OurVision used to be: Love God-Love People. While there is nothing wrong with that as a vision statement we decided we wanted something that showed more action. A statement is to broad and does not necessarily show movement. So we changed it to: Living God-Loving People-Changing Lives.
Living God means we are going to pursue holiness. God tells us to be like Him even in holiness. He said, "Be holy because I am holy" (Found in Leviticus a couple times and in 1 Peter 1:16). Our values will match up with God's values.
Loving People means we are going to love each other and love those who are difficult to love. By adding the ing love will not be just a statement, but something that will be lived out. The Bible says they will know we are His disciples by the way we love each other (John 13:35).
Changing Lives means we are going to practice discipleship. God is the one who does the changing but we can help connect people to God and lead them to grow closer to God. Our goal is to see God move people from darkness to light. We, the church, are to be a catalyst for connecting people to God.
The Bible is the Authoritative Word of God
What we mean by this value is that we are going to use the Bible as our standard for truth, wisdom and direction. It is authoritative in the sense that it is true and relevant yesterday, today and forever. When a person decides to live by what God's word teaches their life is so much better. God's word provides for us and protects us from consequences that can cause life to be hard.
Hebrews 4:12 says God's word is living and active, meaning it gives life and transformation. It is not the burdensome law so many people believe but tells the story of a God and how he interacts with imperfect people. It is not just rules to follow, it is the giver of life both here and for eternity.
As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 119:105 it is "a lamp to our feet and a light for our path." It leads us so we can experience God. It protects us from going in the wrong direction. It give us insight into life today.
Northwest values what God's word teaches. It is the standard in which we live by as His church.
Prayer Focuses Us on Gods Will
It is the beginning of this model prayer which brings us into focus with God's will. We sometimes run right over the first part and pray for blessings, forgiveness and protection. But it is the first part of this prayer which is so powerful.
Jesus first says, "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name . . . " The word hallowed says something significant about how we pray. The word means "to acknowledge God as holy, separate from profane things--it means we are dedicating ourselves to God." Our focus is not on things of the world, but on God who is holy. It is a prayer of submission where we come and surrender ourselves before God.
Jesus then says, "your kingdom come . . ." This is a dangerous prayer because you are asking for God's kingdom to come which means His kingdom is going to collide with your kingdom. It means you want God's kingdom to become your kingdom--a place not where you reign as king, but a place where you surrender to God's authority. He is not going to just come and play in your sandbox, you are asking Him to take over your sandbox.
Jesus finally says, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The word will means "what one wishes or has determined to be done." Jesus says we should pray that God does what He wishes or what He has determined on earth. Many times we try to impose our will on God. We determine this is what we are going to do with our life or the life of the church and we ask God to participate within our will. We have it backwards. We call upon God's will to be done and He let's us participate.
You see the later things in this prayer all fall in line within God's hallowed name, His kingdom and His will. Maybe our prayers are not being answered because we are not first focusing on His will for our lives and the life of the church. It starts with prayer--prayer that is focused on God's will. This is how we should then pray.
Discipleship is the Responsibility of Every Follower of Jesus
As we create a discipleship culture at Northwest it starts with you finding someone you respect as a follower of Jesus. Ask them to coffee or lunch. Spend time asking them about their faith, their personal journey with God. Ask them if you could serve with them sometime.
And if you are asked, don't say "no." See it as an honor and a responsibility as one of Jesus' followers. As a follower of Jesus, every believer should be in a discipling relationship both as the one discipling and the one being discipled.
Then there are those you come in contact with in your everyday life. And as you live life following Jesus, they begin to notice your take on life is different from most people. You find joy even in trials. Your values are different. You humbly serve other people, giving of yourself. They become more interested until they ask, "Why do you live life with such passion? Why do you serve others and give of yourself?" The door has just been opened for you to share with them about your faith in God. Then discipleship begins.
It may not be frequent conversations, but they are authentic and real. The conversations begin to get deeper and more personal.
Your nature being brought up in the church is to immediately invite them to church. DON"T! We have to get past the idea that discipleship is all about inviting them to church and getting them plugged in. If you wait, going to church will be their idea. "Would it be alright if came to church with you?"
When that question comes out, you say . . . "Absolutely!" You meet them at the door. You introduce them to some of your friends. You maybe even go out to dinner with them or at least for coffee later that week to see if they have any questions about worship.
Many times people who say they follow Jesus don't engage in discipleship. They just go to church. But if you say you follow Jesus, that you are one of his disciples, then you will obey him, right?
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely i am with you always, to the very end of the age." -- Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20)
Lost People Matter To God Therefore They Matter to Us
Believe it or not this is a hard core value for a lot of people. Why? Because whenever you talk about having an outward focus people quickly jump to, "We have to take care of ourselves first."
David Sharp, a 34 year old man who managed to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. The problem is he never made it back. The death caused controversy in the climbing world. There were approximately 40 people who passed Sharp on their way to the summit while he was still alive. They put their climb ahead of his life. While many tried to do something on their way back down 9 hours later it was to late. Part of the controversy is that Sharp tried to do it alone and that it was his own fault. While that may be true should that be a reason to do nothing? Sir Edmund Hillary one of the first people to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest was very vocal and said this, "On my expedition there was no way you'd have left a man under a rock to die" (The Crowd on Mount Everest," The Week (6-30-06, p. 13).
The church can't do this--if it does, it ceases to be the church. Jesus' mission was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). God from the beginning has been about reaching lost people, people who are far from Him. Having a passion for lost people is to have the same passion as God the Father. A Father who rejoices when just one person far from Him comes to Him (Luke 15:20-32). A God "who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). A God who "does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
We as the church have a responsibility to live our life in such a way so that those who are far from God can know God. We need to stop focusing only on our own journey and become intentional about connecting lost people to God. It was Jesus' mission and as His bride, the church, it should be our mission.
Grace And Mercy Are Practiced Before Justice
Three words, all having different meetings, but have a place in the church. Let's start with Justice. The word means administrating a standard of correctness. Simply put administrating the penalty for a wrong doing. If you get caught for speeding, the just thing for the officer to do is to give you a ticket. That is what you deserve for breaking the law.
You hope the officer will walk up to you and say, "I am going to just give you a warning." He is forgiving you for speeding with a warning. That is Mercy. Mercy is defined as "compassion shown to an offender." If an officer gives you a warning he is showing compassion--Mercy.
Let's say you really break the law. You have to go before the judge and he sentences you to a huge fine, jail time, community service and loss of your license. You hear the verdict and know there is no way you can pay it because the burden is to large for you to handle. Before you are taken away the judge says wait a minute. My son has decided to pay your penalty for you. He will pay the fine, take the jail time, do the community service and his license will be suspended. The judge looks at you and says, "Your penalty has been paid in full."
That is grace. That is what Jesus did for you. You deserve hell, separation from God for all eternity, but Jesus paid that penalty for you in full. All you have to do is decide if you are going to accept his grace, let him pay your penalty or you decide to pay the penalty yourself. Not even a question is it? You let him pay your penalty.
So how does Justice, Mercy and Grace translate into our everyday lives in the church and as Christ followers. First, we need to be slow to levy justice. There is a time for justice. When evil needs to be purged from the church or someone is boldly sinning and damaging God's kingdom. Then Justice needs to be practiced. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 to kick that person out of the church and to not even eat with them so that on the day of the Lord they may be saved.
Mercy is practiced when we forgive someone. They admit they have done wrong and have decided to change their path. They are willing to accept their penalty, but instead you forgive. You show mercy and give them a warning.
Then Grace is when we go out of our way to love someone who does not deserve it. Showing grace is when a follower of Jesus just goes beyond what is normal and serves someone who has not earned the right to be served. That is what Jesus did for us. We don't deserve grace yet he paid our penalty for sin anyway. There are times we extend grace to people who don't serve it. They may need to see grace in a very practical so they may come to know Jesus.
Here is a truth about Grace, Mercy and Justice. Most of the time Christians are quick to want mercy and justice for themselves, but want judgment for someone else. Christians are also quick to say to other Christians who try to hold them accountable, "You are not acting like Jesus. You are judging me rather than showing grace and mercy." Look at Jesus' life. He did both. He served up justice when it was needed and mercy when it made sense. He showed us all grace by what he did on the cross. The righteous died for the unrighteous.
Bringing Glory to God in Everything We Do
We get one shot at life and it is up to us as to what we are going to do with it. Here is one question every follower needs to ask themselves: "Does my life bring glory to God?"
Most people want glory, but they want it for themselves. It is like a football player who scores a touchdown, there are two reactions we normally see. One, the player crosses the goal line and starts to dance, celebrate, grab a sharpie from the goal post and sign the ball--mainly drawing attention to themselves as if to say, "Look what I have done!" Self-glorification.
Sometimes a player falls on his knees and prays. Whether it is authentic or not, that is up to the player and God. But it does show a different reaction. It is a reaction showing people who deserves the glory--God the giver of talent, the one who made it possible for the player to even play football.
So here is the question again, in life, when you score a touchdown is it all about you and what you have accomplished? Is it self-glorification or do you give God the glory for giving you the opportunity?
There are three ways we can bring glory to God. I am sure there are others, but there are three we need to focus on at Northwest. First, we bring glory to God when we pursue excellence. Not perfection, but excellence. This means we are going to give God the best we have. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
What ever we do, we do it in the name of Jesus, giving him the glory. We are going to give our best in all we do.
Second, there is a common theme in passages that talk about bringing glory to God. It has to do with unity. When people work together as one we bring glory to God. Jesus in John 17 prays for unity among believers. He tells us to become one just as he and the Father are one (along with the Holy Spirit). God is glorified when we come together. Psalm 34:3 says, "Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together."
Finally, we bring glory to God when we pursue his will. Dave Browning said, "It is more important that we do the right things than we do things right." We can do things with excellence and we can come together as one, but if we are not doing what God's will is, then it does not bring glory to God. It becomes a form of self-glorification where we say, "Look at what we did!"
Our language needs to be, "Look at what God is doing!" That is when this core value is lived out. Glorify God in everything we do.
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