Welcome to 2025! Despite weather, we're kicking off this new series we're calling “UNFINISHED.” Speaking of 2025, the New Year is always the perfect time to pause and reflect on our lives. It's not unlike what happens every time I have a birthday, or hit some new age category (This past November I slipped into the 51+ club). With it came question: How well am I spending this life God has given me?
Soon Lara and I will gather last year’s receipts to get ready for taxes. We keep every imaginable receipt, and those receipts don't lie! They tell how you spend every penny. We have mountains of receipts. Every transaction is some decision we made. I just want to burn them, but we have to keep them seven years!
Imagine if you had a receipt of how you’ve spent every minute of your life! “Wow, I spent that much time … doing what?” Right where you are, let's just sit in this question. “How well am I spending my life for God? Have I done any of the great things God planned for me from eternity? Is God pleased with me? Is he disappointed? Have I been faithful enough, focused enough, fruitful enough? Has my time mattered as much for God, his Kingdom, and others that it should?”
This Winter we’re going to study the second half of Acts. Just to provide some perspective. When we read the Old Testament, it showcases everything the Father began to do by his Word, by his Spirit, from Creation… through his servants, his Priests, his Judges, his Kings, and his Prophets. Psalm 145:3 says God's greatness is so awe-inspiring, it's “unsearchable.” Psalm 145:8-9 says of God's goodness… “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. The Lord is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.”
Then we come to the Gospels, in the New Testament. Four books chronicle the life of Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is Luke who leaves no stone unturned, as he carefully investigates everything that could be known about Jesus. His goal was to provide an orderly, chronological accounting of Jesus’ time on earth that we might attain highest level of certainty in our faith. In Luke’s own words, Luke 1:1-2, he's writing “. . .about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.” The OLD Testament is all God the Father began to do… The Gospels are all Jesus began to do and teach until he was taken up.
And then we come to ACTS. Acts chronicles all that God began to do and teach by his Spirit, through his servants the Apostles, through his people the Church, throughout his borderless and eternal Kingdom, from Pentecost forward.
The book of Acts provides a picture of what it looks like when God’s Spirit grabs hold of a people and they begin making God's business their own. Whenever I have this overwhelming sense that I'm not spending my life well, it’s because I've been neglecting God's greater purpose for my life. It's when I've become careless about how I'm spending myself.
The greatest things this world has ever experienced are recorded in the Scriptures. All that the Father began to do… and that His Son Jesus began to do… and that God began to do by his Spirit, in his Church. Your life, my life, this wonderful church (Lakeside)… what are we? We're the continued ripple effect of … an extension… an expansion… of God's mighty working from the first day until now!
This is exactly what the Apostle Paul tells the Church at Colossae. It's inspiring stuff, to realize were part of the ever-expanding work of God. Colossians 1:3-6, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace.” Is there any greater way to spend our life, then to fill our world with greater faith, greater love, greater fruit, and ever-lasting hope?
One of the premises of Acts is that God has unfinished business in this world. He has unfinished business in your life, marriage, family, relationships, this church, this city, this world. This isn't a time for resignation but renewal. In the gospels Jesus told his disciples they do even greater, mega, more things! In his own words, moments before ascended to the right hand of God, Jesus spoke God’s unfinished business among us.
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus gave us a mandate: “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Most of us are beyond familiar with these words. In the gospels it’s Jesus' disciples; In Acts, it’s the Apostles… who are fully devoted themselves to making disciples. We don't find the apostles tending to any other business but God's business. They made disciples, baptized, taught. Few of us can imagine what it would be like to live a life of such singular devotion, making God's business ours!
What is God's business? What is our business? First, we’re in the business of helping people find the true, Living God. Clearly Jesus urges us to “go" and “make disciples of all the nations.” I like to say it this way. Jesus made it our business to “go wider” than ever before with his mission. You don't get any wider than the nations! In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Now Everyone is comfortable when we leave the name of God generic. But the moment we introduce the Trinitarian nature of God as our Father, Jesus as our Lord, Savior, King, Son, and our essential need of the Holy Spirit to change our heart, fill us, transform us, and heal us… it’s a game changer. If you talk about your faith today you will encounter one of two things: Epic Indifference, or Epic Hostility. Epic indifference because our culture is saturated with god talk. Or may encounter hostility to the degree that a person understands implications of Jesus as Lord.
In the final closing of Acts 28:30-31 we read these words about Apostle Paul: “Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Here is what I've concluded about helping people find God: I find myself praying for favor, that I might welcome anyone in my path and be received. I pray that the Lord will give me boldness not to chicken out. But I also pray that God remove any spiritual barriers, obstacles, hindrances… AND he does. Acts shows how.
Second, we’re in business of helping people follow Jesus. I like to say it this way: Jesus made it our business to “go deeper” than ever before. Jesus isn't just a thought or idea. He is a personal God and Savior, our Christ and King, and he desires to be Lord of our lives. For a person to be “baptized" is for a person to change their allegiance away from self, toward God. It begins “Come and See”. But includes “Lay down your nets, Follow me. Be with me, Remain in me” It goes so deep as Jesus bidding us “come and die.”
If you think it’s hard to have a conversation with someone about God, how much harder is it to teach a person to obey everything Christ commanded? When you obey someone, their agenda (their business, their will) must matter more than your own. In a world where people are hardwired from birth to only follow the inclinations of their thoughts, feelings, desires and will…. how do teach a person to deny all that and obey Christ?
And people are so busy… when would you ever teach to obey everything Christ commanded? Pastor, I'll give you 30 minutes one day a week, but you better keep it short, I'm too busy to have to learn the whole counsel of all Christ commanded. And again, sometimes you will encounter indifference—people have heard it all before, they've made up their lives about they will live, they've got their own idea of being Christian that suits their desires. Or, to the degree that a person is ensnared in self-centered living, you may encounter hostility. There is nothing easy about going wider or going deeper with people.
Third, we're in the business of helping people Flourish in the Spirit. I like to call this “going longer" than ever before. To flourish is to take something beyond yourself. It's one thing for me to have faith, love, and hope. It's a whole other thing for that faith, love, and hope to go beyond myself, like to the next generation. But we need to be thinking about our long game. The only reason the Church flourishes in Acts is because of the enabling of the Holy Spirit. They waited on the Spirit. They prayed in the Spirit. They were equipped by the Spirit where they were deficient.
In our Welcome to Lakeside class we frame it this way. The goal of the Christian life, isn't to be a seed. A seed can exist in its potentiality, indefinitely. But if that seed never germinates, it will never realize its potential. If it never germinates, it never fulfills its purpose, it remains dead. Sadly, many Christians have great potential for Kingdom impact, but there’s never any germination. Like seeds on store shelf, a Christian can stay on shelf his whole life, never venturing beyond pew to discover a life of service to God. But this is the norm!
Lord willing, a Seed germinates and grows into a Seedling. It’s thrilling to see new life take hold in a person's life. It's thrilling to see a person’s faith, love, and hope in Christ aroused. For a time in the Christian life, a person can survive on good feelings, good emotions. But unless a Christian deepens his or her roots, and learns to abide more deeply in Christ, any new life will be short lived. Churches baptize thousands of people, never to see those people continue in Christ!
An even greater goal than germination, and basic growth, is to become established like a tree. A tree is one of the most used metaphors for spiritual life in the Bible. On the one hand, a tree establishes deep roots which enable a tree to find sustenance to persevere through all the seasons of life. But equally important, a tree has the capacity to produce “real and lasting fruit” for the glory of God. In the Gospels Jesus walked up to a fig tree, expecting the tree to have fruit. But when he realized it was all leaf and no fruit, he cursed the tree! Are we all leaf and no fruit?
We do have to think more profoundly about the nature of “fruit." Every piece of fruit (so long as it hasn't been bio-engineered) contains within itself the capacity to pass on new life. When that piece of fruit is plucked, and falls to the ground and dies, its seeds carry forth new life. The Life we have in Christ shouldn't die with us, it should be passed along through our life, and even our death!
If I were to choose the most ultimate metaphor of spiritual fruitfulness, I wouldn't stop with a tree, I’d say it’s that we all become an Orchard! The most ultimate goal of the Christian life isn’t just germination (of a seed), it isn't just nourishment and growth (of seedling), it isn't just the production of individual fruit (of a single tree). No…. in every seed there is latent potential, that a multi-generational, sprawling orchard would emerge.
If I were to make a disciple; that would honor God. But what if I were to make a disciple who turns right around and makes other disciples? In an orchard you have seeds germinating, seeds learning to grow, trees bearing fruit… but collectively you have contagious, unstoppable, gospel flourishing!
It's no small thing that a person Find God, Follow Jesus, or come to Flourish in the Spirit. Jesus says clearly: “Remember, I'm with you always to the end of the age.” Discipleship, Disciplemaking is first and foremost his work. For God's business to advance, Christ has to be in the center.
As we begin 2025 how can we stay on mission, and not be guilty of mission drift. The early church, despite its challenges, hindrances, and setbacks never drifted from what was core. As this year begins, go on our website (open the APP) and tell us how we can pray for you. If you most need to find God in this season of your life, tell us your name, let’s start a conversation.
If you most need to follow Jesus, click on groups, there are so many opportunities to grow. If you can make yourself available one Monday night a month, you might check out the Discipleship catalyst I'll be leading. You might also check out our Leadership Catalyst, if your desire is to learn how to make other disciples. Send me an email at jon@lakesidechristian.com for more info.