Monthly Archives: April 2009

We live in an era of free-agent Christianity and it is out of control.

No one in the whole wide world of sports plays for themselves.  Athletes have coaches.  Football teams have someone calling the plays.  Baseball teams have someone making the hand-signs.  Even individual sports like golf or tennis have a coach to train and instruct the athletes.

So why do so many Christians today think they can win on their own?  Why do they think they will play better without a coach telling them what to do or other team members helping them out?  It’s like Kobe saying he is going to start his own team.  No more Lakers.  No more Phil Jackson.  Even Kobe knows that no single player has ever won a championship.

Likewise, the Christians who think they don’t need a pastor or a local church can expect one thing: spiritual defeat.

In fact, if you are not under the authority of a pastor as your “spiritual coach” then you are already in sin.

- Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.  Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Scripture is clear that as Christians we submit to those who are over us.  Specifically, this verse commands us to put ourselves under those who are going to give an account for our souls.  This begs the obvious question:  Who is watching over you soul?  Who is your pastor?

If you can’t answer this question then how can you say you are obeying this verse?

Every one of us following Christ needs to have a personal shepherd.  This doesn’t mean we just get Bible teaching from popular Christian authors or off the Internet.  It means we are placing ourselves under the spiritual oversight of a man we have some relationship with.  We hear him preach every week.  We follow the ministry structure he has established at his particular congregation.  We seek to develop a personal connection with him or another pastor or ministry leader he has set up for us to be accountable to.  We pray for him constantly and take his words not as suggestions, but as a coach telling us to get in the game.

Here at Compass, we are blessed to have Pastor Mike.  And as this verse says, we need to make sure that his job is a joy as we submit to his spiritual leadership.  Currently, Pastor Mike is teaching us on the issue of parenting.  This is a great example of whether we are going to obey our leader or not.  It is not a battle of opinions.  It’s not a tug-of-war between what Pastor Mike says and what we think.  As our pastor, he is serving us up a slice of God’s Word and he speaks with the authority of Scripture.  He is telling us what we need to hear as an overseer of our souls.  If we do not listen, then we are choosing to disobey God himself.

If you are in our high school ministry, then I am your pastor. And I think you should take me out to Taco Bell.  Not just because I like the food or think it would be fun.  But you need to tell me what is on your soul.  You need to open yourself up to some accountability from your pastor.  And because it is not practical for me to meet with all of the students at True North, we have established a structure of small group leaders you can talk to.  I train the leaders and work closely with them so that you can have spiritual oversight in your life.  As a high school student, you need to make sure you are following those who are spiritually leading you.

God wants his people to have a pastor.  He wants you to be at church and ready to here us preach.  He wants you to embrace us as your very own.  I know we aren’t perfect, but God has commanded you to follow spiritual coaches.  This is his game plan for victory in life.

Just please don’t dump Gatorade on us when we’re done preaching!

What Would Jesus Say?

I want to see high school students saved by Jesus Christ.  I am talking about genuine, life-changing salvation.  As a youth pastor, helping young people with this is the most important thing I do.  I pray for it constantly.  I preach about it passionately.  I press on each day with the hope that another student will join the number of the redeemed to the great rejoicing of the angels in heaven!

So, you can imagine how exciting it is when a student wants to talk with me about salvation.  I have been waiting for this to happen!  I want to shout, “Yes!” God is drawing this student to himself.  They are feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  They know Jesus is the only way.  And so they come to me asking, “What should I do?”

I wonder, how would you answer this question?

In youth ministry, one of the most popular responses is that of “Asking Jesus into your Heart.” Students are told they will be saved if they pray a prayer and invite Jesus to come live within them.  This idea is so predominant today it would be hard to find a youth group or student ministries camp where this advice is not given.

Here’s the problem with this answer: The Bible never tells us to ask Jesus into our heart.  Not once.  There is not even an example where someone does this.  In

there is a reference to Jesus living in our hearts, but it is clear from the context that Paul is writing to people who are already Christians.  In fact, he tells us how Christ comes to dwell within us, through faith.

Faith: Now here is an answer!  We need to tell people to trust in Jesus, in the gospel of what he has done by dying on the cross for our sin and rising again (

).  Some of the most popular Bible verses of all time are simple commands to believe in Jesus (

,

).  This type of belief isn’t just knowing about him in your head but following him from your heart.

This is really my concern with telling students to ask Jesus into their heart… it makes their response to salvation passive.  In the Scripture we are always told to respond to God actively.  We are told to do something.  Over time, asking Jesus into your heart has become associated with a spur-of-the-moment decision.  You pray and then it is done.  But Jesus is telling us to count the cost.  It’s like he challenges us: Are you ready to commit to a lifestyle of obeying me?

– Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

This verse is commonly used in gospel presentations, implying that Jesus is knocking on your heart so you just need to open the door and ask him to come in.  But where does it say that Jesus is knocking on our heart?  In the context of

, Jesus is knocking on the door of the church of Laodicea.  He is saying that they are lukewarm and he wants to vomit them out of his mouth.  Can you imagine this?  Jesus is saying that he is outside of their church, in the parking lot so to speak. He is telling a group of people who think they are Christians that they are not even walking in a relationship with him!  And in the verse before he has already told them what to do:

- Those who I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest and repent.

Repentance: It means to change your mind, to turn 180 degrees away from sin to God. This is the most common biblical answer to the question “What should I do?”  In the first sermon of the church, Peter tells the responsive crowd to repent (

).  In

, John the Baptist answers the question by giving people specific commands of obedience that come from repentance.  Even Jesus, when asked by the rich young ruler how to get eternal life in

, eventually answers that he needs to sell everything he has and follow him.  Change your life!  Turn around!  Stop living for yourself and start living for Jesus!

When a student asks me what to do to be saved, I answer them with repentance and faith.  Yes, this is more complicated than repeating a simple prayer, but they need to be taught what they are doing.  Unfortunately, some might even go away sad because they are unwilling to obey like the rich young ruler.  But we still need to proclaim this biblical response to God’s saving grace.  We can know this is what Jesus would say because it is what he already said!

My prayer is that everyone who reads this will join me in communicating repentance and faith to the next generation of Christians.  Let’s spread the revival!