5 elements of christian living

6/26/12

Over the last year or so, some concepts have come to significant clarity in my head, and on the 26th I realized that they are all elements of Christian living, a game plan if you will, for personal, communal, and kingdom growth.
Really, none of these elements are isolated. One blurs over into the next and we begin to see the unified spirit of Christian living.
Disclaimer: I am extremely hesitant to quantify and limit things as large as Christian living. I do not claim this is an exhaustive list, especially considering the blurred categories effect. However, I do believe it covers nearly everything (without getting into specifics), though it may prioritize things incorrectly.

1) God devotion
Devotion does not mean some things you have to do, like reading your bible and going to church, that somehow draw you closer to God and keep you in a 'good place' with God. Devotion means to intentionally and passionately dedicate, lay upon your heart. (and by heart I mean your actual desires, that which drives you). Pursue God, know that he is worthy of pursuit and will ultimately be the most rewarding thing you've ever done (literally, absolutely) regardless of how you may feel at the moment, or any moment, regardless of what circumstances may seem like, and regardless of what the world tells you.
God devotion/pursuit is a decision, not a feeling. It is a pattern of behavior, not a state of being. It manifests itself differently in different people, because we all have different parts of Gods character in us. However, normally this means doing some sort of daily devotional time reading the bible, praying, worshiping, listening to sermons, or whatever. When you have effectively ingrained it into your heart, it comes out when you are reminded throughout the day about things you need to apply in your life, ways you can speak truth to other people, and evidences of Gods work, etc.
a) Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." and Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." (and all of Psalm 119 for that matter). Gods word is insanely invaluable. Read it, memorize it, chew on it.
b) Prayer, worship, fasting, etc is the main method by which we communicate to God - especially prayer. Pray daily about a variety of things and do not give up on things that you pray for a long time, be faithful as God is faithful. Ambitious prayer for big things combined with humility and confession are the ingredients for revival.

2) Discipleship (+chains)
Although some Christians in closed countries or isolated tribes find themselves alone, this is not preferred. Other people are huge helps that God put in place to carry us though tough times, to speak truth into our lives, to hold us accountable, etc. Let me call you out on this, if you distance yourself from all Christian friends, mentors, etc, YOU WILL DIE. (spiritually). It may be painful, you may be afraid of people finding out about your sin, you may have been rejected before, you may have been betrayed before. Because of those things you may feel it's not worth it. Lies, I speak against those lies. When God is truly working in someones life, nearly all the time it will benefit you immensely to know them well and develop a relationship with them (though beware of cross-gender).
Here is your action point: if you have not already, find someone who is more spiritually mature than you and as them to talk with you, preferably once a week, at minimum once a month. If you're over 30 or 40 and have been a Christian for a while, this is significantly less practical, so use peers. Additionally, always find someone less mature than you or a good friend that is not a Christian to pour into.  
a) 2 Timothy 2:2 "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." See how there are four generations of disciples mentioned here? Paul > Timothy > Reliable people > Others. Discipleship is meant to be chained like that.
b) Discipleship is useful for male and female roles. Older men and women disciple younger ones and teach them the roles they are to play as such, challenge them to greater things, and give approval. Be sure to pass on the things you have learned about the spiritual role of your gender to younger people (in increasing degrees as you get older).


3) Community
Do a little bible study of your own on Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:32-37. Note a few things, it's basically like communism:
a) They had everything in common. It is so much more efficient to  have say... one guy with a big trailer for hauling things who lends it out to anyone who needs it (especially in the community of believers), than to have everyone have to pay for one and store it. The more fluid possessions are, the more options, the greater efficiency. The larger capacity due to the larger body of shared possessions than individually, the more capable the system is of handling emergencies and daunting projects. The primary way this will actually manifest itself is probably money. Somebody is hard-up, do not be stingy with your money. Someone in my community recently had his car break down. Paying for it out-of pocket would have put him back quite a ways, so in a week the 20 of us pitched in the $500 necessary to have it fixed. Bingo. 1 Cor 10:26 (Psalm 24:1) "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." So if everything's Gods, it's not yours. Give freely to those who are in need. Honor one another above yourselves. God is the great Jehovah-jireh "I will provide", so do not worry about tomorrow, what you will eat or drink, your heavenly father knows you need them and will provide. 
b) "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts" Acts 2:46. Meet together a LOT. People hold you accountable and spur one another on towards love and good works. 
This is not to be done at the expense of other things. Continue to meet with God alone regularly. God is your ultimate relationship, everything else is a shadow of it. And do not just hang out all the time. Spur one another on. Your community should be such that you randomly end up in spiritual conversations frequently, you ask deep questions of each other and deal with real issues, you volunteer together at ministries or go together to do outreach. Maybe you are a magnet community and operate by bringing many unbelievers in and soaking them in the lives of Christians. 

4) Intentional, missional living
This blends in a little with what I have just been saying a community should do. Be intentional about the larger components of your life: where you live, who your friends are, what proportions of your time you devote to certain things.
a) A great idea was introduced to me by a city pastor a couple of months ago: you may chose a house that is out of your comfort zone in the middle of a needy area, such that your everyday interactions with your neighbors automatically reach out to them in a spiritual way. Chose to live in a broken down part of town. My parents did this as well. It may be more risky, it may not be suburban utopia, but it is very rewarding. People who need God are fifty yards away all day long. They play in your street. In my parents case, their children knock on your door, hungry for food and real love. It's incredibly easy.  
This can be done in any number of ways. Any place that you set up as 'home', like a workplace, somewhere you go for coffee everyday, the park, etc. Be intentional about the people you interact with everyday.
b) Who your friends are: Have christian friends, yes. This is neccessary as per point 3. However also have non-christian, regular, deep friends. Jesus was called a friend of sinners. That's not just a nice marshmallow term, it means literally a friend, a hang out dude, of messed up ugly people. 
c) Go to the 'home base' of the not-yet Christians. Kind of like living in a foreign community, going there for a short visit is also very powerful. Go to a bar, for instance. Simply by the fact that you, a hoity -toity Christian (depending on whether they know you're Christian or not) are there, they will be affected. Why is this guy willing to hang out with us? What motivates him to come here? Be interested in them, love on them, and they will react strongly, and (probably) after a while begin to ask you why you are there and what you believe. Think about what Jesus did. He did what? He came to OUR home base, lived with us, and died for us. And compared to heaven, earth is the deepest filth hole you can find. Do what Jesus did.

5) Missions organizations [I added this part 7/7/12]
Beyond the organic ministry that rises out of random conversations, friendships, outreaches of your Christian community, and neighbors whom you have chosen to live next to, there also exists a place for straight-up missions and missions organizations. You should definitely get some experience volunteering with them and chatting with their staff, simply to get an idea of how this arm of the kingdom functions. If you ar.e already in a job, maybe you could be a missionary, but maybe not. What you can do right now is, at the very least, give your 10% away to the church, christian humanitarian orgs, or missionaries you hear about. Our purpose here on earth is not to survive, it is to be a part of the charge to re-take the earth from Satan. There are no lolly-gagers just idling around in the military, everything that is possessed by the military is pointed towards the goal. In the same way, you do not make money to survive or to get nice things, as long as you are comfortable-ish and not working yourself to the ground, you make money in order to restore the world. Every word you say, every decision you make, it's all for God. I don't mean to be mean. This does not rise out of do-it-or-else orders. Do this because nothing in this world is really valuable except what God has given and what HE plans to do. Invest in things that matter, not in things that will pass away. I love to quote by Jim Elliot, the guy from End of the Spear "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

0) General exhortations
Be intentional about what you do, never do something just because you've done it all the time. Be alert, be alive, take your life seriously. Do not live on earth simply to survive, simply to make it to the next day, simply to make life easy. God is living in you, gol-darn it! You don't bloody need to care about any of that! LIVE! Take hold of the mission that God has set before you, enter into the dance, the sole relationship with God, the dance in the secret places. God has given us so much more than pardon for sin, he has invited us to not only die with him to sin, but live with him in righteousness, and it is awesome! If you do not think or feel that it is awesome, know that it IS, regardless of what it may seem. Know that God himself sent his own son down to die for you, and that alone testifies to the gravity of what has been done for you. Do not take it lightly, you have been called to glorious light.

Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

 Live in the light, dance with the prince of peace, honor the king.
God be with you.