Thursday, July 23, 2009

What do I want?

Last week Friday at 8pm GMT www.x1church.com went live as we seek to impact people digitally and draw them into the great Christ Culture of the church. There is a blog there where I am entrusted to share thoughts as the lead elder at X1. Here is some thoughts I shared with our people this Monday:

A legitimate question that could, and probably should, be asked by any member of a church (or any Christian within a church) to its pastor is, "What do you most want from me?" I would love to be asked that question by everyone at X1. What I mean by this question is not in the arena of service (although the answer to this question will have immense implications upon service), or giving, or attendance, or purity of life, or even effective evangelism (although again every one of these things will be completely affected). What I mean is what do I want for my people to grasp as the central component that would astoundingly transform their lives and therefore the life of X1 as a community of Christ followers.

My answer, and maybe different church leaders would give different ones (or the same but worded differently) is simple and is scriptural. It is discovered in the life of that man who was known as 'a man after God's own heart', King David. It is in these verses found at the very beginning of Psalm 63

1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.


David gets it, he gets what I would want from every member of the X1 family! He knows the Lord. His life, every single element of it, stems from an intimate communion with the Lord. You see that in vs 2. The result is the overwhelming consciousness of the love of God for Him ('better than life'). The final overflow is a life of sheer contentment, a life of praise, a life that lives every minute in passionate response to the 'power[ful] glor[ious]' King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

What I want from every member of X1 is that you seek, above all other things, every distraction or seemingly good thing, total and complete intimacy with the Lord. An intimacy that draws you into HIs presence and allows you to see Him as He truly is.

Everything will be different!

Simon

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