What things should a Christian focus on doing and becoming? This week we start a blog series on the shape of a Jesus follower’s life. Let’s get into it!
My boys love playing video games. Before they learned to read I would have to read every little line and help move them along in their electronic story. Every now and then, I still get a shout from the other room: “Dad! Help me! I’m stuck on this game and I don’t know what to do next!” Then I have to try to reverse engineer the plot for my little guys. Usually my first question is to ask them who they talked to last and what did they say? I’m not sure why I ask, they always answer the same, “I don’t know, I was in too big of a hurry to read.”
Seriously. I feel like shouting, “NOT reading actually cost you more time!” In actuality it is costing me time too! If we are honest, we do the same with our Christian walk. We motor thru life at breakneck speed and end up having to shout to The Father, “Help, I’m stuck and don’t know what to do next!”
For this reason, Cross-Work church uses shapes to help us know the things we need to be doing week-in and week-out. We want our lives to be shaped by these four shapes. We are not interested in adding these things to our already packed lives. We are not legalistic about it, just intentional. We want the shapes to be priority in our lives because we know these things are important to Jesus. None of these shapes are original to Cross-Work church. We just found simple shapes to be memorable, so were are running with it!
The first shape is the triangle. The triangle represents the pulpit. We know that Jesus died for the local church. He calls the church His bride. The church is not a building or a location but a collection of believers. God’s people are called sheep, and the only defense a sheep has is the flock. Without the flock, individual sheep are easy pray for predators. We need the church.
As Jesus followers, we need to prioritize church as much as a sheep needs to prioritize the flock. It would not be wise for a sheep to just show up to a flock once a week, sit quietly for an hour, and then head right out the door to the world of wolves. Sadly, that’s exactly what we do.
The triangle has to be more; church needs to be life on life. Walking side by side with like-minded believers trying to figure out how to live our lives for the glory of God. Church starts with some time focused on making much of Jesus and little of ourselves-we call this worship. Then we move to a time of learning and being challenged with what the Bible says. Finally we have a time to respond to what was taught. Sure there’s more to church, but there’s not much less to it. As Jesus followers, we need to prioritize this and not just squeeze it in a few Sundays out of the month.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
-Hebrews 10:23-25
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-Mike Watt