Mentoring Minutes

Building on last week’s post, we find ourselves in a culture that is wrestling with how to deal with and as best we can delete (or at least diminish) social injustice and inequalities in an imperfect world. 

I talked about the need to be sure as Christ followers that we not get caught up in the heat or emotion of the moment, practicing a compassion that does not align with God’s Truth.  And by the way, there is a place for proper anger…”Be angry and sin not,” Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26.  A simple way to recognize the difference in our own lives and others is that anger for a just cause and ultimately the wellbeing of others is acceptable in God’s sight.  Anger that is mendacious and malicious, used without thought for the good of others, or with intent to harm others, is evil and not acceptable to God.

We need to be willing to uphold His Truth and that begins by asking ourselves, and those who are jumping on the passion-driven bandwagons, “Do you fully know what cause or causes are being espoused or demanded?”  If there are agendas and causes contrary to God’s Word and Truth principles, we must reject pushing for them.  If they are intertwined with agendas not in line with His Word, and/or are hijacking agendas that are in line with His Truth, then we are obligated as followers to do the tough work of mining the issues and peeling back the layers to find the right ones to defend or correct and then take action accordingly!

Is Colin Kaepernick still standing against systemic violence against blacks, which we must assess and do all we can to remedy accordingly?  Another question would be is he (and all those who are standing against black oppression) willing to join forces with others who may appear to stand for the same thing but the end result may be more oppressive than the current state?  Finally, is it possible that those who claim to be standing for this cause really have a different endgame in mind?  Passion without focus, control and direction creates zealots…and for Christ followers, isn’t it revealing that He calls us to go make disciples, not zealots. 

He knew that we could drive ourselves into a frenzy in our flesh or self-focused desires but in bringing that passion in line with His Truth and Love through discipline would not only help us learn to love one another as He loved us but also point the world to Him! 

OK, one more question…this one for Coach Stoops and his University of KY Football staff (and many others who have jumped on the bandwagons)…are you really standing and protesting for what you think your standing and protesting for?  If you’re not sure, and especially if the ulterior motives and agendas are not in line with God’s Truths, then we may be doing much more damage than good. 

Let’s be sure that we are standing up for those that are oppressed and building loving relationships with all our fellow human beings, especially our black brothers and sisters and all those who look different or have a different skin color.  That truly goes both ways if we are to work toward a world of equality, unity and love.

BTW – this only applies to those who are Christ followers and as such are willing to live according to His principles of Truth and Love!  If you do not claim Christ and His standards then they don’t apply to you…but the outcomes and fruit will still bring great destruction and suffering.  His Truth is never compromised.

For those of us who are His disciples, we are not absolved from standing firm for that Truth and working to build loving relationships that reflect it.

If we simply get caught up in the frenzy of the moment and fail to discern the issues then we fail to build relationships and call for change that betters our communities and culture.  And we have not followed His commands to love as He did. 

The most important thing, according to God’s Word, is that we learn to Love…Him, ourselves and others and we only do the latter by dying to ourselves according to His Word and example on The Cross.  Love is the answer as many songs refer to but not the love of the world…the Love of our Lord.  We can do many good works as defined by the culture and completely miss what’s most important.  We need to nail it on both counts…in the here and now and Eternity.  He’s shown us how to do that.

As we are faithful to follow through and know Him as Savior and Lord for eternity, we are, in the here and now, His disciples that bring His Love to all others and work together to remedy the oppression and injustice that only His Truth can resolve…we are the ones He has entrusted to walk in His Word and do His work, showing the world His Love.  Relationships are most important and they begin by knowing Him. 

As I quoted to wrap up last week’s LIVE, Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 7:21-23 orders our priorities, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

There are billions of dollars and millions of people, made in God’s image, that serve their fellow man every year around the globe as an overflow of their fleshly compassion, but do not know Jesus as Lord.  Let’s be careful not to waste our service and funds for things that won’t last.  It must be an overflow of our surrender, sacrifice, and obedience to Christ as Lord as we share His Truth by our lives as His disciples. Otherwise, we risk adding to the multitude that do not know Him. 

Is He your Savior and Lord?  His Word is very clear that He has made the way through Christ.  It is also very clear that He has saved you to be in relationship with Him and the only way you can be in that relationship is to know Him as Lord…as His disciple.  Don’t miss out by claiming Him as Savior and not knowing Him as Lord.

Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs. The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him. We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings. Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?   Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

The world doesn’t get it.  Passion without Truth is enough for them.  As we consider, as Christ followers, who and how we are to serve our fellow man, remember it must be in line with His Truth and done in His Love.  The only way we can change the world around us and battle the oppression and injustice in our culture is to build relationships with others in His Truth that sets us free (John 8:31-32) and His Love that never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8a).  The way we do that is to know and love Him as Lord.

Every other relationship will reflect whether He is Lord of your life or not.  You can be assured that He is and that He is blessing you to be a blessing to others as you serve Him and them.  That’s how discipleship is lived out — in relationships.  We have a tremendous opportunity to do this in the chaos of our culture today!

Contact L&L to let us know what you’re thinking and how we can help.

Give online as The Lord leads – https://give.cornerstone.cc/loveandlordship.

Check out @Loveandlordship for “L&L LIVE” every Thursday at 3:30pm on our Facebook page.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – Loving relationships are essential for us to overcome the chaos and turmoil in our world today.  The greatest relationship must be with God in Christ.  All other relationships that can overcome oppression and injustice come will flow from our walking in His Love and Lordship. 

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – 1) Analyze your place of employment and/or board. Make meaningful changes to battle oppression and injustice. 2) Donate to an under-resourced, minority-led, Gospel based, inner-city church or organization. Get involved with them in some way. 3) Offer Biblically based relationship, financial, business, skills and other training. 4) If able, look for/connect with those in need for jobs, mortgages, start-ups. 5) Find someone in your sphere of connections (neighborhood, workplace, other) that is different skin tone that you and build a lasting relationship. 

Don’t just serve…build loving relationships!

Social injustice and bigotry…How do we know what’s true and what to do?  Compassion without Truth only gives short term, self-centered facades posing as solutions with long-term destruction.  We as Christians have to be alert to practice compassion that fully aligns with God’s Truth!  His Word is always our foundation and first priority to find the answers to our personal, cultural and social problems.

What I’m going to share will likely ruffle some feathers but I pray and ask that you test it against the Truths of God’s Word and how we are to respond in all things, regardless of where we are politically.  I pray The Lord will use it to call His people to action that aligns with His Word!

“I hold that the Federal Government was never, in its essence, anything but an anti-slavery government.  Abolish slavery tomorrow, and not a sentence or syllable of the Constitution need be altered.  It was purposely so framed as to give no claim, no sanction to the claim of property in man.  If in its origin slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed.”                 Frederick Douglass

Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., all sought to change our culture by seeking to uphold the Constitution and our laws because they knew they were right and just!

Black Lives must matter…the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement must not if we are to survive, continue to grow and live in freedom, and strive for love, equality and unity in this country!

Maybe for the first time in world history, a potential revolution has formed from the top-down rather than the bottom-up. So, influencers in education, entertainment, corporate CEOs, socialist attorneys who disdain Rule of Law, and power-hungry politicians in both parties toe the line to support what amounts to a militia of non-thinkers—people being used as violent players to advance a globalist agenda disguised as mending social injustice and racial inequality.

“The group’s radical Marxist agenda would supplant the basic building block of society — the family — with the state and destroy the economic system that has lifted more people from poverty than any other. Black lives, and all lives, would be harmed,” columnists Mike Gonzalez and Andrew Olivastro.

Here are statements from the BLM Movement website that reveals the deeper agenda beyond racial equality and social justice (for a full article on this go here)…

We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead. We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered. . . . We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another.  (Bold mine and added)

While this platform is focused on domestic policies, we know that patriarchy, exploitative capitalism, militarism, and white supremacy know no borders. We stand in solidarity with our international family against the ravages of global capitalism and anti-Black racism, human-made climate change, war, and exploitation.

Look at the fruit of this movement (actually comprised of several socialist groups that desire to destroy our country and make it socialist or communist):

1) Latch onto emotional issues to stir frenzy and out of control passion, calling it compassion but disregarding Truth and Order

2) Facts don’t matter to mobs – look at the lives lost and destruction of property in the lootings, riots and anarchy – but they continue and are encouraged by those (media, education, politicians, entertainment, corporate and other) with the same agenda, wrongly using their position

3) Mobs can’t be appeased – it’s about their agenda, not what’s truly right

4) Mobs apply pressure to bring surrender – their agenda is power and control

5) People then respond in cowardice rather than coming together in Truth for what is right – the original issue…unity and overcoming bigotry and injustice!

Truth is compromised in the name of compassion, which means it is false compassion.  This leads to destruction and death just as we’ve seen.  Is that what we desire?  Even more so, are we called to act on compassion apart from Truth knowing what it leads to?  Are we called to just go along?

Christ followers must be able and willing to discern and courageously provide the only alternative that will bring real justice in love and compassion rooted in Truth!

Remember Paul would write this under direction of Holy Spirit…Galatians 6:7-9 because it is our natural tendency to want to rationalize and justify what feels or looks good immediately in our flesh without looking to the long term fruit.  Then when it shows up we defend the deception…but God is not mocked…so we end up blaming Him or wrongly calling it Truth when the fruit clearly shows otherwise!

The BLM Movement goes beyond fighting for racial equality and social justice to attack the foundations in Genesis 1:27; 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-6.  In God’s design there are only two genders – male and female.  The reason for this is the union of one man/one woman in the committed covenant relationship for life in marriage.  This is also the only safe and blessed context for sexual activity.  The attacks serve to break down every foundation rooted in these truths and the currency of Christ’s Kingdom, i.e., loving relationships ultimately rooted in marriage, family and His Church!

The following seven core concepts will go a long way to help us understand, discuss and resolve prejudice and social injustices without falling for radical agendas.  The concepts begin here…If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:18, 21

1. Humility is key – begin by knowing who you are and how you’ve helped or hurt – Romans 12:3…knowing who you are allows you to live out God’s will with others
2. Relationships require trust to build and/or restore – must be willing to risk – 1 Corinthians 13:7…love bears, believes, hopes and endures everything.
3. Offer respect and be willing to accept even if you disagree – 1 Corinthians 13:5… love does not act badly, is not self-seeking, not easily angered, doesn’t keep score.
4. Seek to understand others and their circumstances before seeking to be understood (or even attempting to defend yourself at all)… Seek first to understand and then to be understood, or maybe simply just to understand – Proverbs 4:7
5. To love we must understand which means to show empathy and a willingness to recognize different experiences and perceptions based on those experiences – Jesus put on our humanity (our flesh) and experienced all that we do in order to take our place.  He calls us to love as He did!  John 1:14; 13:34
6. Be willing to listen and learn from and about others rather than judge based on your own experiences and biases – James 1:19-20…But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
7. Loving relationships require us to treat all others as equals and choose to place others above self – there is no love when people are treated as unwanted, cast off or cast aside.  We must value others, listen to them and acknowledge them for who they are and what they’ve experienced…

If we’re not taking great care to be in relationship with Christ…The Way, The Truth and the Life, according to His Word, then we run a great risk of acting in false compassion, building pseudo relationships and doing things in His Name that actually are works of evil and sin and that tear down His Church and Kingdom…and may ultimately cost us Eternity! We may be doing a lot of what we think are good works in Jesus’ name but are completely missing His Truth and salvation.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”                     Matthew 7:21-23

So, we must make sure that we are in His Word and know His Truth so we can properly live out His Love…not just jump on the emotional, passion or compassion bandwagons, whether in culture or churches, that are void of, or willing to compromise His Truth!

Contact L&L to let us know what you’re thinking and how we can help.

Give online as The Lord leads – https://give.cornerstone.cc/loveandlordship.

Check out @Loveandlordship for “L&L LIVE” every Thursday at 3:30pm on our Facebook page.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – We must love according to God’s Word and Christ’s example in Truth and compassion or we risk a false compassion void of Truth that ultimately destroys.  We must speak the Truth in Love.

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – Be intentional to connect with, listen to and build at least one relationship with someone outside your “comfort zone,” especially someone of a different skin color than yours.  This is not a one-time action but a lifetime action.

As we grow and mature as Christ’s disciples individually, His Word is very clear that we are also to be growing and maturing in our relationships with other believers.  Here are three more spiritual disciplines (See Practical Discipleship – Part 1) that help us grow in relationship with other Christ followers, together as His disciples:

1) Worship – God alone is worthy of our personal and corporate worship and praise: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Exodus 20:3-7; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5; “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Luke 4:8; “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

2) Giving/Serving – “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  2 Corinthians 9:6-8

As we grow and mature, both personally and relationally, as Christ’s disciples by the power of His Holy Spirit in the disciplines of His Word and Spirit, we become more like Christ.  In doing so the ultimate expression is that the world sees His Truth and love in our individual lives and together as His Body, The Church.  If they are not seeing it in us, personally and collectively, then we need to take inventory as to whether or not we are walking as His disciples.  All of the aforementioned disciplines come together in the building up and fellowship of Christ’s Church.

3) Fellowship/Relationship/Church –“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42;“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 Discipleship in relationships builds our faithful testimony which spills over into reaching a lost and hurting world with His message in fulfilling the Great Commission, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-2

Without discipline there are no disciples and no discipleship! Without The Holy Spirit we have no spiritual discipline!

I feel so strongly about this that I’m going to repeat what I stated last week in part 1 of Practical Discipleship.  These are not suggestions or recommendations.  These are commands that need to be kept for all those who have counted the cost and desire to walk as Christ’s disciples and with Him as Lord.

Don’t forget that maturity requires discipline and discipline requires manageability and commitment.  For those who have never practiced them at all and/or struggled to maintain these disciplines or even tried to do them all at once and burned out, remember the simple formula below.  Adjust the time to work for you.  I promise you, if you will do this, God will honor it, and your time with and growth in Him and His Word will be greatly rewarded.

BEGIN WITH 5 MINUTES EVERY DAY AND DON’T MISS ONE DAY!

Practical Discipleship

Now that you’ve gotten the key to walking in the spiritual disciplines of His Word, the next step is for you to begin praying about and discipling or helping others do the same thing—Not only the practical steps but also a deeper dive into His Word that will help you and others grow as His disciple.

This is what they looked like for me.  As I began to spend time with Him, in His Word and prayer and applying these disciplines, I was compelled more and more to encourage others.  Interestingly, it seemed that there were more folks that were seeking me out as well for spiritual guidance.  Early on in this process, for some reason the number 10 kept coming to my mind.  I dismissed it for a while but over time it persisted and I began to pray about it.

As I prayed I sensed that the Lord was giving me that number and it was to remind me that I needed to be discipling others but I needed to do so in such a way so as not to spread myself too thin or pridefully take on too many.

So as I began discipling I kept this in mind and began to form the boundaries that helped me be able to best pour into others.  I would not disciple in any one season more than 10 men.  This began when I was still single so I only discipled other men. 

When Ami and I married I continued but I reduced the number to eight and I counted a couple as one (as that is how they are defined in God’s Word).  God rewarded this by keeping between four and eight men or couples without it ever being too burdensome on me and especially on our marriage. 

I did the same by reducing the number by one as each of our children were born and kept it there until they left for college.  The principle here is that my wife and children, according to God’s Word, take priority as those I’m discipling.  As my children left for college I added spots back until I reached 10. 

God honored this as I have honored Him in keeping my priorities in line with His Word.  Ten was my number and it may be more or less for you, but remember the priorities and principles of keeping your marriage, spouse, and family first.

“Paul’s idea of service is the same as Our Lord’s: ‘I am among you as He that serveth’; ‘ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake…’ The mainspring of Paul’s service is not love for men, but love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men… – no matter how men may treat me, they will never treat me with the spite and hatred with which I treated Jesus Christ. When we realize that Jesus Christ has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for His sake.”  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Contact L&L to let us know what you’re thinking and how we can help. 

Check out @Loveandlordship for L&L LIVE every Thursday at 4pm on our Facebook page for more.  Also you can find videos and podcasts at www.loveandlorship.com. 

Make it a great day and God bless in Christ!

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – Have you ever thought of discipleship in terms of relational and communal?  Have you ever thought of relationships and fellowship as requiring discipline?  How might these teachings help you commit to and invest in a local body of Christ followers?  Choose to be His disciple and join with others who are doing the same.

Love and Lordship…Action Item(s) – Put together a daily plan of personal discipleship and worship to prepare you for corporate study and worship with others.  Prepare a budget committing a certain percentage of giving financially to your local church (give it right off the top as a matter of faith).  If you already do these ask The Lord to take you deeper and challenge you to do more in your church and other Biblically based ministries.  Find one person to disciple you in your walk with The Lord.  In time, as The Spirit leads, begin to build relationships in which you are discipling at least one person…if married begin with your wife and children.