As a Christian, are you feeling spiritually tired and run down? Does your life seem to be without real "Life" and direction? Are you frustrated by a lack of power and fulfillment - things that you were told you would experience as a follower of Christ? Do you find your walk with the Lord falling short of the things that you read about in His Word or hear described in the lives of others? Do you find yourself lacking in the gifts described in the Bible and witnessed in the lives of other Christians? Do you find it hard to understand what the Lord is saying to you personally when you read the Word? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you might be missing some very essential and basic elements of Christian life and relationship with our God. You may be among ... "The Forgotten" - someone who's wondering what do I do now? Or maybe you're one of those that tried, but stopped growing or even became disillusioned and gave up. This is for you.
What I want to talk about in the coming days are some of the most serious and critically necessary components required to walk in the power of our God and to enjoy deeper relationship with Him. It's not my job or my right to pass judgment on any others as to what exists between them and God, so as Christ bears witness, it's not my intention to do so now in these writings. But as I look at the First Church and then at our world today, knowing the power and purposes of our unchanging God, I'm compelled to bring forward some subjects that I'm strongly impressed are important and urgent and that are not shared with enough recurring frequency with Christ's Church today - the ABCs of Christian survival and growth.
There are many who come to understand their need to shed the sins of their past and become new creatures in Christ. If we were to represent them in this conversation as an inanimate object, we could say that they look like a new car. They're now shiny and new having been reborn as new creatures in Christ. They have the new car smell and they may be gifted by God to have chrome and shiny custom wheels and many other gifts and opportunities that we'll call available options here. Being representatives of Christ in the world, these new creations of God look pretty good. They've got sparkle and shine, the best tires for the road of life to be found anywhere, and the very finest eternal non-polluting engine. But without a battery, the unerring onboard computer (the Holy Spirit navigational and warning system) is blank, the horn that plays the tune Heralding His Greatness is silent, the Life Song stereo won't play and the lights that would give illumination in the darkness - don't work. But by golly, they still look shiny and new! There are many in this position right this very minute. If you lift the hood, the engine is very impressive. It's the all powerful and flawless Trinity 3-In-1 guaranteed to last for eternal unlimited miles. But like most new cars, the tank comes filled with only a minimal amount of gas ... and for many, this is where they sit ... and sit. As Christians, vehicles for God's in-habitation, if we don't follow the steps required by our Lord for our growth including seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we will likely have no power, no navigation equipment, and no wheels to move. Without the Holy Spirit, we're like a shiny new car without power or fuel - we're going nowhere fast.
There are many gifted and indeed God inspired teachers in the world today. There's no doubt in my mind that many are sharing revelations of the Holy Spirit designed by our Lord to continue the education and growth in knowledge of our God and His ways that this life is intended to be. But I'm deeply concerned that there are many left behind along the road. These people are left to live lives as Christians that are less than what our Lord intends and desires because they missed something along the way. And many of our teachers seem to forget that there are many among the body of Christ that are at differing levels of maturity who are unable to digest the meat that is being served because they are yet babes in Christ. There's very little value for example in trying to teach 10th grade English to a first grader struggling to learn the ABCs. As we come together and receive 10th grade discipleship instruction, there are those among us who come yearning to experience the blessings and fulfillment of the promises of our Lord that come from a 1st grade foundation building class. For the sake of simplicity, I'll refer to these as the Forgotten. These are those neglected by the very body of Christ that bears the responsibility before the Lord, our Father God, to nurture them and the result can be far more than tragic and sad. There are those among the body of Christ who convicted by revelation of their need for the Savior take those first steps of acknowledgment, belief, acceptance and repentance that most Christians are anxious to share with them, but are then left to float on the tide to find their own way.
If you determine while reading this that you're one of the Forgotten, then know that what you've been told from scripture is indeed true and that there is great reason to expect these things to exist in your own life because our Lord speaks nothing less than the truth - always. It may just be that you've missed one of the keys required by our Lord to experience the fulfillment of His promises in your life. Let's use Peter as an example to illustrate. Peter started out as a rugged fisherman who had a lot to learn but became an outstanding example of Christ's teaching. By the time he heard Christ's words "greater things than these will you do in my name" (a reference to the things that Christ Himself had done) Peter had already learned about belief and repentance. He'd learned about and experienced water baptism and about the need for the coming baptism of the Holy Spirit - necessary keys to enabling him to fulfill Christ's words. But how often are these keys handed to those who are coming into the body of Christ at varying intervals? I'm convicted that the ABCs need to be taught on a more frequent basis in order to bring about the growth that so many desperately desire and are literally starving for spiritually. Our fellowship is almost always a mixed class.
Without discipleship and mentoring to walk through the successive steps of growth and maturity in their relationship with our awesome God, the Forgotten find themselves powerless and without direction. We may have taken the time to share the initial directions to the beginning of the path, but in our haste, or perhaps our obsession with our own progress, they're left more or less on their own. The basic elements of our salvation are not hidden from us, but are revealed in the word of our Lord. But in this fast paced day of instant gratification and rapid growth, I fear that the Forgotten may be finding themselves less than fulfilled, less than satisfied and less than powerful because those who know are not teaching the basic necessities for growth. Those who could be learning the essentials from them don't realize that there's more. So the Forgotten hear of the love, fulfillment, joy, revelation, healing, understanding and all of the other excellent things to be experienced in relationship with our God and take the first steps - but are then left empty, disappointed and disillusioned and will likely begin to question the reality of what they've been told. Meat is important to the development and growth of the mature, but infants will choke on it and if it's the only thing we attempt to feed them, they may well die malnourished. I'm convinced that because of the hollowness and lack of growth in their spiritual lives, many among the Forgotten will give up and those who remain because they are convicted by their God given sense of their need for Him will live hollow lives as Christians without substance.
Knowing that it's human nature that our failures are far more likely to be remembered and touted than our successes, it's not hard to imagine that the world bears witness to the Forgotten and holds them up as an example of what Christianity is. Who's responsible for this failure? Is it our God? - NO! It's we who know better and bear the responsibility to love our brother enough to disciple them in His ways = following Christ's example. We are commissioned by Christ to share with them what He has shared so freely with us. Are we neglecting those whom the Lord has brought into our lives expecting that we'll mentor them in the same things He's taught us? I'm not just talking about those among us who are pastors and teachers. "To whom much is given, much is expected" so any of us having become heirs to Heaven and to the wisdom and knowledge of our God at any level are required to share what we know. We should never try to share more than we know, but instead teach freely what the Lord in His grace and mercy has taught us as He presents the opportunities. If we find that we're guilty of failures in this area, then we are what I will call Those Forgetting.
Is there excuse before the Lord for the Forgetting to fail to fulfill the responsibilities that He's given us? In the end, will we be required to answer for those times when He presented us with knowledge and opportunities to share it with others who subsequently were lost to Him because we failed to recognize or perhaps just obey our responsibility? I'm really not wanting to find out. We know that He places the same tremendous value on those that He brings in close proximity to us that He holds for us and that we bear certain responsibility before Him to care for them. By care, I mean more than a smiling greeting or well intentioned, but otherwise meaningless conversation. By care, I mean sharing God-given instruction and discipleship for successful relationship with Him as He presents the opportunity. By caring, I mean taking the time to place life giving keys to the real "Life" our Lord taught about in the hands of those who need them so desperately. Anything else is meaningless by comparison to the value of those keys to successful relationship with God and may represent nothing more than wasted time. Our education in knowledge of Him and His ways and our growth in order to have intimate relationship with Him is the only reason He put us here. Anything else is really without purpose.
I have issues with both Those Forgetting ... and The Forgotten. I've been an example of both so I feel somewhat comfortable that I can speak with some repentant and humbled authority. But The Forgotten you ask? If you're a Christian with some growth on you, you may understand my issues with Those Forgetting, but may be asking why I have issue with The Forgotten. If you determine that you qualify as a member of The Forgotten fraternity, then please listen closely. If you've only experienced the joy, freedom and relief of Salvation, then you've only had but a small taste of what God has for you. But you've tasted it and you have to know that there's more. And there is more ... so very much more, so go for it. Track it down, look for it, pray for it and don't give up until you get it. You've only just started down a path that can lead to such fulfillment, peace, power and joy that you can't even imagine yet if you haven't experienced it and your older brothers and sisters in Christ have an obligation and responsibility to share with you what they've learned. Don't let anyone short change you or cheat you out of the God-given knowledge of the steps and keys to growing in "Life" filled relationship with our Father! Don't sit idle at initial Salvation believing that you've done all that you should. You've only begun to experience Him! Ahead is restoration, renewal, water Baptism, the infilling of the Holy Spirit and endless experiences in growth and blessings that He wants to share with you. He wants you to truly get to know Him as a person and He wants to enjoy the experience of blessing you and watching you grow.
Over the next weeks, months or possibly even years, whatever the Lord leads, I feel led to begin to share with those who seek the ABCs of Christian survival and growth as the Lord impresses and as I understand them. My prayers will be for you as you read, that the Lord will give you clear practical revelation that leads to deeper fullness in life with Him. My request of those who choose to follow this series and any others who will, is that you will pray for me also, that He will give me the wisdom in words to speak clearly His heart.
In His Spirit,
Jeff
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