Like you, a lot of SPAM and junk advertising keeps clogging up my email inbox. Most of it I delete. But every now and then something catches my eye and I end up checking it out. That’s what happened recently. An American author, Lee Grady, has written a new book entitled “Follow Me”. (I haven’t purchased a copy, as I have about half a dozen books purchased but not yet read). The promo blurb in the email caught my attention. It said this:
“Christianity at its finest is not something we only observe, but something we actively participate in to bring heaven to earth.”
What a great observation! Accurate, too. I love it.
Grady goes on to say that, “If we want to change the world with the gospel, we must stop focusing on crowds and events and reclaim Jesus’ method of relational discipleship. Jesus’ final mandate to His followers was “Go and make disciples” — yet today most of the church is oblivious to what discipleship is, and few Christians are actually investing their lives in helping other believers grow spiritually. A vast paradigm shift is needed in the church today in order to reach the next generation and advance the gospel in the twenty-first century.”
I agree with Grady. Having a sneak peak at the book, Grady uses New Testament examples and some of his own anecdotes from his disciple making work over the years, to build a solid argument that “Christianity was never intended to be a spectator sport where huge crowds sit and listen to one preacher on a Sunday. Jesus intended all believers to engage in ministry—and this includes the work of discipling other believers. So many Christians today live in a box of limitation. We must understand that the Christian life is an adventure of the Holy Spirit working through them.” Grady challenges us to get out of that box of limitation “and begin the exciting adventure of spiritual multiplication.”
These were great insights and confirmations from a writer I had not heard of before.
Our challenge, post-COVID, is to not just “get back on the horse” after all that has happened to buck us off these last two years, and just resume what was. NO! Our challenge, as Grady teaches, is to participate actively in what God is doing - and bring heaven to earth. When that happens, people have an experience of God’s love and grace that is so incredibly rich and powerful that their lives are changed forever. Think, the Samaritan woman at the well when she encountered Jesus. Jesus was going about His Father’s business – actively participating in it even though He is travel weary. And, as He did so, heaven came to earth in that moment at the well, and a hurting, wounded, abused rejected woman is filled with supernatural hope and God’s powerfully accepting grace that she evangelises her village.
Think Zacchaeus for a moment. Jesus (without Zacchaeus ever knowing, of course) made a bee-line for him out of an entire crowded Jericho street, and invites Himself to Zach’s house for lunch. Jesus, in participating in the Father’s kingdom business, brought heaven to the home of an outcast, hated, reviled, corrupt, lonely, despised Jewish man – without a single word of rebuke, reproof or condemnation. The awesome power of that encounter – a lunch that brought heaven to earth – changed the life of Zacchaeus so profoundly that he eventually becomes the apostle who replaced Judas Isacariot. He was martyred for Jesus, in the end …
What could happen if you actively participated with Holy Spirit to bring heaven to earth for someone whom God is desperately wanting not to perish? You’ll never know, until you step out and practice actively participating with God to bring heaven to earth.
I think Lee Grady would add here, Selah!
You are loved.
Ps Milton