3 People We Need More Of In The Church
Day 1
Read Ephesians 3:1-13
This letter by Paul was sent to the church, a local gathering of individuals following Jesus, in Ephesus. This church was experiencing something brand new in the idea of religion and that was unlike anything else that had been experienced yet. They were showing up for worship and Jews and Gentiles alike were gathering and worshiping together. There were strange feelings that surely came up around all of this. But for Paul, he was confident in what his call was. Can you imagine being so confident in your purpose that even when it all feels wrong and everyone is whispering, you keep going and are able to bare it all out with the theology of the gospel?
The end result of this kind of stubbornness was the purpose of the church: to prove to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that God’s wisdom was the best. The church, the gathering of all of these different people to lift up the name of God and grow as disciples together with each other, had the high calling of proving to all of the authorities and powers that could possibly rise up against God, that his plan was good. I don’t know what the purpose was that you showed up for service this Sunday, but surely you didn’t have that plan in the back of your mind?! I gather from this passage a great teaching: when we do things God’s way, we proclaim and display to the ends of the earth God’s wisdom.
As you are part of the church, and specifically, probably, a part of Keystone Church in that, what do you see as your ministry?
What do you see as your specific calling in the church?
How are you sharing the grace that has been given to you with other people?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
This letter by Paul was sent to the church, a local gathering of individuals following Jesus, in Ephesus. This church was experiencing something brand new in the idea of religion and that was unlike anything else that had been experienced yet. They were showing up for worship and Jews and Gentiles alike were gathering and worshiping together. There were strange feelings that surely came up around all of this. But for Paul, he was confident in what his call was. Can you imagine being so confident in your purpose that even when it all feels wrong and everyone is whispering, you keep going and are able to bare it all out with the theology of the gospel?
The end result of this kind of stubbornness was the purpose of the church: to prove to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that God’s wisdom was the best. The church, the gathering of all of these different people to lift up the name of God and grow as disciples together with each other, had the high calling of proving to all of the authorities and powers that could possibly rise up against God, that his plan was good. I don’t know what the purpose was that you showed up for service this Sunday, but surely you didn’t have that plan in the back of your mind?! I gather from this passage a great teaching: when we do things God’s way, we proclaim and display to the ends of the earth God’s wisdom.
As you are part of the church, and specifically, probably, a part of Keystone Church in that, what do you see as your ministry?
What do you see as your specific calling in the church?
How are you sharing the grace that has been given to you with other people?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Jonah 1
In the following days of these devotions, we are going to read the book of Jonah. It is only 4 chapters, so the task is not too large, but the meaning of the story fits great with our idea from the sermon about grace that is given to us turning into action and responsibility from us. In reality, we are natural runners like Jonah. It is not if we have a call on our lives from God, but rather what we do with the one we have. Our natural tendency? Ignore it and move farther and farther away. Maybe our deepest thoughts are not like Jonah’s in that we think the ones we are sent to can’t truly deserve the grace God is wanting show them, but there are other reasons like this for our inactivity.
How selfish and self-centered is it to be a Prophet of God that has received grace from God, but totally unwilling to share that with those he should share it with? The lesson of chapter 1 is real easy, running from God and avoiding His call leads to nothing more than a constant struggle in chaos that sends you spiraling into the depths of the opposite of what you were called to: abundant life.
How are you a runner like Jonah? Surely you can examine your own heart and find a time you have ran or even a way you are running now!
How have you experienced the struggle that comes when running from God in your life?
How does today’s devotion inform your prayers?
In the following days of these devotions, we are going to read the book of Jonah. It is only 4 chapters, so the task is not too large, but the meaning of the story fits great with our idea from the sermon about grace that is given to us turning into action and responsibility from us. In reality, we are natural runners like Jonah. It is not if we have a call on our lives from God, but rather what we do with the one we have. Our natural tendency? Ignore it and move farther and farther away. Maybe our deepest thoughts are not like Jonah’s in that we think the ones we are sent to can’t truly deserve the grace God is wanting show them, but there are other reasons like this for our inactivity.
How selfish and self-centered is it to be a Prophet of God that has received grace from God, but totally unwilling to share that with those he should share it with? The lesson of chapter 1 is real easy, running from God and avoiding His call leads to nothing more than a constant struggle in chaos that sends you spiraling into the depths of the opposite of what you were called to: abundant life.
How are you a runner like Jonah? Surely you can examine your own heart and find a time you have ran or even a way you are running now!
How have you experienced the struggle that comes when running from God in your life?
How does today’s devotion inform your prayers?
Day 3
Read Jonah 2
Do you have a place you like to pray? Maybe in the car or with a cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning, but I can almost bet you that your favorite place to pray is not in a fish at the bottom of the sea after a really long night of running from God! This chapter is a great illustration of hitting rock bottom! Jonah’s is a story in Hebrew literature that uses a lot of imagery that is important. Jonah’s story could have been told as a bad night that landed him in prison to think about his issues. Or a horse and buggy accident that left him in the hospital trying to figure out how his life got here. But it is a weird story…not a normal one! His is a story of a man that ran from the presence of God and found himself in the depths of the chaotic waters of descent, only to be rescued by a fish…which do not have a proclivity to rescue people. It is at the bottom of it all that he prays and repents of the way that he has been, and then he is raised back up from the depths and spit out on the “dry land.” Rebellion from God always takes you from where you belong. Repentance from rebellion brings you back to where you belong.
Prayer is the first place of true humility and repentance. Maybe that is why we struggle so much with praying everyday? Maybe our biggest struggle is not wanting to be vulnerable and humble? Ouch. Notice that Jonah’s prayer takes God’s perspective. He could have had the perspective that God doesn’t care about him and that is how he got here and all of life seems to be rising up against him so what is the point of it all?! But he doesn’t. He acknowledges that his problems are from within himself. That is what repentance looks like.
Do you accompany these times of devotions with genuine prayer, laced heavily with humility and vulnerability?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Do you have a place you like to pray? Maybe in the car or with a cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning, but I can almost bet you that your favorite place to pray is not in a fish at the bottom of the sea after a really long night of running from God! This chapter is a great illustration of hitting rock bottom! Jonah’s is a story in Hebrew literature that uses a lot of imagery that is important. Jonah’s story could have been told as a bad night that landed him in prison to think about his issues. Or a horse and buggy accident that left him in the hospital trying to figure out how his life got here. But it is a weird story…not a normal one! His is a story of a man that ran from the presence of God and found himself in the depths of the chaotic waters of descent, only to be rescued by a fish…which do not have a proclivity to rescue people. It is at the bottom of it all that he prays and repents of the way that he has been, and then he is raised back up from the depths and spit out on the “dry land.” Rebellion from God always takes you from where you belong. Repentance from rebellion brings you back to where you belong.
Prayer is the first place of true humility and repentance. Maybe that is why we struggle so much with praying everyday? Maybe our biggest struggle is not wanting to be vulnerable and humble? Ouch. Notice that Jonah’s prayer takes God’s perspective. He could have had the perspective that God doesn’t care about him and that is how he got here and all of life seems to be rising up against him so what is the point of it all?! But he doesn’t. He acknowledges that his problems are from within himself. That is what repentance looks like.
Do you accompany these times of devotions with genuine prayer, laced heavily with humility and vulnerability?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Jonah 3
In one of the better plot twists in the Bible, Jonah repents and gets to work, and therefore one of the most evil nations around also repents in response to Jonah’s message from God. That is the dream. We always wish it would go like that. Spoiler alert, the story continues that this repentance is short lived, but that is not in our text here! Here, we get the sense that the result of obedience is more obedience. The result of repentance is more repentance. That is the idea that Paul was trying to show us in Ephesians, remember? He was given grace. But the grace that he was given was for the purpose of being shared with others, then they would have grace to share. Faith is active. It is not a passive title that I take on, but rather it is a responsibility that I am given and enlists me to the service of grace sharing, God proclaiming, that got it to me.
Here is another way to see this progression: when I am laying on the beach, covered in fish saliva and trying to adjust my eyes to the brightness of the day that I am blessed to see, wondering how I just got out of the bottom of the ocean that was supposed to consume my life, it’s time to head to Nineveh and tell them that they are experiencing the same thing. They are in the depths of chaos and the swallows at the end of their lives, and much like I was saved by God, they too can be saved from their sins. Grace people share grace.
Where does the grace that you have been given need to be shared this week?
How do you do that?
Think through your story of salvation and use the images of the sea, the fish, and running from God, to tell your version of Jonah’s story.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
In one of the better plot twists in the Bible, Jonah repents and gets to work, and therefore one of the most evil nations around also repents in response to Jonah’s message from God. That is the dream. We always wish it would go like that. Spoiler alert, the story continues that this repentance is short lived, but that is not in our text here! Here, we get the sense that the result of obedience is more obedience. The result of repentance is more repentance. That is the idea that Paul was trying to show us in Ephesians, remember? He was given grace. But the grace that he was given was for the purpose of being shared with others, then they would have grace to share. Faith is active. It is not a passive title that I take on, but rather it is a responsibility that I am given and enlists me to the service of grace sharing, God proclaiming, that got it to me.
Here is another way to see this progression: when I am laying on the beach, covered in fish saliva and trying to adjust my eyes to the brightness of the day that I am blessed to see, wondering how I just got out of the bottom of the ocean that was supposed to consume my life, it’s time to head to Nineveh and tell them that they are experiencing the same thing. They are in the depths of chaos and the swallows at the end of their lives, and much like I was saved by God, they too can be saved from their sins. Grace people share grace.
Where does the grace that you have been given need to be shared this week?
How do you do that?
Think through your story of salvation and use the images of the sea, the fish, and running from God, to tell your version of Jonah’s story.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Jonah 4
Better than a M. Night Shyamalan Movie, this story in the Bible just keeps hitting you with surprise twists and plot changes. Now Jonah is mad that Nineveh got to repent and that the fireworks didn’t happen. He is mad because God did just what Jonah said he was going to do. He forgave them! Jonah is mad because God has not judged his enemies correctly! Stop it! Don’t you dare draw back on the beginning of the story here! Surely, you don’t think that Jonah’s sins as a Prophet of God, please don’t forget, are the same as the dreaded and terrible Ninevites!? Are they?
Years ago I found this poem and I love the thoughts here.
And Jonah stalked
to his shaded seat
and waited for God to come around
to his way of thinking.
And God is still waiting
for a host of Jonahs
in their comfortable houses
to come around
To His way of loving
(By Thomas John Carlisle)
What do you think of Jonah’s struggles here: you can relate to them, or you just don’t get it?
How do you struggle with God’s decisions in offering forgiveness to everyone?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Better than a M. Night Shyamalan Movie, this story in the Bible just keeps hitting you with surprise twists and plot changes. Now Jonah is mad that Nineveh got to repent and that the fireworks didn’t happen. He is mad because God did just what Jonah said he was going to do. He forgave them! Jonah is mad because God has not judged his enemies correctly! Stop it! Don’t you dare draw back on the beginning of the story here! Surely, you don’t think that Jonah’s sins as a Prophet of God, please don’t forget, are the same as the dreaded and terrible Ninevites!? Are they?
Years ago I found this poem and I love the thoughts here.
And Jonah stalked
to his shaded seat
and waited for God to come around
to his way of thinking.
And God is still waiting
for a host of Jonahs
in their comfortable houses
to come around
To His way of loving
(By Thomas John Carlisle)
What do you think of Jonah’s struggles here: you can relate to them, or you just don’t get it?
How do you struggle with God’s decisions in offering forgiveness to everyone?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
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