It's a Command, Not a Calling

What am I suppose to do? Where am I to go next in life? What’s the next step?

These types of questions have often dominated my thinking and thoughts over the last few years and I know it is common to most human beings. I believe though that most of the times, we are not thinking the right way, these types of questions often turn in to self-centeredness. It makes life about ourselves and what we can get next. It turns into questions such as, “What am I suppose to do next so that I can get more money, so that I can buy a house, and get the next awesome Apple product?”

I’ve caught myself thinking in this fashion on multiple occasions.  I’ve often had to re-direct my thoughts back to the truth of scripture and what God has called me to as a believer. Over the past month, I’ve read “Kisses From Katie” by missionary Katie Davis. I participated in Local Missions for a week. I’ve lead around 10 bible studies with hundreds of unbelievers. I’ve had multiple teens come to me confessing that they are addicted to pornography, drugs, or alcohol. All of this leading me to once again be awakened to the utter destitution and lostness that surrounds me in this world.

It reminded me of not my calling as a disciple of Christ, but of my command as a disciple of Christ. Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” There is no calling involved here. If you are a disciple of Christ, you are commanded by our heavenly Father to “go and make disciples” not only of your county, but of “all nations.”  People can often say, “There is plenty of work to be done here where I live in the United States.” But isn’t that often used as an excuse. What are you actually doing to share the gospel and help those in need around you? Would you be willing to go spend the rest of your life somewhere in a third world country for the sake of the gospel?

I am commanded as a believer. I am commanded because I am a recipient of God’s saving grace. And because I'm grateful in my heart that Jesus would leave his throne on high and die for me sins on that cross. I want to strive to be faithful to obey the command of my Lord. I know that I am going to fail to live according to what God has commanded me too at times. But we have the promise that, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.” (2 Timothy 1:13 ESV)

Shouldn’t we strive to be like the early disciples in Acts 2:45, “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” I want my faith to be so bold that I will give my meager amount of money and possessions to those in need. I want my faith to be so bold, that I will show love to the sickest people and have faith God will keep me healthy. I truly want this desolate and dying world to experience the hope and love I’ve experienced from my Lord and Savior.

I want to start small and pray God uses my deeds to glorify His name in huge ways. I want to love one needy or sick person at a time and pour out love on them in my county. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but showing love to those in need and praying God works in mightier ways.

Luke 14:33, “So therefore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Have I renounced all that I have? Seven verse before in Luke 14:26, it says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

God is after a heart that recognizes everything comes from the Lord and therefore is willing to give everything up for the Lord. God wants us to be so confident in His love and control over our lives that we would be willing to forsake everyone and everything dear to us if that’s what it takes to bring Him glory. So are you willing to obey God's command to "go and make disciples of all nations?" Even if this messes up what you want in life. Think about it. Pray about it. And ask God to help you obey Him, not your fleshly desires.

Local Missions: Is there something wrong with the way we are living?

I want to say my experience this past week at doing “local missions” was exactly what I expected. But honestly, what I experienced was not what I imagined in the least bit.  I need to start this post off by saying; I was completely oblivious to what was 5 minutes from my house. I knew there was poverty in my county. I knew that people were in bad circumstances. But, I had no idea that there were whole communities like the one we served. I had the privilege of leading a team of 20 youth to serve the kids of the Washington Square HOC community.  HOC stands for “Housing Opportunity Commission.” After a little research, there are 26 different HOC communities throughout Montgomery County.

So for one week, we had the privilege of serving this one HOC site.  The atmosphere felt so similar to an atmosphere I’ve experienced before. It felt exactly like the orphanage I’ve been privileged to serve on multiple occasions in Mexico. Most of these kids are just as neglected as the orphans in Mexico and need just as much love poured out on them. Yet, as I’ve thought about it for the past few days, most of these kids are in even greater need then the Orphans in Mexico.

While these kids have a house to live in, they are often without food, often surrounded by parents that are either drug addicts, alcoholics, or abusive, and they are not shown love at all.  What’s different in the orphanage in Mexico is the fact that a staff that loves the Lord surround the orphans on a daily basis. Most of these kids in these HOC communities have never experienced the love of Jesus.

So for a whole week, we had the privilege of pouring out the love of Jesus on 38 kids at Washington Square. We hung out with them for hours each day, playing kickball, four square, basketball, football, going on nature hikes, going to see a concert. And then each afternoon we headed over to the park to do “joy camp.” Because a storm destroyed the park that the Emory Grove HOC community would typically use, the team of youth would bring their 25 kids over to our park and we would do camp together.

Joy Camp consisted of crafts, games, skits, teaching a lesson and memorizing Hebrews 12:1-2 together. For two hours each afternoon for five straight days, we taught around 60-65 kids about Jesus. We taught them how we are sinful and need a Savior and that Jesus has authority over everything and therefore can help us in any situation of life. One of the highlights for me was having the kids memorize Hebrews 12:1-2 together with hand motions. We practiced it over and over again, making sure we had it down.

On Friday night, we threw a cookout for the community. The kids brought a lot of their parents and other people showed up for hot dogs and some games. An awesome moment happened when the kids performed/shared the verse for all the people who came that night. They not only memorized the verse, but they shared the gospel with a hundred or so people that came to the cookout that evening.  

Now, while one week of constant camp is an awesome experience for those kids. I have a concern that we would hurt them more then help them if we were not to follow up with ongoing ministry. I’m excited about leading a team over there each week for the rest of this year to show them Jesus’ love, but I think there is even more that we can do. We have 26 communities like these in Montgomery County, with multiple other poor communities that aren’t even classified as HOC. God calls us to serve the poor and bless them. We have been blessed immensely, shouldn’t we be seeking to serve those in need around us? A few scriptures that came to my mind are below:

Matthew 19:21, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” (Mark 10:21 and Luke 18:22 say the same thing)

Matthew 16:25, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this; to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

            These children and these communities need Jesus love poured out on them. They need grandparents, men, women, boys and girls that have experienced the grace of God to come and bless them. It could be in small ways such as hanging out with them once a week, or in bigger ways like spending Christmas morning with them. I don’t know, God will make it clear in which ways we can continue to bless and show the love of Jesus to them. But, I think we all need to re-evaluate the way we are living our lives day to day. We need to seek God and see if He is calling us to something more. He not only is calling you as his son and daughter, he is commanding you as his son and daughter to go and make disciples.

 There is something terribly wrong with the picture of us living five minutes from these communities in the comfort of our homes and 3 cooked meals a day and not doing anything about helping those in need.

 I want to end this with the familiar verses of Philippians 2. I think it will serve as a good reminder that we are followin in Jesus’ footsteps. It’s his example and it’s his death that even enables us to serve those in need.

Philippians 2:4-8, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Let us stop living for ourselves and look for ways to be servants and serve those in need. Starting with our communities and then overflowing into the world. For Jesus last command to us was “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

Let’s continue to seek hard after the Lord and ask Him what He wants us to do to spread his kingdom where we live.