Jesus and Your Relatives

Romans 10:14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them

Sorry to do this so much lately, but I'm going to quote some portions out of Living with Jesus Today by Juan Carlos Ortiz. Again, this is a fantastic book. It is out of print but you can still get one from Amazon as they have them used. This is going to be a loooooong post, but I probably will only post here a few times this week, so break it up if you'd like. I just didn't want to leave out any good stuff from this chapter.

"When my parents came to the Lord, in no time at all we started to fellowship with those in the church which we had begun attending. They became our whole interest.

Do you know what our relatives said? "Since they got into that religion, we lost them."

It was the truth. We were so busy with the church that we lost all contact with our friends, relatives and former acquaintances. We saw our relatives only at funerals. The very ones we were meant to bring to the Lord were suddenly no longer a part of our lives.

Who are the ones who bring new people to the Lord? Those who have themselves just been converted, because they still have friends in the world. but after a few months they won't bring any more new people because they will cut themselves off from all their friends. They will burn their bridges with the world and, instead, will come to prayer meetings and Bible studies, becoming totally absorbed in the church system.

I recall the time when our family belonged to an Italian church. We had meetings every evening except Friday. Six evenings out of the week we were away from our home!

Each evening at 6:30 we left home with our Bibles under our arms. We had no car at that time, so we had to walk seven blocks to take the train. We didn't return until around 10:30 pm. Imagine what our neighbors thought! Every day at 6:30 they watched us leave. They were sorry for us, "poor people, what a religion they have!"

Of course we had no time to make friends with them---we were so busy with the church. Even when there was a holiday, the church held a special meeting. We were always in church, so there was no room for our relatives or our neighbors in our lives. We thought that spirituality was to be in church continually....

.....If you are in a university, you are there first to spread God's kingdom. If you can't preach, you can shine as a light. You can love people, so that they see that Christ is alive today. Suppose you work at Ford Motor company. "Well, I'm there because they pay better, and because they have so many benefits," you tell me. No, you are at Ford Motor company because God needed a missionary there. He simply uses Mr. Ford to support you in the mission field.

If you have two lives--a private life, and a religious life--you can work in a place for many personal reasons. but when you live only one life, God is in everything you do. And wherever you find yourself, you are responsible to those who are a part of the structure of your life.

First, we are responsible to our own family. The pastor isn't responsible; he is just a helper, a counselor. We are the responsible ones. Husbands are responsible to their wives and children....

.....in every household where there is someone who knows the Lord, he is responsible. He is the light to that house....God will ask each of us, "What did you do in the place in which I put you?"

Second after our immediate family we are responsible to our relatives--our uncles, aunts, and cousins. "But it is 20 years since I last saw them!" Yes, and that is very wrong; because you are responsible to them. Third, you are responsible to your friends. Not just your close friends, but also your lawyer and your dentist. If God has saved you, it is because He wants to reach through you all of these people who are a part of the structure of your life. If not through you, then through whom?

Fourth, you are responsible to your neighborhood......yes, you are the 'pastor' of that neighborhood.....every christian has a 'parish' Your block is your 'parish'. You are responsible to that block. Do you imagine that God is going to send an angel from heaven to evangelize your block so that you can go to meetings?

You are also responsible to your fellow workers.....They are a part of the structure which God wants His light to permeate through you. So this means you have something to do. Perhaps you should start by making a list of all the people you are responsible to. But before you begin, I want to draw a very clear distinction between the concept and life. If you have just the concept of being responsible as a priest in your parish, you will either find it a tremendous burden, or you will rush out and try to convert everyone by preaching to him. the letterkills. If your responsibility is just a concept to you, it will either kill you, or you will kill those to whom you witness because you will turn them off!....

...I am not talking about trying to get your relatives, workmates, friends and neighbors to come to church. That is all part of our system. Most of them are not interested in those things, because they are religion and not life. I don't know how to say this....I don't think there is an easy way to say it. I think I just have to say it, even if it seems hard. I believe there is coming a time of great shaking of all of our systems, and only that which is unshakeable because it is the life of Christ will not be torn down...
.......we are not going to have pipe organs, and we may not have hymn books and Sunday School materials. We may even be without our Bibles! But the primitive church didn't have any of these things. The New Testament hadn't been written yet. and most believers didn't have access to the Old Testament. All they had was the Holy Spirit. but because they had Him 24 hours a day, they had the kind of faith that cannot be shaken. As a result, they turned the world upside down! ...
......You see, a church SYSTEM may become a hindrance....We have added so many things that we are caught up in and we don't know how to get rid of them. We even think they are essential.
Let me illustrate what I mean by a hindrance. Our church in Argentina is charismatic. We raise our hands when we sing. (Well, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't.) Now that doesn't appeal to everybody, so the system has become a hindrance for many people. Once we invited a certain family to our church. "No, I don't think we want to come. We don't fit into your atmosphere," they said. Some people feel better in a Baptist atmosphere, or in a Catholic atmosphere, or in an Episcopal atmosphere. I'm not justifying the attitude, but I do wonder if sometimes the things we do in our churches aren't a major reason why the world doesn't want to come to them. Most of these things are just not normal,they are religious.

You know, most of the people you are responsible to will not come if you invite them to church. But did you ever think of inviting them to your house? They will come there. If you bring a person to a Pentecostal church, or a Baptist church, or an episcopal church, he has to overcome many things in order to get to Christ. Perhaps he is anti-catholic, anti-charismatic, or anti-liturgy.....But he is not anti-ice cream! So you bring him to your house. Your home, not the church building, becomes the center of your christian activities. When the church is centered in a home, it is more likely to be centered in people than in a building. The key is that EVERY home starts to function fully as a center. EVERY home, EVERY individual.

I am NOT talking about taking your car out of the garage and driving to someone else's home for a church meeting. No, that is just like going to a church building. I am speaking of bringing to your home all who are a part of your structure of your life---your relatives, friends, neighbors, and fellow workers.

Now I DON'T mean holding meetings in your home with gospel songs and Bible study. Some churches do that.....But that is just another church of the kind that we have in buildings. I am talking about staying in your house to fulfill your duties of priesthood. You begin with your wife. I was the pastor of the First Assembly of God, but my wife was neglected. Start by evangelizing your wife.

What do I mean by evangelizing? To evangelize is to have complete love. It is to have fellowship, communion, full understanding between each other. So evangelize your wife. Love her and meet her needs as the Holy Spirit prompts you. then check your relationship with your children. How are you getting along with them?

What about your relatives?
How are you doing with your cousins and aunts? How long is it since you last saw them? Start to rebuild those burned bridges. I did it and it is amazing how many we won to the Lord without speaking a word. I wrote them, making friends with them again. I didn't preach. I shared love with them. I repented of neglecting them, rejecting them, because I had let the church system take all of my time. I won them just by loving them.

Those women whose husbands don't know the Lord--how many of them go to all the church meetings? No wonder their husbands don't come to the Lord. The church is their rival! They need to evangelize at home by showing the love of Christ as the Holy Spirit leads. He will tell you how to love if you listen to Him and do what He tells you to do. ....


Okay, I better stop there. I've already used most of the chapter. The rest of the chapter is so good that I wish everyone had the book to finish it! Maybe I'll put it in another post next week or something. Have a good week everyone!

Karen










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