Go Make

We'll be wrapping up the "Go" series over the next two weekends. These last two weeks will focus on Jesus' mandate to go make disciples. One of my favorite passages describing the process of discipleship is Romans 8:29-30, especially as it is translated in The Message:

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

This is what God is doing in you and me. It's incredible. Get this vision and live with it each day no matter what gets thrown at you. God is at work in you. God believes you can and will be like his Son. You may doubt it because of the times you fail. If you fail in habitual ways, it makes it even harder to believe. But believing what God believes about you is essential, because it will keep you from quitting and surrendering to those forces that will destroy you. He will complete what he has begun!

Making Others Conform

(See previous post for background info.) More from Maxwell:

I think Jesus had an entirely different attitude than most churches do. I think that in the church, because of our insecurities, we get very concerned when people are different than us. When they come to our place, in our setting, that makes us comfortable. We want to make them conform as quickly as possible to our set of rules, to our atmosphere, and to what we are. And if they conform to that very quickly, we feel very good about "converting them" or "getting them into the church." I think we're very uncomfortable with people who are different from us. I don't think Jesus was at all. Therein lies the attitude the creates separation. People who are unchurched, "lost," maybe even seekers, most of the time don't really feel comfortable with us. Let me say this--if they don't feel comfortable with us outside the church, then they won't feel comfortable with us inside the church.