Jesus as a Man

Belfrey Youth are spending Tuesdays leading up to Christmas looking at the book of John as we explore a series titled 'Just Jesus'. As a team, we've recognised that if young people are going to be transformed by the life of Jesus, we need to encourage a culture of picking up the Bible, reading it, discovering it, understanding it and sharing it. This is why over the summer period we put out a plea for people to sponsor Youth Bibles to be kept at our youth & children's work centre, Basement Central. At a mere cost of £8.00 each we were able to purchase 17 - and it's still not too late to sponsor one! Do email me if you'd like to lee.kirkby@belfrey.org

Last night at youth, I attempted to shed some light on why Jesus became a man. As I was reading and preparing, I was encapsulated even more by this man Jesus. To be fair, some do say he could have just been someone who lived 2000 years ago and caused a bit of a fuss for the 33 years he lived on earth. But, when we read the scriptures, discover and understand them, each book, chapter and verse is pointing towards this man Jesus as being God. Here are a couple of things that took my attention: 

Jesus enters his own creation...

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Genesis 1:1-2

God spoke and galaxies flung into being, stars lit up the night sky and planets started orbiting their suns. God spoke and the waters and land were filled with plants, creatures both great and small. God spoke again and so man and woman were created, carefully designed so that we could think, speak and love. God is the author of all creation. His voice was like the putting of pen to paper when he created it all. But look, the author of all creation then comes as a human as well (see John 1:14) "The Word became flesh." During the exodus God made his dwelling place in the tabernacle tent which when translated means 'dwelling place'. God is literally pitching his tent among us now through this man Jesus. God entered his own creation, as a mere humble human, faced with all the inevitabilities of life including death. Jesus who calls himself "light of the world" the same light that was present at the very beginning of time (referred to in Genesis 1:2)  was prepared to come as one of us because he loves us so much. Our challenge is to pitch God's dwelling where he is not yet known. 

Jesus came to bless all people...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

God not only invites us to receive the gift of salvation, but to share it with others too. Last night I used a candle analogy to demonstrate that we do not need to be fearful of spreading the good news. In a darkened room take one candle of any size and begin to light others from it. No matter how many more you light from it, the original will never lose its brightness. Instead, what will happen is the whole place will get lighter and lighter. In the same way, when we share the news of Jesus his light will remain just as bright in us and will brighten other lives too.

Last week I had my hair cut. It was my day off. When asked by the polite barber what I did for a living I took the easy option of saying that I was a youth worker. I was tired and it was wet and I just wanted to get back home to relax. He then pursued to ask where I worked. I thought he really is interested. A little voice in my head said "this is your chance to tell him about Jesus". I failed. What was it? Was I embarrassed? Couldn't I be bothered? Didn't I take what Jesus had done for me seriously enough? I want my family to know Jesus, my mum, dad and sister, but how will they if I duck out of every opportunity I'm faced with? 

  

Jesus came to offer us the gift of eternity. John 1:12 says "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..." Jesus came as a gift with authority to make us his children. All we need to do is either accept the tragedy of rejecting this gift, or be blessed by receiving him. By accepting that Jesus died on the cross for us, we all share the same DNA of Christ himself. It is that simple. So why not share Him with others?

I'm Not Supported - 3/3

Who's seeing your vision? Who's hearing your complaints? When do you meet with your line manager?  If your immediate response to these questions is 'Help!' then there are probably some serious management issues. I think feeling unsupported is the single most common reason for people in ministry to feel shot down. Apparently the average tenure for a youth worker to remain in post is 18 months. We've got to ask why that is?

When our voice isn't heard and when we're not listened to, we go into a period of trying to do it all alone, often neglecting our own relationship and walk with Jesus. It doesn't work. In Titus 2, Paul encourages older men and women to be role models and mentors to younger people. Is this modeled in your ministry? Is this being modeled with you?

Communication is a key factor to having an effective ministry. I've always said that team needs to model first what a team wants to model in those they minister to. If a team isn't functional, communicating, affirming, giving and receiving feedback regularly, then we begin to feel unsupported. Maybe this is you? If you're a manager, you need to feel supported before you can support others. And if you're not being supported, it's difficult to support others, so make sure you get support. Give your workers time. And if you're not getting the time you need, you have a responsibility to ask for it for the sake of your own ministry. 

We all need that someone in our ministry who believes in us. That person who inspires us. That person who confronts and challenges us about things. We all need someone who we can look up to and go to for advice. So many young leaders in ministry are walking this all alone. We have a duty to lead our young, pick them up when they've fallen and help them move up the next step. 

If you're feeling shot down, there's something you can do about it. If you've shot someone down, there's something you can do about it. If you know someone who is shot down, there's something you can do about it. 

I'm Not Called - 2/3

From time to time we may go through periods of thinking 'this isn't me anymore' or 'I don't think I'm meant to be doing this'. Some days I wake up and think to myself 'what am I doing?’ I doubt I'm the only one that thinks like this. It doesn't last. Sometimes we just need to re-ignite our passion and if we're not seeing results in numbers, volunteers, spiritual gifts, then it's sometimes difficult. Don’t loose sight of the light when discouragement knocks you down.

Are we asking this of ourselves?

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." As believers we've all been called to our different mission fields and when we've been knocked we sometimes question where this may be. It is God who calls us and his call on our lives remains persistent through all things difficult. Seek and know what God has called you to do and run with it through whatever you may face. I doubt every time I face a brick wall. Persist and you'll break down the walls and walk straight through. God made me to work with young people. That's what I'll do. 

Occasionally we have to brush the dust off from beneath our feet and move on – sometimes literally. I believe God uses the challenging periods of our ministry to mature us and move us to a deeper and better place. When we become discouraged it makes us more committed and dependent on Jesus. It’s during these times of questioning God’s call on our lives that we are shaped and developed. 

God calls us and equips us for our ministry. Minister in places where your passion oozes from you. 


Tomorrow's final blog is titled 'I'm not supported' - unfortunately a condition many youth workers are victims of.