actually following Jesus

Part 3: Smelling Salts for Leadership

It’s been a crazy week with the pandemic. A week calling for wisdom, grace, courage, prayer and action from the people of God. We have been relegated to being at home more and subtracting much from our usual lives. But in the subtraction is the potential for addition… the opportunity to add reflection, evaluation and new insight to our lives… especially as we eventually emerge on the other side of COVID-19.

So here is Smelling Salt #3. As with the previous Smelling Salts, these are not meant to make us feel bad but to help us wake up, see clearly, and start making better more deliberate choices that lead to real mission, discipleship and multiplication.

Smelling Salt #3

In the gospels, the disciples’ lives were rarely boring. How did we make discipleship so boring?

  1. We have settled for reading about following Jesus rather than participating in the daily adventure of actually following Jesus. The disciples were rarely bored because they weren’t reading about following Jesus, they were living the adventure of actually following Him!

  • It’s like substituting the adventure of whitewater rafting for the safety of reading a pamphlet about whitewater rafting.  Whitewater rafting is exhilarating; reading a pamphlet about it is less so.

  • Likewise, we substitute reading a pamphlet about following Jesus for regularly getting up off our… pews and joining the adventure of actually following Jesus.

  • Example: In Mark 1, Jesus says, “Come, follow me,” to Peter and Andrew, and then James and John respectively. What did the fishermen do?  It says, “At once they left their nets…” and “Without delay they left their father…” They took action. They joined Jesus and started actually following Him. When U.S. Christians read Jesus’ words, what do we do?  The Bible Teacher looks for a Bible Study about following Jesus, the music director starts rehearsing a song that highlights the theme of following Jesus and the pastor starts searching for a good analogy for his message about following Jesus.  BUT WE NEVER GET AROUND TO ACTUALLY DROPPING OUR NETS AND FOLLOWING JESUS!

2. Therefore, people leave worship and Bible class without a simple answer to this question: What do I now do?  They know they are loved, forgiven and saved. But they are also relatively bored. They do not have a simple, practical and biblical sense of purpose that then frames and directs everything else they do for living their daily lives for the good of others.

3. Solution: Professional church workers and volunteers can teach that the gospel reveals more than how we are saved.  It also reveals why we are saved.  We have a new identity in Christ.  But we also have a new purpose (mission) in Christ.  The Word of God is not simply something to be considered, noted and contemplated but also put into practice for the good of others. When people know who they are in Christ AND what they now get to do WITH Christ, the result is new experiences, new stories, new questions and new things to talk about when we are together.

4. To help people pivot from merely hearing the Word to putting it into practice, ask this question at the end of sermons and Bible teachings: “What is one thing Jesus is giving me to believe or do for the good of others this week?” Have participants write down their response and then go out looking for opportunities to put the belief or action into play.  When you re-gather, ask them how it went.

Questions to Prompt Action:

  • Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man… But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man…”  What if Jesus meant this?

  • How are we regularly leading our congregation to violate these words of Jesus? How do we help them pivot from violation to participation?

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.”  What do you think he meant?

  • What can preachers and teachers do to communicate BOTH who we are in Christ AND what our purpose is with Christ for the good of others during the coming week?

  • The following is from Greg’s book, “Joining Jesus on His Mission.”  The 5 Practices help people live on purpose.  The 5 Questions help prompt people to have new conversations.

The 5 Mission Practices are effective at positioning us to join Jesus on His mission every day:

  1. Seeking the Kingdom | Look for the good the Father has prepared in advance for me to do.

  2. Hearing from Jesus | Reading the gospels, what is Jesus giving me to do for the good of others?

  3. Talking with People | What’s their name? What’s their story? What’s Jesus up to in their life.

  4. Doing Good | How can I be a way something good happens in their day?

  5. Ministering through Prayer | Praying for people daily and with people as God gives opportunity.

The 5 Questions

  1. How did you see God at work in your life this week?

  2. What has God been teaching you in his Word?

  3. What kind of conversations are you having with your pre-Christian friends?

  4. What good can you do around here?

  5. How can we help you in prayer and what do you want us to ask you about next week?