Earlier today, I watched a movie called “To Save A Life”. It’s a story about a teenager, Jake, whose life is shaken when his childhood friend, Roger (whom he had ditched for the sake of popularity and romance) shoots himself in front of their entire school body. As the story progresses, Jake is invited to Church and eventually gets saved. But now he wrestles with whether his life and even Roger’s life counts. He starts wondering if he hadn’t have ignored Roger through high school, would he have killed himself? Would he still be alive? And how will his death make a difference? Good solid questions which got me thinking.
I’m a youth leader, I play the piano, I sing, I drink coffee, I love music and I love hanging out with my friends and talking to people. But how does that change the world? Sure, I’m a youth leader, so I have a fair amount of influence over the kids in my youth group. But how am I influencing them to be world changers? How am I showing them how to be relevant? Am I going to ask myself in 10 years time, “If I had gone out and done more to be relevant to my friends, my community, my city, would these kids have been released to be more relevant themselves?” I’m already asking myself a similar question.
I realise now that being relevant will remain a concept if we don’t BE relevant. If it’s not happening, it’s not reality. Just like if Peter had not stepped off the edge of the boat to walk on water with Jesus, the idea of us, as saints, walking on water would always be just that: an idea. A concept. A notion. But because Peter stepped off the boat, we know it to be reality. If a local Church stays behind its 4 walls every Sunday and doesn’t get onto the streets where all the broken, lost and hurting people are, relevance is a notion. But when they step out of the boat, and faithfully serve the needs of the community, they become relevant.
Here is the Truth:
Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...”
Now, this prophecy was about Jesus. Isaiah prophesied the relevance of Christ to mankind. It’s as Jesus said, when the Pharisee’s questioned Him keeping company with sinners in Matthew 9:12, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Jesus came because man was (and still is) in need of some serious salvation. So He took the beating, died and rose again for us. Because we needed it. Jesus was, and still is, relevant to humanity. However, he has given us the mandate that He was given in Isaiah 61. It’s now our turn to be relevant to humanity and show them how relevant Jesus is to them. It’s time for us to get out onto the streets and comfort those who mourn, feed those who are hungry, clothe those who are naked, heal those who are sick, liberate those who are oppressed and defend those who are defenseless. If we, as the Church, stand by while these things continue, we have no understanding of our mandate or the Character and Love of God. The River of Life flows in the heart of the Church, so it is our task to redirect the flow of those Living Waters into dormant streams and dried up lakes.
How are we calling forth Life in our communities? How are you participating in that?
Today, do not feel condemned or irrelevant. But rather, ask God to give you a deeper revelation of His love for the unsaved and unloved, the hungry and homeless, the abused and defenseless. Ask Him to give you His love for those people, for if you have not love, you become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13). Ask Him to show you how you can be more relevant within your local Church and community.
I pray that God, our Father, will stir up His love and the deep wells of the River of Life in you, so that you as the Church can be relevant in your context, as Jesus was relevant to humanity in its entirety. I pray that you will have the faith to step out of the boat and be the World Changer you were created to be. Finally, I pray that the Holy Spirit will envelope you in power and strength to accomplish everything that God has set out and pre-ordained for you to do.
It’s up to you choose whether your relevance will be a concept or reality.
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