Youth Ministry According to the Tree of Life
1. LIFE: The REAL Secret
Murray Brown
The Secret
" The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne has become a bestselling
phenomenon. Essentially it is the ultimate self help book
describing what is called “The Law of Attraction”
in which the individual “attracts” to themselves
the things they want – health, wealth, success, friends
and so on. It outlines three steps:
- Ask, in which the individual “knows what they want
and asks the universe for it.”
- Believe, where they are instructed to “feel and
behave as if the object of our desire is on its way.”
- Receive, in which they are open to receive their desires
by “paying attention to intuitive messages, synchronicities,
and signs from the Universe.”
The comparisons between “the Secret” and Biblical
faith are obvious to the believer – as are the differences!
"The Secret" is self centred and looks to the universe
as its source. Biblical faith is centred in the desires of
God and looks to Him as the Source.
“The Secret” is nothing new – nor does
it claim to be. A little research will find that it has appeared
and reappeared over the years under various names and guises.
But it is a cleverly packaged and marketed book that essentially
repeats the age old lie “You shall be god” (little
“g”).
The REAL Secret
In Colossians Paul talks about a quite different “secret”.
“God has given me the responsibility of serving
his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness
to you Gentiles. This message was kept secret for centuries
and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his
own holy people. For it has pleased God to tell his people
that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles,
too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this
is your assurance that you will share in his glory.”
(Colossians 1:25-27. NLT)
He mentions this same secret frequently (Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians
3:16, Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17) as does Jesus Himself,
particularly in John chapters 14-17.
“In just a little while the world will not see
me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will,
too. When I am raised to life again, you will know that
I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
(John 14:19-20. NLT)
The true Biblical “secret” then is not “you
are god” but “God lives in you” –
you the believer. It was this truth that transformed the followers
of Jesus from a group of fearful men and women to a courageous
band of disciples. After Pentecost they knew in a real and
tangible way that the same Jesus they had talked with and
walked with now lived inside of them - and that completely
changed the way they lived!
Similarly Paul, after his Damascus road experience, knew
Christ as a living reality inside of him and it seems certain
that it was this truth that dominated his teaching of new
disciples before he quickly had to move on to avoid those
who sought to kill him. Essentially he was saying “Jesus
Christ lives in you by the Holy Spirit. He is your leader
and disciple – not me. I will leave soon but He will
always be with you and in you. Listen to Him and He will guide
you as a church.”
Two Trees - Two Ways of Doing Youth Ministry
In my book, Life: The Missing Dimension in Discipleship*
I take an overview of scripture showing two ways of life and
ministry – living according to the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, versus Living according to the Tree of Life.
If we don’t understand the difference between these
two trees we will find ourselves doing youth ministry according
to our own wisdom and strength instead of relying on the leading
of God’s Life-giving Spirit within. We will teach the
Christian faith as a series of rules rather than a relationship
with the God who dwells within us. Our young people will know
doctrine and morality without necessarily knowing God.
This distinction is a serious one. Jesus Himself warned:
“On judgment day many will tell me, ‘Lord,
Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in
your name and performed many miracles in your name.’
But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the
things you did were unauthorized.” (Matthew 7:22,23.
NLT)
In other words these people were so focussed on “doing”
– doing what was right, that they missed the value of
Life – the presence of Christ within and their relationship
with Him.
When you start to grasp these principles of Life and contrast
them with the principles of the knowledge of good and evil,
you realise how a correct focus can totally transform the
way you life the Christian life and the way you lead and disciple
young people. You realise the emptiness of a self centred
"secret" based on following certain rules, versus
a God breathed Secret resulting in Life. In subsequent articles
I will explore these differences in more depth and give very
practical examples from ministry.
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* To read more about Life: The Missing Dimension
in Discipleship, and to purchase a copy, click
here.
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