Christian Action

Here is the Final Draft of the talk I am giving at the College Chrysalis retreat. Let me know what you think :)

Christian Action Talk

Don’t you just love retreats? I sure do. You get away from work and school. You get loads and loads of food. You just feel really good on the inside after a retreat. But then comes the dreaded Monday. It’s back to the same old same old. You’re all hyped up from the conference or retreat, yet throughout the week, you feel your enthusiasm slowly fade away into the demands of life. Tomorrow, you go back to the real world. 

I’m just like you guys. I’ll be a junior at UK, computer science. I still don’t really know what I am going to do with my life. I Facebook instead of doing homework. I stumbleupon daily. I’m just a college student. I face the same struggles. I am not here to give you some regurgitated thesis from a lofty theologian. What I am about to tell you isn’t reserved for the holiest of holy.

My name is Jeremy Eaton and the title of this talk is Christian Action.

Now, I can tell you story after story and give you all sorts of advice on how to act like a Christian, but I know that the more I show you who you are, the less I’ll have to tell you what to do.

You see, the key to Christian Action is not so much the particulars or the best practices, but the attitude and the knowledge of who we are. Once you get your heart straight, then you can worry about all the details.

Let’s start with who we are:

We are loved. We are the beloved. We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, or friends loved us, or wounded us. We are God's chosen ones, even if the world does not choose us. But understand that being chosen by God is inclusive, not exclusive. When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being the beloved ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own belovedness. Instead of making us feel that we are better, more precious or valuable than others, our awareness of being beloved opens our eyes to the Belovedness of others. You are the light of the world; when we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant. So as those who are beloved by God, we are called to live our lives with a deep inner joy and peace. The great struggle facing you is not to leave the world, to reject your ambitions and aspirations, or to despise money, prestige or success, but to claim your spiritual truth and to live here in the world as someone who doesn't belong to it. Grace tells us that we are accepted as we are. We may not be the kind of people we want to be, we may be a long way from our goals, we may have more failures than achievements, we may not be wealthy or powerful or spiritual, we may not even be happy, but we are nonetheless accepted by God, held in his hands. Such is his promise to us in Jesus Christ, a promise we can trust.

The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us. And I think the greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love. We should be an Alleluia from head to foot! Jesus embodied a stubborn joy. A joy that refused to bend in the winds of hard times. A joy that held its ground against pain. A joy whose roots extended deep into the bedrock of eternity. He was joyful when he was poor. He was joyful when he was abandoned. He was joyful when he was betrayed. God created me--and you-- to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion--namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are crucial.

We have the opportunity to know God, and when we know God, we have great energy for God, we have great thoughts of God, we show great boldness for God, and we have great contentment in God.

You are the body of Christ. You are where heaven and earth intersect. God has chosen you to be the interacting force between this world and its creator. You are the Temple of God. God no longer rests in temples or church; He is in you. You are literally where God has chosen to interact with humanity. The absolute best method to heal the world is you.

You should know who you are, but you should also know that it is not about us. It is not about you.

God does not exist to make a big deal out of us. We exist to make a big deal out of him. It’s not about you. It's not about me. It's all about Him. Many of us have created a theology that serves us; it is all about what we get. We get forgiveness and sacrifice and heaven and paradise and treasures… Now don’t get me wrong, these are wonderful reasons to praise God, but we have emphasized so much of what we get, that we have forgotten about what we must do.

Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I want you to understand this: what you do and don’t do after you have been saved, after you have been accepted into the Kingdom of God, matters to Jesus, because you have not been called just to be saved, you have been called by a Lord, and your Lord is telling you to do something. Your deeds matter. While you are being saved, you’re also being commanded. You cannot have one without the other. What are we being commanded to do? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength and love others as yourself. God is number 1, other people are number 2, but you are not number 3. You are not even in the equation. But don’t worry, because I can guarantee you that joy is not found in status… it is found in service. 1 John 4:11-12:”Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” You see, if we will love each other, then we will see God. The more of God's love we give away, the more He supplies. It's the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others. When we love, we’re free! We don’t have to worry about a burdensome load of commands, because when we are loving, we can’t sin. Do you feel free in your Christian life?

You see, we don't work in order to go to heaven; we work because we are going to heaven. Arrogance and fear are replaced with gratitude and joy.  If I was saved by my good works--then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a tax payer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But this is not the case. If it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace--at God's infinite cost--then there's nothing he cannot ask of me. And there is nothing we can give God that he has not already given us. The truth is: we cannot begin to live for Christ until we are ready to die for Him.

So frankly, we need to get over ourselves. It is not about us. It is all about Him. Why does the earth spin? For Him. Why do you have talents and abilities? For Him. Money or poverty? For Him. Strength or struggles? For Him. Everything and everyone exists to reveal His glory. Including you.

Right now a hundred million angels are praising God’s name; He certainly doesn’t need to beg or plead with us. We should be the ones begging to worship in His presence. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have. “But something is better than nothing!” some protest. Really, is it? Does anyone enjoy token praise? I sure don’t. I’d rather you not say anything than compliment me out of obligation or guilt. Why would God think any different?

Aren't we all born with a default drive set on selfishness? 'I want a spouse who makes me happy and coworkers who always ask my opinion. I want weather that suits me and traffic that helps me and a government that serves me. It is all about me'… You see, we thought self-celebration would make us happy. But it’s when we forget about ourselves and take part in something much bigger, something far more glorious than us, that we find joy and meaning. God doesn't need you and me to do his work. We are expedient messengers, ambassadors by his kindness, not by our cleverness… Deliriously joyful are the ones who believe that if God has used sticks rocks and spit to do his will, then he can use us. In fact, Jesus is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Delighting in Jesus is not a mere preference or option in life; it is our joyful duty and should be the single passion of our lives. Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God are the same.

So if we are to love, how do we do it? “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that really don’t matter.”

When the disciples saw the people, they saw thousands of problems. But when Jesus saw the people, he saw an opportunity to love and affirm value. You wanna see a miracle? Plant a word of love heartdeep in a person's life. Nurture it with a smile and a prayer, and watch what happens.

We are called to love the Christians and the non-Christians, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor.  Once saved by grace, we are adopted into a family. But those in this family are not always nice people. They do not stop being sinners the moment they begin following Christ. As we come to declare our love for God, we must face the unlovely and the lovely fellow sinners whom God loves and commands us to love. It requires very little of you to love a person who is pulled together and happy. Anybody can love someone who loves them back.

In the second Century AD, the Romans would take anyone who was contagious with a plague and hurl them outside the city. But there were Christians going and gathering up all the sick to take care of them. They were dying in other people’s places; For them, to live was Christ and to die was gain. Do you know what happened? The Faith exploded. Why? Because they were loving people, they were saving people, they were giving up themselves fully, knowing that they are loved by God and they are secure in the kingdom. In fact, there is documentation of a governor that tried to outlaw Christians because of how they were taking care of the poor; it made him angry. “They are loving their poor and our poor, and it’s growing like wildfire.” It revealed the evil and ineffectiveness of man. If we latch back on to loving people, evangelism in America will explode again.

When you are developing a relationship with somebody by consistently meeting their need, I promise you Jesus will come up in conversation. We are the body of Christ! And what does the body of Christ do? It heals, It gives dignity to the poor, It loves people regardless of whether or not they were thankful, whether or not they “used your gift appropriately”.

And the biggest challenge for us is that we don’t even know the poor. I live in a giant luxury bubble. If we would just go help people, we would probably find ourselves hanging out with non-Christians. Remember James 1:27, religion that God our Father counts as pure and faultless (sounds kind of important) is this: to look after widows and orphans in distress and to keep yourself from being polluted by the world. Look at what is first; when we abandon the first we start having problems with the second.

I want you guys to understand this, because I think we as Christians in America have lost it: It is up to everyone to go out and teach the gospel, not just preachers. Thinking that just our work will glorify God when people do not know we are Christians is like admiring an effective ad in TV that never mentions the product. You’ve seen the Super Bowl commercials. People may be impressed but won't know what to buy.

Matthew 28:18-19 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” When a guy rises from the dead and says something like that, you kinda have to listen to Him. I tend to listen to everyone I know that has risen from the grave. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Some of you have probably heard these words, even memorized them, but how many of us have actually obeyed?

*Cleaning Room analogy* Say my mom comes to me and say’s “Jeremy, Clean your room.” How would it look if I came back and said “mom! I memorized everything you told me to do” or “Mom, I thought about how smart you were when you said that” or “mom, I got a few friends together and talked about the best way to clean my room.” It doesn’t make sense when we do the same to our father in heaven.

What we have learned to do is to sit in the pew and become spiritually obese. We eat and we eat and we eat and never do anything. We must become reproducers, not just receivers. When you listen to a sermon, don’t just go “oh, that was nice. That really hit the spot.” Learn it, so you can teach it. When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level.

And we’re not supposed to be secret Christians who befriend people to perform the old bait and switch; get to know em and then bop them on the head with Jesus. We are meant to go out and heal people, loving them genuinely.

You don’t have to know everything to show someone who Jesus is. God is a mystery. There is a place for being prepared to argue the validity of the bible and so on, but it is the Holy Spirit working in us the leads people to Christ. The only power I have is Jesus' love for me. Your life may be the only Bible some people read.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline”

We should learn from the attitude of Charles Spurgeon who said: I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word. To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in the world. And with every person you bring to Jesus Christ, you seem to get a new heaven here upon earth. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for. If we had to preach to thousands year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul would be full reward for all our labor, for a soul is of countless price.

But don’t get it twisted: Salvation is a byproduct, not the ultimate goal. Our goal is not to get somebody through the pearly gates. Our goal is to transform the world with our love. Will they get into Heaven? Sure! But it’s a byproduct, not the end goal! If you’re primary relationship with Jesus is based on the fact that He gives you a get out of Jail free card, you don’t know Jesus. And I am not bashing on the fact that He saved us from our sins. That is pretty cool!

The message of biblical Christianity is this: God loves me so that I might make him--his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness-- known among all nations. We owe Christ to the world and we waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan toward magnifying Jesus in all spheres of life. Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become… But the fact is that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God; it’s about eternity, and nothing compares with that. God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.

So how are you going to use your influence, your leadership, and your resources in the world around you? God has gifted you with talents.  And He has done the same to your neighbor. If you concern yourself with your neighbor's talents, you will neglect your own. But if you concern yourself with yours, you could inspire both. Remember, no one else has your talents. No one. God elevates you from commonhood by matching your unique abilities to custom-made assignments. Don't see yourself as a product of your parents' DNA, but rather a brand new idea from heaven.

We are so scared to make mistakes, so we fret over figuring out "God's will for my life". We wonder what living according to His will would actually look and feel like, and we are scared to find out. But we forget that we were never promised a twenty year plan of action: instead, God promises multiple times in scripture that He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.

Jesus hasn’t given us an effortless step-by-step formula for impacting nations for his glory. He has given us people, and he said, "live for them. Love them, serve them, and lead them. Lead them to follow me, and lead them to lead others to me. In the process you will multiply the gospel to the ends of the earth."

You see, It’s all about community

Just like it takes a community to raise a child, it takes a community to grow ourselves and others in Christ. Disciple making involves identifying with a community of believers who show love to one another and share life with one another as we live together for the glory of God. A community of faith flourishes when we view each other in expectancy, wondering what God will do today in this person or that one. And when we are in a community with those Christ loves and redeems, we are constantly finding out new things about them. They are new persons each morning, endless in their possibilities. We explore the fascinating depths of their friendship; share the secrets of their quest. It is impossible to be bored in such a community, or to feel alienated among such people.

The church is intended to be a beautiful place of community. A place where wealth is shared and when one suffers, everyone suffers. A place where one rejoices, everyone rejoices. A place where everyone experiences real love and acceptance in the midst of great honesty about our brokenness. Being a part of a community of faith involves being exposed to the life of Christ in others. So whom can you deliberately, intentionally, and sacrificially show the life of Christ in action?

One of the greatest things you can ask God in prayer is this: Who do you want for me to love for you today?

How often do you pray and fast for others? Prayer is the greatest weapon in the battle for other’s souls. Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers make the difference. But remember, when the apostles prayed for healing and miracles and blessing, it was for the advancement of the kingdom. A lot of the time we use our prayers to ask the cosmic Santa Claus in the sky to make us happy. Ask yourself this: if God answered all your prayers affirmatively, how much further would the kingdom be advanced?

What would happen if we stopped asking how much money and effort we could spare and started asking how much it was going to take?

What about your money? You want to know where you heart is, look at where you put your money.

My dear friends! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and you will be to! It is not your money I want, but your happiness! Remember Jesus’ own saying, "It is more blessed to give than receive”. Do not think for a moment that you had anything to do with your accumulation. Scripture makes one thing clear: Your cash, your car, your house? It’s not yours. God owns everything and gives us all things to enjoy. He is the good shepherd to us. Trust Him, not stuff. Move from the fear of scarcity to the comfort of provision. "Do good... Be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share." When God tells us to give extravagantly, we can trust him to do the same in our lives. If you seek first the kingdom of wealth, and you'll worry over every dollar. If you seek first the kingdom of health, and you'll sweat every blemish and bump. If you seek first the kingdom of popularity, and you'll relive every conflict. If you seek first the kingdom of safety, and you'll jump at every crack of the twig. But if you seek first His kingdom, you will find it. On that, we can depend and never worry.

The health, wealth, and prosperity “gospel” swallows up the beauty of Christ, and it takes the beauty of his gifts and turns those gifts into idols. The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say “Thanks God! Thanks for letting me hit that green light on my way to work today.” No! They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain. We, as followers of Jesus in America, have been given much so we can give much. Nowhere in the Bible is God ever concerned about whether we are rich enough. No, instead Jesus says “I am worried about how much you have and what it cost to get that, not only to our relationship but to others.” If we are going to live in radical obedience to Christ, we will need to show one another how to give liberally, go urgently, and live dangerously.

But Jeremy! What will people think of me? I’m going back into the real world. They don’t think like this. What’ll they think?!

You know… I believe Satan trains battalions of demons to whisper one question in our ears: "What are people thinking of you?"

John 5:44: “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” If I understand this correctly, Christ taught the alarming idea that the desire for honor among men makes belief impossible.

The tyranny of public opinion can manipulate our lives. When we allow other's perceptions of us to control how we live, we are enslaved. But when we really believe that we are loved and accepted, we no longer have to be the best, to compare ourselves to others, to strive to make a good impression, to compete for attention, or to run around looking for love in all the wrong places. Freedom in Christ produces a healthy independence from peer pressure, people-pleasing, and the bondage of human respect.

You see, persecution is not what we should fear, but social seduction. Persecution causes the Kingdom to spread like wild fire. Social seduction lulls us to sleep.

*Missionary to India* I know of a missionary who went to serve in India. One day, he was with these 12 church leaders who all had scars on their faces from being beaten for Christ. While he was with them they kept praising him for all his work. Confused, he asked “Why are you praising me? No one has laid a hand on me because of Christ.” They replied, “No, but you live in a land of so much, and yet you still believe and live for God.” Comfort just gets in the way.

So ask yourself: What can I fear? Will it be death? But you know the Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth and all it's fullness is the Lord's. Will it be the loss of wealth? But we have brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out. Thus all the terrors in the world are contemptible in my eyes; and I smile at all its good things. Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from.

Before I Finish, I want to share this with you: A recent survey asked this question: What are Christians known for? The most common answer was that Christians are known for being hypocritical. Brennan Manning says that "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." The second most common was that the church is known for being judgmental. It seems every time we interact with the lost, we tell them they are wrong. People in America know all about what Christians are against, but very few know what Christians are for. I don’t know about you, but that bothers me. We must remember, salvation is God's business. Grace is his idea, his work, and his expense. He offers it to whom he desires, when he desires. Our job in the process is to inform the people, not to screen the people. The third most common answer is that the church is known for being anti-gay. When it comes to this touchy time bomb of a subject, my thoughts are this: “I want as many gay friends as I can have, just because I want to know them and love them.” It is a travesty that the most hatred towards the homosexual community is from those who claim to follow Christ.

And you know what’s weird about this survey? Our gospel hasn’t changed in 2000 years but the perception of Christians has. What’s different? Is the church lavishly reaching the outcast or is the church insulating itself so that it doesn’t have to reach them at all? We are called to be the counter-cultural group of people that admits the brokenness in themselves and to love the brokenness in others.

When we act as the body of Christ, Satan is on the defensive. We act like we are the ones always defending ourselves from the overwhelming kingdom of the Devil. That’s foolish! When we love God and love people with all that we are, we push back the darkness. The way we fight this war is love.

The purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. Meaning is found in community, not individualism; joy is found in generosity, not materialism; and truth is found in Christ, not universalism. Ultimately, Jesus is a reward worth risking everything to know, experience, and enjoy.

You’re at college, the time of growth. What you learn now will follow you for the rest of your life, and I am not talking about your Chem 107 notes. What you teach others and how you love others will follow them for the rest of their lives. You are at the crossroads of the rest everyone’s life. This is where you impact the world for God’s glory.

Loving those around you. Defending the poor. Breaking social boundaries. People want to know where their eternal souls are going. We are here to tell them “God is real, He does want to heal you, and He sent me to do it.”

Fly with Christ.