“The pathway to spiritual maturity is not in becoming an intelligent person, but in becoming an obedient person.” – John Piper, Solid Daily Joys Devotional: November 22nd
On Sunday, Pastor Jason walked us through Joshua 22. In this interesting chapter, the tribes of Israel divide…kind of. Well, it’s complicated—you might say. While a few of the tribes promised to help the whole of Israel enter the Promised Land, they ultimately decided to live on the other side of the Jordan River. Not quite separately, but not together either. Almost in the Promised Land, but not all the way in.
I have always read this passage and sensed such a loss and frustration for those few tribes. Why would you settle?! After all that work, after all of God’s promises—why wouldn’t you want the FULLNESS of God’s Promised Land? It makes no sense, but we Christians choose to settle all the time when it comes to God's promises.
Jason said it well: “There is a cost to compromise,” and the cost doesn’t just affect us, but everyone around us as well.
Have you ever sensed this about the Church today? You know that person in your life group has such a gift for _______, and so many would benefit from them using it—but life is busy and it just never feels possible, especially not "in this season."
I see this pattern in my own life! I often want to self-protect, and I elevate my needs, my desires, my beliefs about “my time” above the needs of God’s people, above the call of God, Himself. Instead of going the second mile, I say, “Well, one is good too…”
But recently, as I heard the Lord’s call to Peru and have understood the shortness of my time left at Coast Hills, there is an urgency to run harder than I ever have before. To get over “my time” and to sacrificially give my time for others—to train others, to build them up, to love the Church body more than I love myself. I mourn now to think that I didn’t have this mindset the whole time I’ve worked here and been a part of this church body. It makes me see that there is time I can’t get back, and it has motivated me to finish well the work that God gave me to do.
Jesus said to the man in Luke 9, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). So why did those tribes look back? Why did they settle outside the Promised Land—those who knew God and had seen Him move on their behalf. Why weren't they all in?
It is the little compromises that lead to big compromises, in the same way it is the little obedience that leads to great acts of obedience, and what we might call “great faith” (see Hebrews 11).
The reality is that the time has always been short. Our race will end. The Church has been given a mission—a land to conquer, souls to usher into the Kingdom of God. Are we fit for the task?
A Church that’s unstoppable is one where each individual member puts their hand to whatever plow God has called them to pull, and gives it everything they’ve got.
Are there areas in your life (like mine) where you have limited what God can do in and through you (and the Church) because you’ve already decided it’s not something God would ever ask of you?
Maybe it’s giving X amount of dollars, or knocking on a neighbors’ door to share the Gospel. Maybe it’s fasting television at night so you can spend time in God's Word, or freeing up Wednesday nights to be able to serve our students regularly. Or maybe He might even call you to move to a foreign nation…
Our immediate thought-response to some of those suggestions may just be telling of our spiritual fitness. Am I willing? Or would I rather settle in the comfort zone?
Some questions we ought to consider:
Am I living with my hands wide open?
Am I willing and ready to obey God no matter what He might say to me? (small or big!)
Are others in the Church body spurred on to deeper obedience by my walk of faith?
What might the Church body look like if we all answered a resounding "Yes!" to those questions? What might God do...?
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body...But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? [He did this] that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” —1 Corinthians 12:14-15, 18-19, 25-27
On Sunday, Pastor Jason walked us through Joshua 22. In this interesting chapter, the tribes of Israel divide…kind of. Well, it’s complicated—you might say. While a few of the tribes promised to help the whole of Israel enter the Promised Land, they ultimately decided to live on the other side of the Jordan River. Not quite separately, but not together either. Almost in the Promised Land, but not all the way in.
I have always read this passage and sensed such a loss and frustration for those few tribes. Why would you settle?! After all that work, after all of God’s promises—why wouldn’t you want the FULLNESS of God’s Promised Land? It makes no sense, but we Christians choose to settle all the time when it comes to God's promises.
Jason said it well: “There is a cost to compromise,” and the cost doesn’t just affect us, but everyone around us as well.
Have you ever sensed this about the Church today? You know that person in your life group has such a gift for _______, and so many would benefit from them using it—but life is busy and it just never feels possible, especially not "in this season."
I see this pattern in my own life! I often want to self-protect, and I elevate my needs, my desires, my beliefs about “my time” above the needs of God’s people, above the call of God, Himself. Instead of going the second mile, I say, “Well, one is good too…”
But recently, as I heard the Lord’s call to Peru and have understood the shortness of my time left at Coast Hills, there is an urgency to run harder than I ever have before. To get over “my time” and to sacrificially give my time for others—to train others, to build them up, to love the Church body more than I love myself. I mourn now to think that I didn’t have this mindset the whole time I’ve worked here and been a part of this church body. It makes me see that there is time I can’t get back, and it has motivated me to finish well the work that God gave me to do.
Jesus said to the man in Luke 9, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). So why did those tribes look back? Why did they settle outside the Promised Land—those who knew God and had seen Him move on their behalf. Why weren't they all in?
It is the little compromises that lead to big compromises, in the same way it is the little obedience that leads to great acts of obedience, and what we might call “great faith” (see Hebrews 11).
The reality is that the time has always been short. Our race will end. The Church has been given a mission—a land to conquer, souls to usher into the Kingdom of God. Are we fit for the task?
A Church that’s unstoppable is one where each individual member puts their hand to whatever plow God has called them to pull, and gives it everything they’ve got.
Are there areas in your life (like mine) where you have limited what God can do in and through you (and the Church) because you’ve already decided it’s not something God would ever ask of you?
Maybe it’s giving X amount of dollars, or knocking on a neighbors’ door to share the Gospel. Maybe it’s fasting television at night so you can spend time in God's Word, or freeing up Wednesday nights to be able to serve our students regularly. Or maybe He might even call you to move to a foreign nation…
Our immediate thought-response to some of those suggestions may just be telling of our spiritual fitness. Am I willing? Or would I rather settle in the comfort zone?
Some questions we ought to consider:
Am I living with my hands wide open?
Am I willing and ready to obey God no matter what He might say to me? (small or big!)
Are others in the Church body spurred on to deeper obedience by my walk of faith?
What might the Church body look like if we all answered a resounding "Yes!" to those questions? What might God do...?
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body...But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? [He did this] that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” —1 Corinthians 12:14-15, 18-19, 25-27
Michelle Townsley
Michelle Townsley is a young adult devoted to loving Jesus and loving people. A current staff member at Coast Hills, her passion is to “present everyone mature in Christ” whether through women’s discipleship in youth and young adults ministry, or through communications and the written word. Michelle loves ministry, summer camp, and basketball in that order.
Posted in Articles
Tagged with Joshua 22, Church Body, Unity, Obedience, All in, Spiritual Readiness
Tagged with Joshua 22, Church Body, Unity, Obedience, All in, Spiritual Readiness