On A Mission...

I’m a dangerous man…

From the film, Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981):

Sallah: How?

Indiana Jones: I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go!

Some of the most godly men I know live in close proximity to Rachelle and I here in Indianapolis. It’s always a complete pleasure to be able to meet and chat with them about the Lord and what he’s doing in their lives. As I was headed into work this morning I was pondering what one such man said to me over breakfast. He said, “Nathan, I’m a dangerous man.” Now context is obviously important for someone to understand the implications of such a statement. So I will try to provide some here.

God is about people working with Him in the world to make His name known. The gospel of God is one that demands God’s people to obediently and courageously share the message that the Kingdom of the Heavens is now at hand “in and through” the person and work of Jesus. We often find ourselves talking, dreaming, and planning ways to make this message known, all the while God has equipped us and sent us with all we’ll ever need to deliver the goods. What my dear friend was saying is, “Now get going…no, really get moving.” Once we come to the realization of what God wants to do in the world and how He is at work, we need to saddle up and do it.

I find that I think and pray a whole lot. What I don’t do is leave my prayer closet and do the work God has laid before me in meditation and prayer. What’s the point of hearing God talk, if we have no intention to obey?

So really the point here, is not that my brother is really dangerous, he’s just really serious about doing what God wants to do in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. That means hearing the call to serve, love and obey and then going out and doing it!

But how? Well like Paul the apostle who was sent to bear witness before the gentiles, we have to be completely dependent on the Spirit and walk into every context he leads and start sharing, loving and working. Okay, but how? Like Indiana Jones in the quote above, “I don’t know, I’m just making this up as I go!” The details get worked out in the working. We have to get moving.

So maybe this really is dangerous.

Listening to the Holy Spirit…

Driving through the night is one way to spend a Tuesday evening. I pulled into our driveway around 4 a.m. this morning after a short trip back to Kansas. Nine hours passed pretty quickly as I chatted with Rachelle on the phone and listened to Francis Chan’s book, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. I read this book earlier this year after finishing his first work, Crazy Love. Francis Chan has a real conversational way of writing that allows you to almost imagine him sitting in person chatting about the work of the Holy Spirit. I greatly appreciate his approach and style.

There is something very different about this work though. It’s not a theological treaties or an attack on certain camps of thought concerning the Holy Spirit. The book is a simple and applicable word from a very humble man who has become discontent with the lack of concern for the third person of the trinity within the Church. No where in the the pages does Francis begin to attack the body of Christ or call us to embrace some kind of ultra-conservative or overtly “charismatic” weirdness, but gently and responsibly, he challenges us to live in accordance with God’s word and teaching about the very person who was promised to us by our Lord.

As I listened to the audio version, read by Francis Chan, I found myself pausing the tracks in order to really check my own life for traces of the Spirits work. Gladly I have been able to say that I know that the Spirit of God has been powerfully convicting me of sin, leading me to repentance, and challenging me to be more bold in my proclamation and witness, but I was challenged at the point of really surrendering my whole life to the work of the Spirit.

In Chapter 6, Francis challenges us to radically obey the Spirit and his leading in the mundane, ordinary rhythms of life. This is where I began to really find myself asking God to grant me the grace to live abandoned to him in every moment of my life and to diligently obey him, whatever he asked of me.

Following are a few excerpts that really hit me:

God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year…It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for you future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes [pg. 120].

Jesus is calling us to be willing to suffer anything and forsake everything for the sake of the gospel…His call is to consider everything a loss for His sake. His call is for total surrender. He calls us to give up all that we have, to give even to the point of offering our lives as a living sacrifice. his call means realizing that His power is made perfect in our weakness, that when we are weak we are also strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10) [pg. 125].

What if you could hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and He asked you to literally give everything you owned? What if He asked you to sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor? Could you do it? Before you start explaining why He would never ask that of you, take a moment and answer the question honestly. It’s not out of His character to ask for everything [pg. 126].

My prayer is that we would be more aware of the Spirits presence in our lives. May we be a people who are listening for the Spirit and quickly obeying Him when He commands.

Holy Spirit of God, grant me a the ability to listen more intently to you as you speak and move me toward Christ-likeness. I ask that you would teach me to hear and obey, even now. You are a gift and a promise fulfilled and without your presence I remain an unconverted sinner who will constantly try to earn God’s favor. Take not your presence from me. I ask that I may never quench your work or grieve you. Lead me toward a deeper reliance on your voice.