OCTOBER 26 – RULE PROBLEM - MANIPULATION

 Don’t act in any way to advance your own, selfish ends, nor to build your ego. Rather, humbly think of other people as more important than you. Work for what they need, not what you want. (Philippians 2:3-4)

                   What part of you still desires success or significance? Which of the material, social, or psychological goals still capture your imagination? Unless you can put these personal wants aside, your actions will be impacted by them. Your rules for your people will serve those selfish interests. Unless you focus carefully on others, and what they need, your guidance and standards may become tyranny. Some rules are merely a convenient disguise for efforts to manipulate outcomes.

                   Paul drills down to the essence of what it means to follow Christ. Your entire life; every part of your attention and focus will be directed toward God’s answer for you and for other people. You see, people need relationship with the Lord, God. No other purpose, nor any other pursuit that you create will answer that need. Any desire that you imagine will ultimately serve your wish rather than the need of the person before you.

                   Focus on other people – all the time – and listen for God’s word to you for how you may serve their needs.

OCTOBER 25 – RULE PROBLEM – EXCLUSION

 Here’s a new rule for you. This will be your rule. Each one of you must love the others, just like I have loved you. Love one another! (John 13:34)

                  Is it practical to have simple rules and to be inclusive? In the real world, where you and your people do business, can you follow this command of Jesus? In this world, where the extension of trust is rare, rules are often used to limit risk. The costs of complying and of documenting that compliance are usually passed along to some faceless user downstream, and they’re justified as necessary to protect the public. In this world there is a material benefit (an incentive) to being part of the group that writes and follows all the rules because that group decides who will be excluded.

                   Jesus provides a different way for those who follow Him. He says, “love without limit.” (Just as I have loved you). He says, “love fully!” There is no condition in the encouragement to simply, inclusively, “love one another!” Following this regulation may mean that you must follow many of the world’s rules to be able to love that other person. Obeying Jesus may also mean you must break a rule sometimes.  But, the guidance you give your people – your rules should never be designed to exclude others from your love.

                   Your role – the new rule – is simply to love.

OCTOBER 24 – GOD CHOSE RELATIONSHIP

 Be found without any semblance of evil. The very God who desires your peace and prosperity; The Lord, will purify you – completely. He will finish you so that your whole Spirit, soul, and body will be guarded and kept blameless for our Lord Jesus Christ. You can believe and trust that He will do this! (I Thessalonians 5:22-24)

                  Do you believe that good, clear, and detailed rules and regulations are the keys to consistent performance and behavior? Do you think your people need to be guided by lists of dos and don’ts, and to be monitored closely for compliance if your group is to prosper? As you and your group grow, you will make a choice. You must select an organizing process. The choices really boil down to two; rules or relationships. Which will you choose?

                   Paul explains here that God chose relationship to accomplish His work of sanctification in you. The Lord, God sees you as His work. Completing you, and your progress toward His peace and His prosperity – by His working in, along-side, and through you – that is the work He reserved for Himself. God wants to bring about the transformation of His people through relationship, not rules.

                   Consider today whether He may be calling you to work through relationship to bring the vision He has given you to completion.

OCTOBER 23 – THE WHY IS SO IMPORTANT

 And everything – the whole body of all the work you do and all you say – Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. And, all the time, thank God the Father that He allows you this great gift. (Colossians 3:17)

                   No doubt that the early readers of this letter included many who had heard and understood the truth that love of work is key to performing with excellence and to enjoying that work. Do you love your work? Do you love the vision that drives it? Is that enough? Not according to Paul.

                  Paul tells the people at Colossi, “It is not enough to love your work, even if it is work that God has given you to do. The why is important. Paul says you and your people must love your work because God loves it; because you are pursuing the vision He has given you as an objective in the way He has told you to pursue. In a word, you must love most the relationship with God. When that happens, your work and your worship become one. When it is God you love and pursue – when He is the reason (the why) for all of it – the work can change and yet it will still be work that you will love.                 

                  Make sure your why is Jesus. Make sure your people know that all you lead them to do is part of your worship that wants to honor and represent Him.

OCTOBER 22 – DIFFICULT/COMPLEX WORK

 And so, the people who heard Jesus tell them how very difficult it is to live the life God requires asked Him, “then, who can possibly be rescued?” Jesus answered, “the things that are impossible with men; they are possible only with God.” (Luke 18:26)

                   So, what is the hard part of the new, better work that God has given you to do? The part men and women find hard is to be consistent in constant attention to the work God is doing; His story for their lives. It is difficult to make every small piece of your life be about pursuing that one purpose. Jesus’ message, explained further by Paul and others, is that living out God’s purposes requires true justice, real mercy, and a unity that exceeds anything men and women can create. Living out God’s will this way is hard.

                   In fact, here Jesus says it is impossible without constant relationship with God, allowing Him to shape your heart, transform its desires and make you ready to face the complex challenges of a world dominated by fallen people and failed ambitions. In a world that chooses sin, only God can remain faithful and true as He works in your life and the lives of your people.

                   Focus your people, and yourself, on the God who will make possible His prosperity, no matter how complex or difficult the work of following Him becomes.

OCTOBER 21 – BECOMING WHAT YOU LOVE

 Even though people knew God, they turned inward, foolishly claiming to know best for themselves instead of worshipping and glorifying the Lord, God. They gave up aspiring to God and His glory, choosing instead the common things He created. (Romans1:21)

                  Men and women are very good at achieving what they really want most in life. You are always living toward a future, a goal, an end. What is yours? You must be careful to choose this end with serious intent. Recognizing the truth of this passage; that your efforts are animated by your habits that in turn come from what you really want, you should focus intently on God’s vision for your life. You should also be careful to consistently focus your people on God and the work God has given you all to do together.

                 As Paul was describing the choices these folks made, he must have scratched his head. “They know better,” is his real observation here. As he wondered why others (and he, himself at times) would do such a foolish thing, he must have remembered Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” Against their own interests, these people chose to cling tightly to all the lesser things provided by the world; the latest shiny object, rather than pursuing God and His true worth and glory.

                   Be careful. Lead your people to a carefully considered decision to pursue God, so they will become the image bearers He wants them to be.

OCTOBER 20 – BETTER WORK

 …to rule… (Genesis 1:26)

We beg you – Christ wants us to do this for Him – please be reconciled to Him, so that (as God intended) we will all participate in His rule again! (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

                  Is your work supposed to be hard? Is it supposed to leave you mentally and spiritually exhausted, discouraged, and stressed out? God’s word is clear about when you will find work to be a burden all these ways, and when it will not be so. It is a choice you make each moment. Will you do the work of the world that is filled with stress and exhaustion? Or, will you do the work of God that brings peace and joy?

                  Both in God’s original creative intent, and in the work of reconciliation Paul describes, God has a plan for you to enjoy better work than this world can ever offer you. Participating in His rule, while in unity with God’s Holy Spirit is that better work. Because of the penalty for man’s rebellion (Genesis 3:17), this world’s work is hard, toilsome, and causes much pain. But, Paul (here), and Jesus (Matthew 11:29-30) invite you and your people to come to Jesus to be re-created, and once again to participate in God’s ruling work – which is the work of renewal and recreation.

                  Don’t spend your time, effort, energy, and focus trying to tame the world’s work. It won’t change. You and your people can change your choices though. Lead your people to join you as you pursue the better work God offers.