Shoutlouder

unpacking…

// July 18th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Inspiration, Leadership

Right now I’m trying to unpack who Jesus really is in my life. Cause here’s the thing… you can get so long down the ‘Christian’ journey that before you know it you’re living off borrowed and ‘past-its-sell-by-date’ revelation. You’re experiences of God and everything that you’ve been taught start to get neatly packed away in the storage cupboard under the stairs, half-forgotten or left for a day when you’re doing some spring cleaning and suddenly remember you had it.

We often say that a key thing for any leader is to ‘keep it fresh’… but let me throw that a bit further and say that the real key to great church leadership is to ‘keep Jesus fresh’.

Matthew 16:13-16 tells of the conversation Jesus has with his disciples over ‘who’ the people say Jesus is. The answer comes back that they think he’s Elijah or one of the prophets. But Jesus doesn’t throw a wobbly and concern himself with a PR drive to make sure the people know who he really is – his real concern is with who his disciples recognise him to be – so he asks… “But who do YOU say I am?”

It’s at this point we get Peter’s great confession of faith as he declares Jesus to be the ‘Christ, the Son of the Living God’.

So WHO DO YOU SAY HE IS?

Who is Jesus right now to you? Is he the central doctrine of Christianity – or is he your personal Lord and Saviour? Is he the performer of incredible signs and wonders – or is he the one who can heal your arthritis? Is he the Kings of Kings and the Lord of Lords – or does he have the steering wheel of your life and you’re following where he’s leading…

See there is plenty of catch words and descripitive ways we can speak of Jesus – but unless there comes a transaction of revelation between heaven and your heart then they remain only adjectives of a theological faith – and not the revelation of a personal relationship with God.

So – it’s time for some unpacking – time to take Jesus out of the nice, pristine, carefully wrapped and ribboned boxes we put him in and allow him to rule and reign over our thoughts, actions and deeds.

It’s time to discover who YOU really say he is… cause right now you may need to know King Jesus, your sovereign ruler of all, or you may need to know the Prince of Peace – bringer of perfect peace in the midst of your storm. You may need to know the Healer, the Advocate, the Compassionate, the Liberator, the Saviour or the Son…

Jesus right now is your ALL in ALL… everything you ever needed, all you could ever want… so let’s not leave him between the pages of a theological dissertation or in the rhetoric of a carefully thought through message. Let’s allow the Truth himself to truly set us free! Get personal and start unpacking!