Against the Tide

What makes a Christian different from every other religious, church-going individual in America? Is there really something set apart about them besides the fact that they tend to be a little later to the football game on Sunday? Augustine in his Confessions once asked, “Is it then the walls of a church that make a Christian?” As Christians plunge further into the future of the American society that is all about individualism and self-significance, it is especially important that they are fully confident and aware of who they are in Jesus Christ, and that they have His word as a foundation over the shaky standards of this world.

The first side that should be tackled on this identity topic is the assurance of one’s identity. A Christian already has an identity in Christ – emphasis being mainly on the word in. If one is not aware of just who God has made them to be, or denies the gifts and abilities God the Father has bestowed upon them, a depression and feeling of insignificance sneaks in on the soul. Neil T. Anderson writes about this particular issue in his work Victory Over the Darkness. On page 19 of his text, Dr. Anderson writes “External appearance, accomplishment and recognition do not necessarily reflect – or produce – internal peace and maturity." He goes on to talk about the character of oneself outside of Christ and outside of God’s will, and brings in King Solomon’s take on the same subject from the book of Ecclesiastes – “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless…everything is meaningless!” So that is a lot of meaningless-ness in the life of a human without that link to Christ who makes man whole and complete. Dr. Anderson declares “The only identity equation that works in God’s kingdom is you plus Christ equals wholeness and meaning." No case or justification can be made for one who denies the labor that God put into making His children. He has carefully crafted each of our identities. The Star-Breather God; the Creator of the heavens and the earth created man fearfully and wonderfully. He, who spoke the waves to spring out from deep chasms of nothingness in just a single day, spent the entirety of one day making man. After making man, his most favored work of art, He saw that it was good. Therefore our identity in Him is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, mankind is heir to His Kingdom, and he is His child. As Dr. Anderson puts it, “You are already a whole person and possess a life of infinite meaning and purpose because of who you are – a child of God."

There is no better way for the enemy of the Christian faith to combat his foes than to warp their identity in Christ in their own minds. If a young man of God has the full, biblical understanding of whom God has made him to be; he is a danger to Satan. Because of this fact, fellow Christian soldiers should realize that while they are living in the shoes God has entrusted them to wear – traps will be set, laces will be tied and holes will be dug to stall them and watch them fall. Let this clear; this understanding of Christian identity does not enhance the view of man, but rather enhances the view of God through man, that men who are lost shall see him.

The ministry of a Christian is ineffective if he looks and acts just like everyone else in his society. What has he to offer everyone else that could possibly complete their life? What evidence is there that this Christian has hope that his friends do not have? Who a man or woman is in Christ could not be more important in this day and era. Discovering one’s identity is extremely contingent upon the nature of his Bible study, and how often his studying takes place. For the Bible is the Word of God, and it is the good news that commissions us to represent Christ, God’s son, to a world lost without Him. To represent Christ for this world is the sole purpose of the Christian. Beyond that, life is fluff. Without that, life is meaningless and plain vanity. Without that, life is an argument essay without valid sources.

            The culture of America tends to poison a healthy relationship with God and with other brothers and sisters in Christ, mainly from its fast-food lifestyle. We want everything and we want it now – our way. Needless to say, that lifestyle is ungodly and therefore hinders relationships with Christ. The Christian’s role and identity in Christ can be misguided or undefined when the church lives in a culture that makes so much of what it believes to be wrong okay.

As Romans 12:2 states, the Christian is “not to be conformed to this world, but transformed” by the renewing of his mind. God is holy, and by definition, holy is “set-apart.” Just as Christianity is Christ-like and man is made in the image of God, he should strive to be set apart. Now obviously, and quite needless to say; no one is or can be perfect, but even Jesus desires us to pursue perfection. To pursue perfection is to pursue Christ.  However, the goal is to not cause some kind of uprising against the culture or the church as it is today, but rather to make an inward change in the heart, and to help further that process with others. This process is called discipleship. Since Christians are spiritual siblings, it is their responsibility to hold one another accountable. This is also the mission of Jesus. In his book Joyful Exiles, James M. Houston  reminds us of Jesus’ mission on earth; that “Jesus did not send out His disciples to change governments or even to build churches, but to change hearts." Houston stresses that “Christian discipleship is personal, not professional," and the Christ-like should therefore not seek to condemn the world, but as Jesus did, save that which was lost through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Joyful Exiles and in careful study of Scripture, we see that this mission starts and ends in the heart.

It is evident that there are two sides to this topic of identity in Christ. Firstly, that the Christian recognizes that his life should be smothered with Jesus and coated with more of Jesus; that he should not try to fit Jesus into his future goals and dream careers but fit his future goals and dream careers around Jesus, his everything. Secondly, that he understands the heart that goes behind the Great Commission that Jesus assigned unto him. The mission is a personal one, not a shaking of fists or a raising of voices. Houston also says that Jesus’ revolution was “not about social and political structures, but about changes of the mind and of the will and, indeed, of the heart." What great things the Christian can do if Jesus becomes his identity and that this identity is understood and practiced in his everyday life.

So if Christian life is so richly based off of the importance of who one is and what one does for Christ, is not the issue of identity in Him now at a critical stage? Should the Christian not be seeking resolve for this issue with desperation and a heart readied for conviction? There is a severe identity-in-Christ crisis within the church body; especially in the youth of America. With so many things rising to fame and normality that contradict the Bible, the Christian is tempted to mold to the pressure. Perhaps it is due to the problem stated above, but apathy and complacency has settled over the young American-Christian culture. The Proverbs warn that the “complacency of fools destroys them."

Let the words of Paul to both Timothy and Titus be an encouragement, as he models the Christian identity for all who are Christ-like; saying “no” to ungodliness, “yes” to Jesus, and going against the tide.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and have eternal life.” (I Timothy 1:15b-16)

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us all from wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11-14)

Mighty Mice

I feel like I have learned more this last week about God and about the life He intends for me than I have in the last several years of my life. I praise God for that, as it has been a roller coaster for me. Just like any roller-coaster, it has involved lots of hand raising for me. Jesus is awesome. God the father is awesome. The Holy Spirit is awesome. I say awesome because   the word is strangely fitting for what I am trying to say. Also, I find a sudden lack of meaningful English words that could describe what I've felt in my heart about my Lord and Savior. 

Who can know the mind of the Lord? Who can understand His ways? The question is sometimes taken to be a rhetorical one, but in reality I believe it is not. Every so often we have to answer it, and answer it honestly.

Amazing how God is the creator of the heavens and the earth; He has breathed stars into existence, and I find myself advising God, critiquing God, telling Him what He should do in my life, etc...A genuine fear of God has been missing. Sin has this way of shrinking God down in our minds and building ourselves up. I am greatly convicted of this fact, and it scares me that I have blatantly brought myself to level thinking with God, as if I somehow know better. Of course, it's not a conscious thought of mine, but I am doing it none-the-less when I try to modify God's course for my life, or write my plans and stone and just expect God to work some miracles and do stuff for me -- as if God is suddenly some tool I have in my back pocket that I can pull out and use to fix stuff up. My God is so much bigger than that. 

All these learning experiences from the Holy Spirit's conviction have just reinforced the vision that missions need to be a huge part of my life. The more the definition of God, His creation, and His love is burned into me, the more my heart begins to flutter and soar at the idea of doing such a thing as missions. Missions is much larger than who I am...it makes me feel ridiculously small -- but a good small. Missions is much larger than the dreams that I have, and I still believe God has instilled those in me for a reason, but I know I must act on what God is telling me at this moment if I expect God to move in my dreams later in the future. I believe He will move in my dreams later, and possibly during my dedication to missions. There is only one way to find out. And I am ready for that "one way." That "one way" is Jesus, and it is also a life dedicated to making sure the far reaches of the world know His name, and have had a chance to decide in their hearts that Jesus is truly their one and only Savior. Ah! I am very excited, as you readers can probably tell, since this is the second blog that I have dedicated to this topic. It is at the forefront of my conscience though, so when I have mental dumps such as this one, it's what keeps my fingers dancing on the keyboard. I will have you know, my fingers are not very good dancers when it comes to keyboard dancing. I have had to back-space so much during this posting, it's unreal. The button is bruised and weary.

Anyways, I have Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat rehearsal in the morning, so I should probably call this post done and get some shut-eye. In the meantime -- keep chasing God and His heart, dear readers! And perhaps while you're doing that, you'll come across my blog again. 

Peace, love, and joy friends!

College with a Side of Ketchup

I certainly have a lot of a lot catching up to do! 2012 has certainly been a gargantuan year for me, and I have made few attempts to document my journeys. So this is my first attempt -- let's see if I can cram the adventures I've had into one train of thought. The disclaimer is: there will inevitably be multiple trains and they will all crash into each other or some other obstructions along the way, but I have already accepted this fact, as should you dear reader and follower.

Let's start in the summer of 2012, since that was about the last time I updated the story of my life on this humble and very non-informational blog. The summer of 2012 opened with the realization that I would be attending San Diego Christian College, majoring in Music with an emphasis in Musical Theater. This realization was extremely surprising to me, because I was hoping to make my life the easy way -- to magically get discovered with my musical abilities, get famous, make lots of money, marry my dream woman, and get the heck out Dodge. I know, I know, you can shed a tear or two at my naivete, but that was my legitimate thought process as a recently graduated high school student without a clue about what it meant to become my own man and branch out in the world. My life and thought process really did change when this college opportunity arose from out of nowhere. The opportunity to visit the campus and see what it was like was made possible by a family that is really close to me, the Thuerbachs. They invited me to join them on their  road trip and tour the school. And that's exactly what I did. I toured the school and saw a vision of myself schooling there -- walking here and there about the campus, hanging out with new-found friends and doing my studies. So I made the commitment to apply to the school and do everything I could to be there by fall. It seemed to happen like magic, because the next thing I knew I was walking across the parking lot of SDCC towards the registration desk on August 23rd. 

Since that time, I've made lots of new friends here on campus and have had the opportunity to be part of several music performance related things and I have also really sharpened and honed my music writing skills and my knowledge of music theory -- which is very exciting, I will admit. The topic of music and the mystery of what music is enthralls me. And I get it. It's not often that I get things, but music -- I just get. I am so grateful to God for that gift. 

In the fall semester I auditioned for an international missions team called VISION, and was accepted into the team a few weeks later. This particular missions team evangelizes by performing music in both English and the respective country's language, and also stages pantomime plays that convey the gospel message without even considering language as a barrier. It truly is a beautiful thing to be a part of, and I am so excited to see what God does through the VISION team and through me while I am a part of it.

At the close of this semester, VISION is travelling to Spain to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, and I will be with them! At first, I thought it was just going to be a really cool experience for me, and that I would take the experience with me in my heart for the rest of my life journeys. But now, this opportunity has grown into this massive idea/vision of something so much bigger than anything I have ever dreamed. I shall explain what I mean momentarily.

I think it was about 2 weeks ago that I was contacted by a really close friend of mine, Misha, who currently lives back in Tucson. I'm proud to say that she is the friend I have had for the longest time, and therefore knows me the best, I'm sure! During a Skype conversation, the topic of living abroad came up. I've always loved the idea of that and entertained until I was tired of the encores, but I guess never took into full seriousness. If I were to travel abroad or live abroad, it would be because I was part of a sweet rock band or something and was on world tour. Or maybe I was a famous playwright/music composer and had several meetings and conferences over in China or London or something like that. That was as far as my thinking went when it came to that sort of thing. So world travel = great! But I was stuck in the thinking that the world travel would be solely something beneficial for me. I was missing the big picture.

How God works is amazing, however. Two days later, SDCC hosted a conference called the International Outreach Festival. During this conference...God punched a hole in my heart. Maybe even several holes, I have yet to calculate the entirety of the damage that was done to it.  To shorten a much longer story; God showed me during that conference how much of a fool I had been when it came to figuring out my life. He showed me that I was self-absorbed, that I dwelt to long on what I wanted to do with my life and that I dwelt little on what He wanted to with other's lives through mine. I also saw that in my whole life I have never made any sacrifices for the kingdom of God; that I had never put my plans on the line to further the plans God may have for me. I had never thought that my plans may not line up with God's. Until that moment -- until that sermon in the IOF that I am sure has changed my life forever. I am now certain that God wants me to take the opportunity to study abroad in Quito, Ecuador this next fall semester, as a start to the journey that God has for me to bring his kingdom on earth. I have never thought so deep into this topic until the last few days, but I just know that I have been living my life wrong, and that I have been missing the bigger picture that God has been trying to show me. The big picture is a question really, and that is: what else matters when it comes to spreading the gospel? What else matters? As it says in Matthew 10, if you lose your life, you will gain it. And I now plan to lose my life in Jesus Christ completely. To lose my life in Jesus and in the people that He loves so dearly. What right as a Christian do I have to neglect the people that God longs to love and bless through me. God has broken me down, raised me up, educated me, and now has inspired me to take a step of faith and spend a semester in Ecuador. I'm going to get such a good glimpse of what the missions world is like, and I just know its going to start a fire that could burn through the rest of my life. And I am willing to take that risk. I am now willing to abandon all the plans for an American Dream that I had before, because I just can't seem to find the 'American Dream' in the Holy Bible. But I do see an awful lot of sacrifice, and desperate faith. With faith, there will always be fear. And I am nervous, scared, and wondering how this is all going to work out. I remember the Scriptures though, which state... "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." (2 Timoth 1:7)

So this post's purpose was to catch you up, and to also let you followers know that your Jake has changed, and he's ready to go! 

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)

"Christ came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life."
(1 Timothy 1:15-16)