Tribalism

In today’s world of “Churchianity”, it’s easy to place the name of Jesus on a lot of rituals and beliefs that have nothing to do with truly loving Jesus. We’ve gotten so good at doing church that we believe “doing church” is synonymous with loving Jesus. We have settled for a life of going through the motions in place of a life marked by the love of Jesus. We are more concerned with whether or not we liked the worship songs than we are with submitting ourselves in worship to God. We are more concerned with whether or not the sermon inspired us enough than we are with turning our eyes to the truth of God’s Word. We busy ourselves with volunteering in the same spot every Sunday, rather than pursuing the lost people in our midst. We would rather settle for “Churchianity” than full submission to Jesus. We think that loving Jesus is a warm feeling in our heart while living our lives relatively the same, but Jesus won’t settle for this imitation. In Luke 9, Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (NIV). If we are committing to Jesus, we are committing to taking up our own cross and dying, daily. We are committing to gripping the plow and not looking back.  Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy with good advice on how to live our lives — Jesus is the savior of the world. He defeated sin and death and calls us to be ministers of his love to the rest of the world. To love Jesus is to live the same kind of radically sacrificial life that he lived when he walked on this earth. Reflection/Discussion Question: Are your definition of loving Jesus and Jesus’s definition of loving him the same?

When you’re having a face-to-face conversation with someone and they get on their phone, do you stop what you are saying or do you keep talking? When you’re on your phone and someone talks to you, do you stop them until you are done, or do you let them keep going? It’s fascinating what we put up with as a culture, now that phones have become a third appendage. We have become a society of bad listeners. Not only are we bad at listening, we don’t often expect others to listen to us, either. Rather than following the lead of the rest of the world, this is an opportunity for followers of Christ to look vastly different. Good listeners make eye contact with whomever is talking. They ask good questions that inevitably lead to other questions. A good listener aims to seek understanding and doesn’t assume anything. It may seem obvious or elementary to talk about good listeners in this way, but if we take an honest look at ourselves, we may find that we are far from this description. Ask the people in your life if you are a good listener. Ask them if you are a question-asker. Tell them to be honest with you. We may find that the more someone is in our lives, the less we take the time to truly listen to them. You may be a fantastic listener to your clients at work, but a terrible listener to your kids at home.  When we resolve to be an active listener, we can learn the root behind someone else’s hurt. We can understand someone deeper than we ever have. We can help someone who is in need. We can disarm someone who wants to argue. We can see someone who is lost. We can know how to be praying for someone. When we are quick to listen, God can use us to grow his Kingdom.  God speaks in a whisper. We have to seek the voice of the Holy Spirit. If we are not willing to stop and listen for how God is moving in any moment, we will miss how he wants to use us to grow his Kingdom. If our mission is to bring the reign and rule of Jesus into the hearts of all people around us, then the first step will be learning to be active listeners of God’s Word and of others. Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you work on being a better listener?