Category: Culture

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A Culture of Success

Welcome to Kingdom Culture #5! Let’s talk about success. Everybody wants to be successful… including Christians. Everybody wants to accomplish something. We want to have a good job and be able to afford nice things. Or maybe we are a little more spiritual and we want to win souls for Christ and become a preacher, evangelist or apostle. Church leaders want to have a growing congregation and a big building. We all have a goal; a vision in our head of what success will look like.

The question is: Is it God’s vision? Does God have the same vision of success that we do? Let’s be honest, is our vision that much different from everybody else’s. Does the man who doesn’t serve Christ not also dream of riches and titles and big organizations? Is what drives us not the same as what drives them?

I have at least five friends who have special needs children and through them I’ve learned a lot about this accomplishment culture that is in our veins. I see the pain that parents go through when their child cannot do what other children can do. I see the fears of how society will treat their children. Will they have a successful life?

This hit me one day so hard and I had to take a step back and ask God to see things through His eyes. Does God measure the success of a human life by their accomplishments? If my child cannot read or write or even talk by a certain age does God see failure? NO! God sees more! Jesus sees the human being that He died for; that He accomplished all for, so that that precious child could call Him friend.

The value of a life is not in accomplishments. The value of a life is how much God paid to redeem that life. The value is the life of His Son. There is no other qualifier. We don’t have to achieve to be valued. We walk in great purpose and destiny because we are already valued!

Let us examine ourselves. If in our hearts we worship success, if pictures like the one above turn us on, then let us ask God to adjust our hearts and tune it to His value-system. There is a popular way of thinking that says that we must project success to attract those who don’t know God. It actually does the exact opposite. There is even a pastor in my country that puts up a billboard on the highway with a picture of his children and their academic qualifications every time one of them does well! I am sure he is well-intentioned but I am not so sure that that is the message that God wants to send. Was Jesus successful according to world standards? The truth is, He lived a humble life and died a most undignified death. He lived his life not for Himself but to please His Father.

Any culture that idolizes success and glorifies anything but the King of Glory is not the culture of the Kingdom. It is some other culture. Our Father runs out to meet the failure like the prodigal son and holds a homecoming celebration in heaven! Our King delights in using the frail, weak, foolish things of this earth to confound the wise!

We aren’t trying to draw attention to our great accomplishments mistakenly thinking that this will attract others to our God. Rather, like Paul, we should boast in our weaknesses so that the power of God may shine through us. We ought to humbly and sacrificially expend our lives to glorify Christ and Christ alone!

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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A Culture Of Building Empires

Welcome to part 4 of my series on kingdom culture. Today I want to continue to address leadership through the analogy of shepherding. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Let’s listen to Him talking about His craft (Luke 15:1-7):

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

What intrigues me about this parable is that the shepherd seems to risk the entire flock to go get one sheep! It makes no sense to my logical mind! But that’s Jesus. And that’s the culture of the kingdom.

The question is, “What is the culture in our churches?” I submit to you that church leaders today operate by the mandate to secure the flock at all costs. Resources are expended to keep the congregation fat and comfortable and stray sheep are viewed as toxic and expendable. The ethos is not to risk anything to win the lost but to secure and expand the pastor’s church empire.

The value of the world system is to protect:

  • The income of the church/leader.
  • The reputation of the church/leader.
  • The success of the church/leader.

More like a business than the church of Jesus Christ, right? But that is exactly how many churches operate today. Overtly or tacitly it’s all about the numbers; the revenue; the size of the congregation; the number of churches in the network; the popularity on twitter. In other words, the modern church and their leaders are focused on the 99; the big number. Whereas, Jesus is focused on the one; the individual. Kingdom culture invests in building up people. World culture invests in building up empires.

Back to the parable… These sinners that Jesus associated with were Israelites ; Jesus’ ministry was to the lost sheep of Israel. It was the Jewish people who were living immoral lives. The parallel to the Jewish sinners of Jesus’ time would be the backslider in our local church context. For example, the couple living in fornication or the young lady who comes to church after partying every Saturday night or maybe the smoking cussbud or maybe the struggling homosexual. How do we treat these people? Are we willing to meet them where they are? I know a pastor who said you had to discipline and expose sin otherwise a demon would break loose in your church and ‘infect’ others. In other words, protect the flock. I have also witnessed backsliders trying to make a step back to church and back to God, and their leaders put barriers in their way. The leader made them apologize to him and to the church or they had to get permission from the leader to attend a service or to partake in communion.

Kingdom culture is radically different! Take the parable of the prodigal son which is also in Luke 15 (Not by coincidence. Jesus is making a point.). The prodigal son takes all his share of the Father’s resources and goes and wastes it. When he comes to his senses and comes back the Father seeing him afar off runs out to meet him and celebrates his return! The Father doesn’t shame him, doesn’t ask him to apologize and He isn’t worried about the prodigal son infecting his ‘good’ boy. In fact, He takes resources from the faithful son’s share to celebrate his wayward son’s return! How counter-world-cultural is that!

Kingdom culture is intensely personal. Kingdom people take a personal and genuine interest in each individual, especially those weakest and furthest from God. Kingdom people are motivated by love, not by increasing church numbers or pleasing the crowd or keeping a righteous image.

When we are more concerned with protecting the reputation of our church than reaching the sinners in our church, we are operating in world culture. When we are so concerned about our personal reputation that we won’t go somewhere questionable to find a fallen brother then we are operating in world culture. When we are more concerned with keeping the high status or big-tithing members happy than reaching the furthest from God then we are way off course.

James 5:19-20

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Kingdom culture is shaped by the values of the King who left the glory of heaven behind to come to a fallen, sinful earth to redeem His lost sheep!

Copyright Matik Nicholls, 2019. All rights reserved.
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A Culture Of Compliance

Welcome to part 3 of the kingdom culture series. Today I want to talk about how we lead people in the kingdom. Due to their span of influence, leaders have a great impact on the culture of the organizations or teams that they lead. Arguably nothing influences culture more than how we treat the people we lead.

Although it still exists in some organizations, I believe that the pitfalls of leading through intimidation, punishment and domination are well known and accepted in both the secular and church arenas. However, what is still prevalent and widely accepted today is a culture of compliance. Meaning that followers are required by leaders to comply with their instructions, no questions asked.

While compliance may be acceptable in the world value system, a culture of compliance is not kingdom culture. Many church people do not get this. Perhaps it is because in the Old Testament times it was all about compliance. The leadership system centered around a strict compliance with the religious laws and rituals enforced by the leader/king. It fostered an ultimate leader culture that was so dominant that the spiritual health of the entire community rose and fell on the character of the leader alone.

Then, over two thousand years ago Christ entered the scene and flipped the script. He modelled and taught a different kind of leadership. His leadership placed supreme value on winning the heart not just enforcing surface obedience. He said (Mat 5:27-28):

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Jesus was the ultimate change agent for this new culture. Changing the compliance culture that had grown deep roots over hundreds of years of Jewish tradition was a monumental task. Jesus repeatedly confronted it head on as he butt heads with the religious leaders. He did not mince words. Check Him out in action(Mat 23:27-28):

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

In the corporate world many leaders are focused on compliance with the company’s rules and the leader’s instructions. Insubordination is severely punished and not towing the line leads to victimization. When we consider that many churches function along the same lines we should be cut to the heart. The culture of the world has deeply infiltrated our churches. We have lost our saltiness.

Jesus walked in this earth humbly. He modeled the type of leader that God desires. His first response to sin was mercy and forgiveness. He did not seek to lord it over others and assert His authority and control as so many religious leaders do today. He loved us first and demonstrated it by dying for us while we were yet His enemies.

Remember when Jesus gave an experiential lesson to His disciples in servant leadership by washing their feet? He even washed Judas’ feet! The feet of the man whom He knew would cause Him so much pain and suffering; that man’s feet. In other words, Jesus loved and served the rogue church member who was out to assassinate His leadership. Think about that. Jesus’ objective is not to get us to serve Him by coercion or manipulation. He is committed to winning our love through loving sacrifice and service.

The church is rife with leaders who believe that their followers are best served by a culture of complete compliance to their leadership. Sin is shamed and punished. Those who obey unquestioningly and fawn over the leaders are favoured. Corporate world culture with a side order of hallelujah. I believe most church leaders are genuine but just do not understand how kingdom submission works. Submission is VOLUNTARY and in the church it is supposed to be RECIPROCAL. Forced submission is domination, period. Sometimes more subtle approaches like social pressure or withholding love or withholding opportunities are used but the cancer is the same. Corporate leaders use the same tactics.

The missed opportunity here is the opportunity to transform the heart through love. That is what Jesus is after. That is what the Father is after. That is what Jesus came to demonstrate. Gaining compliance without transformation of the heart is no gain at all in Christ’s books. The body of Christ is supposed to operate as a community of equals serving each other. We each have different roles and gifts but we are all directed by one head; Jesus Christ. We submit to one another. We honour one another. We love one another. There is no hierarchy of value in the body. The toe has the same value as the eye. Jesus says it this way (Mat 23:8-12):

8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

As kingdom leaders we have one job; to love all and to serve all. Our objective is not to gain people’s compliance but to win their hearts for Christ. That, is kingdom culture.

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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A Culture Of Happiness

Welcome to the second instalment of this series on kingdom culture. Today we address ‘the pursuit of happiness’. Everybody wants to be happy. Not only do we want to be happy but we believe that we deserve to be happy. Happiness… it means many things to many people. A dream job? Travelling the world? A husband? Children? All of the above? None of the above? The butterfly of happiness comes in a myriad of patterns and colours and shapes.

Look at the picture above. Linger on it for a while. This is one vision of happiness; the perfect family. The happy couple with their adorable children. Now juxtapose this vision against these words from Jesus (Mat 10:37-39):

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What is Jesus saying? Surely, we should love our father and mother and children? Of course! God is love! The message of love for all humanity is an immovable pillar of Christianity. But what Jesus is taking aim at here is a different kind of love; a love that worships the object of its desire. The love that says, “You are the centre of my world. You are my heart. I love you more than anything else!” Jesus is taking aim at what is your highest joy in life. Anything that you love more than Jesus is something you love too much.

Happiness is like a butterfly that rests only on the shoulder of Jesus. If you seek it, it will fly away from your grasping hands but if you forsake all and go after Jesus with all your heart, there you will find it resting peacefully. If you pursue happiness, even through your closest relationships, it will evade you.

Let’s go back to the photo. Think about how many advertisements incorporate this idea of happiness. The advertising agencies know what our deepest desires are and use them to sell their products. How many ads for milk, cereal, cleaning products, are set in the scene of the happy family? This is the apex of many of our hearts. Including Christian hearts. So many silent prayers and tears are said and shed for that perfect husband or wife that would make us happy? How many grandparents’ happiness rise and fall on the events of their grandchildren’s lives? How many are in anguish because they cannot have children? My hearts go out to these people not only because they are in pain but because the cure is not in the place they seek.

We need to stop selling a God who will make us happy with anything else but Himself. There must to be a place in our hearts reserved for God alone. A joy that is not moved by anything or anyone external. A spouse cannot make us happy but when God is at the centre of a marriage it is full of joy throughout the storms of life! Children or grandchildren cannot make us happy but a parent whose joy is in Christ is the most effective and happy parent of all! We are not pursuing God so that He would give us the things and relationships that would make us happy. We are pursuing Christ because He is our highest joy and most satisfying pleasure! The culture of the kingdom is not the pursuit of happiness but the pursuit of Christ!

Copyright Matik Nicholls, 2019. All rights reserved.
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Introduction To Kingdom Culture

It was Peter Drucker who said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I have found this statement to be profoundly true. You can have the best strategy and be executing planned activities diligently but if the culture does not support your strategy the results will not follow. Conversely, a mediocre strategy with activities that don’t quite hit the mark executed in the context of a culture that supports the organization’s highest ideals will bring surprising rewards.

Truth is truth and applies equally in secular and religious spheres. Therefore, it behoves us to ask, “What is kingdom culture?” What are the ideals that should shape the culture in our local churches to ensure that what we are building is truly founded on the cornerstone of Christ? The question of culture in our churches is more important than issues of evangelism strategies, worship format or youth programmes for example. Culture is what will colour everything in our church and ultimately determine whether we are truly light and salt to the earth or just a religious part of the world culture.

Let’s start with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-14):

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The first point I wish to make is that all of the things that are called ‘blessed’ here are not things that are generally highly esteemed by the world culture. Jesus esteems poverty, the world values riches. Jesus esteems mourning, the world is looking for happiness. Jesus esteems meekness, the world values status. Jesus esteems hunger and thirst, the world values excess. Jesus esteems mercy, the world says, “Make them pay!”, Jesus esteems purity, the world glorifies sin. Jesus esteems the peacemaker, the world glorifies the soldier. Jesus esteems the persecuted, the world glorifies the strong. Heaven’s culture is diametrically opposed to the world culture. The core ethos of all of the ‘blessed’ statements is that in the kingdom you lose your life to save it, the greatest is the servant of all and the last will be first. This is the kingdom economy. The saint lives in a constant awareness of his lack and weakness so that his riches, righteousness and strength comes from and is attributed solely to the presence of Christ in his life. It is a glorious calling!

Sadly, the church in general is severely contaminated with the world culture. In many instances we have the same values just different jargon. We run after riches and call it blessings. We cry vengeance for our persecutors and call them heathens and demons. We walk around puffed up because we are ‘Christians’ (or belong to a particular subdivision or have a particular title) and make war in the name of God and truth and doctrine. We heap up titles like apostle and pastor and reverend, building our own religious hierarchy and fawning over the higher ups like corporate sycophants.

We need to expunge these world values from the church. We need to be clear on the tenets of the culture of the kingdom and be intentional about the culture that we are crafting. In future blogs I will go into more details. To conclude for this introduction, it is no coincidence that after the beatitudes, Jesus makes this statement (Matthew 5:13-16):

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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A Maccabean Tale

In the Catholic bible there are two books called 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The books chronicle the history of the Jews during the period 175 BC to 134 BC. The introduction sets the scene… Alexander the Great had advanced his kingdom to the ends of the earth, plundering many nations. All nations were forcibly brought under his domain and paid him taxes. His world reign as emperor lasted 12 years and then he fell ill and realizing he was about to die, divided his empire among his generals. The story begins with Antiochus Epiphanes who was a descendant of one of Alexander’s generals. In 143 BC, he set his sights on the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. He slaughtered many of the people, desecrated their temple and took woman and children as prisoners. After a couple murderous campaigns he decided to unite the world by commanding all nations to abandon their own customs. Many Jews adopted the official pagan religion and abandoned their laws and customs under the penalty of death.

Then one day a Jew called Mattathias stood up to the enforcers of the king’s decree and refused to obey the decree in public. He also killed one of his fellowmen who was offering a pagan sacrifice and killed the enforcer. This was the start of a rebellion of all those faithful to the Law and that is the main subject of the Maccabean books. The faithful Jewish people rallied around Mattathias and when he died he appointed one of his sons Judas Maccabaeus as commander of what was now an army. Judas waged war on all who opposed Israel and the Law with great zeal. His exploits were great and the Israeli army grew to the thousands. They routinely defeated enemies who were better armed and in far greater numbers.

What is noticeably absent from these books is a relationship with God. Hitherto the hallmark of the Jewish nation was that God was with them. There are no prophets or words from God in Maccabees. God was silent. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why these books were omitted from the King James Bible? I don’t know but when I read these tales I couldn’t help but think of some Christians today who have similar characteristics; we live a bible-centred life but have little relationship with God.

As I read the heroic exploits of the Maccabees, defeating all in their way in their zeal for the Law, I could not help but superimpose bible-thumping, hell and damnation preaching believers cutting down sinful idol worshipping pagans with their words left and right. Like the Maccabees some of us are self-styled heroes. Lost without a personal relationship with God but yet carrying on desperately clinging to the bible while our soul lies dead inside. Without a relationship with God, the law, the bible, the church attendance… it all means nothing and it is all for nothing.

To me, this is the great tragedy of the Maccabean tale. A read through the majority of the Old Testament describes the Jewish people always in relationship with God. He spoke with some of them directly and addressed the nation through the prophets. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, they all walked with God. It was Moses who said, “If Your Presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” He refused to journey on through life without God. David said, “Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” What had happened to the Israelites that caused them to go on without God? How is it that they went out against the enemy time after time without seeking God’s counsel forsaking hundreds of years of a heritage of, “Lord, shall we go up against them?” How was relationship so easily exchanged for religion?

When I look at my own life, I see how easily it can happen. It takes work to have a good relationship with anyone. God is no different. While it is easy to neglect our human relationships, it is even easier to neglect a God we can’t see. It takes a deliberate seeking. A deliberate pulling away from all distractions. A deliberate waiting to hear that small still voice.

Sometimes we say we are walking by faith but it is not faith in what God has told us, it is a resolute soldiering on (or even grasping at what we want and want now) in the absence of any communication from above. The Maccabean tale is a solemn reminder not to keep walking obliviously along the path when our divine travelling companion has paused. Wait. Wait on the Lord!

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Living On The Margin

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What do I mean by living on the margin? I mean to walk the line of non-conformance. I mean to be unwilling to swear allegiance to any particular group. As kingdom believers, our allegiance is to the King alone, which means that on this earth we are always on the margin.

Jesus lived on the margin. He went to church every Sunday and he hung out with the sinners during the week. He didn’t belong anywhere on this earth. To the sinners he was saintly. To the supposed saints, he was sinful. They called Him a glutton and a drunkard. They exaggerated of course but the point is this; Jesus was not concerned about fitting in with society’s norms and neither should we.

The margin is my favourite place. Am I conservative or liberal? Both. Do I believe in capitalism or socialism? Neither. Am I Catholic or Pentecostal? Both and none. Am I a corporate executive or a surfer dude? Yes. When we refuse to join the in-crowd or conform to the social boxes, we live in a world where we are a bit of an enigma. Sometimes chastised and frequently misunderstood but always free to express the kingdom unfettered by public opinion.

And that is the issue; freedom. Those who pander to public opinion are slaves to that opinion and cannot truly execute their kingdom assignment on this earth. If we must belong to or support a particular political party, we are slaves. If we must be a member of the ‘right’ denomination, we are slaves. If we cannot associate with a particular person because in Christian circles he or she is known as a heretic or a backslider, we are slaves. If we cannot go here or there because it is a place of ill repute, we are slaves. Every box we put ourselves into, shuts off the kingdom from reaching those outside the walls through us. Who will reach the prostitutes? Who will reach the drug dealers? Who will reach those living alternative lifestyles? Who will bring balance to the group with a lop-sided theology? Who will lift up the preacher fallen in sin? Who will heal the heart broken divorcee? Who? Who? WHO?

The reason that Christians are described as lights and commanded not to hide their light under a bowl is because our assignment is to dispel darkness wherever that darkness exists. The mandate to enforce kingdom rule on this earth as it is in heaven must be so compelling that our need to be accepted or to be seen as right or righteous is overwritten by our zeal to reach the lost!

Dancing on the margin,

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Everybody Wants To Be A Hero

Everybody wants to be a hero. We want to be the hero for our children or in our company or maybe in our community. It’s a natural desire but pushed to the extreme it can do more harm than good.

When we have this hero complex, what often happens is that we do not allow others to shine. Much has been published about helicopter parenting and the negative effects of solving all your children’s problems for them. Our children can only actualize their full potential if we are willing to step down from the pedestal of needing to be idolized and allow them to rise to the challenges of life. Self-esteem comes from observing yourself achieve something that was not easy to accomplish. This growth in our children is what we sacrifice when we put on our cape and swoop in.

The same is true in other arenas. The old adage is true; “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Heroism shies away from giving away the secret of your success. Instead of focusing on empowering others we perpetuate a dependency on ourselves so that we are always the ones who get the accolades. This has been the strategy of successive governments in Trinidad and Tobago and it has been to the detriment of the country. The message on the political platform in some form or other has been, “Choose us. We will save you.” I eagerly await the day when some courageous leader will transform the dialogue from dependency to empowerment.

Another arena that is a passion of mine is the church. Many church leaders have also devotedly perpetuated this dependence syndrome in their congregations. Instead of teaching everyone how to hear from God and interpret scripture for themselves there has been a sick ultimate leader syndrome that discourages respectful disagreement or independent thought. Blind obedience is glorified and taking the initiative is discouraged as causing confusion or being overly-zealous. Of course, the need to covet glory for ourselves is part of the unsanctified human condition that has reared its head from since the early days of the church until now. Religious men have always set themselves up as THE middleman to God. Instead every pastor, elder and priest should be consistently and earnestly pointing everyone to Christ. “Do not depend on me, depend on God alone. Don’t look to me to solve your problems and give you guidance. Look to God.” This should be the message. There should be a constant redirection of worship and dependence and glory to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

In THE story; the unfolding epic saga of the whole universe for all time, in my humble estimation, there is only one hero who deserves all the glory and His name is Jesus Christ! He is the real hero!

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Is Your Image Important?

Ever so often in my life, the question of my image rises to the surface. Typically, I could care less about my image… or put another way; I could care less about the opinions of people who do not know me. But every so often, those ‘people who don’t know me’ are also people who can influence the course of my life. Thus, it is in my interest to care about the opinions of such people. 

On one such occasion, I had just started a new management position and my boss suggested that we meet weekly to check up on projects that I would be working on. I thought that that was a bit excessive, so I suggested less frequent meetings. She didn’t go for it. A few months later she gave me my first performance feedback and admitted that there was more to me than first met the eye. She had not expected the level of competence that I exhibited. On another occasion, a senior manager was kind enough to let me know that my happy-go-lucky surfer dude persona was negatively impacting my management aspirations. He admitted that I had the intelligence and competence for the position, but some who worked less closely with me were concerned about my image.  

To be blunt, this type of thing pisses me off. I have no problem when people have an initial opinion but then take the time to get to know me before passing judgment (like the first boss I mentioned above). But I have a serious issue with people passing judgement from afar, not based on my performance, but based on who they think I am as a person. However, this is the reality of the world. People make decisions about you based on their opinion of you whether they actually know you or not. 

The question is; should we be concerned about our image? Should I be concerned about my carefree image? Should I try to change it? Such questions can be unsettling, at least for me.  

As I discussed these thoughts with my bff, she shared an interesting perspective. She has an image of always having her hair and nails on point and lately she was becoming concerned about the signal that she might be sending to the young women in her sphere of influence. She wondered if she was contributing to the current ethos of superficiality. Are nails and hair the most important things about a person? In the world of fake eyelashes, fake nails and weave have we become a society that is more about image than substance? 

She gave me food for thought and solidified my commitment to authenticity. There is a beauty and peace that comes with being yourself that for me is not worth any job promotion. I laugh loudly in the office and dance down the place at Christmas functions. That is not some people’s opinion of management behaviour. And I’m OK with that. You do you and I’ll do me. At the end of the day it would be nice to be judged only on your contribution to achievement of the company objectives but the world is not fair like that and I’m OK with that too. I am willing to pay the price for an authentic life. I believe in a higher justice. And I hope that my sacrifice will redound to upcoming leaders; that they will be able to shake the shackles of other people’s expectations and actualize their own authentic life.

Joyfully,

Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

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The Fire Series: Making Disciples

 

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19 has become one of the most popular verses of the bible. It has come to be called ‘the great commission’ and it has been used as the basis for the stereotypical ‘missionary’ who travels to remote places of the globe bringing the good news of the gospel.

In recent times, there has been arising a movement that is calling the church back to discipleship. Many have noticed that the missionary foundation of the early church has largely been replaced with evangelism and church attendance. ‘Winning souls for Christ’ has become an exercise in getting your programme on television or radio or social media and then getting people into your church service and then making an altar call so that they give their lives to Christ and eventually get baptized. And voila! There it is the modern interpretation of Mat 28:19! I don’t believe this is what Jesus wanted His church to look like for one main reason; this can all happen without a single genuine relationship between two people. Christianity is personal and relational because Christ is personal and relational. Discipleship cannot be impersonal and non-communal. But before I dig into that, let me talk about what the reaction to this commercial church ethos has been.

I have seen two reactions:

  1. Some church leaders have sought to have a greater missionary focus in their church. Sending people out to reach untouched people groups in some churches has again become a central pillar.
  2. Some people have abandoned the current building/service centric church culture altogether and returned to the early church model of meeting in small groups that are less hierarchical and more intimate.

The fact that there are people who have heard the call of God back to discipleship (and I believe this is a move initiated by God) and who have been convicted enough to do something about it is wonderful! I love it! But what I want to talk about today is less about what we do and more about who we are. I believe too often we do things out of a reaction to something bad and we create an exaggeration in the other direction. Like a pendulum, we swing all the way to the other side bringing criticism, division and cliquishness. Instead, I want to invite us to see what God is calling us to be and let that truth shine right where we are (which probably has some good things that God does not want us to throw out completely). I believe that as the church matures, we will see less moves of God that have been immortalized (or more correctly; mortalized) into denominations (Protestant, Pentecostal, Charismatic to name a few) and more continuous unification and maturing as we build upon the truths that brought us to where we are now, adding to it the current revelations of God.

OK so what are the truths that I believe God is calling us to embody today whether we are part of a mega church or a small study group? We can learn a lot from the added context of verses 18 and 20:

  1. The centrality of Christ: A) The whole mission is based on the fact that Christ has been given all authority in heaven and in earth (vs 18). Christ is on a mission to build his church and nothing can stop Him. B) We are discipling others in obedience to Christ (vs 20a). We are not making disciples of ourselves really; we are exposing others to our own discipleship to Christ and inviting them to emulate us. Only disciples make disciples. Conversely, converts make converts. The emphasis is on obedience to the commands of Christ not on the profession of faith. C) Christ Himself is part of the process. (vs 20b). Discipleship takes place in the presence of Christ. This is not some remote activity that we perpetuate until Christ returns. Jesus wants to be in this thing with us. Intimacy and partnership with Christ must be deep within our identity and the heart of what we bring to the world.
  2. Discipleship is personal: A disciple in the most practical sense is a life-student. A disciple emulates the totality of the teacher’s life. The disciples practically lived with Jesus. He opened up His life to them like he did with no one else. We cannot make disciples at arms-length. We must demonstrate to others how we are wrestling with the practice of observing all that Jesus has commanded us personally. We must show what discipleship looks like in practice. We must have the humility to allow others to interrogate our lives to understand our motives and struggles and even our failures.

So here are three things that I am excited about! Three things that I am eager to see arising in the church:

  1. Leaders that disclose more of their personal lives from the pulpit. Don’t just tell me what God says and what I should be doing. Tell me what God has been pulling on you about. Tell me where the rubber is hitting the road for you. What are you struggling with? What are you contending for? Why is this message that you are preaching burning for you right now? I want to know where Christ is at work in you and what that looks like in practice.
  2. Believers that build authentic friendships. Don’t just come to church and go home. Find one or two believers and build a friendship. Have people in your life with whom you can share your heart and your failures without condemnation or judgment. Talk about real issues like your struggle with porn or your struggle to be submissive to your unsaved husband. Get real and let that speaking the truth in love build us up into mature Christians. Build safe spaces with people in our lives where we can be vulnerable and allow Christ to touch us in the midst of authentic community.
  3. Missionaries re-invented. True missionaries do not really go to convert people. (Yes there were/are lots of false missionaries in my opinion) True missionaries go to demonstrate the love of Christ, sow the seeds of the Word, water it and leave the conversion business to Christ. As I have said before, making disciples is about demonstrating up-close our own discipleship to Christ. In the current context where almost any corner of the globe can be reached instantly, I believe that the urgency to reach people with the gospel is far less of a commission to travel somewhere geographically and much more of a mandate to take Christ with us into our sphere of influence. Every facet of our lives must be missionary; our profession, our marriage, our parenting, our recreation. We must be demonstrating Christ to the world in every thing we do! Are we discipling our children? Are we being open with our lives at work? Are we sharing the reason for our hope in our professional circles? And please do not picture the corrupt image of the portrayal of a perfect Christian life and a holier-than-thou attitude. I mean authentic Christianity. I mean being open about why you are different, imperfect but different.

You can do all of these things without starting a ministry or leaving your church (and I have nothing against either). Just choose to live a missionary life. It’s that simple yet that profound. You can start today!

Joyfully,

Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.