Discipleship
Smart Christians: 7 Ways to Grow a Mature Mind
“Smart Christian.”
Sounds like an oxymoron, right?
Ask some people and they’d tell you it isn’t merely an oxymoron…
But an impossibility…
Using charged language like “gullible, closed-minded and stupid” to describe Christians.
But we have a rich history of smart people.
People like Augustine, Boethius, Aquinas, Anselm, Calvin, Luther and Jonathan Edwards.
Christians who struggled with and fought for the faith by using their God-given powers of the mind.
But there’s another reason why being a smart Christian is important: When we grow a mature mind, it helps us fight against the corruption of this world.
This is what Paul said about the topic:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
And what’s the best way to renew your mind? Here are seven suggestions.
Memorize Scripture
This is a perennial favorite. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to re-wire our minds than systematically filling it with the Word of God. Devour entire chapters. Even books. Here are 18 tricks to help you.
Read Through Your Bible Every Year
Next to memorizing scripture, reading through the Bible once a year is another good way to grow a mature Christian mind. Wanna go extreme? Read the Bible in 76 hours.
Earn a Fake Masters with Other Believers
Me, Don and a handful of others are going to master the Old Testament. We’re using Wave to communicate, online resources and a host of books. Lot of work ahead of us, but with this many guys holding each other accountable, we’ll be a whole lot more biblically smart than we were before we started.
Start a Secret Church
David Platt wondered: “If overseas believers are hungry enough for the Word to sit for 10-hour stretches studying it, would his own congregation?” Indeed, it was. How can you host your own secret church? Find a teacher, pick a topic, hustle together a group of believers and pour over the Word for hours on end.
Throw Yourself into Wild Evangelism
I don’t think we can ever seriously suggest that we have mature minds until we actually take what we learn into the dirty business of life. It’s not until our nice theologies collide with real life do we enter a new level of maturity. My 5-day trip to Mardi Gras opened up my eyes to serious flaws in my own mind. I re-negotiated a lot.
Invite an Atheist to Lunch
On the same vein with the above, sit down and talk to a non-believer. Make friends with them. Get to know them. And get to know yourself and what you believe. Heck, take some time and interview 10 atheists. Revelations are ample when you interact with non-believers. It forces you to go back to the Bible and evaluate what you know and what they know. A healthy event for your mind and heart.
Pray Every Morning for Thirty Minutes
We can’t grow mature minds unless we interact with the creator of that mind. Pray for wisdom like Solomon did. Pray for humility. Illumination.
Listen, we’re not after a wisdom of this age. No. We’re after the mind of Christ. We’re after that knowledge that transforms our new self into the image of our Creator.
That’s a smart Christian.
And here’s the trap I don’t want to fall into: Thinking our intellect is the end all be all.
Our minds are just as corrupted by the Fall as our emotions and will. Thus, in the end, the goal of suggestions like these is to bring our mind, emotions and will into obedience to the Word of God.
Your Turn: How do you renew your mind? Do you agree with all of my suggestions? Is there any you’d add? Or does this whole topic of “smart” Christians make your skin crawl? I look forward to hearing from you.
An Open Letter to the American Church
**Guest post by Rob Powell**
The Christian church in America is confusing to me. But I’m not alone. It’s confusing to most Americans.
Let me explain.
The church in China is like a two year old hitting a growth spurt.
There are pains with such quick growth but the power of the gospel is undeniable and attractive in that area of the world.
The church in Europe, on the other hand, is like a 99-year-old paralytic with Alzheimer’s.
Its impotence and slow death means people don’t have to pay it any attention.
The church in America is mixed bag of both, which is the worst case scenario for the people in its pews.
Two Kinds of Churches in America
There are churches of all sizes and flavors in America, but in reality it boils down to two types.
In the one, God is worshipped, sin is revealed, repentant faith is called for, and Christ is glorified in redeemed lives.
In the other, there are churches of all sizes and flavors where God is never mentioned directly, sin is marginalized, Jesus may or may not have had some good things to say, and people never hear the good news.
We could argue about degree, but that’s not the point of this post. Stick with me.
Eh, Is This a Church?
For the later, take the steeple off the roof and put up a Rotary emblem because, in the end, it’s a nice social club that does some good things for the community but it’s not the church Christ died for.
The problem is it’s hard to tell where on the continuum between the two your church lies without some outside perspective.
Both can feel good and provide community but one is showing you ultimate reality while the other is blinding you to it.
Living in the first notch of the Bible belt we have a term for cultural Christians–or CINO’s to borrow a page from politics…
They are “vaccinated against the gospel”…
They have just enough Jesus to know what to say and keep real faith at bay but have never placed their faith in Him.
They are being misled to believe they’re okay with God when they are not. That in turn misleads others, which in turn misleads others, which in turn…well, confuses you and me and the American church.
What the American Church Needs
America needs a big fat dose of spiritual clarity. Why? Because it will help us determine what we need to do with the Gospel.
Do I need to witness to Sara in accounting even though she’s a deacon at Elm St. Methodist?
Does Gary the mailman believe he’s justified by his faith in Christ or because he spends an hour Sunday mornings in a particular building?
Spiritual clarity would show us that both Sara and Gary are targets for the Gospel. Here’s why.
Even though my parents and I are non-CINOs, we attend churches on differing ends of this spectrum.
Her church presents a wishy-washy, impotent, feel good, inoffensive gospel.
I told mom it would be better for her fellow congregants to stay home Sunday mornings and watch the NFL pre-game show than stay in that church and be misled as to their status in Christ.
At least at home with Pat Summerall they will know they AREN’T following Jesus.
Hopefully that knowledge will give them reason to pause when someone does bring up Jesus instead of allowing them to dismiss Him as already checked off the list.
They won’t be vaccinated.
What this doesn’t mean is that people should leave the church if they have doubts or theological disagreements.
Thomas doubted and disagreed with the disciples about the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:25) but if they had ostracized him he wouldn’t have been in the room to put his fingers in the scars and believe (v27).
Here’s Where the Rubber Meets the Road
The bride of Christ must first and foremost love, honor, and obey her groom.
If genuine Christians would allow the Holy Spirit to fill them with grace, love, patience, mercy, humility, and forgiveness the rest of the world, churched or unchurched, would sit up and take notice.
If we really believed the way to gain life was to lose it and we lived zealously for the things Jesus died for, cultural Christians would see we have something that they don’t…
Then they would either be drawn to it or disgusted by it–but there’d be no room for lukewarmness.
Here’s the Hard Part
I’m not only part of the solution, but I’m also part of the problem, too!
I love my cushy life and I don’t want to really give it away. I’m okay with who I am and don’t feel the weight of my sin.
In fact, I’m afraid the ocean of God’s love won’t be as grand as this mud puddle the world lets me play in. That’s why I need your help.
What I Need from You
So here’s what I need from the church (that’s all of us, not just the paid professionals) and I think it’s the same thing the unbelieving world needs: I need you to preach the gospel to me.
See, the gospel is not something even my mature Christian brothers and sisters graduates from.
I need daily, hourly, moment by moment reminders of the glorious love of Jesus…I need you to show me the planks in my eye and call me again and again to repentance.
I need you to tell me this world has nothing for me and to put my hope in the next.
And do it with zeal!
So, easy enough? Now what do you need from me? Looking forward to your thoughts.
10 Reasons Why You Should Become a Missionary [in your own home]
When I was born again, I endured a minor identity crisis.
For twenty years I poured my self into becoming a world class writer. I got the degree. The friends. The mentors.
I accumulated a stockpile of used journals. Tore through a tiny library of books. And generated hundreds of bad poems, marginal short stories and a god-awful novel or two.
I abandoned all else for that single and solitary ambition–to become a famous writer.
I even went as far as to admire one writer’s unrelenting drive to succeed at novel writing–he skipped his adult son’s funeral so he could write.
That’s, indeed, how perverted my thinking had become.
So just weeks after Christ stripped me of all selfish ambition I found myself staring at the ceiling at a complete loss. What do I do now?
The answer completely startled me.
A Ridiculously Short Bio on J. Edwards
It began when I read a biography on Jonathan Edward’s life. In particularly a somewhat legendary commentary about the size of his family–and their impact on this country.
Jonathan and Sarah Edwards bore eleven children. Four hundred descendants in all.
But it was not the size of that family that really mattered. It was the legacy of those 3 sons and 8 daughters that counted.
The fourteen college presidents. The one hundred or so professors. The close to one hundred ministers. Lawyers. Judges. Nearly sixty doctors. The rest–authors and editors.
That legacy is enormous.
A Dark-Night-of-the-Soul Lesson about Raising a Family
Most of us our content leaving a 70-year footprint on history. Jonathan and Sarah saw things differently. They saw things from an eternal perspective.
And left a 200 year footprint.
How? They nurtured the hearts of their children to cherish Christ. Which brings me back to the point of this post.
The lesson I learned as a new believer was this:
You are a missionary to your family. You are responsible for sharing the gospel with your wife and children. And making disciples of them.
What could be more important than nurturing the souls of our own children? If indeed I truly believed that my children were souls who would last forever…then my wife and I were responsible for nudging those souls to Christ.
Granted, being a missionary to your family doesn’t carry the risks of a frontier missionary. You’re NOT going to be arrested, driven away or killed.
But you can be betrayed. Hated. Maligned. Yet, the reason you press on, the reason you count the cost–remaining anonymous in a world that cherishes popularity–and the the reason you lay it all on the line is because the blessings far outweigh the risks.
Being a Missionary in Your Own Home: 10 Reasons
I hope the following 10 reasons will give you a passion to preach the gospel to your children and make disciples out of them.
1. You are sent by Christ.
Oswald Chambers warns, “We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ.”
2. You are given the words you need by the Holy Spirit.
Worried you’ll look stupid? Sound dumb? Don’t worry. God promises to speak for you.
3. You always have a Father who cares for you.
No matter the stupidity you do wade into or the goofiness that overwhelms you in weak times, God loves you. Show your children that same love and mercy.
4. You rejoice in the salvation of your children.
We don’t put stock in our persuasion. Or our parenting skills. We put stock in the omnipotence of God, the Holy Spirit and the gospel message–the mechanisms behind salvation. The mechanisms that unearths their spiritually dead souls to new life. That is cause for celebration.
5. Your soul is immortal.
And so are your children’s souls. You’ll see why this is so important in a minute.
6. You know that Jesus is coming in judgment and mercy.
If your children’s souls are immortal, then this statement should concern you: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” We spend great energy protecting our children from drowning in a pool. Do we spend that same amount of energy when it comes to eternal death threats?
7. You are part of God’s family.
Any rejection or betrayal you endure is ameliorated by the promise that you are adopted into God’s family. And as an adopted heir, you inherit the riches of Christ.
8. Your patience will be rewarded.
Whether you actually get to celebrate the new birth of your children or not, your patient persistence in obeying Christ’s commandment will not be forgotten.
9. You know that God governs every detail.
Relax. God is smarter than you. And will let nothing slip through his fingers. Ever.
10. You are NOT despised–rather valued by God.
God considers you a treasure. A treasure he determined before the creation of time that would bring him great joy. So he loves you despite your success and failures. Love him back by teaching your children to thirst for him.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Our misery is that we thirst so little for these sublime things, and so much for the mocking trifles of time and space.”
Do you thirst for the salvation of your children? For their obedience to Christ? For their lives to be selflessly given for the work of the kingdom?
I don’t. Not enough. Let’s do this better. Promise?
The John MacArthur Guide to Finding Your Purpose in Life
How do you take a basic, boring life and turn it into an active and thrilling one that pleases God?
A life so compelling that it sparks a revival?
In 1973, John MacArthur wrote a tiny book called Found: God’s Will. In this book he lays out the six biblical principles to finding God’s will for your life.
The book is only 61 pages long. Small, but powerful.
I read it in forty-five minutes. I then gave it away. Bought another copy, read it, and gave that book away. I’ve bought my third copy.
The book is that good. Here’s a summary of the six principles.
The First Crucial Step to Finding God’s Will
If your life is at a dead stop with no future, it might help you to know that your first problem is probably sin. Unrepentant sin, to be exact.
Listen, God owes you nothing if you neglect this first, biblical step: salvation. Until you surrender yourself to Christ and the cross, God’s not obligated to show you his plan for your life.
Get right with God now and move on to the next step of finding His will.
Short Theology Lesson on the Spirit-filled Life
Your next step to finding God’s will for your life is to be spirit filled.
What does it mean to be spirit-filled? It means to live a Christ-conscious life.
What does that mean? Think about Peter. When Peter was near Christ he possessed miraculous energy, miraculous words and miraculous courage. Away from Christ, he slumped into self-pity and denial.
But after Christ ascended and the spirit fell on Peter, we catch him in the book of Acts preaching with both barrels–despite persecution.
What happened? Spirit filled is akin to standing next to Jesus.
So…how do you get there? Easy. Know your Bible. MacArthur recommends reading 1 John everyday for 30 days. Then move onto chapters 1-5 in the book of John for the next 30. Chapters 6-10 the following 30 days. And so on through the New Testament.
There are no shortcuts. Just serious, planned neglect of everything else except God and your Bible.
Abstain from the Unclean
One of the great things about Christianity is that it lifts you out of the gutter. In the span of ten years I went from a single drug addict living in a friend’s basement to a writer living with a wife and two children in a quaint home. [Read the full story.]
God’s calling–God’s will–is that we be sanctified, holy, pure. That means subdue your body. Avoid sex before marriage. Stop the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Abstain from pornography. Treat others fairly.
You are God’s holy instrument. Keep it clean.
Submission Silences the Critics
What is it that God wills you to do next? Submit.
Submit to the President, boss, teacher, cop, mother. When you are the model Christian citizen, you silence the critics:
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 1 Peter 2:15
However, God does give you permission to rebel on two conditions: You may rebel against authority when you are asked to do something against God or forbidden to do something God commands.
The Truth Behind Christian Suffering
We all want to be great. But in the will of God, greatness often follows behind suffering.
Suffering is the Christian’s bedfellow. And by definition, true Christian suffering means persecution for doing what is right–not punishment for doing wrong.
To be in God’s will means to stand in the face of the world and lay down the hard truth of the Gospel. Don’t fear to offend. Throw caution out the window. Insults and threats may fly, but God will give you unimaginable excitement. And you’ll please him.
The Final, Surprising Principle
So, once you are saved, spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive and suffering, what do you do next?
Whatever you want.
Yep, God wants you to follow your passion. You may have a heart for child soldiers in Uganda or prostitutes in India or your next door neighbors. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just get moving. And keep moving. God has the best ministries for his busiest saints.
Conclusion
So, whether a gonzo style street speaker is your style or a subdued academic writer–have the courage and good sense to be safely in God’s will. If you don’t follow these six principles you’ll never find your true, God-given purpose in life.
And if you don’t have purpose or meaning in life, what’s the point? Let me know what you think.
Image credit: Challis
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