In my series on the stages of the Simple Church Journey, it’s time to mention stage 3: renewing our life in Jesus or, as I have entitled this post, “re-booting to Jesus.”
Somewhere in the process of moving from one church paradigm to another, we find ourselves aware that this is not at all about church models, structures, or meeting in living rooms. Rather, it’s about Jesus wooing us to himself more deeply, more intimately, more authentically, and more permanently.
After all, isn’t that what he is always about? Continually drawing us to himself and stirring our hearts with a greater love for him?
I have an early blog post on this here.
It is impossible to do this topic justice in a single blog post because everyone will experience this renewal-of-life-in-Jesus differently depending on our background and how God is working in our own hearts.
For some, this will involve breaking down years of religious, legalistic baggage and discovering the Jesus that loves us radically and passionately for who we are and not for how well we serve him or how perfectly we keep the rules. Sometimes we didn’t realize how much baggage we were carrying around until we stepped away from the containers and structures that helped hold the baggage together. We often didn’t realize how much freedom we were missing! By the way, for those who are finding that grace and freedom are at the heart of this season of renewal, you may want to take a look at the Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley.
For others, renewal involves moving out of our churchy comfort zones, re-discovering the awesome person of Jesus and the adventure of knowing and following him radically. Being a disciple (follower) becomes much more personal, exciting, relevant, and Spirit-led than ever before. We become more aware of Jesus as an undomesticated God and more ready to follow however he leads. As we step into new arenas of faith with him, we encounter him more fully. This is some of what Frost and Hirsch write about in their book that this post's title comes from: ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church.
Many discover renewal as they realize that the very heart of being a Jesus-follower is that we can personally learn to hear his voice, converse with him, and be led of him in very personal and real ways. Sometimes it takes removing the crutches that we have relied on to hear from God (our church, our pastor, the teachers we look to, etc) in order to discover that God wants to speak personally and regularly to us. As we do this, we discover a greater reality of 24/7 interacting with God and being led by him. Many people who have found this to be a key renewal-point have enjoyed Mark Virkler’s materials.
Still others have found that Jesus has become more alive and intimate to them through contemplative disciplines and are finding renewal through more monastic forms of spirituality. Andrew Jones brings a lot to this conversation which you can get a taste of here.
However it happens, at the heart and soul of ANY spiritual transformational process is that Jesus becomes nearer and dearer to us which awakens in us a greater longing to love him, give ourselves to him, and reflect the glory/beauty of who he is to the world. Our heart becomes empowered to love him more fully and our values and priorities shift as a result.
Obviously, renewing ourselves in Jesus is more than just a “stage” in the process. It is the central theme for those who follow a God who is radically and passionately in love with his people.
The freedom to know God, unhindered as much as possible from religious or human discoloration, is the central joy and purpose of life. All of the rest of our journey in church-life (life with and for Jesus) is informed by our deepening friendship with God that is allowing him to be more intimately involved in our lives than ever before.
