Why You Need a Mission

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

Do you remember being 7 years old? Most of us can.

I have a 7 year old — and there’s a sense in which I would much rather spend time with 7 year olds than 37 year olds, because the thing about kids at that age is that they are full of life and they are so incredibly full of hope! They aren’t jaded and cynical like a lot of adults you meet.

And one of the ways you see that hope, is how every child loves stories about HEROIC quests! About ADVENTURES — about SAVING THE WORLD

World-Saving Missions — that’s what all the great stories are about! The movies, the books, the fairy tales which most excite you — that’s what they’re all about: World-Saving Missions!

And children innately love and believe in world-saving missions, and when they think about their own future and what they want to do when they grow up — they think of it in terms of MISSION!

Earlier this year, my son had his Kindergarten graduation. And during that ceremony, each of the kids talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. And you know, not one of them said: “I’m probably just going to work in data entry! I’m hoping to sit in front of a computer all day, in an office, pushing papers… If I get lucky, I’ll get my own cubicle…” No! It was: “I want to be a doctor! I want to be a soldier! I want to be a firefighter, a police officer” — one kid said he wants to be President!

Do you see how their focus is: “I’m going to make a difference! I’m going to HELP PEOPLE! I’m going to change things! I’m going to make things RIGHT!”

These children see their future in terms of mission!

And why do you think they want to help people and save the world? Because there is JOY in that!

You see — there is a link between Joy and Mission. Mission is a requirement for joy!

And as we grow up — throughout our teenage years, and into our twenties — high school, college — we hold onto this ideal, of doing something significant to change the world and make things better! Many people I know chose their major in college because they wanted to make an impact for good in the world! They had a desire to bring healing and justice and love and peace to the world! People who study to become teachers or pastors — they didn’t do it to get rich! All the teachers I know — they went into that profession because they wanted to make an impact – to change lives!

But what happens? We see all these adults, running the rat race, but they have no joy in it… They’ve got all the stuff — the house, the cars… but they’ve got not joy. And the reason they lack joy, is because they don’t have a Mission!

In our culture, when you become an adult — you are sold this philosophy which says that idealism and dreams of saving the world are fine for kids — but now it’s time to grow up. And in the real world, all that really matters is your own personal fulfillment and comfort. And a lot of people buy into that, and they trade that mission of changing the world and making a difference, for this new goal of Personal Fulfillment.

But the problem is: When you have no higher cause than making yourself happy and comfortable, then you no longer have a mission; you no longer have anything to live for or to die for or to sacrifice for — except yourself… And when you don’t have a mission, you don’t have joy, because mission is a requirement for joy.

A lot of people are lacking joy, because they are lacking mission. You need a mission! You are BUILT for mission! And when you are living for yourself, you have no mission — and inevitably you will lack joy, because having a mission is a necessary requirement for you to have joy!

Jesus says that very thing, in John 17 — as he sends his disciples out on mission. In John 17:13, Jesus says that he wants his disciples to have the JOY that he has. And that’s why he prays in Vs 18: So, just as you (Speaking to the Father) sent me into the world, so I am sending them into the world. Jesus is saying: “Father, I want my followers to have the same JOY that I have — so, in order that they might have my JOY, I’m giving them my Mission!”

In Hebrews 12:2, we read this incredible statement: it says there that for the joy that was set before him, Jesus him endured the cross, despising the shame. Jesus endured the cross for you. He bore your sin and your shame. That’s the story of the Cross. But this verse takes us behind the scenes. To where God the Father came to the Son and said: “I’m sending you on a Mission! A mission to bring truth and life and salvation to the world that is just broken and dying under the curse of sin and death! And you’re going to go and save them! But it’s going to cost you everything! You’re going to have to take all the punishment, and all the suffering — and it’s all going to fall upon you. And it’s going to crush you! It’s going to tear you to pieces… But as a result, people are going to be saved. Lives are going to be transformed and set free – forever! You’re going to redeem them.”

And as Jesus considered that mission — consider both the cost and the pay-off of this mission — His heart was filled with one thing: JOY! It was the JOY of knowing the final outcome, which carried Him through the difficult times — that made him able to endure the cross and bear the shame. And so Jesus says: I want other people to have MY JOY — and so I’m sending them out on mission — so that they might have fullness of joy.

The reason many people lack joy in their lives is because they are living only for themselves! They have no mission, they have no higher commitment than themselves.

The irony is: The more significance you give to yourself — the less significant your life will actually be. The more you live for yourself — the less you will make a difference and have an impact in the world!

But Jesus says: “I’m giving you a mission! And if you accept this mission, God will use you to bring truth and life and salvation and redemption into the World. Yes, there will be a cost! It will cost you time and energy and resources to fulfill this calling and do this mission. It may even cost you your whole life! But it is something which is worth living for and dying for and sacrificing for — because there is nothing more important in the world, than this mission.”

You need a mission. It’s a fundamental human need. It’s a basic requirement for joy. And the Mission of God is the only mission which is legitimately worth giving everything for, because it is the only mission which actually has the potential to save the world.

[This is an excerpt from a message titled “A Mission from God”, the whole of which can be listened to here]

 

Crossing Jordan

Published on by nickcady8 Comments

A reader of this blog requested that I write a post about the symbolic significance of the Jordan River crossing in Joshua chapter 3.

This week I began teaching Bible class at Longmont Christian High School. This class is doing an overview of the Old Testament, and I picked up where the previous teacher had left off: in the Book of Joshua.

One of the concepts I shared with the students as we’ve been studying Johsua is Biblical Typeology, or how certain characters, events or places in the Old Testament function as types of New Tesament truths.

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes this: For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. (‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭1-6‬ ESV)

What Paul is talking about here are how the Old Testament stories are both historically true, and yet were also so masterfully crafted by God that He, in His divine providence, embedded them with symbolic meaning, that is only realized by us now as being a pattern or type or foreshadowing of New Testament truths, i.e. Christ and the Christian life.

For example, in Luke 24, we read how after Jesus resurrected from the dead, he gave the best Bible study ever given: he took his disciples through the Olt Testament, showing them how everything actually pointed to him.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (‭Luke‬ ‭24‬:‭27, 44-45‬ ESV)

In other words, reading the Bible is a lot like watching the movie “The Sixth Sense”. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s about a boy who sees dead people. The boy starts meeting with a psychologist, played by Bruce Willis, who talks him through what’s going on, but at the end of the movie you realize something that changes everything: the psychologist is dead too – he’s been dead all along. And then, when you realize that, you can never watch the movie the same way again. In fact, you feel compelled to watch the whole movie all over again, because this time you see the whole thing in a completely different way: you realize that no one ever looks at the psychologist – people look right past him, because they don’t see him.

That’s how it is with reading the Bible too! Once you know the end of the story – that it was all building up to Jesus Christ, and you come to understand the Gospel, you can never read it in the same way again! This is what happened to the Apostle Paul! As soon as he came to see that Jesus was the Messiah, he could never read the scriptures the same way ever again (see Acts 13:13-41).

The whole Old Testament is full of such types of Christ and of the New Life in Christ. For example: Melchizedek (Genesis 14). Hebrews 7 says that Jesus is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. What does that mean? It means that Melchizedek was an Olt Testament type of Christ. The name Melchizedek means: King of Righteousness. He was king of Salem, which means peace, and he gave Abraham bread and wine and Abraham gave him a tithe.

The Exodus narrative is another example of Biblical Typeology. Think about it:

  • The people of Israel are in bondage in Egypt, just as we in our natural condition are in bondage to sin, vanity and futility.
  • The people of Israel cry out to God to set the free, and so God saves them by the blood of the Passover lamb; if anyone is covered by the blood of the lamb, their house is passed over by tha angel of death. In the same way, if we are covered by the blood of the true and ultimate Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, we will be saved from the judgment of God.
  • After saving them by the blood of the lamb, God led the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. They were separated from Egypt (which is commonly considered a type of “the world”) through the Red Sea, which Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 is a type or picture of baptism.
  • After they cross through the Red Sea, the next thing that happens is that God leads them to the Mountain of God, where they came out and God gives them His Word. In the same way, once we are saved and set free, God gives us His Word and instructs us in His ways.
  • After that, they are to enter the Promised Land, which they fail to do because of their lack of faith, out of fear of the obstacles. There has been debate as to what the Promised Land would be a type of. Many old songs refer to it as a type of Heaven. However, I disagree. The Promised Land is a place where there are battles to be wages, there are enemy forces. There are victories to be won, but defeats are also suffered. There are obstacles and difficulties in the Promised Land, but there is the primise of victory if the people will obey God by faith and take hold of everything He will give them if they assertively take hold of it. For this reason, many, including myself, would say that the Promised Lamd is rather a picture or type of the Victorious Christian life that God promises to those who are in Christ (see Ephesians 1). Some would also refer to this as the Spirit-Filled Life.
  • Because the Israelites were unwilling to enter the Promised Land, they ended up wandering in the wilderness, going in circles and getting nowhere for 40 years, until they died, having lived lives of aimless wandering, not taking hold of what God would have given them and wanted to give them, because they allowed fear to hold them back from engaging in mission God gave them. Yet, they were saved by the blood of the lamb, baptized in the Red Sea and had received the word of God. This is clearly a type of the Christian life as it is lived by some.
  • That brings us to the issue of the Jordan River crossing in Joshua 3. What is this a type of? Well, it is the entrance into the Promised Land, a step which must be taken by faith. Just as the Red Sea crossing is a type of baptism, the Jordan crossing would seem to also picture baptism: a second baptism: the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Once you’ve read the book and seen Jesus, you can never read the book the same way again!

 

Big Shoes

Published on by nickcady2 Comments
Starting today, I am now teaching Bible class at Longmont Christian High School.

I took over for Don Monteath, a great godly man who taught history and Bible for many years at LCS; he taught our son for the years that he went to school there. Mr. Monteath didn't only teach the kids, he also loved them very much and they knew it. Mr. Monteath didn't teach at the school because he needed to, he taught there because he loved the kids and he loved teaching.

 

Don Monteath passed away in December. I attended his memorial, and it was packed. There was an open mic and the memorial went on and on with former students, family members and friends sharing their memories.

I heard it said recently that what the church needs most is more great men and women of God, who serve God and take part in His mission simply because they are Christians and that is what Jesus called all of His followers to be about until His return.

I consider it a privilege to get to teach these students the Bible, and to fill Mr. Monteath's shoes in this role.

 

Thoughts on Vision and Planning

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

I overheard this conversation between two cashiers at a store the other day:

“…then he asked me what my 5-year plan was, and I’m like: ‘I don’t know! I don’t even think like that!'”  “I know, right?!”

I remember when I used to think like that myself. When I first planted the church in Eger, people often asked me what my “vision” was, or what my 5-year plan was. I told them, “I don’t know. I just want to lead people to Jesus, plant a church, and raise up Christian leaders.”
Little did I understand, that what I was expressing was a very clear vision and plan!

I have come much more to embrace the mentality of having a plan or a vision.

Dave Ramsey says, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time”.

I have been in circles before where it was seen as unspiritual to plan or strategize. The thing these people don’t often realize is that they have unspoken plans and strategies, even though they don’t articulate them. It can be a strategy, for example, to not plan, and leave yourself open to whatever the day brings you. That’s a strategy – it’s a plan, and one which, like all strategies and plans, has advantages and disadvantages.

The New Year is a time of year I have come to love and appreciate, because a year is a measurable period of time, which gives us a scale to measure by, a scale to reflect upon, and a scale to plan by.

In reflecting on this past year, I realized that God did so many great things in the life of our family and our church. We finished the legal process of our son’s adoption and immigration, our church had several successful outreaches and did more for mission work, my wife and I celebrated 10 years of marriage… I could go on and on.

When it comes to strategizing and planning, I believe the best way to do it is in accordance with your long-term goals of what you want your life, or your organization, to be about.

I have a lot of ideas about things I would like to do in this New Year, and I pray by God’s grace that I would be cognizant of these things, and be able to bring them through to fruition. After all, it’s easy to start things, and a lot of people start things – but few people finish things, and even fewer finish them well.

Happy New Year!

Mother Who Died While Driving High Had Children In Car

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

A few months ago a fatal head-on collision happened on a road we drive almost every day. We wondered how this could have happened, and finally the toxology reports were released: both drivers were high and one was high and drunk.
We are so sorry for these children who lost their mother, the families who lost their loved ones. We are also concerned, that incidents like this might become more frequent as marijuana becomes more commonplace in Colorado.

“He LIVED”

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

Continuing on the topic of George Whitefield, here is more on what Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers” – perhaps the single most influential preacher of recent centuries – had to say about him:

“There is no end to the interest which attaches to such a man as George Whitefield. Often as I have read his life, I am conscious of distinct quickening whenever I turn to it. He LIVED. Other men seem to be only half-alive, but Whitefield was all life, fire, wing, force. My own model, if I may have such a thing in due subordination to my Lord, is George Whitfield; but with unequal footsteps must I follow in his glorious track.”

The more I read about Whitefield and his life, the more I desire that by the grace of God I might live like him.

Charles Spurgeon on George Whitefield

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

“Whitefield’s sermons were not eloquent, but were rough and unconnected. But it was not in the words themselves, but in the manner in which he delivered them, the earnestness with which he felt them, the pouring out of his soul as he preached them. When you heard him preach, you felt like you were listening to a man who would die if he could not preach. Where, where is such earnestness today? One sad proof that the Church is in need of revival is the absence of earnestness which was once seen in Christian pulpits.” [1]

Happy Birthday George Whitefield!

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

People have often asked where we got the name of our church: White Fields Community Church.
The answer is actually three-fold:
1) In John 4:35, Jesus said, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” The name White Fields aligns us with this, and is a statement that we exist to carry out the mission of God and be laborers in His harvest field.
2) The area where we are, North-East Boulder County, is full of wheat fields which turn white at harvest time. The name reflects the area we live in.
3) George Whitefield, the great evangelist of 18th century America, is someone we greatly revere and we want to follow in his footsteps of evangelism and bringing the Gospel to bear on people’s hearts in powerful ways.

Today is George Whitefield’s 300th birthday. He was born in Gloucester, England (where it just so happens that I attend seminary) on December 16, 1714. He later came to America and was used by God as a driving force for the Great Awakening.

Check out this short biography of Whitefield’s life to learn more about him.

“It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.”
George Whitefield

Redemption: Jesus’ Family Tree

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

advent2014HERO

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, the Christmas Story doesn’t begin with a baby born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger. When Matthew wants to tell us the story of Jesus, he takes us back hundreds, even thousands of years, to look at the family line from which God chose to bring the Redeemer into the world. Matthew starts by giving us a genealogy — which gets skipped over by many people, because it reads like a Hebrew phone book!
But, if you look closely, you’ll find that Jesus’ family tree contains a lot of knots: people we have read about in the Old Testament, whose stories were full of scandal and intrigue…and sin. Yet, these people each represent a story of redemption, in which God blessed a mess and brought beauty from ashes and salvation from brokenness. Ultimately, it was from this group of people that God brought The Savior, The Redeemer, Jesus Christ into the world.
In Matthew 1:21, we read this glorious proclamation: “Mary will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  
Jesus came to save you from your sins. That is what Christmas is all about.
I invite you to join us at White Fields Church in Longmont every Sunday in December and on Christmas Eve for “Redemption: An Advent Series” – in which we will be looking at the knots in Jesus’ family tree, and how God redeems.