Our Many Hats

I stumbled upon this short story on the Internet the other day. It somewhat moved within my heart to share it. It was a story about a mother who was also a worship leader in the local church. She admitted that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was feeling “blegh” ever since. As the night came, and as she was about to step on stage to lead worship, she mumbled this under her breath, “Okay, mum’s hat off, worship’s hat on.” The elder of the church overheard her and lean over saying, “The problem is that worship hat should have never came off in the first place.”

When I first read that story, I began to reflect upon my life and my heart and began to wonder whether or not have I fallen victim to that scenario. Throughout our Christian lives, we sometimes do that without even realizing it. We put on our “leaders” hat when it is time for us to lead our cell group. We put on our “preaching” hat when it is time for us to speak behind the pulpit. We put on our “worship” hat, when it is time for us to lead worship.

But in fact, those hats should have never came off in the first place. Why? This is because live our lives as leaders. We live our lives as preachers of the Word, proclaiming His love. We live our lives as worshippers, adoring our Creator.

I think the elder of the church couldn’t have said it more clearly, that those hats that we wear in church should have never came off in the first place. 

So, how are we living our lives from Monday to Saturday, the days we spend outside of church?


- Josh

Once More on Following Jesus as a Disciple

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me…My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (Luke 9:23 and John 10:27)

As we have seen, following Jesus as a disciple is another way to relate rightly to the Lord in humility and faith. Discipleship begins with renouncing the self-life and confessing death for the self-life. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily." Initially and continually, these humble and trusting responses to Jesus deal with self, which is the basic obstruction to following Him. Ultimately, three simple words express the very heart of discipleship: "and follow Me."

All of the Christian life can be summed up and fulfilled in this profound relationship-a humble, dependent walk with the Lord. It is the will of God that we grow in His all-sufficient grace. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"(2 Peter 3:18). Jesus came overflowing with that grace. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). As we follow Him in humble dependence, He pours His grace into our lives.

Jesus has all that we need. In Him, the complete resources of the Godhead for our personal wholeness reside. "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:9-10). In Him, all wisdom and knowledge are contained: "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"(Colossians 2:3). Jesus is the very life that we are called to live: "Christ who is our life"(Colossians 3:4). He is our "all and in all" (Colossians 3:11).

We need the Lord Jesus like sheep need a shepherd. In fact, our discipleship walk with Christ is portrayed in Scripture as sheep following a shepherd. Those who are in the world are like sheep without a shepherd. What a needy picture that is. "But when He saw themultitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary andscattered, like sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Jesus, our shepherd, is the ultimate shepherd. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for thesheep" (John 10:11). Having died for us, our shepherd wants to lead us throughout our lives. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). Inhumble dependence, we can hear His voice through His word and be led by His Spirit. Thereby, we enter into the fullness of the grace that God has for us during our pilgrimage here on this earth.

More on Following Jesus as a Disciple

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me"…But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Luke 9:23 and Galatians 6:14)

Following Jesus as a disciple is one way to relate rightly to the Lord in humility and faith. Renouncing the self-life is the first aspect of following Jesus. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself." It is certainly humbling to admit that any life we would develop by our own natural resources is unacceptable to the Lord and must be repudiated. The next aspect of being a disciple is also humbling.

This second issue in discipleship is the cross: "and take up his cross." When Jesus spoke of the cross, He was speaking of the ultimate instrument of execution in His day. Consequently, after renunciation of self, we are to confess death for self. The means of this death is the cross of Christ. Those who want to follow Jesus as disciples are to take the cross of Christ as their own personal cross. In doing so, they are admitting to God that they deserved to die upon that cross. "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Furthermore, they are agreeing with the word of God that Jesus died upon that cross on their behalf. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures …who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Corinthians 15:3 and 1 Peter 2:24). This gospel (which brings forgiveness of sins to all who believe) includes the essential truth of the resurrection. "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and thatHe rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4).

Another wondrous benefit of the cross is that we who believe in Jesus also died there with Him. "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him" (Romans 6:6). The old self-life that we were developing while "in Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:22) was executed on the cross with Christ. Yes, the cross is the way out of this world of dead sinners, and we can rightly boast in that truth. "But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."Meanwhile, the attitudes and resources of the old man persist in our flesh (our natural humanity). Thus, we are to renounce self and confess death to self day by day: "let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily."

Following Jesus as a Disciple

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…Follow Me…If anyonedesires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his crossdaily, and follow Me." (Matthew 28:19; John 1:43; and Luke 9:23)

Living daily by God's grace depends upon getting to know Him and then walking in the humility and faith that result from fellowship with Him. We have reflected upon four ways to relate rightly to the Lord in humility and faith: living by the Spirit, living by resurrection power, living by the sufficiency of God, and living by the promises of God. Another example is following Jesus as a disciple.

When our Lord was about to leave His disciples, He gave them the marching orders that were to guide the lives of His people until He would return. "Go therefore and makedisciples of all the nations." Jesus had been calling out people to follow Him as disciples. Now, they were to continue doing the same. A disciple is a follower of a master, who guides and shapes the lives of his followers. Jesus is the ultimate Master, who gives us a new life in Him-life eternal. Jesus' invitation to discipleship was "Follow Me." Along with this invitation, Jesus often explained the terms of discipleship: "If anyone desires to come after Me." This would inform the willing and interested about how to respond. These terms dramatically depict the necessity of relating to the Lord in humility and faith.

The first aspect of being a disciple of Jesus is renouncing the self-life. "Let him deny himself." True disciples refuse to develop their lives by fallen human resources (which are inherited from Adam through physical birth). Thus, followers of Jesus are to repudiate self-sufficiency, self-help, self-righteousness, self-exaltation, and the like. Our willingness to embrace this term of discipleship will be seen by our humble agreement with similar biblical pronouncements. "Make no provision for the flesh" (Romans 13:14). Those denying self do not want the flesh to have opportunities to indulge itself. "The flesh profits nothing"(John 6:63). Those who renounce self confess its total spiritual bankruptcy. We "have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). Those who repudiate the self-life do not want to place any hope in the natural resources of the flesh. "That no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:29). Those denying the self-life agree that nothing of the flesh can ever boast in itself before the Lord God Almighty.