GlocalNet

I’m often asked how do you engage the world, where do you start, what are the keys?  This week I’m going to try to answer some of those questions and explore what it means to bring about change. 

Let me say that I do not believe I will “change the world” I believe I will be involved in the process of “changing” the world.  Not until Jesus comes and man’s sin nature is no more is there any hope of complete transformation.  But, make no mistake about it - the world should be qualitatively different as a result of people following Jesus.  We have been told that we have been given the “keys” to the kingdom and one of the things that means is that we are in the business of “binding” and “loosing” things here on earth for the good. 

There are two huge variables that require far more than vision, strategy, leadership, execution, etc . . . in order to see a movement gain ground.  First, we have to ask what does it mean for the Gospel of the Kingdom to change me and the second is what does it mean for the Gospel of the Kingdom to change my church?

Notice I said the Gospel of the Kingdom.  If my focus is only the Gospel of “personal salvation” then the end game is the salvation of the individual.  I was raised in a culture that believed if we could get people coming to church, get them “saved”, then we would change our city and the world.  Can you show me that church?  We have come in the past 12 years from 350 mega-churches to over 2,000.  Dallas and Atlanta have more than anywhere else and we have to be honest and ask the question then, why are our cities so messed up if we have all these big churches?  The Gospel of the Kingdom, that Jesus wrote about, that Paul wrote about, is the reconciliation of individuals, but also the reconciliation of “all” things.  In my book Transformation - you can read what I believe about the Kingdom - I won’t elaborate that much here.  Personal salvation is only the beginning point - not the end game.  God longs to be glorified by how the Gospel changes not just individuals - but families, tribes, cities, nations, and the world.  The kingdom isn’t just about conversion but transformation.  The seed of the Gospel is so powerful that when planted it changes individuals and cities.  The problem is never the Gospel!

We have a saying at NorthWood Church “Kingdom in - Kingdom out.”  What that means is for me to see my city transformed - I must first be transformed.  The change has to start in me.  What does it mean for me to live by the Sermon on the Mount?  At a crisis point in my ministry years ago the question that rocked my world as I was praying one day - given by the Holy Spirit - was, “Bob, when will Jesus be enough for you?” 

Until the Gospel is alive within us, living the truth that Jesus taught, we have no message and no ability to change in the way God would.  Changing me starts with accepting Jesus, but then getting on my feet spiritually so that the Good News of Jesus and his message can transform my heart, my mind, my actions - all of me.  This is why the Sermon on the Mount is far more than just the moral teachings of Christ - it’s what a kingdom citizen lives by - it’s the real Manifesto of Jesus.

When we train our church planters, and we have 15 coming in this week, one of the first things that we do, is sit down with them, get them quiet and have them read the Sermon on the Mount and get their life in line with that - or at least begin to move in that direction.  That’s a tall order and takes an entire lifetime to do - but you have to begin somewhere.  The Sermon on the Mount is livable.  Yesterday as I preached out of Philippians 3 Paul said “Imitate me.”  It’s livable.  Until a church planter can stand up and say “imitate me” or a pastor, for that matter, they have no business in the pulpit or leadership of a congregation.  Doesn’t mean they’re going to be perfect - Paul wasn’t - but he was honest, transparent, in how he dealt with his weaknesses and the result is he was modeling how believers are used but how they deal with junk as well. 

For that kind of transformation to take place - consistent spiritual disciplines will become a regular staple of your walk with Christ.  We are talking about far beyond church as the Sunday event. 
There’s much I can say about the world, cities, churches, etc., but for the person who really wants to capture the vision - it starts with you.  The greatest compliment anyone can be given is not, wow what a preacher, or what a great pastor, or whatever – but, “What a man of God.”  That begins by Jesus changing me.  You can read TRANSFORMATION:  Disciples that Change the World - it was just re-released by the Exponential series and deals with all of this.