Discipleship

A Few Things

August 4, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Many will never reach the Kingdom of Heaven for they have fixed their eyes on wealth. They are sick for the things of the world. They live proudly through luxury. But those who are serious about salvation must settle this beforehand in their mind. All we possess is given to us to use for sufficiency, which one may acquire by merely a few things.” For those of us in the West, this should be especially convicting. We live proudly in our luxury.

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We take more for granted than half the world can even imagine possessing. All this extravagance will count for nothing when we stand before God and give an account of our lives. He will ask what we did with what He entrusted to us, and we will only be able to hang our heads and admit we hoarded it for ourselves (Luke 12:16-21).

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What About Me?

July 28, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to living a life wholly devoted to Jesus is when you get tired and begin asking, “What about me?” I’ve met many professing Christians who pledge their devotion to Jesus but never seemed to have let go of pursuing their own dreams and desires. After serving on a mission trip, they need to take a little time off “just for themselves”.

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They’re okay to work really hard for Jesus during the day, but the nights are theirs to relax on the couch or out with friends. The problem of course is when you gave your life to Jesus, you surrendered everything to Him at that moment. There are no loopholes in the life of a disciple.

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The Cross or Comfort

July 25, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Sometimes I wish things weren’t so black and white. Take the title of this blog for instance. Will you choose the cross or comfort? Surely there’s an option ‘C’, right? We want the cross but we’d really rather have our share of comfort in this world as well. After all, what good is God if He can’t cut us a break every now and then? Of course we’d never say something like that out loud, but most of us aren’t shy about living as if that’s how we feel. But the way I read the Bible, there is no option ‘C’.

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There is no gray area in which we can revel. Jesus was pretty clear in His statements. We must choose the cross or comfort. We can’t have it both ways, and living in the middle is the same as rejecting Him (Revelation 3:16).

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Pokémon Go and Discipleship

July 21, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

It’s been difficult to go a day without seeing a news story about the Pokémon Go craze sweeping smart phones across the country. I confess I’ve never played the game but feel I have read enough to be well informed about the basics. For those wondering what this could possibly have to do with living a Jesus-centered life, please hang with me; we’ll get there! If you don’t know about Pokémon Go, it is what’s called an “augmented reality” game. Augmented reality blends the real world with things that are superimposed on top of it.

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You look through the camera on your phone and see the world around you, as you would expect. The game then layers additional objects onto what you see, in the form of Pokémon monsters. The goal is to find and collect them by capturing them in the same way as you would take a photo. As I marveled at the craze, it occurred to me the game has profound implications for how we live our lives in a manner pleasing to Jesus each day.

The Death of Freewill

July 18, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Freewill is central to my theology and in my mind is the linchpin to answering difficult questions about sin, disease, and evil in the world. After Jesus, I think freewill is probably the greatest gift God bestowed on His creation. After all, freewill is what enables us to love. It enables us to choose. Most importantly, it enables us to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.

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But here’s the irony for all disciples of Jesus: to accept Christ means the death of freewill in our lives. When we surrender ourselves to Christ, we surrender everything, including our freewill. Nothing is excluded. The very thing permitting us to accept Christ is what we must give up in exchange for His Lordship in our lives.