September 2023 Revealing Light Newsletter

How we view people typically affects how we treat and love people. If you view someone as a “no good, useless lazy person”, you tend to treat them that way. But if you view that same person as a person created with the image of God, it will probably affect how you treat them. At that point, you may even remember the time Jesus said, “how you’ve treated the least of these, you’ve treated me” (Mt 25:40, v35-46).

People in Christ are:
- Adopted Brothers & Sisters in God’s Family
- Disciples of Jesus, Making Disciples of Jesus
- Saints, Holy - Set Apart
- Redeemed & Forgiven
- and more!

These make up our new identity in Christ! These make up the Christian’s new identity in Christ! But there are some who are following Jesus that either don’t know their new identity, or are having a hard time believing it. This is where walking alongside these people, to disciple them in their growing maturity in Christ is key. If you know what their new identity in Christ is, and they are struggling to know it, see it, or live it, then we can love them by showing them how Christ has already done these things for them. We can disciple them to know their new identity in Christ which affects their lives, grows their relationship with Jesus and influences the ways we love people.

- Daryl Struemph

I’ve been reading 2nd Timothy chapter two. Verses 3 and 4 grabbed my attention. “Share in the suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him.” The Living New Testament states it this way “do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs.” Our focus as Christians should be to serve the one who enlisted us (Christ). Sometimes we get so involved in worldly organizations, and pursuits that we lose sight of our most important mission. Some of these obligations aren’t bad in themselves but they are distractions. That word entangled means to be interwoven, wrapped or twisted together in such a manner as not to be easily extricated (freed from what binds or hinders).

I think of the time I was picking blackberries and got so deep in the prickly vines I thought someone was going to have to cut me out. The Greek word for entangle is EMPLEKO which means “to be involuntarily interlaced to the point of immobility.” You can see why Paul warned soldiers of Christ to avoid becoming entangled “with the affairs of everyday life.” In the context of Paul’s exhortation, empleko depicts one who becomes so entangled that they are hindered, even controlled, and no longer free to function effectively as a Christian soldier. A good soldier must continually choose to focus on eternal priorities, not temporal peripherals, holding the temporal loosely and prizing the eternal passionately.

"In Brazil there grows a common plant which forest-dwellers call the matador or “murderer.” Its slender stem creeps along the ground, but no sooner does it meet a vigorous tree, than it sends out an entangling tentacle, which cleaves and climbs up the tree, at intervals sending out arm-like tendrils that further entangle the tree. As the “murderer” ascends, these ligatures grow larger and their clasp becomes tighter. Up and up the rogue vine climbs until the last loftiest spire is gained and fettered. Then, as if in triumph, the parasite shoots a huge, flowery head above the strangled summit, and there from the dead tree’s crown, scatters its seed to begin its entangling work again. In a similar way everyday affairs can subtly entangle soldiers of Christ, in effect neutralizing their effectiveness in the ongoing spiritual war with the world, the flesh and the devil. John Piper says when a Christian soldier’s “evenings and days off (begin to be) filled up with harmless, enjoyable diversions… the whole feel changes. The radical urgency fades. The wartime mentality shifts to a peacetime mentality. The lifestyle starts to get cushy. Are there any “matador vines” in your life that need to be eradicated?"
[excerpts from Precept Austin: "Are You Entangled"]

- Alan McNeely

Humility. That’s what I was left with after we hung up. I couldn’t keep up with his questions and agenda. As the phone call ended, I was defeated, confused, heartbroken, and sad (for him and myself). Though I didn’t succumb to his rejection of the trinity, I couldn’t keep up with his fast paced arguments and verse numbers. I hardly had time to think let alone respond toward the end of our call. He was right, I was just a young pastor. I didn’t know all the things he claimed to know. He said I was just a young pastor who claimed to know the Bible. I was defeated by this -- at first. But then a couple minutes passed after we hung up and I was reminded who I really am -- I am a disciple following Jesus. A disciple is always a student, learning from his teacher. I am always learning. Though Jesus sent His disciples out to make disciples, His disciples continued to learn even years after Jesus physically ascended into Heaven. I am learning right alongside you all. I will hopefully always be learning. We do not make disciples of Jesus because we finally got to a spot where we knew everything; instead, we make disciples who are growing in their relationship with Jesus as we continue to grow too.

Of anyone else, I would rather learn and follow the great shepherd who loves us and will never lead us astray. If nothing else, the thing I took away from that conversation was humility.

About an hour later, I was at the store and ran into a fellow sister and brother in Christ. It was great getting to catch up with them and then without telling them about feeling defeated, she told me a story from years ago when we first met. She said even then, she saw that God would take me places. These were words that uplifted me, encouraged me, and reminded me that God has brought me where I am at today, and will continue to lead me. I was humbled to find that confidence in what God was doing, not by my own strength or knowledge. Then I saw how God was working throughout the day. The verse-of-the-day came back to mind, the one I briefly read that morning before I started the day; “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18). Yes He is, I experienced His message, His heart, and His life-giving spirit that day.

- Daryl Struemph