I Am Not Sore
A most recent incident in our household connected with a burden I have had for 10 years of Christ following, and specifically for the past year and half that I have been an Elder of Redemption Baptist Church (RBC). My wife made the God-honoring decision to start actively pursuing a healthy habit of routine fitness. The dreaded term, “working out” was in our home again. Over and over again as my wife worked hard to regain physical strength I would hear the words, “I am so sore.” I continued to dismiss her. At times that dismissal was in the form of pointed pokes of fun like, “oh don’t be such a wimp.” Other times I insisted on a deeper engagement of the topic and suggested she use better form, pick a new routine, look for a brace, stop complaining and push through, or ignore her efforts all together. All the while (2 months) I realized something about myself that I didn’t want to address. Three simple words, “I’m not sore.”
These words bothered me yet stayed on my lips. They gave me grief when I bent over to tie my shoes, or when my shorts that fit last year were so tight that I might physically be assaulted if one of the buttons popped under the pressure it took to get them wrapped around my ego….I mean waste. “I’m not sore” my mind would say and following up shortly behind was, “...and I should be”. Well rest assured beloved, this is not an article on general fitness and working out more. (If you are worried about that consider the fact that it's probably the Holy Spirit convicting you about it already with no such article needed….just saying) No, for me the purpose for writing this runs much deeper, like, deep as the blood running down calvary’s cross and washing over flagrant sinful men and women like me, you, and our fellow brothers and sisters kind of deep. The thought I am claiming to be so deep is this: What are we doing, really doing, about discipleship at our church.
The connection between, “I’m not sore”, and, “I’m not discipling” for me almost run hand in hand. I will turn over the words of our church covenant concerning the commitment we say we have to discipleship in my mind like I turn over the thoughts I have of being in shape again. Oh to run like I did my senior year! Yet monuments of old give little encouragement to my reality. I want to disciple others at times about as badly as I “want to” go for a run in the neighborhood so often.
I will leave the analogy behind now and speak plainly hoping your attention has been jabbed. Let me give you the words of our covenant I just mentioned in the sentence prior. Plucked from the plethora of “one anothers” we agree to be pursuing together at RBC, we have said this about discipleship, “We will endeavor to disciple those in our care in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, as well as to seek the salvation of our family and friends.” They are one and the same, evangelism and discipleship, and they cannot be separated from our identity in Christ. Christ people are sore with this great commission, longing to breathe better air as they exercise through faith in the areas of evangelism and discipleship. Sorry to return to the analogy, it is just so hard to not see the daily health and rhythmic commitment it takes to stay focused on the main thing our church (and any church for that matter) should be focused on! What are we doing if this line of our church covenant isn’t true about us?
I would tell you the answer to that question if I actually thought it to be productive. I don’t think it is. Most everyone who has actually engaged with how out of shape they are in any serious way has a hard enough time escaping the guilt and condemnation associated with the side profile of yourself in the mirror. So how do we shuck fat, increase cardio, and get sore in discipleship at RBC? How do we nurture those areas where this is already a part of our culture as a young and small church? How do we foster the much needed areas where this is not a part of our culture and DNA? Better yet, how do we tangibly connect our family, friends, and strangers to our commitment to, seek their salvation and help them grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord like our covenant says?
Recently in our church's lone Sabbath School class (we don’t call it that, but Spurgeon did and he was awesome…) called Dead Men TalkingTM we read the work by Richard Sibbes called, “The Bruised Reed”. It is an amazing book concerning the heart of God to never squash or put out the fire he has started in the life of the believer, no matter how fat and out of shape they may get. It’s worth your time. In the book, after some 9 chapters of laboring to convince the reader that God is for them, Sibbes gives four simple steps in one sentence that a believer can apply to his life in any situation to develop a discipline of God. Any discipline! He says:
“Stir up the grace that is in you, for in this way holy motions turn to resolutions, resolutions to practice, and practice to a prepared readiness to every good work.”
Here are each of the four in my paraphrastic writing on discipleship:
Have your affections stirred by God in his Word. This is the first step to having any lasting change in your life concerning the promises of God. See God’s promises and pray for God to stir your soul about it, and then be ready for that stirring. Pray the promises of God to stir your affections. Can you name one individual in your life, in Nacogdoches, that you know is lost or in need of discipleship? If you can’t, start praying there. Connect your “holy motions” as Sibbes calls it to actual scriptures. Our church covenant quotes the following concerning discipleship and evangelism, start here if you need help: Matt. 28:18-20, Eph. 6:4, Luke 19:10, 1 Tim. 2:4.
Let those affections turn into resolutions. This one is simple and natural if we are serious about the first. What you love you are resolved to continue in. Think about wedding vows whether you are married or not. You don’t go back on the commitment you made lightly in marriage (or at least we shouldn’t), yet what will keep you firm in that? Constant reminder of the stirred affections. You will not be resolute if you are not stirred, and yet when you are stirred you WILL be resolute.
Your resolutions will become your common practice. When you are resolved to do something for the Lord, or to have something that you want the Lord to bring into being in your life you will practice it. It will dominate every space and area of your life. Take a negative or stark example like a drug addict. If you have ever spoken with someone addicted to hard drugs about anything else, you feel the desire they have to get drugs in every conversation and in every twitch of their eye. They are dangerous because they are focused, resolute, and masters of practice. Can your desire for Christ and his disciplines be so concrete for us who have the Spirit? I think so, and even if this is a crude example of a broken situation, it is firm to back up this notion Sibbes raises. You WILL practice that which you love and are resolved to do.
Finally, your common practice will make you ready for every good work. Nothing is more needed in discipleship and evangelism than for you and I to be made ready every day for opportunities. Remember at this point that the first 3 steps must be in place to get here. Even more pointed is to remember that God affirms you need to be ready for every good work in your life, because he is the author of them!
Let’s see that last sentence in God’s Word together in conclusion. My comment here is based on Ephesians 2:10 which says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Church family, I don’t want to walk in them concerning discipleship and evangelism. I want to run in them. I want to run with you, each of you, and never look back. When we take rest together, I want to be sore for Christ. Do you? I am sure you would say yes...now press into your yes with me in closing here.
We are discouraged to say the least. It ebbs and flows, but it comes constantly. Why is our church not growing? Why am I not personally witnessing? Why is our impact so small? Why won’t anyone come to our service? How long can we continue like this? All of these and more are just a small sample of the questions you likely ask yourself. I know I do. The truth booth isn’t popular, but pull up a chair and listen. We have to get over our ridiculous standards and supplant ourselves deeper into God’s standards. We rush to point 3 on Sibbes list way too quick. I do, and I am sure you do as well. We say, “Practice, practice, practice, God our church is practicing and why are we not growing?” We must breathe deeper breaths of steps 1 and 2 brothers and sisters. We must say, “God give us more stirring, more holy motion, please God.” We must say, “God make us resolute in your promises, and help us press on.” Only then will practice make perfect (recovering the analogy in closing here with a basketball reference). And when we are perfect in preparedness we will handle our constant slip ups with great grace. We will find our stumbles as a body of believers at RBC as a constant source of God’s good grace in our lives that keeps us vigilant, hostile, agile! Even the setbacks make you ready for every good work when you love the game you are playing. I love it, and I lose sight of it at times. Forgive me for that. But as a collective we cannot forget it, and we must scream it at one another often. Two scripture references that Jesus and the apostle Paul said that can give us encouragement when strung together is a good way to get you fired up and desirous to go get sore. ““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom...And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Luke 12:32, Galatians 6:9)
Always rejoicing and lamenting,
Wesley Burke
Elder RBC