Steve Sikes Blog  

The following is one man’s journey for meaning, ending in true discipleship, and another man’s discipleship ending in true meaning:

“I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.’  And behold, it too was futility.  I said of laughter, ‘It is madness,’ and of pleasure, ‘What does it accomplish?’  I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely… I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men — many concubines… All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure… and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).”
In stark contrast to Solomon’s quest for life’s meaning and personal happiness is Charles de Foucauld’s “Prayer of Abandonment,” referenced in Lee C. Camp’s book, “Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World.”

Prayer of Abandonment
By Charles de Foucauld
“My Father,
I abandon myself to you.
Make of me what you will.
Whatever you make of me, I thank you.
I am ready for everything
I accept everything.
Provided that your will be done in me,
In all your creatures,
I desire nothing else, Lord.
I put my soul in your hands,
I give it to you, Lord,
With all the love in my heart,
Because I love you,
And because it is for me a need of love
To give myself,
To put myself in your hands unreservedly,
With infinite trust.
For you are my Father!”

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13).” 

God is good.  Mr. Steve

“The gospel is not an offer of after-death fire insurance, nor is it even an offer of merely personal peace and serenity in the here and now. More, the gospel invites us to participate in the kingdom of God, that long-awaited rule of God, in which the rebellion, with its corollaries of lust and violence and greed and self-seeking, is undone. The gospel invites us to follow in the way of Jesus who embodies for us the way of the kingdom.” (Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World, by Lee C. Camp.)

The gospel invited our teens this past week to follow in the way of Jesus, and they followed! I love Tim and Melody Davis! I love their ideas of teaching, working alongside and effectively mentoring our young people to embody the reign of God in love and service!

The Davises “captured” our teens last week and took them on three, single-day mission trips within our surrounding area. Our youth had no idea what each day held until it unfolded before them. On Wednesday they painted curbs, parking lines, and an electrical box at the local Pitman High School and Middle School; on Thursday they helped move a widow’s furniture to her room in a nursing home and the rest into storage; and on Friday they worked on the grounds of Derek and Leza Davis’ youth center.

When Jesus announced, “I have come to serve and not be served (Matthew 20:28),” He identified service as an integral part of the rule and reign of God! “But seek first His basileian (rule/reign) and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33).”

WAY TO GO TEENS! MERE DISCIPLESHIP looks really good on you!

God’s reign is good all the time and all the time God’s reign is good!

Mr. Steve

Decades ago I met a man about TEN years my senior who had come to the hospital to visit the same person I had. While we were waiting in the hall for our visit, he and I struck up a conversation. We exchanged names and occupations. It just so happened we were both preachers in the churches of Christ. His congregation met in a small building about TEN minutes outside of town. I told him I’d come visit him someday (which I did many times over the next TEN plus years).

I then asked “Larry” where he was from and he said “Texas.” I asked him where ‘bouts in Texas and he said, “You wouldn’t know where it was if I told you.” I encouraged him to go ahead and tell me. When he said, “Dodson, Texas” – I exclaimed, “I grew up about TEN miles from Dodson; we played them in high school basketball and baseball!” Amazing!

Larry and I struck up a close friendship that lasts till this day – not because we both grew up on the Texas/Oklahoma border, and not because we both preached. In fact, Larry’s church family didn’t believe all of the same things we did, especially about having Sunday School classes. But Larry was the epitome of unity!

Larry was the one who organized (about TEN times a year) the gospel preachers in our area to get together and read and discuss the Bible, pray and then eat at a local restaurant. In view of our differences, we grew in our unity!
Then one day I suggested to Larry that our congregations merge. I’ll always remember his response: “We couldn’t do that, Steve. You’d rob us of our freedom.”

Larry’s answer at first stunned me. Then I pondered the connection between unity in Christ and freedom in Christ. It’s Christ! United, yet: free in Christ to choose and differ; free in Christ to be and become; free in Christ to live abundantly (John 10:10)!

Happy 4th, Larry!

God is good all the time.
Mr. Steve