Diet Centered on Jesus - Jeff Clarke

On his blog about the church being in the entertainment business, Jeff Clarke (see jeffkclarke.com) makes a few statements we all need to keep in front of us as we are being the Church, including us who have moved to less traditional gatherings.

He writes:

Cultivating a Diet and Culture Centered on Jesus

   Jesus makes faith real and alive. He moves faith beyond the abstract into the realness of flesh and blood. Jesus makes the invisible God human and approachable. Jesus makes the picture of a distant God into a God who is near. Jesus makes God human – someone who can identify with all of our insecurities, pain and loss. God is no longer distant, but close. God is no longer ‘out there’ but ‘right here.’ In Jesus, God became one of us.
   We as the church will always lose our way when anything other than Jesus captures our attention. If anything usurps the central, defining place of Jesus, everything will slowly begin to unravel, sometimes without us even realizing it.
   In a recent interview, Leonard Sweet said it this way, “There is only one singularity that matters and if this singularity is in place everything else coheres. And, that singularity is Christ. In everyone’s life, in the life of the church, when Christ is made the single, supreme focus – when the person of Jesus himself becomes that supreme, singular focus, than everything comes together.”
   What we need in order to maintain a healthy body, individually and collectively, is to feast on a steady diet of Jesus – his body in the bread and his blood in the wine.
   When the sacraments of Jesus, served within community, by community and for community, in the form of prayer, scripture reading, communion, and baptism, become the food that feeds the church, then and only then will “we grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
   In communion, followers of Jesus partake and share with one another the body and blood of Jesus. They are formed by the sacrament of prayer, baptized into his death – raised in newness of life, and delight in eating the bread of scripture, while serving one other in an attitude of humility.

You can find the full post at:

http://www.jeffkclarke.com/entertainment-fatigue-why-people-are-growing-tired-of-the-churchs-glitzy-stage/

Jesus Adjectives Exercise (continued)

The words Carol picked were as follows:
Limitless
There is nothing that He can not do.
Precious
His love is the most precious thing we can receive.
Immense
His love and power are larger than anything

The words I picked were as follows:
Mighty
His mighty power is all I need to live this Christian life
Staggering
I am staggered by what He has done, is doing and will do.
Victorious
His victory is my victory and all I have to do is rest in it.

The words Chloe, my grand daughter, picked were as follows:
Mighty Powerful Amazing

Jesus Adjective Exercise (continued)

I hope the first part of the exercise blessed you as much as it has me, especially as I have listened to friends and family share their three adjectives and why they picked them. Each time was a glorious sharing of Jesus' love and sufficiency in so many lives. If you feel so led, please comment and share your three. I will share mine in a later post.
I was going to take three posts to share the exercise, but I decided to do it in two so there here is the remaining parts.

Read the continuation of the paragraph from the last post. It is a question and answer. Meditate on what the Lord has provided to you through His life and His Spirit in you.

". . . this Christ has chosen to place all of His fullness where?
Inside of you! To [you] God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Do you believe the fullness of Christ through the Holy Spirit is in you? If so, how does it work itself out in how you love Christ and all He has done for and in you?

When you have meditated on the question and answer, read the partial devotional below and meditate on the bolded sentences.
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers - A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice
Sep 02 2010
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow . . . —John 7:38
Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.
Suggestion: Get a copy of My Utmost for His Highest and read the rest of this devotional.
Mike’s comment –
So, Jesus Christ is all the adjectives above and has given them to us through His life in us. It is not for us, but so His life which is like living water can be ‘poured’ out, ‘poured’ over and flow into other people. Amen!

mike

Jesus’ Adjectives Exercise

Read the partial paragraph below from a great book on Jesus Christ. When you are done, please work the exercise shown below.

Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ
by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
Kindle Edition - Location 768 - 804
“. . . the One who is supreme in every realm and holds the first place in all things – the Son the Father loves; the One whose significance is unmatched in human history; the One who holds the title deed to the universe . . . this
glorious,
limitless,
amazing,
incredible,
expansive,
incomparable,
marvelous,
stunning,
staggering,
majestic,
mighty,
matchless,
spectacular,
outstanding,
tremendous,
immense,
infinite,
vast,
grand,
triumphant,
victorious,
precious,
radiant,
peerless,
wonderful,
magnificent,
Christ . . .

Contemplate the adjectives for Jesus and pick out three (3) which made an impression on you. Highlight them in your mind, consider why these impressed you and how Jesus fulfills these in your life. If I was a betting man (and I am not) I would bet if you shared it would be a glorious word of your love for Him and what He has done in your life.

We will continue with the part two of the exercise in the next posting.
mike