Tag Archives: Integrity

Our Whole Lives

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The Missional Church – Part 2: Principles of Missional Living

Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Mark 12:29-31; Romans 12:1-2

Missional Living Homework:

  • Where do I see God at work? Where and how do I see God working in the lives of those around me? Where and how is God working in my neighborhood? What about my place of vocation?
  • In light of my gifts and resources, how does God want me to partner in what he’s doing?

Different Worlds

The Shema

Polytheism -> Monotheism

Monotheism -> Polytheism

Lord Over All

Secular – “non-sacred” “apart from God”

Dualism

No such thing in the missional church

No such thing as a “kingsdom”

There is a real tendency to think of the spiritual life as a life that will begin when we have certain feelings, think certain thoughts, or gain certain insights. The problem, however, is not how to make the spiritual life happen, but to see where it actually is happening. We work on the premise that God acts in the world and in the lives of individuals and communities. God is doing something right now. The chipping away and sculpting is taking place whether we are aware of it or not. Our task is to recognize that, indeed, it is God who is acting, and we are involved already in the spiritual life.

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Questions:

  • In what ways have you viewed the world from the perspective of a secular / sacred divide?
  • How might Romans 12:1-2 affect the way you approach your daily life?

Missional Living Homework:

  • Take some time to meditate on the Shema, asking the Lord how you can most faithfully love God and neighbor.
  • Based on Romans 12:1-2, what “sacrifice” of worship will you offer up to God this week?