it comes to sending out wise and shrewd messengers and disciples? What are we exporting?

We have not, cannot, and will not be able to do this with programs and systems alone…we must prioritize the difficult, but eternally rewarding work of making disciples in loving relationships!

There are many issues that we as a country, and even through our churches, have exported around the globe with horrific consequences. As we have removed or compromised the Biblical Truths and perspectives the results have been lacking at best and devastating at worst. The culture, through our education, media and government, has co-opted the Gospel message for some time, couching it in familiar terms but exporting death and destruction. Abortion couched in human rights language, sexual sin in terms of health, well-being, sexual rights, and pornography labeled as free speech. The Church has done little in many cases to counter the messages and efforts, and in others cases has helped to spread the demoralizing and devastating outcomes. (2 Timothy 4:2-4; Romans 1:18-32)…Folks we are there!

Much of what has been shared from the western culture progressivism has elevated unhealthy relationships and sexual immorality disguising them as education and legislation. Not content to let others decide for themselves we have forced other cultures and countries to comply through financial incentives or held them hostage with financial restrictions, such as withholding government funding for HIV-AIDS or other program funding if they will not agree to teach and promote the destructive and devastating condom and contraception-based sex education.

When we comply, by consent or silence, we are allowing the enemy to attack the very foundations of God’s creation and order from the beginning.

The reason I’m focusing on porneia and sexual sin as we discuss taking His message to a lost and hurting world is because this is the core issue and the greatest ammunition the enemy has in destroying the foundations that God laid down at creation. In His design, male and female were created for marriage in a lifetime monogamous covenant commitment and sex is reserved for this union only. When porn is disguised as “education” and deceitfully marketed as “safe,” it goes directly against all that is God and His Truth and Love. (Philippians 2:12-16a)

As stated previously, porn/porneia is the greatest destroyer of love and relationship and the only thing that will overcome it is the power of the Gospel lived out through His families and Church. Loving relationships is the currency of Christ’s Kingdom!

If we are going to re-establish the foundations of God’s Word in marriage, family, and His Church then we must expose and stand firm against this evil. We must be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. And we must not be afraid to proclaim His whole Truth regarding relationships, marriage, family and sexuality.

Look at the root of the sin, porneia, which the enemy uses to destroy lives, relationships, and communities through relational brokenness, sexual perversion and immorality, divorce and broken families. The result is that we hinder our ability to serve the Church, and ultimately cripple its ministry. Most of it is exported from a pornified culture rooted in Churchianity!

How can our churches survive if we continue to placate the culture? What was and is being exported is what is far too prevalent in our churches today. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 18-20; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Colossians 3:4-6)

C.S. Lewis says it this way in The Weight of Glory, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Only in Christ and by the blood and body of His sacrifice can and have we overcome. May we walk in His overcoming!

In our modern day culture, it is obvious that there are several issues that we need to address in order to come against what the world and enemy of our souls is pandering and boldly, yet graciously, step up and proclaim God’s Truth over all things. As Abraham Kuyper stated, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

Why have we, as Christ’s Church, allowed the world to dictate when and where His

Truth can be spoken and applied? It is the only thing that will set people free, but we claim graciousness in withholding His Word in politics, schools, media, and more while Satan continues to enslave and destroy.  (John 15:18-19; 1 Peter 3:15) We must do so in spite of the world’s spite for Him and for His Truth in and through us!

Here are current issues and outcomes that give evidence to our fear and timidity, and Paul said: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NASB)

CURRENT OUTCOMES/POTENTIAL STRUGGLES

1. Emotionally-driven salvation
2. Very lacking in obedience-based discipleship
3. Spiritually immature, fleshly driven service
4. Focus on people above God
5. Churches/Christians that look and act like the culture – Conformed to the world

The Father seeks those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23-24). This is not those who just attend church, give and serve and their idea of worship is a 15 minute song service during the weekend. These are those who give all of their lives as a living sacrifice in realizing the incredible grace and mercy that we’ve been given in Christ (Romans 12:1-2).

All of the issues of conforming to the world listed in yesterday’s devotional have been addressed throughout this series as a response to Jesus’ own prophecy of Judgment Day in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

The only thing that we have any control over in this prophecy is whether we are contributing to the “many” whom Jesus refers to or working to diminish the “many” that don’t really know Him and add to the souls that do! Are we conforming to the world thinking we’re doing a great job…or are we living as Christ’s true disciples and helping others know Him?

“When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)

Will He find us faithful and fruitful for His Kingdom as we build loving relationships and make disciples? Or are we content to make church members and converts? (Ephesians 5:1-4)

There are many problems facing our churches today but the greatest and most blatant, and yet most hidden, is the issue of porneia or sexual immorality. This permeates our culture and directly attacks the foundations for marriage, family and loving relationships upon which God created the world and that symbolically point to Christ and His Church.

We have been looking at the current state of marriage, family and the churches. The lies and deception permeate our systems, destroying God’s design for gender, relationships, sexuality, marriage, and family, and cripple His Church. All the while we keep up the facade through numbers, giving and serving that help to hide this destroyer of Kingdom currency – loving relationships!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – May we repent and confess and/all of these issues and bring them into the light.  As we do and with forgiveness received we can then move forward in Christ’s Authority and the power of The Holy Spirit to impact our world for His Glory!

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Check school curriculum in your community, media and legislation to determine where you can stand up and expose and potentially shut down the information and teachings that go against God’s Word.
3. Step up and make your voice heard where you can.
   1. School committees and boards;
4. Legislators – Contact The Family Foundation; American Family Association; Kentucky Right to Life and others.