Many are writing excellent books in this decade to explain how to abstain from the things that bring impurity, and I have no desire to duplicate that good work. Instead I have been looking for a way to demonstrate the positive side of purity for my friends who are in discipleship with me, especially the guys in our men’s ministry who are seriously committed to becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. I think we already realize that purity requires abstaining from the fleshly lusts which war against the soul, but I also want to challenge my friends to positively pursue the things that are pure. I believe that God can produce in us a thirst that will make purity natural for us (for us who have a new nature, that is). Just as a thirst for pure water is a great motivator and leads naturally to a distaste for mud, so a thirst for purity will quite naturally bring us to detest every form of sin.

When I was a junior varsity basketball player in high school our coach believed that the secret to winning on defense was to have an excellent offense. We drilled many defensive skills, but spent far more of our energy practicing offensive plays and learning how to keep the ball in our opponents’ court for most of the game. He often quoted the dictum: “The secret to a good defense is a good offense.” The truth is that in basketball you can never win by defensive strategy unless you are also scoring points on offense.

My prayer is that the men around me will know that purity is not primarily a defensive skill. It is not really a skill or a discipline at all; rather it is a spiritual thirst that we in our flesh have tried to quench with every form of slime and scum—and still we thirst. My friend, I am asking God to help you see from this booklet that His way is not to obsess about fleeing covetousness and lust but to actively pursue a positive purity.

Wanting What I Don’t Have Vs. Investing What I Do

Let’s start with this idea of covetousness, since it is the easiest area of purity to understand. We know that it is displeasing to God if we covet more material things than He has given us. When I covet stuff I don’t have, I am really saying to Him that I don’t like the gifts He has given me or that the gifts He provides are not enough. Now, when people treat my gifts with this kind of disrespect I get angry, so it makes sense to me that a covetous mentality is offensive to God and will harm my relationship with Him.

The Scripture, however, makes me realize that covetousness is more than just disrespect for God’s gifts to me; apparently God takes it very personally. In Colossians 3:5 we are commanded to put to death “covetousness which is idolatry.” So here is my question: what does covetousness have to do with idolatry and why would the Bible draw such a clear connection between materialism and the worship of false gods?

Try to recall your feelings for the first automobile you ever owned. Do you remember how you longed for your own set of wheels, how you spent every dime you had to buy her, how you used to daydream about the ways you could customize and optimize the performance and look of your car? My first car was a 1968 Plymouth with a 318 engine, and until she broke my heart I always defended the 318 as the greatest powerplant every designed for a passenger car. Looking back over 25 years I can realize it was only a car, but back in those days it was my first love, and that teenage crush can snap back and bite me even today; here is why.

When I fixate on material things that I want, I am really worshiping those things: I meditate on them, I glorify them in my mind, I praise them to others (like I used to praise the Plymouth 318 V-8), and I make sacrifices for their sake. As long as there is any sensitivity left in me, the word of God will convict me about this, piercing to my heart and revealing my secret thoughts; I will come to realize that I am idolizing material things and trying to find my security in temporal wealth instead of in my Everlasting Father. If the Holy Spirit ever feels that He has competition in my heart from any material thing, He will confront me with it—I will have to confess that I have committed idolatry, and He will insist that I put it to death.

Another problem with coveting more stuff is that it centers my mind on worldly and impermanent things. When my mind is occupied with materialism and worldly stuff, I have no time or mental energy for God. I am literally preoccupied in that my mind is already so full of unimportant stuff that I have no space to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

But even though materialism is so dangerous, avoiding a covetous mind is still only a negative purity. The positive side of ridding my mind of materialism is investing myself in the Kingdom of God. Jesus stated this principle (Luke 12:34): “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Jesus was training His disciples to think with positive purity by investing their treasure in the direction that they wanted their hearts to follow.

I remember that before I had any money invested in the stock market I never paid any attention to the market reports on the news. But nowadays whenever I have anything in the market I listen to the reports with much keener interest. In the same way, those who are investing their wealth in the markets, fashions and stuff of this world will spend most of their free time and energy thinking about the things of this world, but those disciples of Jesus who are practicing a positive purity will spend most of their time and energy thinking about the things of the Kingdom of God. It just makes sense that we will give most thought to protecting and increasing our most treasured possessions. And this is exactly the way God wants us to be preoccupied, because He says, “If you were raised [from the dead] with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is” and “set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).

Food for Thought What is God’s purpose for providing all of our possessions?

Jesus’ Financial Plan

Regarding the relative value of investments, Jesus put His principle this way (Luke 12:15): “Guard against every form of greed, for not even when one is exceedingly rich does his life consist in his possessions.” The meaning of this proverb was clarified when Jesus told the story of a rich man who squandered his wealth by preserving his capital. He said the man was foolish because when his investments produced an unexpectedly good return, the rich man stored those investments up for protection and a material “nest egg.” Most financial advisers would tell you that this rich man was not a fool at all but a shrewd investor, however they would be flat wrong. Jesus pointed out that when the rich man died unexpectedly his investment was a total loss—he couldn’t take any of it with him!

The truly wise man does not store up his capital gains but uses financial gain and invests it for spiritual profit. Every disciple of Jesus is also a steward of the capital of the Kingdom of God; in other words, we have been given positions in management. Jesus promised His disciples blessing and reward if they would manage the resources of His kingdom wisely and unselfishly. He made it absolutely clear that the blessing was not only for the Twelve Disciples (Luke 12:42) but for every “faithful and sensible steward, whom the Master will place in charge of His servants to give them their rations;” when it comes time to reward that steward “He will put him in charge of all His possessions.” Jesus is not speaking only of financial resources but of time and energy and spiritual passion that His wise disciples invest in the household of God, the bride of Christ, the church whom He loves.

Positive purity does not merely involve defending ourselves against greed, but going on the offensive and investing everything we have in the kingdom of God in Christ Jesus. Anyone who takes ten minutes to consider will agree that worldly wealth is temporary and that “you can’t take it with you.” The remarkable truth that only the disciples of Jesus can know is that this temporary wealth can be invested for a permanent return (Luke 12:33) and that it is possible to have financial security in this life without having to build bigger storage barns. “Your Father knows everything you need—seek for His kingdom and these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:30-31).

But let me tell you plainly what positive purity is not; it is not a way to manipulate God or to justify yourself in comparison to others. The Pharisees thought that the positive side of avoiding covetousness was to become scrupulous at tithing. They felt that if they gave ten per cent of their income and the first return from each investment, that they could make themselves pure in God’s eyes and force Him to give them increased financial blessing. Instead of developing a pure relationship with God in which they truly trusted Him, they treated Him like an IRS tax collector: “Now that I’ve paid you off, please just get the refund check in the mail on time and stay out of my business.” One thing we can learn from the Pharisees is that a guy can tithe and give and seem generous while still being eaten up with greed on the inside.

Jesus never got one iota of pleasure from the careful accounting of the Pharisees; instead, He pointed out one anonymous widow as the true example of positive purity (Mark 12:41-44). The rich were dropping their silver coins into the temple treasury in a way that let everyone know that they were men of substance who were committed to doing their part to keep the temple operating, but Jesus was unimpressed by the show. Now when a poor widow came along and dropped in two cents, that moved Jesus to great satisfaction and pleasure, because He said, “she put in all she had, her whole livelihood!” She wasn’t depending on her puny resources, because she was casting herself entirely upon the faithfulness of God while she preferred to invest 100% of all she had in His kingdom. Jesus doesn’t tell us the end of the widow’s story, but I can guarantee she did not go hungry; God always provides for His own.

What I desire for my own life and for my friends in discipleship is that we learn more and more to trust God for our material needs, and that we express this trust by investing more and more into the kingdom that will never end. Once we develop a taste for the pure water of stewardship for eternity, I don’t think greed will have much traction or appeal in our lives.

Your Turn…

• Could it be possible for you to serve two masters? Can you think of a way that you could maintain your devotion to God while at the same time making wealth your ambition?
• What barrier is preventing you right now from being less of an owner and more of a steward?
• Why is trust absolutely essential to financial purity?
• Think of how many different ways God can and does provide for your family. List the provisions you have experienced in the past six weeks.

The Worship Of The Flesh Vs. Worship In The Spirit

One of my Bible college professors was teaching a group of us young men who were preparing for ministry the importance of resisting worldliness. His text was I John 2:16 which categorizes worldliness according to “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” I can hear his powerful voice booming down two decades, “Men, there are three categories of sin that will destroy you in ministry: beware of girls, gold and glory!” I think he meant that the lust of the flesh expressed in fornication will destroy the minister just as surely as covetousness does, and in fact, every fallen minister that I have heard of in the past twenty years has been brought down by either fornication, greed or a proud heart.

In the discipleship ministry of our local church we have found that many of our men are side-tracked and unable to go forward in their Christian life because of addictions to pornography and other forms of sexual sin. We have to tell them that the will of God for them is abstinence from every kind of sexual pursuit unless it is their own marriage. I Thessalonians 4:3 makes it clear that “the will of God for you is your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.” Most Christians are aware that God has given explicit prohibitions against almost every sexual perversion (Leviticus 18): sex with a close relative, sex with somebody else’s spouse, homosexual relations, sex with an animal. These are all included in the minimal standard of purity in the Old Testament. Sexual purity is such an important matter in God’s eyes that His sentence for violating these standards was death (Lev. 20:10-16).

The New Testament cushions the fall while at the same time raising the bar. We are no longer called upon to put violators to death (God promises that He will judge them, Heb. 13:4), but I Thessalonians takes us to a higher level of responsibility. “Each of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust” (I Thess. 4: 4-5). Paul is using polite language to teach men in the churches a very bold point. The “vessel” he is talking about is the male sexual organ, and he is saying we need to have it under control with holiness and honor rather than in the passion of lust.

Positive purity brings me to the conclusion that if I am to possess my vessel in holiness and honor, then my sexual organs themselves must be holy and honorable in God’s eyes. A leader in the church many centuries ago, a man by the name of Origen, felt that he could solve his defensive problem by castrating himself. I do not recommend anyone to follow his example! Even if you could manage this feat of self-control, the absence of sexual hardware does not guarantee the presence of the holiness that God offers us.

In fact true holiness is enhanced by holy testicles. Read carefully the first two verses of Deuteronomy 23: “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord…” This amazing passage tells us that both fornication (leading to illegitimacy) and emasculation prevented men in the Old Testament from approaching God in His tabernacle or in public worship. God loves eunuchs just as personally as He loves the sexually potent (the prophet Daniel was a eunuch whom God was especially close to), but when God chooses the men He desires to draw near Him for public worship, He looks for men who have sexual potency and who have it under control.

Think of the energy available in one teaspoon of gasoline. You know that even a very small amount of gasoline is extremely flammable and will burst into flames as soon as you get a match near it—it is a volatile substance, but as long as it is sitting in a teaspoon it is not very powerful. Now imagine that gasoline atomized and combined with oxygen; then confine it in the steel sleeve of an internal combustion engine. Then compress it to seven or eight times its normal density. Now we’re talking about power! An engine fueled by gasoline that is both pressurized and contained can take a man anywhere he wants to go and get him there quicker than a thoroughbred horse.

Pressure and containment are the same spiritual forces that are at work in our physical bodies. We feel the pressure building naturally over a 24- or 48-hour period, so that a sexually potent man always has this pressure at work in him or building in him. Do you find it instructive that before the Lord delivered the Law to the people, the men (both married and single) had to observe forty-eight hours of sexual abstinence (Exodus 19:15)? Not because marital relations would cause them to be defiled but because He wanted every man in that nation to be at full power (the purity of pressure and containment) when He came down to meet them. In the New Testament we see the same principle at work, because married men are commanded to have regular and frequent sexual relations with their wives with one exception—when they are giving themselves to prayer and fasting, when they need to be at the height of both pressure and containment in their worship of the Lord (I Cor. 7:3-5).

Food for Thought Ever wonder why God chose circumcision for the sign of the Old Testament covenant? Seems like an odd sign since no one but your wife would ever see it. Why would God choose this intimate and masculine mark of belonging?

What is the positive purity principle that can take a man from defense to offense in his sexual relationships? I think it is summed up in the word “holiness,” one of the character qualities of God that He insists on passing on to His children: “You shall be holy for I am holy (Leviticus 19:2; 11:44b; 20:26).” In the New Testament also Peter exhorts us to “be holy in all conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy for I am holy’ (I Peter 1:15-16).” The Bible says that all of the discipline and temptation that God allows in our lives is for our personal profit, “so that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).

In my marriage all of my sexual being is holy to one other person, my wife. Sex is God’s good creation and has never been unclean in itself; the reason that sex is secret is only because it is holy to two people. While there were only two people in the world and while those people were holy, there was no need for clothing (Genesis 2:25). God’s intention for marriage is that “a man be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), so that their bodies are now no longer entirely private but are shared in common with just one other person. But this is just a picture of a more important, more original and more fundamental holiness.

Some people seem to think that marriage is the fundamental human condition and that everyone over the age of 21 should be married—this is a destructive and false notion. When Paul gives his most comprehensive instruction regarding marriage in Ephesians 5, he ends by saying about the “one flesh” relationship in marriage (5:32), “this mystery is great, but I am speaking about Christ and the church!” Marriage is only a picture of the primary and fundamental relationship: the marriage relationship was created in Genesis so that it could represent to us our relationship with God through Christ Jesus!

Why is holiness so valuable to us? Hebrews 12:14 counsels us to pursue holiness because “without it no one will see the Lord.” I am stepping out into a mystery that none of us can properly understand, but the witness of the Bible and the holy men of ancient times tells us that there is something very similar about the holy union with God in worship and the holy union of sex in marriage. It is simply that the marriage union has been given as a picture of what God desires with us, so that we can understand the desire of the Spirit He has caused to dwell in us, a Spirit that “yearns jealously” (James 4:5). Just as a husband yearns jealously over his wife, so the Lord is jealous over His people. Solomon describes this yearning, dedicating the whole book called The Song of Solomon to picturing the holiness of worship with the imagery of sexual pursuit.

If you are a single man, God has given you a position of honor in His service. Holiness in a single person is in many ways more pleasing and powerful than holiness in a married person. The married person’s holiness is at least partially diluted because he shares himself with one other person: he has to always be thinking about how to please his wife, while the unmarried person’s concern is only to please the Lord (I Corinthians 7:32-33). The pure holiness of an unmarried man is so precious to the Lord Jesus that His closest followers during the Tribulation period will all be virgin men “not defiled by women” (Revelation 14:4).

While worldly-minded people are always trying to set you up and introduce you to eligible women, the spiritual mind makes one emphatic statement: “If you are married to a wife, don’t try to get out of your marriage; and if you are single, don’t be looking for a wife (I Corinthians 7:27 in paraphrase).” This is an important reminder for every believer. When we have opportunities to encourage married men, let us exhort them to stay faithful to their wives no matter how difficult and headstrong they seem. And when we are encouraging single men, let us exhort them to stay single and holy for as long as possible. For the unmarried disciple the only limitation on singleness is holiness: “if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry” (I Corinthians 7:9). A holy marriage pleases God, but disciple of Jesus, desire holiness above all, and only give up singleness when it becomes necessary in order to preserve holiness.

How does our culture influence us away from purity? How can we defend ourselves?

Positive purity results in such intimacy with the Lord Jesus that fornication in all its forms becomes unappealing. Let’s admit it—nobody has ever truly worshiped the Lord Jesus and come away from the experience disheartened, shamed or depleted; on the other hand, two minutes after a guy finishes fornicating or masturbating with pornography he always feels guilty, ashamed and generally demoralized. You can try every justification and excuse your actions as “only natural,” but it still leaves you dissipated and lonely.

Not only this, but true worship and fornication are entirely exclusive of one another. In idolatry and false worship, fornication is part of the worship experience and there are temple prostitutes available to facilitate the process. This is the satanic idea of great worship, and it appeals to many who do not know the Lord. But the true worship of Jesus cannot be joined in any way to fornication (I Corinthians 6:18-20):

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God’s.

If you are glorifying God in your body, then you are not fornicating; if you are fornicating then you are not glorifying God.

Now let me be very clear about where the power for purity comes from. I hope no one reads this and thinks: “Now I am going from defense to offense. I used to not be able to walk away from pornography, but now I am just going to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate on worshiping God.” That just takes away an impossible negative burden and replaces it with an impossible positive one! The power for this very personal and intimate worship comes from God who has already taken the big step toward you in making peace through Christ Jesus. Now He wants you to “present your body a living sacrifice to Him” (Romans 12:1). Origen’s backyard surgery was a painful sacrifice, but not a living sacrifice. Disciple of Jesus, can you believe that God wants your whole body to worship Him, including your private parts? That if you would present your penis to be His, that He would make it clean and holy and acceptable? That even if you are single, your sexual parts are mighty for the worship of God?

The power for this positive purity does not come from trying harder; it comes from recognizing God’s good gift and presenting it back to Him for His kingdom and glory. It comes from God’s transforming work in our lives as He renews our minds. Choosing to glorify God by allowing the pressure to build under control leaves us suffering temporary frustration but never needs to leave us lonely, since we are walking step by step with the Lord Jesus who knows exactly what it feels like. The unmarried apostle who wrote Romans 12:2 knows what he is talking about when he says that it is possible for God so to renew our minds that we will prove the will of God perfect, even under testing.

Your Turn…

Turn to Romans 12:1 and read what the Bible says about offering your body to God in worship. Do you believe that it is possible for your sexual behavior to be an offering of worship? How could you offer your sexual parts as a living sacrifice to God?

Suppose you have a friend who is separated from his wife and is going through the process of divorce, but meanwhile he has found a woman he would like to date. He says he doesn’t feel he has the “gift of singleness.” What advice will you give your friend?

If you were explaining sexual purity to your son or to a younger brother, what would you say are the three most important reasons for protecting your purity?

My Best Foot Forward Or My Best Friend

Another kind of impurity we are often keenly aware of (especially in other people) is pride and ambition. We know we should not think too highly of ourselves and that we really need more humility and less envy. James 3:16 reminds us that pride is the demonic seed of every kind of sin and that “where jealousy and strife exist, there is confusion and every evil thing.” We hate this kind of impurity in others and we suspect that they detest it in us; we know we have to get rid of it.

The discouraging thing about battling pride is that eliminating the sin is impossible unless something truly positive displaces it. Nothing is more disgusting than a proud man who is trying very hard not to be proud. He can’t seem to accept a sincere compliment with any pleasure, and you can tell he is being hypocritical when he praises others. You wish he would just let his proud heart show so the rest of us could tease him about it and help him get over it!

Here is what I have noticed about truly humble people: it is not that they speak in a lowly way about themselves; it is that they hardly seem to think about themselves at all! You never find them trying to put their best foot forward. They seem to spend a minimum of time on introspection and are always thinking about the needs of others. When a humble athlete scores a difficult goal, he experiences pure joy because he added points for his team and can hardly wait to celebrate with his teammates. The prideful athlete either makes a spectacle of himself or else makes a show of pretended piety. Real humility doesn’t even seem to think twice about appearances.

One day I received a handwritten letter from a couple that were my partners in ministry at the time. In it they listed all of the things that they saw in me that (from their perspective) pointed to spiritual pride in my heart. The bad part of this experience was that I had to confess that some of their perceptions were right on the mark. But the worst part was that they were wrong in many of their suspicions, and I became very self-conscious for the next several months as I tried to discern my motives in every decision. For a while I am sure that I became more self-absorbed than ever as I tried not only to be humble but also not to offend others by appearing to be proud!

Trying to appear to others to be humble is not positive purity, not by any means. In fact, doing acts that appear humble is a form of hypocrisy that makes Jesus entirely fed up. He told us in His sermon on the mount that we must not do our “charitable deeds to be seen by men,” but that we should pray in secret and give to charity in secret and to fast before God in secret. These acts of humble service please God who sees us even in secret and promises to reward us (Matthew 6:1-18).

What is the positive side of avoiding pride and envy? First of all we must make a conscious decision to put our best Friend forward instead of trying to put ourselves (or a false image of ourselves) forward. A life that exalts Jesus Christ can never be prideful or envious because it is so full of the Lord and His joy that there is no room for self-consciousness. In the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ every knee bows and every tongue confesses His worthiness—a life lived in the presence of Jesus has neither time nor temptation to worship itself. As pure sunlight causes the moon and stars to fade into invisibility, so the pure presence of Jesus Christ in a man’s life causes all of his personal pursuits to lose their luster, to lose their attraction.

This principle is described in practical terms in the fourth chapter of James where pride and envy are contrasted with the life of prayer. James says (4:1-3) that all of our quarrels and fights can be traced back to the fact that we choose to envy one another and to scheme for our own advancement rather than to simply ask God for what we want. Of course, he also points out that some of the things we want are so selfish that we should be embarrassed to put those desires into the words of our prayers! There are two mutually exclusive ways to advance in life: we must either compete with one another so that we get ahead, or we must ask God for what is needed so that His kingdom can move forward.

We can make the choice for positive purity, and prayer to God will entirely displace pride and envy. Think about it; how prideful could a man be if he consistently cast himself upon God in prayer whenever he had a need and then praised Him and thanked Him for every victory? The Bible insists that at any given time we are either making friends with the world or we are making friends with God (James 4:4). If we are making friends with God and drawing near to Him, our need to get ahead of others will fade; if we are making friends with (networking and schmoozing) the world, we are making God our enemy and challenging Him to work against us; because it is simply God’s character to oppose the proud while He advances and promotes the humble man (James 4:6).

Do not imagine for a moment that this is something you will have to work at by your own efforts. It is not as though you are going to become humble by disciplining yourself to pray whenever you feel proud. God already did the hard part of displacing pride in your heart, when He “sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ (Galatians 4:6)” Now the Spirit of God in your heart wants to pray and wants to praise the Father; you have only to stop resisting Him.

Let me say again, the purely humble man is a man of prayer. Whenever he has a need his first thought is to tell his Father about it. Whenever he finds himself anxious or worried, he casts his cares upon God (I Peter 5:5-7). Whenever he experiences advancement, his first thought is to recognize the way that his Father has blessed him. Every experience and every crisis becomes an avenue to draw near to God and to either thank Him or to pray for His immediate help.

The humble man is a praying man, but also in an unexpected way he is a boasting man. Now here is the surprising fact of our nature: men were made to boast. The reason we can’t stand it when somebody tries to be humble is that we know he is being false; we know he is boasting on the inside while he pretends to be humble. Positive purity does not pretend not to boast, rather purity makes its boast in the Lord. In the ninth chapter of Jeremiah the Lord instructs us not to boast about our wisdom or our physical strength or our worldly wealth, but that we should boast about our friendship with Him. When children boast about their fathers, it is touching and fitting—there is nothing about such childish boasts that is ugly. So when men have childlike faith enough to boast of their best Friend and to boast of their true Father, then they are behaving like pure men were intended to behave.

Does this mean that when a purely humble man is complimented on a good effort or an excellent achievement he should say something pious like, “O, I am nothing; give glory to God”? I certainly hope not! We should be pleased and happy that we have done something well and there is no reason to hide our pleasure in it. It is also appropriate to thank those who encourage us with their compliments. Generally those who are congratulating us know very well that God is the source of our strength, nevertheless it is proper for them to build up and affirm the hard work of another Christian. Don’t ever rebuke a Christian for encouraging you, and don’t worry that if you encourage another brother who is doing well, he may become conceited. God knows how to deal with pride and conceit in a guy, as you probably already know from bitter experience. When we finally grow up to be child-like men of God we will be able to receive encouragement from one another with delight and lift up even those good words as a sacrifice of praise to God.

Drink Deep

I hope that this short booklet has produced in you a thirst for purity of a positive kind. My goal has not really been to satisfy Christian men but merely to remind them of the existence of a source of pure satisfaction—Jesus Christ. Jesus made a promise to you and me when He said “those who thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). He also pronounced a blessing that echoes down the ages: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” How pleased I would be to discover that God has used this booklet to bless men with a thirst for pure righteousness!

By now you realize that Jesus is the source for positive purity to quench our thirst, and His Spirit is the flowing spring bubbling up in our insides (John 7:37-39). When you are abiding in Christ, you are camped out beside the crystal cold pool of positive purity. While you drink of His Spirit you aren’t thirsting for the praise of others. While you are finding your satisfaction in Him, the very idea of whoring after money or glossy photographs seems preposterous. Jesus lived for 33 years without money, without sex, and with as little public notice as possible…and Jesus is the happiest man who ever lived.

My friend, pursue this purity in the only place it can ever be found, so that you may attain to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding: to the knowledge of the mystery of God (both of the Father and of Christ) in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2-3). Amen.

Authentic Discipleship

In over 20 years of pastoral ministry I have never met a church leader who was not “committed” to discipleship. On closer examination, of these many who talk about disciplemaking, few are actually making disciples.

I have also read just about everything written on the subject. Again, a disconnect. With elaborate and comprehensive plans and programs, I often remarked, “This guy is a theorist; this stuff will never work in real life.”

Colin McDougall Jr. is neither a boaster nor a dreamer when it comes to disciplemaking. He has consistently been about the Great Commission and the agonizing process of making disciples. His plan is simple, biblical, and doable…for those with the passion and grit necessary for mentoring for life change.

He and his wife, Becca, are veterans of the trench warfare I would call authentic discipleship. Following their Father’s simple plan and their Savior’s simple command, they have witnessed the power of disciplemaking on two continents and among extremely diverse people groups.

If you truly desire the fruit of disciplemaking in your work for Christ, listen to him. We do…because he knows what he’s talking about and he lives it.

Until all hear,

Ed Underwood
Senior Pastor
Church of the Open Door

Why We Say Every Christian Is A Missionary

The point has been made in countless Sunday School classrooms, that every believer is a missionary. But it would be truer to say that we believers share equally the same Great Commission. We are ambassadors, sent out with the commission of Jesus into the world; nevertheless the sad fact is that most modern Christians are not fully involved in fulfilling Jesus’ commission; we are not living the mission.

Do you wish your life was better ordered to fulfill this mission? I know I do, and I know our Father wants to make it so. He has given each of us three major assets to invest: energy, spiritual gifts, and material. By energy I mean the dynamism of God at work in His children to live the mission of Christ—only believers have this energy. The spiritual gifts are capacities for meeting spiritual needs, capacities that no human being comes by naturally. Material includes not just the money we earn but every material resource we control—cars, houses, computers and phones. Though unbelievers have material resources, they cannot acknowledge them as gifts from their Father like we can, gifts for use in His kingdom. When we think realistically, we realize that although our resources are limited, we are only investing a minute fraction in the mission of Christ. We wish we had a tool to evaluate the many good causes and focus on our central mission. We want to invest our lives. We want to live the mission.

The tool that I am presenting here builds on the work of the missionary-scholar Dr. Ed Murphy who taught me the Acts of the Apostles at Biola University. The yardstick he found in Acts has been formative in my living the mission for the past 20 years. I present my version of it below and hope it will help others as much as Dr. Murphy’s teaching helped me. I call it TAMDISO.

Praying The Lord Of The Harvest

It has always captivated me the way that Jesus initiated His missionaries in the first commission. Though I love to look at the end of Matthew to read Jesus’ Great Commission, I also keep coming back to the first commission at the close of Matthew 9. Jesus being moved with compassion over the lack of spiritual leadership for the multitudes told His disciples to pray that God would send forth laborers to bring in His harvest.

The disciples are not called missionaries until Matthew 10:2, but they already have their first missionary assignment in 9:38. Their assignment is to pray God to send missionaries. Why should it be necessary to pray God for this? It is logical that since the harvest is His, He should take care of sending out laborers without having to be asked. The answer is simply that God would have it so. Jesus was already burdened with compassion for the multitude, but He was inviting His friends to enter into His burden and share with Him the mission. Many who say, “I am open to missions if God calls me” are not responding to the very first command. If we would move from being disciples to becoming ambassadors, we must obey and pray.

We should not be amazed to discover that those who are first called to pray are later called to go out. It is Jesus’ mercy that He does not give important assignments to servants who have not learned to pray. If we do not know how to pray, then He will model prayer for us. If we do not know what to pray, then will He intercede at the right hand of His Father. If we cannot find the right words, then will He send His spirit to intercede for us with unutterable groanings. But if we will not pray, then we have no right to expect any great blessing, any significant assignment from the Lord.

Not only is prayer essential to our commissioning but it undergirds all of our work. In fact, I have come to believe that prayer does not only enable Christian ministry—prayer is the ministry. How can we imagine that we will ever save anyone by our own words of human wisdom. The missionary’s role in the world is to be the fragrance of Christ among both the saved and the lost. And who is sufficient for these things? God alone has the power to change men’s minds, and only to the extent that we are interceding with God for them are we co-laborers with Him in the ministry of reconciliation.

While I was still a student in Bible college, I was introduced to one particular unreached people, the Daasanach. I began to pray for them in 1980 and by 1981 I became convinced that I would be Christ’s ambassador to them. That conviction led me to pray for an interpreter who would know Swahili (the only African language I knew) and would teach me Daasanach. Contrary to my great plans, our family did not actually arrive among the Daasanach until 1989. But I found that God had been answering my prayer almost from the day I first began praying (Daniel 9:20ff and 10:12ff).

In 1981 a Daasanach warrior went on a raid with his buddies to steal cattle from the Gabbra and murder anyone who got in their way. They got the cattle they wanted and committed the murders, but on the way home, Lokomeri was wounded by an AK -47 round through the forearm. The wound incapacitated him and would have killed him, but in the end he turned himself in for treatment at a government clinic. He was treated and recovered, but he was also convicted of his crimes and imprisoned for seven years.

During his imprisonment from 1981-88 he was forced to learn Swahili in order to communicate with his guards. Once he learned the national language he was able to understand the words of the prison evangelist who spoke each week and came to trust in Jesus. I met him in 1989 just months after his release. He said to me, “You are the one God has sent to evangelize my people. I have been praying that you would come.” I’m so glad I could reply, “You are the one I have been praying for these past nine years!”

The angel encouraged Daniel, “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out…” (Dan. 9:23). Prayer is God’s primary means for us to participate with Him in the great work that only He can do. Prayer first; prayer ever—TAMDISO to measure effectiveness.

Tabernacle Among Them

The first two letters of TAMDISO remind me that the first measure of effectiveness in living the mission is the degree of tabernacling, relational closeness to people who do not know Jesus. “Tabernacling” (σκενοω)is a New Testament word that describes moving into a caravan of travelers and sharing their pilgrim life as a close neighbor. In the words of Christ, “Go into all the world” (Mark 16:15), and “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). This is the first step in fulfilling our commission and is essential for all authentic Christian ministry.

The prayer of our family, that God would give us a tabernacling relationship with the Daasanach of northern Kenya, was answered dramatically when we moved to the village of Il-Gele. Our temporary house for the first six months was just a one-room kitchen and we slept in tents outside. We truly became a spectacle for our curious neighbors who would come by and look through the kitchen windows and offer commentary on whatever was going on inside our house. Talk about a high-stress living situation! Talk about a great opportunity to get close to people who do not know Jesus!

When we seek to live close to others we imitate our Father in heaven, because God is by nature a tabernacling God. “I will dwell in your midst” is one of the consistent promises in all of the covenants. Jesus is the tabernacling Savior, named Emmanuel, God with us, because “He became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us.” The Spirit is a tabernacling Helper who was sent “in order that He may abide with you forever.”

Read God’s big idea in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. God’s big idea for demonstrating His grace is reconciliation, and He doesn’t do it from a distance. His means of reconciling the world to Himself was to be there in Christ, and His idea for pouring glory on glory is to keep on being there in Christ in you. He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation, and He really is in Christ in us. But for the big idea to work, we have to be in the world—that’s why Jesus did not ask that we be taken out of the world.

Turn the page and take a moment to sketch a map of where your tabernacle is pitched in the caravan.

Assignment #1: Developing A Relationship Map

This is a quick tool that will help you see what “caravans” you are already tabernacling with. Think of the different categories of relationships in your life. You might use the following categories (and sub-categories):

Family (spouse, children, parents, cousins, etc.)
Church (small group, Sunday School, Ministry team)
Work
School
Neighbors
Sports groupings
Others

Label the circles on the next page with the categories you listed above. The circle in the center represents who you are in Christ, and the family circle has already been labeled as an example.

Think about all the people you have contact with in these categories and list their first names in the circles.

Use the following abbreviations to indicate their spiritual state:

Lost = L
Seeker = S
New Believer = N
Carnal or Wayward Believer = C
Mature Believer = M

Do you notice a pattern emerging? Are you mostly tabernacling with believers or with unbelievers? Where do you need to be actively looking for opportunities within the network of relationships God has given you?

God’s chosen means for reconciliation is costly. Philippians 2 shows what it meant for Jesus to tabernacle with us: he had to empty Himself and humble Himself; He had to look like us and associate Himself with our unattractiveness; He took on Himself our shame so much so that He died the shameful death that we deserved. To tabernacle in this world as He did we must “have this attitude in ourselves.” Our holiness (which we received undeservedly) will not prevent us from associating with the ugliness of those around us. We will redeem all that we can of their lifestyle and culture without sinning and we will wear it with them so that we can “by all means save some.”

Living the mission means that when we change jobs or relocate, our first question is whether the new work or location will bring us closer to people who need Jesus. We will look for like-minded partners all over the world who are also living the mission. When we share material wealth we will ask, are my charitable gifts enabling me and my partner to be ministers of reconciliation or just turning the crank of a misery-reduction machine? When we pray for those brothers who are our partners in living the mission, we will ask God to give them new and more powerful relationships and boldness to speak the gospel. We will want to encourage them into high-contact, deep-immersion situations where they are abiding in Christ and tabernacling in the world, not spending most of their time on an insulated compound or a no-contact office. We will encourage our partners to join a lost caravan near them and assure them that we are doing the same.

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19).” This is the standard; this is the tabernacling measure.

Make Them Disciples To Jesus

The second part of our commission according to Mark’s Gospel is to “preach the Gospel;” in Luke-Acts Jesus says, “you shall be My witnesses.” Both of these activities are included in Matthew’s version: “Make disciples of all nations.” The middle letters of TAMDISO remind me that while I am tabernacling among the lost I am to make disciples. Not apprentices to my own methodology, but disciples to Jesus’ Way of Life.

If the tabernacling measure is of relational closeness, the disciple-making measure is of faithful representation. It is not enough for us to live moral lives and demonstrate grace in our relationships and hope that people will somehow see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. We must faithfully and unashamedly confess the family Name, and offer to share our glorious inheritance. Jesus has not called all of us to stand up on a soapbox and preach, but He absolutely expects all of His followers to be outspoken representatives and advocates for friendship with Him (Matthew 10:32-33). We Americans are a cowardly race when it comes to this part of living our mission. We often say, “Well I’m not allowed to talk about my faith on the job.” God helping me I will never accept or make this lame excuse again—it is the very antithesis of living the mission. When Paul was in prison for preaching the Gospel he gave the Ephesians one primary prayer request: “that I make known with boldness the secret of the Gospel, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak” (6:19-20). Is there any modern American who is in prison for preaching Jesus? Let him keep preaching boldly. Is any in danger of being imprisoned? Let him preach boldly. Is any in danger of losing his job? Let us pray for him so that he will keep boldly making known the Gospel. But modern Americans are not in danger of prison or unemployment. What we mean when we say, “I’m not allowed” is “I may fail to advance in my career.” Fellow-disciple, we have already lost our career. When we forget to count our careers lost for Christ, we have ceased to live the mission.

I once attended a service in Kenya where a missionary was bringing greeting from an underground church in an Islamic community. He explained that the new believers could not testify for fear of being beaten or disowned by their families. One church member stood to reply to the missionary’s greeting and said, “Tell your friends that we too are a persecuted church, but we know that the world has never allowed Christians to speak in the name of Jesus. Our advice is: Preach Jesus anyway.” I cannot with credibility offer advice to persecuted Africans, but I can say to my fellow countrymen in America, “Preach Jesus anyway.” Once you have counted your career as lost for Christ, you have nothing to fear.

When Jesus showed us how to make disciples, He said, “Follow Me!” He invited men to come and see where He lived; He ate lunch with His disciples’ mother-in-law. He said, “How about let’s take a trip in your boat to the other side of the lake.” He did not schedule one-hour sessions and weekend seminars on “Practical Preaching in Parables.” Jesus entered deeply into the lives of His friends and taught them how to live, always inviting them, “Come with me and live My mission.”

When Jesus commanded us to make disciples He said, “teach them to observe all that I commanded you.” He is speaking of a long-term obedience requiring long-term discipleship by committed followers. He is speaking of faithful representation of His Way of Life. When Jesus’ disciples make disciples, they say, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (I Cor. 11:1). The disciple-making measure asks: have I prepared myself so that in every situation I can clearly represent the Way to Life in Christ? Do all my friends and associates know that Jesus is the central commitment of my life? Do I invite people into my space to hear Jesus’ instructions for them? Are my partners around the world intentionally and faithfully representing Jesus? Are they also entrusting Jesus’ instructions to faithful men who will teach others?

Living the mission requires by definition a lifetime commitment to following Jesus and learning from Him. The disciple-making measure goes beyond knowing Jesus and strives to make Him known.

Incorporate Them Into The Local Church

The I in TAMDISO reminds me that the third measure of effectiveness in living the mission is the depth of committed fellowship. Jesus’ Way of Life is not lived in independence, every man under his own vine or fig tree. When He commissioned His first missionaries He sent them to baptize in His name.

The modern spirit does not like to recognize any authority, particularly in matters of religion. Many modern Christians even feel that every man should be free to either join a local church or not, to either regularly fellowship in a church or not, and to determine from his own study of the Bible what he will choose to believe and how he will choose to live the “Christian life.” This is pride on a satanic scale, a scale not even known among the carnal Corinthians. The Corinthians at least chose parties, but the modern believer belongs to a party of one! No one with such a prideful heart knows anything of discipleship. I know this from bitter experience.

I was in Christ for 13 years before I took the very next step in discipleship, being baptized in His name. How my slow heart grieved Him in those days! And there was so much He wanted me to participate in, had I only obeyed Him. Within one month of my baptism on May 20, 1980, Jesus introduced me to my mission agency, to my first mentor in disciple-making and to the Daasanach who have been my mission field ever since. Who knows what lost opportunities those thirteen years have cost me?

From the first day that the first missionaries made the first disciples to Jesus, they baptized those disciples—three thousand in one day. The result was not that those new disciples went off in a corner and developed their own individualized theologies, but that “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” (Acts 2:42). The incorporation measure asks us: am I in fellowship in a local church? Am I under the authority of the elders of that church? When I lead someone into relationship with Jesus, do I feel free (even compelled) to introduce them immediately into the fellowship of my local church? Are my partners in ministry around the world integral members in a local church where they are? Are they men under authority? Are they making disciples to themselves or are they making disciples to Jesus, incorporating them into His Church?

In this day many who call themselves missionaries are not truly disciples, living the mission in fellowship with other members in a local church. The Church is God’s Big Idea for summing up all things in one body in Christ Jesus. The Church is the hidden treasure for whom Jesus rejoiced to pay the debt of the whole field. Do we imagine that we could look Him in the eye and claim, “We are your friends, but we just think your wife is ugly and mean”? We cannot love Jesus and despise His bride; He simply will not stand for it.

We know that all believers are baptized in the Spirit by Christ Jesus Himself without the need of any human mediation. So why does Jesus command us to perform water baptism in His name? We know that we have the mind of Christ and are one in Him who is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. So why does the Bible command us, “Obey your leaders and submit to them” (Heb. 13:17)? Why should younger men be subject to the elders (I Peter 5:5)?

The answer to all of these questions is simply that our Lord Jesus would have it so. He desires to tabernacle with us without taking us out of this wicked world. He desires that we call men to follow us as we follow Him, teaching them His commandments instead of letting them reason it out on their own. He desires to start the process of bringing all things under His authority by first bringing all of His people together in one body, the church, of whom He is the Head. Are you pulling together with Him as a functioning member of that body? Are you adding to the integrity and unity of that body? Are you incorporating others into that body? Living the mission means growing deeper in committed fellowship in the body of Christ; these, therefore are the questions of the incorporation measure.

Send Them Out

The last two letters in TAMDISO remind me that my job is not complete until my friends are also living the Great Commission. Sending is the final measure of effectiveness in living the mission, the degree to which we are able to fire others with our passion. It was another missionary-scholar, Dr. Ian Hay, who first showed me the importance of this measure, and it also comes from a study of Acts.

Acts 13:3 tells us, “when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them out.” This sending is the first of its kind, but flows naturally from all that Jesus taught regarding discipleship: the Father sends the Son and the Son sends the first missionaries (Jn. 20:21); the Son sends the Spirit (Jn. 16:7), and now the Spirit sends this next group of missionaries (Acts 13:2). So who was it that laid hands on them and sent them? A few local church leaders! There was Barnabas who was not one of Jesus’ original missionaries but had been sent to Antioch as a missionary by the local church in Jerusalem (11:22). There was Lucius who apparently trusted Christ in Cyrene when some persecuted Christians ran away from Jerusalem and began preaching in his home area (11:20). Then there was Saul whom Barnabas had personally recruited (11:25-26). In fact it appears likely that the whole group that waited upon the Spirit in Antioch were fruit from the discipling ministry of Barnabas (11:23-26), a man who was himself a second-generation disciple of Jesus. Nevertheless, Barnabas did not make his missionary travels on his own initiative, but was sent out by the Holy Spirit through the laying on of the hands of his fellow-disciples. He was a man under authority; he was fully incorporated in the body; he understood discipleship.

Paul also understood that sending was part of living the mission. He was not satisfied merely to plant a church in Corinth, but also told the disciples there that as their faith would grow they would enlarge Paul’s sphere of influence and cause Paul’s preaching to extend into regions beyond (2 Cor. 10). If the Corinthians would grow to a mature faith, they would extend the reach of the gospel and carry the gospel that Paul taught them. The preacher to the Hebrews (5:12) was frustrated because he had hoped that his disciples would by this time be teachers instead of again needing to be taught the beginning principles all over again. Many of the New Testament missionaries found it frustrating that they were unable to fire other disciples with the passion they had for Jesus, but they still recognized sending as their goal.

It was a great day for me when Ed Underwood, the pastor of my home church, came and brought greetings from Church of the Open Door to the Ileret Church in Kenya. He told the whole story of how I grew up in the Sunday School and learned the Bible at that local church. Then he told them of my commissioning under the hands of our local elders and how I was an ambassador not only of Jesus Christ but also of the people of our home church. Then Ed gave the Ileret Church a challenge that still reverberates, “Go and do likewise.” Today the congregations of Ileret Church send out an average of twenty short-term missionaries a year in answer to our prayers.

I heard one of the greatest radio preachers of our generation lamenting that though his church had grown out of three buildings and now numbered in the thousands, they had never successfully planted a daughter church. He has good reason to weep! And what about me? Am I praying that Jesus will send me His disciples so that I may train them? Those whom He does send, do they find me wholehearted in my passion to bring men to faith in Jesus? If they follow me, will they also be living the Great Commission? Do my partners whom I have chosen to join in ministry share this ultimate goal?

Am I merely “open to missions” if God should happen to take me up by the hair and drop me among an unreached people group? Or am I actively pursuing Jesus and alertly praying for every opportunity to make Him known? Is my faith contagious? These are the questions that measure our sending capacity, the degree to which we fire the passion of others.

Before you move on to read the conclusion of this book, take a few minutes to review Assignment #2 on the next page. This is a powerful tool that can expand your discipling ministry exponentially.

Assignment #2— Prayer Triplets

Prayer triplets is a tool to help you send out disciples that are finding tabernacling difficult.

1. Begin with two other disciples to form a group of three.
2. Each of you use the quick tool in Assignment 1 to identify the various “caravans” you are traveling with.
3. Each of you choose one relational caravan to concentrate on in prayer.
4. From that circle of relationships choose three people to specifically pray for. These are your “triplets”. Write their names next to the circles below.
5. Write down the names of the triplets that your two partners are praying for next to their circles.
6. The three of you should commit to praying daily for these nine people and specifically for opportunities to disciple them.
7. Whenever you meet with your partners, share progress reports!

The Foolishness Of TAMDISO

In conclusion I must say that the Way of Life described above is not a sensible program for producing a world Christian movement. A world-wide movement should have some central planning and a well-orchestrated international network. The first step should be to get accurate accounting, then to do some cost-benefit studies to determine the most effective methodologies, and finally to make sure that all of the members of the network accept and employ the approved methodologies.

TAMDISO on the other hand seems hopelessly ineffective. It has been demonstrated that the very best maker of disciples could train a maximum of eleven or twelve men over a period of three years. No central planning or international orchestration is apparent, and while budgets are surprisingly low, there is a huge investment of man-hours to reap a benefit that is almost entirely local and individual.

The great folly of TAMDISO, however is that even the most educated and powerful preachers cannot do it with excellence. For the Way of Life to be effectively presented requires men and women who smell like Jesus to get close enough to others to be smelled, and nobody does this well (2 Cor. 2:14-17). For one thing the smell is offensive to many! If this is your objection, you are on solid ground; but I have good news.

The fragrance doesn’t come from us but from God (3:5). It doesn’t come from the letters of our learning but from the tabernacling Spirit (3:6), and as long as we are following the Lord Jesus and keeping our eyes on Him, He takes charge of transforming us into His image (3:17). We discover that there actually is central planning, and that even missed appointments find their place in an internationally orchestrated network (2:12-14). And the great advantage to TAMDISO is that Jesus does the part we could never do, taking away the veil that blinds our neighbors, changing them from the inside so that they can breathe in His aroma with pleasure.

Brethren, let us face squarely the fact that men’s minds are already made up and no methodology, no persuasive argument can change them. Why do we strategize according to the world’s ground rules where we can never win? Let us fight where we have leverage and wrestle where we hold the advantage, engaging the world forces of this darkness in the agony of effectual prayer. Let us sell all lesser pearls, so that we may possess that One of great price. Let us follow the example of the Author and Finisher of faith, enter fully into His Passion, and join Him in living His mission.

For a more recent international version of this resources click here for that PDF version.

Before You Begin

If you have picked up this booklet, it is probably because the Lord has blessed you with a home: you have been given some personal space in His world, a space that may be your own or that you may share with a handful of family members. Your home is one of God’s truly great graces in your life; it doesn’t matter whether you own the space or are renting it, whether the space is large or small, whether you are married or single, whether you have children or not. He has given this gift to you freely and He is intensely interested in your choices about how you will value it and how you will use it.

As with any gift of great value, the Giver has not dictated terms regarding how His gift is to be used—there are no strings attached—but He has supplied you with enough information to get the most from it. The information and the examples of people who were successful in maximizing the gift of home are found in the Bible, and this booklet will be your guide to exploring both the instructions of Scripture and many real-life situations that were experienced by believers in Bible times.

The Bible word for the wise use of our homes is “hospitality”, the unique “feel” of a home that is open to the Lord for Him to share our space and for Him to invite others in. In order to experience this, you will need to have a partner to go through this study with you. Choose someone you like and someone who you would enjoy spending time with, your friendship is more important to growing in the grace of hospitality than their skills or even their level of spiritual maturity.

I recommend that you choose a study partner who has a similar household structure. If you are a single woman, find another single woman to partner with; if you are married, partner with another married family; if you are a single dad, find another single dad. As you study the Scripture together, you will be discipling one another in the best way to maximize God’s gift of home. You need a partner whose home is somewhat like yours, so that you can grow together.

For married families, both spouses of both families need to be on board before you begin. All four of you will be partners in this process, so you should wait and pray until there is interest from all four. Each person should have a personal copy of the booklet and should do the study individually before you all get together to discuss it. You will also be practicing hospitality by opening your homes to one another while you seek the Lord for His guidance about the unique ministry opportunities He will bring home to you.

Finally, if you are a member of the Church of the Open Door community, I have included a special invitation to you to set apart your home as a “home of purpose.” After you have completed this study project, a few of your church leaders would like to come and dedicate your home to whatever purpose the Lord has placed on your heart.

If you invite us, we will come!

Colin

Lesson One:
If You Invite Him, He Will Come

The Power Of An Open Home

Next to the power of believing prayer and the power of obedient discipleship to Jesus through His Word, probably the most effective resource given to Christians is the key to their front door. When a believing family discovers how to unlock their home and invite others in, that family takes on new significance in the program of God on earth and becomes a base of operation for the Holy Spirit in their community.

What wouldn’t you give to have had Jesus choose your guest room as a place to celebrate the Last Supper or as the place where He would pour out the Holy Spirit? What if you could have been the family that hosted a prayer vigil for Peter on the night of his execution—and then have Peter himself show up on your doorstep, miraculously released from prison? Or here is my fantasy: I have always wished I could trade places with the two guys who first met Jesus on His resurrection day and recognized Him when He broke bread at their table (Luke 24:30-31). After Jesus vanished right before their eyes, they ran all the way back to Jerusalem and got to inform the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead—and while they were there, Jesus Himself came and those two men got to share in the reunion. That was a day I’m sure they never stopped talking about!

One thing all of these families had in common was that they welcomed people into their homes. The folks in Jerusalem with the upstairs guest room, were known to Jesus for their hospitality. He had such confidence in them that He could send Peter without an introduction to simply say (Luke 22:11), “The Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’” Jesus knew that their home was available for Him to use, because they had already committed it to be open for the Lord’s purposes, and that was the home that He chose for His Last Supper. What an honor!

Put Yourself in the Picture
All of the Bible passages in this section are taken from Luke’s historical account. In his gospel Luke recorded eleven homes where Jesus was invited, and Jesus accepted every invitation—three of the invitations He accepted were from His enemies who just wanted to trap Him! Look up the first three homes Jesus visited and try to put yourself in the place of Jesus’ hosts.
	Jesus’ hosts	How I would feel if it were my home:
1. Luke 1:39-45	Elizabeth & Zacharias	____________________________
		____________________________
2. Luke 4:38-41	Simon Peter	____________________________
		____________________________
Luke 5:17-26	Simon Peter (probably)	____________________________
		____________________________
3. Luke 5:27-32	Matthew Levi	____________________________
		____________________________

When Peter was miraculously released from prison by prayer, he knew where to go. “He came to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered together praying” (Acts 12:12). This Mary had a reputation for opening her house up to praying people, and her home was where the church gathered to pray. Her son grew up around praying people and became an associate of apostles and the author of one of the gospels.

One of the two men who met Jesus on the road on His resurrection day was named Cleopas. He and his buddy talked with Jesus for two hours or more without recognizing who He was; they thought He was just a stranger from out of town. The only reason that these guys got in on all the action of Resurrection Day was that they invited a stranger into their home for a meal and to spend the night. “Stay with us,” they said, “because it is getting toward evening and the day is spent” (Luke 24:29). It was Cleopas’ hospitality to a stranger that opened the door for Jesus to reveal Himself, and Cleo became the one to announce Christ’s resurrection to the disciples and to be present when Jesus appeared. Don’t you agree it would be great to trade places with him?

Everything we know about Jesus tells us that He loves to be invited. When you think about inviting Jesus into your home, do you have any doubts about whether He will accept your invitation?

* What are your personal reservations about inviting Jesus into your home? _______ __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Tell it to Jesus. Take a few minutes right now to talk with the Lord Jesus and tell Him about your concerns. If there are specific negative experiences from your past that make you wonder whether He would accept an invitation to your home, remind Him about those times. Ask Jesus to make you ready for a new era of openness.

What It Costs To Open Your Home

There are very good reasons why some people get to experience these powerful encounters with Jesus while others don’t. With tens of thousands of homes available in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, Jesus knew exactly whom He could trust to open their home for His Last Supper. Now that there was a warrant out for His arrest and a price on His head, probably the home Jesus chose was one of the very few where He would have been welcome.

Another person who opened her home to Jesus ended up with such a full house that “there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.” Imagine this lady’s surprise when people started taking her roof apart in order to bring a paralyzed friend in front of Jesus for healing! I am sure she was thrilled to be able to offer her home to Jesus for a meeting place, but somebody still had to put the roof back on.

One Pharisee of refined tastes invited Jesus for a meal only to find out that Jesus kept an open-door policy for prostitutes and other riff-raff. He discovered to his dismay that he couldn’t have Jesus in and keep the other characters out. That’s just one of the risks associated with opening your home for Jesus—He is a Friend of sinners.

While it was inconvenient for the people who hosted Jesus during His ministry, it was downright dangerous for those who welcomed the Apostle Paul. Everyone who housed Paul for more than a night or two ended up getting flak from the neighbors. At Thessalonica the Jews attacked the home of Jason where Paul was staying, “but when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city.” Their accusation against Jason was that he harbored men who were breaking the decree of Caesar, men who followed another king—Jesus (Acts 17:5-7). Jason did not serve jail time for this, but he did have to post bail…just because he opened his home to the servants of Jesus.

Let’s go back and read between the lines to notice some of the costs associated with welcoming Jesus and His disciples.

Read Mark 2:1-12 about the home where Jesus healed the paralyzed man. The repairs on the tiles would not have been expensive, but would certainly have been inconvenient.

* What other costs or hassles do you think the hostess encountered as a result of opening her home to Jesus on that day?___________________________________

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* Did Jesus’ hostess receive any benefit? In your opinion was the benefit worth the inconvenience that came as a result of Jesus’ visit?_________________________

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Now let’s read about the Pharisee’s surprise in Luke 7:36-50. Did you notice that this was another situation where Jesus forgave a person her sins?

* How do you think this woman got into the Pharisee’s house? __________________

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* How would you feel if this drama were played out in the middle of a meal you were hosting in your home?_________________________________________________

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Even today there are risks associated with inviting Jesus to your house, because He will send His people to you in His place. One family opens their home to a young couple that needs a place to stay between work assignments, and unforeseen circumstances keep the family and their camper in the driveway for weeks. Another couple agrees to host a small group one evening a week in their living room, but as their ministry to the group begins to deepen they find themselves regularly spending more and more time on the phone counseling and praying for the group members. What they anticipated as a two-hour-a-week commitment is rapidly requiring the investment of their hearts and lives.

And then there is Jesus’ attitude toward welcoming small children wherever He goes. When He decides to bring them into your home, you will find yourself dashing through your living room performing the five-minute drill we call “child-proofing.” This drill is performed by drawing an imaginary line around the room at a height of 36 inches. Anything below the line and smaller than a golf ball you remove to protect the child; anything hard enough to break glass you remove to protect the coffee table. When you complete the drill to your satisfaction, any toddler worthy of the name will immediately locate a dozen items you overlooked!

When you consider the true cost of opening your home to be used by the Lord Jesus does it give you pause? Perhaps you are like me and would feel uncomfortable with twelve houseguests or a hole in your roof. But then on the other hand, it would sure be thrilling to be in the middle of what God is doing to expand His kingdom in our generation…

* What concerns do you have about the costs of opening your home to be used by Jesus?_____________________________________________________________

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The Surprising Events That Come To An Open Home

Hebrews 13:2 reminds us not to “forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” The Bible records a time when this happened to Abraham’s wife Sarah in Genesis 18.

Pause for a minute and read Genesis 18:1-16.

Abraham invited three visitors to spend the afternoon and eat dinner with him, but he neglected to mention to Sarah that the visitors were in fact angels, and one was the Lord Himself! The Lord had come on purpose to answer Sarah’s prayer and to give her the desire of her heart, but she had no way of knowing. According to the custom of that time, Sarah did not eat with her male visitors but stayed inside the tent out of sight. If she had known whom she was cooking for she might have been more nervous about it—and she certainly would have been careful not to make sarcastic comments under her breath! The Angel challenged her unbelief and promised that she would conceive in her old age and bear a son. “Don’t forget to entertain strangers;” you never know when the Lord may be looking for a home where He is welcome.

Simon Peter is eternally glad that he welcomed Jesus home for lunch after church one Sabbath day. It was at an early point in his relationship with Jesus and he was not yet one of the disciples, but his home was open for the Lord both to serve and to be served. As a direct result of Peter’s invitation to lunch, Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law; and after lunch Jesus spent the evening healing sick people from His new headquarters in Peter’s home.

A hint from Becca about how to invite Jesus and His disciples home after church: Being prepared to serve lunch to another family after church on Sunday is easy, if you plan it out on Saturday. One of my favorite inexpensive meals is spaghetti. Browned ground beef with spaghetti sauce is warming in the crock pot while we are at church, and the spaghetti boils up in just a few minutes after we get home (and by that time we know how many will be eating it!), and a loaf of warmed French bread and a green salad round out the meal. I make sure I have pretty paper plates and cups in the house, in case we are many and cleanup seems like too big a project. I usually make a big pitcher of iced tea and check to see that I have sufficient ice in the freezer. If we are few, we sit around our table. If we are many, we sit around the living room (or send the kids out to the back porch!) and hold our plates in our laps. A piece of chocolate cake or a dish of ice cream is an easy dessert. This meal, filling and nourishing, is very much less expensive than taking guests out to lunch, even at a fast food restaurant. And the great thing is, even if no one comes home with us, the food does not go to waste. We can either eat the leftovers for dinner or save them till another day.

Read the story in Luke 4:38-5:11.

After hosting Jesus’ medical clinic all evening Peter had been working all night and was trying to get his gear stowed so he could finally get some sleep, but he agreed to launch the boat one more time so Jesus could have a pulpit.

Beginning from the first minute Jesus stepped into his house (Luke 4:38) until the moment He stepped out of the boat (5:11), see if you can list five benefits that came to Peter as a result of welcoming Jesus: 1. _________________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________________ 4. _________________________________________________________________ 5. _________________________________________________________________

Mary and Martha were two sisters who loved to have Jesus in their home. Even when He was considered a public enemy with a price on His head, they were unafraid to offer Him their home as His headquarters. During Easter week, Jesus never spent the night inside Jerusalem, but He and His men returned to Bethany every evening and received a welcome from the sisters. They were glad that they had made their home available to Jesus, because Jesus developed a deep love for their family over the months of their relationship and He risked His life to come to them during a crisis time when their brother Lazarus was deathly ill (John 11). Because their home was open to Jesus, it became the place where Jesus performed His greatest miracle when He raised Lazarus back to life after four days in the tomb.

Shortly after Jesus raised their brother from the dead, Mary and Martha were helping their neighbor Simon to welcome Jesus for a banquet in Simon’s home. After dinner Mary brought out a very expensive ointment of spices that she poured out on Jesus, and He accepted the offering as the anointing of His burial (John 12:7). Think of it! Burial anointing is the service provided by the next-of-kin; it was what Jesus’ mother was coming to do for Him on Easter Sunday, but she arrived too late—He had already risen from the dead! Jesus was accepting this Mary’s service in place of His closest relative.

* Do you think they could ever have wondered whether opening their home was worth it? __________________________________________________________

Read the story of their first experience of hosting Jesus for a meal in Luke 10:38-42.

* What were Martha’s expectations about having Jesus in her home?_____________

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* What was her big surprise? ____________________________________________

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* What is the most important lesson Jesus wants Martha (and us!) to know about what He likes to find in a home that is open to Him? _________________________

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* What are some of the patterns of hospitality that you have seen or done that Jesus is probably going to want to change? ____________________________________

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A Few Reasons That Keep Our Homes From Fulfilling Their Purpose

The lesson that Jesus taught Martha removed the greatest obstacle that she faced to having an open home. She already had the desire to welcome Jesus, but her hospitality was sidetracked by “worrying about many things.” She knew she was welcoming a VIP and she wanted her home and her meal to be fit for the occasion. As she became preoccupied with getting the details right, she lost sight of the true reason for opening her home in the first place. If we are truly motivated to welcome Jesus and those He chooses to bring along with Him, we must realize that He is more interested in the loving and healing He will accomplish in our homes than whether our place-settings are all a perfect match.

This then is the key to our front door, and the first giant step toward having an open home. We begin by inviting Jesus. Then we invite Jesus to bring His disciples. Then we accept the fact that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them—we invite Jesus to bring His sinner friends. And whoever He brings to us we welcome in Jesus’ name.

Some of us have the temperament of Martha, and become self-conscious if people see our living area in less-than-perfect condition. It is hard to explain this to others, but we detail-oriented people feel uncomfortable unless our personal space is organized and neat. Tidy Marthas need to hear the gentle reminder from our Lord Jesus who says, “You don’t need to worry about so many details.”

Another reason that many believers keep their doors shut is that they are afraid of wear and tear, and especially the incidental damage that just naturally follows children wherever they go.

For us introverts, probably the greatest fear keeping us from fulfilling our purpose is that we will lose our refuge. Men in particular feel a high need for privacy and quiet and tend to view their house as a castle to keep people away. We withdraw into our cave in order to refresh ourselves after a long day and we do not want to be disturbed. We resist opening our homes to the Lord Jesus, because we think, “Doesn’t He know that I need my privacy? If I let Him get started on ministry in my home, He won’t know when to quit, and I will never get any time alone.”

Another fear that I have heard some Christians express is that if they open the door to Jesus and His sinner friends, their own family will begin to become worldly and polluted. They feel the pressure of battle while they are out in the world earning a living or going to school, and they just want a quiet, spiritually nurturing atmosphere in their own living room.

One final and very difficult barrier for many believers is that their spouse does not share their desire to invite people in. Perhaps you find yourself in this situation, where you would like to open your home to Christ for ministry, but you are married to a shy or very private person who wants to keep the doors shut and locked.

• My greatest fear about opening my home to Christ Jesus is:___________________
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• The problem with our living arrangement that makes hospitality inconvenient is:
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• The thing about our schedule that keeps us from ever having people over is: _____
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• The person in our family who is most resistant to an open home is: _____________
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Though each of these barriers is real, Jesus knows how to overcome them all. The barrier that remains is our unwillingness to welcome Him. Jesus does respect our privacy and He almost never forces Himself upon those who close their doors to Him. He says to us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he [will dine] with Me” (Rev. 3:20). He is offering intimate fellowship, but He will not overwhelm us or break down our doors.

Tell it to Jesus! Would you like to open your home to Jesus so that He would be free to bring people in? He never refused an invitation, so you can be sure that if you invite Him, He will come. Here is a sample prayer you could pray in your own words:

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me a place to live. I want to dedicate my home to You, so that You can use it to bless others. I would especially like __________ (children, teenagers, Bible study groups, prayer groups, unbelievers) to feel comfortable and to receive healing in my home. Please bring them. Please bless them, and please give me the grace to welcome them in Your name. Amen.

Ask a friend! You will have a chance to review all you have learned from the Bible this week with your discipleship partner in their home. If you look around you will notice that not everything is perfect, and probably they have had to overcome some obstacles to be able to open up to you. This is the perfect time to mention the things that are troubling you and preventing you from opening your home. Your friend will pray with you and the two of you together will seek the Lord for His solution.

Lesson Two
Making Your Home A Place Of Ministry

Discerning Your Target

Have you ever been asked to take pictures at a party or a reception? If you are not a professional photographer, the first time you photograph a reception is intimidating because there are so many pictures to shoot. In situations like that where there are so many targets, I become confused. There are so many good opportunities I don’t know how to choose.

Put a professional photographer in the same situation and he will take far more pictures than an amateur like me, but even though he is taking a lot of frames he is being highly selective. Through years of experience he has learned what he is looking for and he concentrates on those opportunities.

When you begin to think about your home from the standpoint of ministry, the options seem truly limitless. So many people in your world are hurting and in need of a safe place, it’s hard to know where to start! Often it is this confusion that keeps us from taking the first steps toward opening our homes. We need Jesus’ help in choosing a target!

A couple of ideas to get you thinking… 1. Do you have a walking partner? Why not invite her over for a glass of iced tea after your walk? You might be able to share a book or DVD you’ve enjoyed. When she brings it back it will give you another chance to share your home. 2. Do your kids play on a sports team? Why not invite their coach and family over for an appreciation meal?

Tell it to Jesus: Before we go any further in this study, turn back to the last page of Lesson One. What target group did you write down in your prayer? Take a few more minutes to ask the Lord to confirm whether this is the target group He wants you to concentrate on ministering to.

Even though God desires us to love and serve all of the people He brings into our lives, He also gives His servants specific target groups. When He sent His Son to earth it was for ministry to “the lost sheep of Israel.” He also gave His apostles specific people that were their responsibility; He sent His prophet Jonah to Nineveh; He sent Daniel to the court of King Nebuchadnezzar; He placed Esther in the palace of King Ahasuerus “for just such a time as this;” He sent Philip to explain the gospel to an Ethiopian official.

Peter and Paul were both very clear about their target groups: Peter’s group were Jewish believers and Paul’s group were the gentiles. Titus knew that the group God wanted him to serve were the people of Crete. The last paragraph of Acts 9 tells us about Dorcas who concentrated her energy on caring for the widows in her town and sewing pretty clothes for them to wear. One reason these New Testament believers were so successful in ministry is that the Lord gave them a group to concentrate on.

If you ask the Lord to reveal to you your special group that He wants you to serve, He will do it, though the specifics of His assignment will probably change over time. In this study, please notice the way He identified specific targets to His servants. He knows you can’t meet all the needs that are out there. Ask Him to give you a starting point with the people He has especially placed on your heart.

Turn in your Bible to 2 Kings 4 and read verses 8-10, the most famous “open home” passage in the Old Testament. As we see so often in the Bible, it was the housewife who discerned a great opportunity for hospitality and mentioned it to her husband. The Bible calls this lady “a great lady” or “a notable woman.”

* Describe in your own words the way God guided her and the way she responded to His guidance. _______________________________________________________

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This woman has such a great biography in the Bible, you just have to read the rest of the story, even though it’s not all about hospitality. Her whole story is contained in 2 Kings 4:8-37.

* What blessings came to this woman as a direct result of her open home? ________

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It just gets better… Don’t you love this lady’s story! And the blessings she received for her hospitality just kept on producing results long after she and the prophet went their separate ways. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but you can read it for yourself in 2 Kings 8:1-6.

Your Home As A Place Of Healing

In the last portion of our study you read the biography of the “great lady from Shunem.” If you have ever heard someone refer to their guest room as “the prophet’s chamber,” they are making a reference to the famous guest room that was built and furnished by this remarkable woman. But I want you to notice something about the two great things she received from God in her biography. Go back and read 2 Kings 4:15-17 for her first request and then look at 4:21 as the background for her second request. Do you notice something about the two highlights of her life of faith? The touch of life in both cases came to her in the guest room that she and her husband built to serve Elisha!

Just as God used this family’s open home as an operating room for physical healing, He would love to use your home. God still works healing in His people and He still uses homes that have been dedicated to Him as safe places for healing.

Besides the physical healing that God works in people, He also loves to heal broken relationships and to restore the souls of the wounded and the hopeless. But usually people don’t reveal their wounds and broken places in public—it would be bad manners on their part and embarrassing for everyone else. Instead, when we are ill we go to a doctor we trust or to a friend that we know very well and we reveal the breakdown to that trusted person and we ask, “What is wrong with me?”

I have a doctor that I really trust, but I only go to see him when I feel like I have to, because I hate to take off my clothes and sit on a table so he can check me out. Do you know that feeling? The whole process of finding out what is wrong with me is uncomfortable, but what I like about my doctor is that he doesn’t chew me out for waiting so long to come and see him; he doesn’t ever make me feel stupid; he doesn’t make me sit there in my underwear any longer than necessary; he doesn’t tell anyone else my secrets, and he almost always tells me what I need to hear rather than what I want to hear.

Could your home be a place where people come to find healing? Though the process is uncomfortable, will they leave your home encouraged? Will they feel that you treated them with dignity and respect and will they have no need to worry about whether you will be able to keep their secrets? Could it be that they will go home healed, not because you are so powerful or smart, but because they met Jesus in your home and experienced His power to heal?

Jesus performed many of his recorded healings in homes. In Capernaum He performed a great number of healings in the home of Peter’s mother-in-law, but in His own hometown of Nazareth he had no place where He could heal.

Read Mark 6:1-6 where Jesus returned to His own home and could only heal a very few people. Keep your bookmark there and then turn to Luke 5:17-20 where Jesus was teaching in a home in Capernaum (probably Peter’s) and “the power of the Lord was present to heal.”

* What was the difference in these two homes that could explain why in one case “power was present to heal” and in the other “He could do no mighty work”? ______

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The only difference I can see is that in Nazareth “He marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:6) while in Capernaum “He saw their faith” (Luke 5:20).

Now go back and read the whole account of the amazing healing in Capernaum, Luke 5:17-26.

* What healing did Jesus accomplish first before He worked a complete physical healing? ___________________________________________________________

In Luke 8:49-56 Jesus was invited into the home of Jairus, a leader of the synagogue in Capernaum, because Jairus’ daughter was deathly ill. Read the story carefully, noticing what Jesus told Jairus he needed to do.

* Why do you think Jesus locked everyone else outside except for the parents and His closest friends? ______________________________________________________

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People tend to make two errors regarding healing. The first is the error of unbelief. If Jesus was unable to heal in His hometown because of the unbelief, then it is no wonder that in most Christian homes Jesus does not do “any mighty work.” If there is one primary reason why more of our homes are not places of healing, it must be because of our unbelief, because we have no expectation that Jesus still heals.

But a second error is to feel that we can dictate the kind of healing Jesus performs, that it has to be spectacular. We see this sometimes on television when “evangelists” command people to be healed while they make them into a public spectacle. When we read the biographical accounts of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament, we realize that Jesus does not treat people this way. There are dozens of healings and no two of them are exactly alike. Rather than producing a public sensation, most of the healings are fairly intimate and private. Some are inner healings of forgiveness and liberation from demon spirits; one man’s eyes are opened by an application of saliva, another by an application of mud that has to be washed off in a particular pool; another man’s eyesight is restored in a two-step process; for another guy something like scales falls off of his eyes after he first responds to the gospel. One lame man is healed after believing and being forgiven, and another lame man is healed in spite of his unbelief!

Read the account of how Saul’s (aka Paul) eyes were opened in Acts 9:1-19.

* What part did Judas of Damascus play in this healing (v. 11)? _________________

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* What part did Saul play (v. 11)? _________________________________________

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* What was Ananias’ part? ______________________________________________

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* Whose part was the most difficult in your opinion? [The answer to this may depend on whether you think Judas of Damascus was a Christian or not. Take a bit of time to put yourself in each person’s place and decide which would take the most faith and humility.] _______________________________________________________

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Two healings occurred in Judas’ home on Straight Street: one was an inner healing of spiritual vision and one was an outer healing of eyesight.

* Which healing came first and which was most crucial for Saul to experience? _____

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* Why do you think Saul needed someone to host him and someone to touch him?

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* Why didn’t God heal him as soon as he repented and started praying? __________

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Your Home As A Place Of Refreshment

In the Bible there are many homes that God used as safe places for healing, but far more often He used homes as places to meet the everyday needs for food and sleep for His servants. God made us with these “everyday needs” on purpose so that He could show us how much He loves us by providing for these needs and so that we could love one another by providing refreshment for each other.

Our idea about God making us with needs as a way to show and experience love came to us through our friends at Leadership Catalyst. We would be happy to tell you more about this or you can read their book called True Faced (Thrall, McNicol and Lynch, NavPress, 2004).

Do you have a stereotype about hospitality, that it is a ministry that can only be performed by a full-time housewife in a perfect two-parent family home? This is the exception in real life and it is the exception in the Bible. Jesus invited Himself to lunch with the very imperfect Zaccheus (Luke 19:5) and accepted the invitation of Matthew Levi who gave a reception especially for his former partners in sin and drinking buddies (Luke 5:27-32). Levi was a brand-new believer and just wanted all of his friends to meet Jesus—that’s the kind of party the Lord Jesus loves!

Hardworking single women were also called to open their homes in the Bible. One of the most famous in the Old Testament was a widow who lived in Zaraphath. The Lord chose her for the ministry of hospitality, not because she was wealthy enough to afford it or because she had plenty of time on her hands, and especially not because she had a perfect home and family.

Read about this open home in I Kings 17:8-16.

This was probably not a home that Elijah would have chosen for himself if he were looking for accommodation.

* What were some of the drawbacks from Elijah’s perspective? _________________

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[Some problems I notice immediately are that she had no resources; Elijah would be a burden from the very first; she was a single mom and people might gossip about him, etc.]

Elijah asked her for her last tortilla.

* Do you think it took more faith for a man of God to ask for food from a poor widow or for the widow to fulfill his request? _____________________________________

* How did they both demonstrate faith? ____________________________________

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Now read the rest of the story in I Kings 17:15-24.

* How did the ministry of hospitality bring both pain and blessing to the widow’s home?_____________________________________________________________

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* Was it worth the pain and testing for this widow to open her home as a place of refreshment? _________________________________________________________

Homes of Purpose Trivia: Did you know there are four books in the New Testament that have only one chapter? Did you know that of these four books, three are written to give guidance about hospitality? Check it out! Philemon is specific guidance about welcoming a repentant sinner and providing a place for a traveling apostle. Second John is instruction not to open your home as a platform and haven for false teachers. Third John is an encouragement to one believer who was getting “homes of purpose” just right.

Now turn to one of the books of the Bible that was written specifically to affirm the wisdom and value of using your home for ministry.

Read 3 John all the way through two times. The first time you read it, identify the three men who are mentioned by name (perhaps you will want to underline their names in your Bible). Two of the men are mentioned with approval and one meets with disapproval. Now read the letter again and notice what makes these men approved or disapproved.

Review 3 John 1-8.

* What was the main thing Gaius did that showed to John that his soul was “prospering”? ___________________________________________________________

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* What was especially good about Gaius’ refreshment of missionaries (see verses 6-8)? _______________________________________________________________

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In all of the New Testament the only direct prayer for prosperity that I know of is 3 John 2.

* Why was it important to John that Gaius was experiencing prosperity? __________

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* How would it help the kingdom of God for Gaius to prosper and enjoy good health?

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[If you want my answer, I think that John realized that whatever God gave Gaius he would give to others who were doing the work of ministry. Although Gaius was a common Roman name, I think this is the same guy mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:23. Look that verse up and see if you think that Paul and John might be talking about the same renowned believer.]

Now review 3 John 9-10. The word “receive” can also mean “welcome”.

* What was Diotrephes’ sick behavior that so disgusted John? __________________

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In verse 10 it seems that Diotrephes actually abused his position of authority in the church in order to prevent Christians from offering refreshment and hospitality to visiting missionaries and others who were passing through.

* What dirty political trick did he do to the Christians in his town who had open homes? ___________________________________________________________

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* What is John’s conclusion in verse 11 about the two examples, the open home and the closed one? ________________________________________________

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* What are some things you feel God wants you to do in order to be an imitator of the good examples in 3 John? ________________________________________

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Your Home As A House Of Prayer

One of the purposes of our homes that is very highly valued in the Bible is as a place of prayer. That is how Jesus described the Temple when He chased the merchants out in Luke 19:46. Remember how Jesus said to them, “My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!” Of all the things He loved about His Father’s house, the best was that it was a house of prayer.

Would you like to imitate your Father in heaven and make your house a house of prayer? Remember that we are not to think of homes of purpose as having only one characteristic to the exclusion of all others. Prayer is just one of the purposes God has for your home, but it must be one that is very close to His heart, since it is the purpose He emphasizes for His own place.

Let’s take some time in the Scripture looking at some of the examples of homes of purpose that were set aside especially for prayer. One that we have already mentioned in passing is the home of Mary the mother of John Mark. Mary’s home was so well-known as a house of prayer, that when Peter was released from prison he went there immediately, knowing that he would find Christians praying.

Read the story in Acts 12:1-19, then go back and re-read verses 11 and 12 a couple more times.

* What was Peter’s purpose in coming to Mary’s house? _____________________

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We can tell that Peter was not coming to Mary’s house for a place to stay or a place to eat because he immediately left them to go to another place in verse 17. The only reason that Peter stopped at Mary’s house was to show them God’s answer to prayer and to allow praying Christians to be the ones to report the good news of God’s answer to the rest of the church. This is one of the great blessings that comes to a house of prayer.

* What are some other blessings that you would expect to come to a house of prayer? ____________________________________________________________

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Acts 10 reports on the beginning of the gospel among the Gentiles. Try to read the whole chapter and notice that this is a story of two homes of purpose.

* What were the characteristics of Cornelius’ home (v.2)? ______________________

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* What do verses 5-6 tell you about Simon the tanner and his home? ____________

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* To what extent were these two houses “open homes”? Re-read verse 23 and verse 48 as you think about your answer. ______________________________________

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* Would you characterize these two homes as “houses of prayer”? ______________

Did you notice that in order to accomplish His purposes, God used two open homes and two men of prayer? It is no accident that Cornelius and his entire household received the Holy Spirit in verse 44. His home was well known as a house of prayer long before he met Peter. When he heard that Peter was coming, he was able to gather a large number of people, relatives and close friends. Cornelius was dedicated to knowing God through prayer, and that is why his home became a house of prayer and the place where the gospel first spread to the Gentiles. If we want our homes to become houses of prayer, we will first have to become people of prayer.

Here’s a thought… Often when missionaries are on furlough they are looking for new prayer partners. Something you could do to help a missionary friend on furlough is to prepare a “dessert night” at your home. Ask your missionary friend what would be a good evening for them and then invite others to come to your home for coffee and dessert and to meet a missionary. Make sure that before your guests leave, you pray together for the needs you have heard. Most missionaries have had plenty of experience recruiting prayer partners and your part will just be to provide an open home for believers to gather and connect.

* What do you think God would have you do to become a person of prayer? _______

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* What habits will your family need to cultivate in order for your home to become a house of prayer? ____________________________________________________

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* If God had an important message to proclaim in your neighborhood, do you think He would choose your home? Why or why not? ____________________________

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* What are some ways your home can be used to spread the blessing of prayer to others? ____________________________________________________________

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Your Home As A House Of Prayer For All Nations

When Mark records Jesus’ words about His Father’s house he adds, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). This is a quotation from Isaiah 56:7. Not only does God desire His house to be known as a house of prayer, but also as a house where all nations are welcome. That is why Jesus was so upset with the money-changers in the temple. They were specifically there to prey upon foreigners who were coming from other lands and did not have local money—they were cheating the people of other nations in the very place where God wanted them to come to know Him.

Human beings tend to view people of other tribes and nations with suspicion and prejudice, but this is not God’s way. He delights to welcome people of all nations. Look up these references from the Old Testament and write in your own words the way God wanted the Israelites to treat the foreigners that came to them.

* Leviticus 19:33-34 ___________________________________________________

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* Leviticus 23:22 ______________________________________________________

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* Deuteronomy 10:18-19 _______________________________________________

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From the very beginning, even though God chose Israel to be His people, He always welcomed foreigners to come and worship Him. He even went so far as to say in Numbers 15:13-16 that foreigners could make the same offering as Israelites did and that the offering of both the native-born and the foreigner were “a sweet aroma to the Lord.”

* Have you ever been a stranger in a new place? What feelings did you experience? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

* What do you like people to do to make you feel welcome when you come to a new place? _________________________________________________________

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Here’s a thought… Do you know someone who is new to the area and has no family nearby? See if they would come to your home for a holiday that is traditionally a “family time.”

* Do you know any foreign nationals or international students in your area or in your workplace? Write down their names and nationalities here: ___________________

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* What can you do to help these folks feel at home? __________________________

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* How can your home become a house “for all nations”? ______________________

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It isn’t just at the beginning of the Bible where God welcomes people of all nations; also at the end we discover that He includes people of every nation around His throne. Look at this description of heavenly worship from Revelation 7:9-10:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

* Would you like to join God’s plan for including people of all nations? ____________

* Do you notice any hesitation in your heart about welcoming foreigners? _________

* Write down any concerns you have about sharing your home with people of other nations. ___________________________________________________________

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Tell it to God. Take a few minutes to open your heart to God. Tell Him about any fears you have. You can also tell Him about any prejudices you feel toward people of other nations and races—it won’t come as any surprise to Him! This would also be a good time to tell Him if you would like to get to know people from other nations who need His love. You can be pretty sure that if you ask Him, He will make a point of introducing you to several strangers in need.

Tell a friend. Your next meeting with your discipleship partner is going to take place in your home. Does this make you nervous? Don’t let it bother you. Your partner is not going to be grading you on the appearance of your home. Just like anyone else, they want to feel welcome and appreciated. Focus your energy and attention in letting them know you love them, and your hospitality will be successful by God’s measure of success.

Take a moment and go back over your answers in Lesson Two and make a note of anything you especially want to discuss with them when they come over.

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For Those Who Have Children…

If God has blessed your home with children who are still living with you, I’m sure you have realized that an open home involves unique challenges for you. Before you begin your study of Lesson Three, just take a few moments to answer these questions.

* Do your children make you hesitate to open your home for ministry? ____________

* Are you mostly concerned about your children (that perhaps they may feel their space is being invaded or that they may somehow be harmed by visitors) or are you mostly concerned about ways your children may get in the way of the ministry you dream of? Try to be as specific as possible about your concerns. ______________

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* As the Lord begins to lead you into a particular purpose, a ministry you would love to welcome into your home, what are some ways to involve your children in the ministry or (if they are old enough) in the decision-making process? ____________

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* Who would your children love to invite into your home? ______________________

* How have they reacted in the past when you have opened your home for ministry?

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Your children are important members of your home, and unless they are very young, they will have definite opinions about any changes God is directing you to make! They should have the opportunity to learn Jesus’ “Open Home” principles at the same time that you are discovering them, so that the Lord can move the hearts of your whole family. The Bible studies in Lesson One and Lesson Three are designed to be used not only for private study but are also for you to read during your family prayer time so that every member of your family can have a part in asking Jesus to bless people in your home.

Tell it to your Father. God is a Father and He loves your children very much. You cannot “make” your children excited about hospitality as a family project, but He knows how to move them and to change their hearts. He will not call you into a ministry that is good for His kingdom and bad for your kids. Just take a few minutes to review these questions and concerns with Him, and watch to see how He works out the details.

Tell a friend. When you and your partner get together next time, you might want to mark one or two of the questions on this page to discuss. Just be careful that you respect your children’s privacy and don’t share anything that would embarrass them.

Lesson Three
Using Your Home To Launch Disciples

A Fortress Or A Launching Pad?

There is a folk proverb that says “A man’s home is his castle.” I don’t know where this comes from in our cultural heritage, but I can sure see it in my neighborhood. Most of the houses on my street have central air conditioning, so all the windows and doors are kept closed up tight. The modern garage door is like the drawbridge of a fortress, allowing us to enter and isolate ourselves. In the twenty-first century, our homes are more and more like castles and fewer and fewer people are permitted to come inside.

Did you know that there is a psalm in the Bible that speaks to this condition? Psalm 127 was written by the wisest man who ever lived, a man named King Solomon. His home really was a castle! But Solomon realized that the truth about our homes has two sides. There is a defensive-protective side, and there is also a purpose for our homes that allows us to go on the offense. He came to understand that the homes of people who love God are both protected and powerful, they are both fortresses and launch pads.

Here is what he says about the defensive side of our homes:

Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

The first thing I notice about the defensive, fortress side of my home is that I am not the one who is ultimately responsible for keeping my family safe. Read over these verses again.

* Who is the architect and guardian of your home? ___________________________

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* What are some of the things that could cause you to lose your house? __________

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* What are some of the things that could happen to destroy the peace of your home?

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The fact is that we have no idea how many possible situations could arise to threaten us. If it were up to you and me to defend against every imaginable threat we would never get any sleep!

* But what is the good news that King Solomon realized about the defensive side of our homes? ________________________________________________________

In the first part of Psalm 127 we learn that the Lord is the only one who can keep our homes safe. The defensive fortress side to our homes is His responsibility, not ours.

Now read the second half of the psalm:

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Do you notice the difference? The first part of the psalm was all about defense, but the second half is all about offense. The fortress is defensive, but arrows are for attacking. The fortress stays in one place even when it is surrounded by enemies, but arrows are for going out to “have a little talk” with those enemies in the gate.

* In what ways are children like arrows? ___________________________________

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Many Christians do not have children of their own, but they still have “arrows” in this sense.

* What other people in our life are like arrows ready for us to launch them? ________

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Psalm 127 was written for people who love God, to give them confidence in spite of the hazards and dangers around them. Perhaps you have a particularly difficult time experiencing this confidence, because of things that happened to you in the home where you grew up or things you see happening in the culture around you.

* What experiences from your past keep you from being able to trust the Lord to protect you and your family? ______________________________________________

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* What hazards in your environment make you fearful about launching out the “arrows” (children, close friends, disciples) God has given you? ________________

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Tell it to Jesus. Take a few minutes right now to tell the Lord about your fears. Ask Him to give you confidence as you welcome others into your home and as you send out your disciples into the world.

Ask a friend! Before your next meeting with your discipleship partner, you have an important assignment. Your partner will help you to think through how to invite someone into your home for hospitality. This may seem very natural to you, but it might also make you feel a bit anxious. Your partner will be very glad to lend an ear to listen to the anxieties you are dealing with. More importantly, they will pray with you for the Lord to give you confidence, and to make your home a blessing.

A Case History: The Greatest Missionary Family In The New Testament

If you were asked who was the greatest missionary in the New Testament, what would you answer? Many people would immediately think of Jesus, because He is the One who sends out the missionaries. Some would say Paul was the greatest missionary because most of the story of Acts is about his travels. But there is a family in the background of the missionary story who preceded Paul on every continent where he preached and who prepared the way for all of his most enduring missionary outreaches. If we are talking about the missionaries who covered the most ground and arrived there first, Priscilla (also called Prisca) and Aquila head the list as the greatest missionary family in the New Testament—even ahead of the apostles.

Does this answer surprise you? They didn’t write any of the books of the Bible, and they did not preach any sermons that we know about; what they did do was to courageously use their home as a platform to make disciples for the Lord Jesus everywhere He sent them. Christ sent them first to Corinth when they were forced out of Rome, and their factory became the birthplace of the church in Greece. Then He sent them to Ephesus, and their home became the birthplace of the church in Asia. Then He let them go back home to Rome, so that they could plant the church in Italy at least three or four years before Paul arrived. In fact, all of Paul’s long-term missionary projects (18 months in Corinth, 24 months in Ephesus, and two or more years in Rome) were made possible because Prisca and Aquila had moved into those cities ahead of time and developed a network of relationships. Here is what Paul had to say about this courageous couple (Romans 16:3-4): “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”

Read Priscilla (Prisca) and Aquila’s biography in these Bible passages and notice how in each case they prepared the way for the gospel.

* Read Acts 18:1-5. How did Prisca and Aquila help Paul plant the church in Corinth? __________________________________________________________________

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* Read Acts 18:18-28. In this passage the Aquila family moved from Corinth to Ephesus. How did they continue to promote the growth of the church at Achaia (Corinth) even after they had moved overseas to Ephesus?___________________________

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Apollos was a legal scholar and a great public speaker, more gifted in preaching than even Paul was. He had a long and fruitful ministry as a preacher of the gospel in Corinth and in many of the other churches. Do you find it surprising that the Lord sent him to Prisca and Aquila’s home for training instead of to the home of one of the apostles?

Time Out! Let’s just take a break from this story for a minute. Not all of us are called to be full time missionaries. Perhaps you know a few people you consider to be missionaries and perhaps you pray for them or at least have their picture on your fridge. If you asked Priscilla and Aquila at this time in their lives whether they considered themselves missionaries, what do you think they would say? Were they doing anything that an ordinary Christian couldn’t do?

Keep on reading the story from 19:1-10. More than a year had passed since Paul left the Aquila family in Ephesus. Do you think their lead-time in Ephesus had anything to do with the fact that Paul found disciples there already and that he was able to spend two more years just teaching the disciples that had already believed?

After Paul left Ephesus to continue his third missionary journey he was able to send back to Corinth a greeting from their friends Aquila & Priscilla.

* What strikes you when you read this special message in I Corinthians 16:19? ____

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For years Paul had wanted to go to Rome and preach the gospel, but Jesus kept delaying him until the time was right for him to go. We know many things that the Lord did to prepare Paul for his ministry in Rome, and not much about how He prepared Rome for the ministry of Paul. But guess who He sent to Rome to start a church before Paul arrived? Turn in your Bible to Romans 16, to the list of the Christians in Rome that Paul was most attached to. Notice who is at the head of the list (Romans 16:3-5).

* What do these verses tell you about Prisca and Aquila’s life and ministry? _______

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* From the case study of the Aquila family, how would you describe their missionary strategy? __________________________________________________________

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* What would you say their priorities were regarding their home?________________

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their family business? ________________________________________________

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and their willingness to move and start over? ______________________________

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* When you consider what it would mean for you to move your home and family business, would you welcome this as God’s plan to extend your ministry or would you fight to keep what you’ve got? __________________________________________

* Would you say your home is currently more like a fortress or a launching pad?____

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The Heart Is Where Home Is

You read that title correctly. The American proverb says, “Home is where the heart is,” but in the teaching of Jesus the heart goes to wherever home is. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). The treasure He is speaking of is whatever we most highly prize. If that treasure is stocks and bonds, then our heart will constantly return to check on how those treasures are doing. If what we prize is our career or our family business, then we will spend most of our waking hours thinking about advancing our career or business. If what we prize is our home here on earth, we will invest our energy in it and set our hearts upon the earth.

This truth brings me to a very difficult realization: your home and my home may be preventing us from following Jesus!

Read what Jesus said to one very zealous disciple in Matthew 8:18-20.

* Do you think the scribe got into the boat?__________________________________

* What was it in the scribe’s heart that was holding him back from being able to go with Jesus? ________________________________________________________

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Put yourself in the scribe’s place. If you had the chance to go everywhere with Jesus and walk with him, but if it meant you had to abandon your home, would you do it?

One of the most heartbreaking experiences I have is when the Lord sends me to share missionary opportunities in various churches and Bible schools. For every person who responds to the need and presents himself to Jesus for service there are at least four or five who tell me that they would love to serve Christ in foreign lands but they find it too hard to leave their homes and uproot their families. This makes me very sad. I am saddened not because they can’t go overseas (very few Christians are called to do this!) but because they are missing the significance of the home and family Christ has given them. Their heart has somehow become anchored to an earthly home, when Jesus wants to draw them away from this toward the home He has prepared.

Take some time to read below these comforting words from Jesus’ last conversation with His disciples (John 14:1-3):

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many [homes]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

In this passage I supplied the word “homes” where Jesus literally said “dwellings.” Jesus used this word to distinguish between a house and a home. A house is just a place, but a home has the emotional attachment of belonging. Jesus made us a promise that He will keep: you and I have a home; and you and I have a place where we belong. Let me say it again, “You have a home prepared especially for you by Jesus and it will never be taken away.”

You and I have a longing in our heart for a home that we will never have to abandon, and God put that desire deep within us. No house or home on this earth will ever be able to satisfy that longing. If your house lasts long enough for you to finish paying the mortgage, you may consider yourself fortunate! But Jesus whispers His promise, “I have prepared a dwelling place for you that is far better. I am custom building it with you in mind. It won’t wear out, and you won’t have to move.” When you are looking at houses, location is the most important consideration. Look back at Jesus’ promise to you.

* What are two things you notice about the location of your custom home (notice especially verse 3)? __________________________________________________

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Although location is the most important thing about housing, in Los Angeles County where I live, another important consideration is durability. Can the house and the neighborhood survive an earthquake? Look up Hebrews 12:25-28 and notice the difference between the Israelite kingdom on earth and the kingdom of God in heaven.

* What does verse 28 tell us about the heavenly kingdom’s durability? ____________

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The Main Thing Not To Do

As you think through the attitude God wants you to have toward your home and how you can open it for Him to use, it is important to keep a couple of definitions in mind. “Hospitality” is the attitude of openness and generosity that welcomes needy people. “Entertaining” is the attitude of display that makes a favorable impression on people who are important to you. My partner Ed Underwood’s proverb is that entertaining says, “Look at me!” while hospitality says, “Look at you!”

Jesus had many important things to say regarding hospitality and we will look at them in just a moment. But first let’s look at what He did. He was happy to accept any invitation, but He also received and welcomed guests. The first thing He did after He was baptized was to welcome Andrew and Andrew’s friend to spend the night with Him. Then Andrew went and found his brother Peter, and apparently Jesus fed and housed Peter as well (John 1:37-42). And do you remember Jesus’ first miracle? It happened at a wedding feast in Cana. Jesus was invited along with His disciples, and His mother was somehow involved in organizing the reception (John 2:1-11).

Take time to read John 6:1-15 and then read John 21:1-13. These passages describe the times when Jesus modeled hospitality. Try answering the following questions keeping in mind Jesus’ attitude toward needy people in the four passages above (housing for Andrew; water into wine; food for 5000; breakfast for the team).

* What motivated Jesus to turn water into wine or to feed the crowds? ____________

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* What actions did He take to keep people from being impressed with His (pretty spectacular!) hospitality? _____________________________________________

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When Jesus Himself was hungry and thirsty He did not do miracles to provide for His own needs (for example after His long and tiring trip in John 4:6-7).

* Why do you think He created food and drink for others and not for Himself? ______

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Many times Jesus accepted invitations to visit in other people’s homes, and we already noticed that He never turned down an invitation. Once when He was invited to the home of one of the important Pharisees He gave specific instructions on how to give and receive hospitality. He noticed that the big shots in Jerusalem used their homes as platforms for entertaining important contacts rather than as places to care for needy and hurting people. Jesus decided to concentrate His attention on the one man in the crowd who was not trying to impress anyone.

Read the account of Jesus’ actions and His instructions in Luke 14:1-14.

* What is the most important thing not to do if you are a guest? (Put this in the con text of your world and the invitations you typically receive.) __________________

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* What is the most important thing not to do if you are a host? _________________

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* When you think about people you would like to invite to your home, which of these people would Jesus advise you to invite? ___________________________

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A good question to ask yourself before you invite someone over to your home is, “Am I doing this because of social obligation or because I feel this person has needs that Jesus wants to meet in my home?” If you are convinced that Jesus wants to meet someone’s need or heal someone’s hurt in your home, then you can pray in confidence that the Lord will bless your time together. You will be asking the Lord to give a gift to your guest, and you won’t be taking the credit for it.

Your assignment! Before you meet with your discipleship partner to discuss this final lesson, you need to complete one extremely important assignment. This discipleship course will miss its main purpose unless you accept and follow through on this crucial task. Spend some time asking the Lord Jesus about people in your life who need His touch of healing and encouragement. Ask Him to help you choose a guest or two to invite over to your home for a couple of hours of refreshment. Ask Him to search your heart so that you can be sure your motive is to bless them and not to entertain them. Then take at least a couple of days to pray that He will use their time in your home to encourage and build them up. Then invite them over and see what Jesus does in your home! If Jesus is doing it, you can be sure it won’t all go according to your plan. When you get together with your partner to discuss this lesson, tell them your perception about how your assignment went. Write down a few notes so you’ll remember what you want to discuss: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Home-Team: The Next Step In Increasing Your Reach.

Have you ever noticed how some of the best apparent opportunities come up empty while some opportunities with very small potential produce big results? Whether it is the NFL draft or a movie premiere or the release of a new software product, often success is wrapped in the most inconspicuous package.

It was like that when Paul first brought the gospel to Greece. The city with the greatest obvious potential was Athens. In Athens there was no persecution from the Jewish authorities, and Paul was invited to speak at Mars Hill, the prime venue for religious discussion in the whole world. Acts 17:17 also reports that “he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” These were great opportunities with every expectation of success, but Paul was not able to establish a church of any kind in Athens.

Instead of impressive Athens, it was corrupt Corinth where the church really took root. The impressive opportunity with the big names on Mars Hill resulted in only a handful of conversions, but the church in Greece was planted in a small factory in the Jewish quarter of Corinth, and the real growth occurred in an obscure home near the synagogue. Why did the church plant succeed in Corinth rather than Athens? The venues were less impressive, the hearers were few, the persecution was greater, but in Corinth Paul was able to “continue a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:11).

When we read the account of Paul’s preaching in Athens and Corinth side by side, the main difference we notice is that in Corinth Paul found two open homes from which to minister and in Corinth his team was back together. Back at Athens there were great opportunities, but in Athens he was alone. In Corinth the team was back and unified; and “when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 18:5).

Would you like to see long-lasting results from the gospel in your city? During this discipleship study we have noticed over and over again how important an open home is to the progress of the gospel. You have been growing in your willingness and confidence that God will use your home to bring glory to Himself. But more importantly, I hope you have been growing to know and love the family that is partnering with you in this process. It isn’t just about the place where you meet, it’s about the people who are in this ministry together with you.

Read Acts 18:1-6.

* Why do you think Paul held off on preaching the controversial parts of his message until his partners arrived? ______________________________________

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Up until the Jewish leaders rejected Paul, he had been teaching in the synagogue. But then he began to teach next door (Acts 18:7-8). Describe the home of Titius Justus where Paul taught next after being thrown out of the synagogue.

* What made the new location so good for ministry? __________________________

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Remember these principles that are at the heart of a successful home ministry:

• Hospitality is about opening my home first to Jesus, and then to people who need His healing touch.
• If you invite Jesus, He will come.

To these we can add the principle of team, that home ministry is most effective when Christians work together. Read the account of Jesus sending out His twelve disciples in Mark 6:7-13 (this sending is also reported in Luke 10:1-16 or Matthew 10:1-15). Notice that “He sent them out two by two” and that He told them they should stay in whatever home would receive them.

* If there was no open home in a place, what should the disciples do? ____________

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Jesus sent his men out in teams; there were no lone rangers. Two-by-two is an important ministry principle that Jesus insisted upon. The other principle He insisted on is to look for an open home and use it as a platform for ministry. If there is no open home, then go somewhere else.

At Church of the Open Door we practice these principles in our small group ministry. We insist that there should be two families in partnership to care for the group and there has to be an open home where the small group can regularly meet. Sometimes we have to wait and pray for many months before the right team comes together and the right home opens up, but we find it is worth the wait.

* What are some other areas of ministry you can think of where Jesus’ twin “HOMETEAM” principles apply? ________________________________________

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Tell it to Jesus! You have had several opportunities to get to know your discipleship partners during this project. Take a few minutes to write down several things you have learned to appreciate about them, and then go over this list with the Lord Jesus to thank Him for giving you such a good partner.

Tell a friend! If it seems appropriate (and it’s almost always appropriate) encourage your discipleship partner with some of the things you have noticed and appreciated about them.

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A Day Of Dedication

Whenever an important building opens its doors for the first time, people like to participate in a celebration. Often the process of preparing the building has been lengthy and difficult, and it just seems appropriate to get the main participants together to celebrate the occasion.

Have you come to a decision to open your home to the Lord Jesus and to those He chooses to bring? Perhaps you have made hospitality a practice in your home for a long time but now you are asking Him for opportunities in a more purposeful way. As your pastors and church leaders we would love to come to pray with you to dedicate your home and to hear some of the ways the Lord is directing you. We won’t all be able to come, but this is something we want to participate in. Your discipleship partner or your partner family would also love to be invited to join you in this prayer of dedication.

If you invite us, we will come!

Lord, thank you for giving me a place to live. I dedicate it to You, so that You can use it to bless others. It is my dream that You will use my home to meet the needs of _______________________. Please bring them in. Please bless them here, and please give me the grace to welcome them in Your name. Amen. On __________________________ we/I dedicated our/my home to the Lord to be an “Open Home”. The leaders from Church of the Open Door who joined in this dedication and prayed for us/me were: Discipleship Partners: ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

The great difficulty for Christians who want to be effective in spirit warfare is that we face an enemy who is a master of the art of camouflage—in fact, he and his agents are entirely invisible. Many pastors and teachers have been neutralized by his camouflage to such an extent that they neglect training their people for spiritual battle; they have begun to doubt whether he even exists or is personally active. Others have the opposite reaction. They become preoccupied with some pretty fanciful theories about their invisible adversary. And because these ideas are not grounded in the Word of God, they distract their followers from the true dangers.

The Bible, however, recognizes that our hidden enemy is both real and personal, both powerful and crafty. Though his power is great, it is not as great as the power of Christ in us, and so therefore we can expect to overcome him. And though he is crafty, his methods are predictable and every one of his tactics can be met and defeated by the well-trained believer.

We can get a clear and realistic picture of our invisible enemy by watching our Captain Jesus in combat. In the wilderness temptations when He was being tempted to sin, we see him win conclusive victories by walking in the Spirit, by fasting, and by resisting the specific temptations with the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11). When faced with demonized people, He had compassion on the afflicted person and won the victory by refusing to allow the demons to speak, refusing to engage them in conversation, and commanding them to come out. In this short booklet we do not have time and space to notice all of the lessons we could take from Jesus’ conflicts with the devil and his agents. But I would like us to review together the most extended account of Jesus’ combat with the forces of evil, His victory in Gethsemane on the way to the cross.

A Turning Point

It all began in the midst of Jesus’ northern campaign as He reached the villages of Caesarea Philippi. He found a teachable moment with the Twelve and asked them to commit themselves, saying, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter spoke for them all when he announced, “You are the Christ!” (Mark 8:29).

This turning point came after the first missionary sending of the Twelve (Luke 9) and before the second missionary wave of the seventy (Luke 10). It was just at this point that Jesus began to foretell his death and resurrection (Mark 8:31). It was just at this turning point that Jesus held a summit meeting with two of his faithful veterans and three of his current recruits upon the mountain. The summit meeting that the church calls the Transfiguration was not only a demonstration of Jesus’ glory for Peter’s benefit, but also an opportunity for Jesus to discuss his “departure” with proven men of faith who were able to comprehend the scope of the battle about to be fought. Jesus had attempted at other times to discuss with his band of brothers the conflict that He was about to endure, but they simply could not share his perspective. Command was lonely for Jesus, and his Father graciously gave him this one opportunity to hold counsel with Moses and Elijah, men who could understand his purpose and strategy.

In terms of that strategy Jesus was at the northernmost point of his campaign and would now begin making his way south toward the battlefield that would decide everything just outside of Jerusalem. He would repeat the prophecy of his death and resurrection as He progressed first through Galilee (Mark 9:31) and then with much greater detail when He formed up and led his column into the final ascent toward Jerusalem (Mark 10:32-34). There was fear in the ranks and more than one case of pre-combat jitters, and Jesus took this opportunity for the third time to make sure his disciples understood that He was executing a carefully prepared plan.

Secrecy And Surprise In The War Of Nerves

As He had done every Passover since 27 AD, Jesus made his way to Jerusalem ahead of the Feast. His enemies had the tactical advantage and were waiting for him, “planning together to kill him.” There was a lot of secret maneuvering ahead of the Battle of Gethsemane because of the crucial importance of timing for both sides. The chief priests sensed they needed to move quickly before Jesus gained too great a following in the capital, fearing that the Romans would use Jesus as an excuse to throw them out of power. They felt their window of opportunity to be narrow and closing, because they knew Jesus would come to the capital for the Feast (John 11:53-57) but would probably return to Galilee soon after. They gave secret orders to gather intelligence on his movements, but with just two days left before the holiday began, they still did not have his location pinned down (Mark 14:1-2). The object of their maneuvering was to seize Jesus somewhere out of the public eye before Passover week or else as soon as possible after the Passover crowds dispersed, definitely “not during the festival lest there be a riot of the people.”

Unfortunately for them, Jesus kept the initiative and the offensive throughout the week. On Palm Sunday He stole his famous surprise march on the city, winning over the entire populace so that the priests could fairly say, “You see, the world has gone out to follow him!” (John 12:19) While He had them off balance He pressed all the way into the Temple driving out the occupiers and reclaiming it for his Father’s kingdom. His ringing declaration was “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” (Mark 11:17) Each day He would produce fresh and unexpected exploits, but every evening under cover of darkness, He and his men would withdraw, staying outside the city where they could not be pinned down.

For the first five days of the feast the priests had no information on the whereabouts of his base camp and were daily being foiled and routed in their verbal skirmishes with him until finally “they did not dare to [face] him any more” (Luke 20:40). Jesus then took over the Temple as his battlefield HQ while his enemies retired from the field, and He moved his quarters from Bethany to a bivouac He had earlier established in the open air above the city’s eastern approach (Luke 21:37-38).

The move to Mt. Olive was a feint necessary to spare his civilian partisans in Bethany town, where He had been staying in the home of his friend Lazarus and (still more astutely) in the home of Simon the Leper. Simon’s was the one home his religious enemies could not search for fear of leprous infection, or at the very least, ceremonial defilement. But the priests scored an intelligence coup in that very home on D-Day minus two.

Jesus knew He had a spy in his company and had known the identity of the spy, Judas Iscariot, for at least two years (John 6:70-71). Nevertheless He allowed Judas to travel in his company and even sent him out to represent him on mission work and commissioned him as the company quartermaster. It was in his role as quartermaster that he was able to pilfer funds and material, and this corruption in him led to a fatal break in his relationship to Jesus.

At the fateful dinner in Simon’s house (Mark 14:3-9), a woman came into the house during the meal with “an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard, broke the vial and poured it over his head.” The extravagance of this woman’s gift caused quite a stir among the dinner guests who estimated the value at about a year’s wages for a laborer, perhaps $30,000 in today’s economy. Because of Jesus’ perspective on his upcoming battle, death and resurrection, He did not share the consternation of the other guests. He pointed out that there would be no opportunity for his own next of kin to anoint his body for burial and He graciously accepted this woman’s gift in place of the burial service that would normally have been performed by his mother.

Judas not only shared the general disapproval of such waste but had the additional frustration of seeing a great opportunity for personal profit evaporate literally before his eyes. He left the company in secret and opened a channel to the chief priests, negotiating with them for a cash bounty if he could give them information on Jesus’ movements that would lead to his arrest. This was exactly the kind of intelligence the chief priests had been trying to find, and they were thrilled with the opportunity, but they impressed on Judas the importance of finding the appropriate time during the 48 hours they had left before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread began.

Seizing The Initiative Of Time And Place

Jesus was quite aware that Judas had now gone over from being a passive spy to active betrayal, and He began to employ him for the final maneuvers as He chose the exact time and location for the great battle. At the very time when his enemies felt they had finally established initiative and surprise, Jesus began to bend them to his will.

In order for Jesus to win a complete victory, He not only needed to overcome the final temptations of Satan and defeat death, but He also had to completely fulfill every biblical prophecy regarding his time and manner of death. Whereas the Jews were thrilled with the prospect of killing him at any opportunity, the one time they did not want to arrest or kill him was during the Passover. For his part Jesus was determined that his crucifixion would take place exactly at the time of the Passover sacrifice. In order to accomplish this, He took advantage of the fact that there was a religious discrepancy regarding the exact date of the New Moon that year and that there were two possible dates for Passover. He determined to celebrate Passover with his friends on the first possible day, and to make his historic sacrifice on the second.

The morning of this first Passover day, Jesus stayed outside of the city for most of the day keeping Judas pinned down with him. As long as Jesus stayed out of the city Judas could not inform the priests, and if he left to inform the priests, Jesus would be able to move to a new location. Then He sent his two lieutenants, Peter and John, into the city to prepare their Passover meal (Luke 22:8). In his orders to them, He was careful not to identify the place where they were going to eat, but He used a man carrying a water pitcher as a cutout. This further insured that Judas would not be able to transmit any useful intelligence, because he did not yet know the location of the meal.

“When the hour had come” and not an hour before, Jesus entered the city with the rest of the company, went directly to the guest room where Peter and John were waiting and presided over The Last Supper. John was given the pillow just in front of Jesus, but Judas took a place very near, perhaps just behind him. Judas had spent the past 24 hours looking for an opportunity to pass his information to the priests, but John recalled that it was actually Jesus himself who gave Judas a bite of bread and told him, “What you are doing, do quickly.” Judas went out immediately into the darkness of the early spring night. Jesus had made it so easy.

But in fact, Jesus continued to press the initiative. By sending Judas away after dark, he left his enemies very few options to exploit their supposed element of surprise. They would have to move immediately in order to capture Jesus before He left the city for the night. Judas must have brought them straight to the guest room that he himself had just left a couple of hours before, but to their chagrin, the evidence of the seder celebration remained but Jesus and his company had moved to higher ground.

Jesus accomplished this maneuver by giving the order “Arise, let us go from here” (John 14:31) right in the midst of his final instructions. He gave much of what we call The Upper Room Discourse while on the move out of the eastern gate of the city, down the slope of the Kidron valley and up again climbing toward their bivouac on Mt. Olive. Matthew recalled that Jesus gave the prophecy of Peter’s threefold denial at some point during this final march (Matthew 26:35). What John recalled most vividly were the many promises of a Comforter and the promises of answered prayer (John 15-16). Luke reports that this was one time Jesus permitted his company to travel under arms, though his reason for this was not for operational security but so that Isaiah’s prophecy could be fulfilled (Luke 22:32, cf Isaiah 53:12). The prophecy was that Christ “was counted among criminals,” picturing the fact that the disciples would use these weapons to commit felony assault, the only crime they could legitimately be accused of.

Pausing at the Kidron watercourse itself, Jesus gathered his men about him and prayed for them in their hearing for the last (and probably the only) time. He had prayed for them at other times, but they had not been privileged to hear these prayers as Jesus regularly prayed in secret. He told Peter on this very night that He had prayed for him to defend him against Satan (Luke 22:32). He had prayed for them all night before issuing their call to apostleship (Luke 6:12); He had likewise prayed most of the night while they rowed over the stormy sea (Mark 6:46-48), and finally He rose from prayer and came to their rescue, walking on the water. In each of these cases, the Lord Jesus prayed for his disciples out of their hearing, but on the eve of his great battle, He wanted them to hear how He prayed.

In this High Priestly Prayer at the base of Mt. Olive, Jesus made five specific requests for his men: that the Father would protect them from death and perdition at the hand of the evil one; that they could experience fullness of joy; that they would be made holy in the truth; that they would be unified; that they would be reunited with Jesus (John 17:9-24). The timing of this prayer was crucial to Jesus, because it was a singular opportunity to pray for the whole company while excluding Judas, whom He had known as a traitor from the beginning.

Once upon the high ground that Jesus had chosen, He formed his men into an order of battle: eight men upon the approaches to the garden called Gethsemane and his three lieutenants deeper into the garden and himself about 30 meters (“a stone’s throw”) deeper still. Without reading too much into his final instructions, it seems that He intended the forward element to serve as a picket line and the rear element to actually serve alongside him in the spiritual battle. His order to this rear element was, “Remain here and keep watch with Me!” (Matthew 26:38) He also told them to “pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:40-46).

Meanwhile Judas realized his time had run out. He assumed that Jesus would return to the Mt. Olive bivouac rather than jeopardize any of the partisans in Bethany. Jesus had made sure that “Judas knew the place” so that he would be able to bring his detachment of troops directly to the field of battle, but by shifting location at the last moment, He kept Judas off balance and ensured that He had time to give his final instructions to his comrades privately out of earshot of the traitor.

Three Waves Of Attack

Matthew and Mark recall that the attack seemed to come to Jesus in three waves. Their details are sketchy because they were posted further away from Jesus, and because they kept falling asleep on their watch. Their impression of three waves comes from the fact that Jesus patrolled the lines twice after He placed them in position and both times had to wake them up. What they remember of Jesus’ prayers during these waves of attack was that He asked the Father to “take this cup away from Me” (Matthew 26:39; 26:42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). They also recall that He prayed that “not what I will but what You will” should be done.

The physical arrest of Jesus followed the spiritual battle and just as He had predicted “the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34). These resulting events are carefully chronicled in the gospels, but the question remains whether and in what sense Jesus won a victory in the Battle of Gethsemane. Certainly every man present at the arrest felt at the time that Jesus had been thoroughly and finally defeated.

Let This Cup Pass

Our assessment of the spiritual battle Jesus fought must take into account that his prayer to “let this cup pass” was the last of six prayers that He made in the hearing of his disciples that night on the mountain. The first five prayers at the Kidron watercourse were all intercessory prayers on behalf of his men, but the sixth prayer was made on his own. The first five prayers were recorded by John and the last prayer was recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke. This last prayer was that the Father would “take this cup away” or that “the hour might pass him by” (Mark 14:35-36).

We know much of what He meant by “the cup” because this is the same imagery He used in replying to James and John’s request just one week earlier (Mark 10:37-39). He had asked the two brothers whether they were able to drink the cup He was drinking, and when they affirmed that they were able Jesus prophesied that they would indeed drink the cup He was drinking. From this we know that during the week before his battle in Gethsemane, Jesus was already drinking “the cup” and that eventually both James and John would also drink it. The “cup” for Jesus was not crucifixion (which James would not drink) nor was it martyrdom (which John would not drink) but it was the severe test of obedience during suffering that had already begun for him and would only increase in its intensity.

Did The Father Answer “No”?

The Bible’s own interpretation of the Son’s request and the Father’s answer is found in Hebrews 4:14-5:11. In this passage we are told it was necessary that we should be able to see a time that Jesus had to obey against his will, so that we could realize that He “was tested in everything as we are, yet without sin.” It was not that Jesus was actually praying that God would let him out of the cross, since He himself had taken care to explain to his disciples exactly how He would be betrayed and suffer. It would be very strange if Jesus were looking for a way around the cross at the eleventh hour, when He had just revealed to his men at supper that He was about to die for their sins. Rather, Jesus was saying out loud in the hearing of his disciples that “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience through the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). His garden prayer is part of what qualified him as our High Priest, because it proves to us that He knows what obedience feels like. We would not be able to fully trust his priesthood if we did not know for sure that He can sympathize with this fact of our lives.

Hebrews 5:7 says that the Father did not answer “no,” to his Son. Rather, “when He had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, He was heard because of his godly fear.” The biblical view is that especially in the Battle of Gethsemane, Jesus’ prayers were heard and answered.

John reports that Jesus’ first specific prayer of this night was answered immediately (John 18:8-9) when the arrest was made. In spite of the fact that his men were armed and in spite of the fact that they resisted arrest by committing felony assault, every single one of them escaped including an inexperienced teenager who was initially caught in the dragnet (Mark 14:51-52). John says that this amazing deliverance happened as a direct fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer at the Kidron.

Jesus’ second specific prayer had been for the disciples to experience fullness of joy (John 17:13), and his third request had been that they should be made holy (17:17). During their last march Jesus had predicted that they would see him again soon and they would have joy that no one could ever take from them again. John records these prayers were answered on the evening of Christ’s resurrection day when He appeared to the disciples. The disciples received the fullness of joy that would never be taken away from them when they saw the Lord (20:20), and they received the sanctifying Spirit from the Lord Jesus at the same time (20:23). Notice that another theme of Jesus’ prayer, the fact that He would send the disciples in the same way that He had been sent, is also fulfilled at the same time. The prayers and sayings of Jesus were fulfilled in the very order in which He envisioned them when He prayed on the way to Gethsemane.

Jesus’ fourth specific request was for unity among his followers, and this began to be fulfilled even before Pentecost. Acts 1:12-14 records the names of the disciples and the fact that they and the other believers “continued with one accord in prayer” during the days leading up to Pentecost. This remarkable unity deepened and broadened as the church grew so that they not only continued in one accord in prayer but also in their material possessions (Acts 2:42-47).

The fifth request in Jesus’ prayer was that his disciples should be with him where He is [in heaven] and behold his glory. When Stephen was stoned to death he testified that he saw heaven opened and the Lord Jesus in glory with his Father, and it is the testimony of the apostles who have been given a vision of heaven that this is the daily experience of those who have “fallen asleep in Jesus,” that they are with Christ and behold his glory.

All five of the specific requests that Jesus made on the night He was betrayed were heard and granted. So what about his sixth request: “If it is possible let this cup pass from Me”? This is a singular request, because it is the only time in history when Jesus’ will was not the same as the Father’s will. Jesus here gives us an example of how to pray when we know for sure that our desire is contrary to the will of God. He knew for sure that He was going to die on the cross and that this was the Father’s will, but He prayed out his own desires anyway, subjecting them to the will of his Father. In this way his disciples were able to see and to testify that Jesus “learned obedience through the things that He suffered.” Jesus is our example for how to win prayer victories even when we know that God’s will is not something that is personally attractive to us. We are at liberty to express our desires to our Father who loves us, while at the same time submitting ourselves to what He knows is best.

An After-Action Report On The Disciples

Jesus won the victory over Satan in every temptation in Gethsemane and his prayers were heard and answered. Can we say the same about his disciples on that night? When they were tested, they did not have the spiritual training to continue in prayer for even one hour. In the moment of crisis they reacted not with mighty weapons of warfare, but with the weapons of the flesh—two puny swords with which they managed to cut off some poor guy’s ear. When the time came for putting their confident boasts into selfless deeds, it was every man for him self, running away from the battle as fast as their legs could carry them!

Could they have done better? Even though Jesus knew they were going to fail this test, He prescribed a way for them to prepare themselves. He instructed them: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” If they had followed Jesus’ instructions and if they had followed Jesus’ example, they could have served their Captain as He intended.

I hope that as you read over the account of Jesus’ spiritual Battle of Gethsemane, you were stirred to desire to make a stand with Jesus when the time of your testing comes. The men of his original band learned from their experience of defeat and in their future assignments and tests became true heroes of faith. Simon Peter who behaved so shamefully on Passover night distilled the lessons he learned in just a couple of sentences: “Humble yourselves…be sober; be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him!”

If you desire to press through to victory in the spirit war, and if you desire to stand with Jesus in the day of testing without running away, then I would like to share with you a simple practice that God has given us to help.

Athletes spend the bulk of their time drilling the sub-skills that they use on almost every play. Soldiers constantly refresh their training by drilling the military skills that will most likely save their lives and the lives of their comrades when the crisis of battle comes, and by constant practice they are able to respond correctly to unexpected emergencies without conscious thought. The principle that they follow is to spend the most time drilling the skills that will be most often needed in time of crisis. So also, when we are training missionaries and disciplers, we concentrate on the skills that will be needful on a daily basis in spiritual combat. One of these skills is the proper wearing of the armor of God. When the Christian soldier is fully armed, he has set himself up to succeed in combat.

How To Wear The Armor Of God

When I train missionaries to wear the armor, I begin not by teaching how, but why to put it on. The first reason for putting on the armor is “so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). The devil has a finite set of strategies in his arsenal, but you have no idea which of these weapons he is going to use on a given day; therefore you need to put on the whole armor of God. Realize that the devil is crafty and that if you come to battle unprepared, he will know exactly what area of your mind is unprotected and that is where he will concentrate.

But we are not in a defensive battle but an offensive one. Remember that Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Hell is on the defensive, but Jesus is breaking down the gates in order to establish his church. We are on the attack against “principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual [squadrons] of wickedness” (6:12). In what sense are we attacking? Well the whole purpose for putting on the armor is that we may pray “always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (6:18). We do not put on the armor so that we can sit on the sidelines; we wear the armor because we fully intend to wrestle in prayer against God’s spiritual enemies. We are not praying for our own needs (it hardly requires heavy equipment to ask our Father to please meet our daily needs), rather we are committed to the spirit war of intercession. In particular we are wresting from spiritual princes and cadres the war booty they most lust after: the souls of men. First we are praying for “all the saints” (6:18) protection from the enemy of their souls and then we are praying for our comrades to open their mouths “boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (6:19). The enemy’s chief strategy is intimidation, but by prayer we defeat that strategy and pray even greater boldness for our comrades who are speaking the Word.

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Before we consider how to put on the pieces of the armor of God we should consider what it means to “put on the whole armor of God,” since that is what we are commanded to do. The parallel passages are Colossians 3 in which we are to put off the old man and to put on the new man (read “new Man”) and Ephesians 4:20-32. These passages can all be summed up in one verse in Romans (13:14) “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.” As you put on the armor of God you are actually putting on the new Man, that is you are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is only possible as you put off the old man and stop making provision to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It makes very little sense to take up the shield of faith after the flaming arrows are already searing your heart—first remove the arrows, then take up the shield.

Ready? Begin.

When you take up the belt of truth (6:14) first put off lies. Allow the Spirit to convict you regarding lies, hypocrisy or exaggerations; then repent these sins. At this point I mentally recite John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the truth”. When I put on the belt I am putting on the Lord Jesus who is the truth. Forsaking lying, I am all about the truth which is in Jesus.

When you take up the breastplate of righteousness (6:14) first confess that your own righteousness is filthy rags, not enough to stop a sunburn let alone a flaming missile. At this point I mentally confess 2 Corinthians 5:21, that Jesus became sin for me so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him. I confess the exchange that has already been made, my sin for His righteousness. That’s the breastplate I’m putting on—Jesus!

The shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace should require careful thought. I change my attitude about my purpose in all that I am about to do today. I have no personal business; I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ with the feet of one who brings good news. “I determine not to know anything [to declare] except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (I Cor. 2:2). I rehearse the facts of the gospel in my mind; I remind myself that this is my only message. The message that I review is the gospel that I myself received: “that Jesus Christ died for my sins according to the Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He rose again from the dead according to the Scripture” (I Corinthians 15:3-4). I reconfirm my commitment to Jesus that I will give this message as often and whenever He gives me opportunity. Now I am armed with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Over top of all of this other armor you must take the shield of faith. There is much to say about the way Roman soldiers used their shields and the flaming arrows that they defeated in this way, but I prefer to concentrate on the spiritual reality of the shield. You know that you have received forgiveness of sin and eternal life through faith in Jesus’ blood on the cross. Now you take the shield of faith by determining that you will live your life by faith in Him alone: you are not trusting your own common sense; you are not trusting your own financial assets; you are not trusting your self-discipline and work ethic. You live by the Spirit, so you must also determine to walk by the Spirit. Confess this: “Lord Jesus, all my faith is in you. In you I can do all things, but apart from you I can do nothing. You must stand between me and the flaming darts of my enemy; you are the shield about me.”

When you take the helmet of salvation (6:17) confess that Jesus is your head and your Captain. If you are not living under Jesus’ authority or if you are kicking against submission, then it makes no sense to pretend to put on the helmet of salvation. This salvation is not with reference to your new birth in Christ, but rather this is that ongoing work of Christ in your life by which He continues to sanctify and continues to rescue you. Don’t allow yourself to spend another day out from under His headship and authority in your life—get under the helmet. Tell him, “Jesus you are my head and my Captain and I am following you. Be also the strength of my life and my salvation.”

Finally, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. When you take the sword of the Spirit, remember its two functions: first it is a weapon against any temptation of the devil, secondly it is a scalpel to perform surgery on hearts that need healing. Jesus is our example for using the sword as a weapon when He defeated Satan’s wilderness temptations in Matthew 4 always by quoting the Scripture. Hebrews 4:12 gives us the picture of the other function of the sword of the Spirit when it says the word of God is “living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword…a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” When we are carrying the sword of the Spirit, we don’t need to worry about techniques of persuasion, we have the right tool to reach the innermost part of the heart. But we are not the ones who wield the sword—it is not our sword. A Christian who steals the sword from the Spirit and starts swinging it around is a very dangerous soldier indeed, but not a threat to the enemy! Commit the keeping of the sword to its true owner and ask Jesus to wield it through you.

The sword of the Spirit is also a scalpel for the healing of our brothers and sisters. It can even differentiate the soul from the spirit as the great Physician makes his incision. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of the Holy Spirit as He performs surgery. But once again, He is the one who operates the scalpel. He is the only one who has been given the commission to convict every person in the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). When we try to perform surgery on another Christian’s sin, we tend to inflict a lot of unnecessary pain and usually end up with a bloody mess.

Here I have briefly sketched out a method that any serious Christian can practice. In just a few days of regular practice the Christian can increase his combat-readiness by several hundred per cent and become a much more effective soldier of Christ Jesus. But soldiers and athletes need more than just drills in order to become effective, they need these maneuvers and skills to be modeled in ways they can understand and follow. And nobody is more effective in the spirit war than our Captain Jesus.

I hope that by meditating on the example of Jesus’ warfare prayer in Gethsemane and his other famous spiritual battle in the Wilderness Temptations, you will gain a vision for what victory in the spirit war looks like and how it is to be achieved. It is also my hope that his example will motivate you and me to prepare ourselves by wearing the armor He has provided, that we may be able to withstand in the day of crisis. Let it never be said of us that we were so unprepared that we could not stand together in prayer with Jesus for even one hour.