Year 4, Day 33: Genesis 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up, In, Out

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.
• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.
• Out: This is the focus of our mission.  These are the people to whom God has called us to go.  These are the people into whom we are focused on attempting to speak God’s truth.

As we focus so heavily on character in the end of the Genesis story, I think that it is also important that we take a look at the relationship triangle and how it interacts with character.  Let’s look at Jacob’s sons and how their Up, In, and Out dimension affect their actions in this story.

As for Up – that is, their relationship with God – notice that God is not even mentioned in this chapter.  Circumcision is mentioned, but only as a means for making the Canaanites weak and unable to defend themselves!  God is not a part of this chapter.  When we are focused on the ways of the world, we should not expect God to be a part of our life.  When God is not a part of our life, we should not expect things to go well for us.

With respect to In, these brothers did have each other.  Simeon and Levi especially had the counsel of the rest.  But again, there is no mention of God.  These brothers use the ways of God – circumcision as a covenant – to exploit their neighbors and to get revenge.  Whereas their In should have helped them discern the ungodly nature of their actions, we don’t see this happening at all.  The only discernment that comes into play here at all is after the fact when Jacob scolds them for what they have done.

Finally, we take a look at the results of their actions: Out.  They had a group of Canaanites willingly circumcise themselves.  There was all sort of fruitful ground for spiritual harvest in this story.  Instead, we see the real pursuit of Jacob’s sons.  They kill the weakened Canaanites and take their wives and possessions.  Instead of reaching people for God, they make their name a stink among the people dwelling in the Promised Land.

How sad our life looks when the relationship triangle – Up, In, and Out – is not relating to God and His ways.

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Year 4, Day 19: Genesis 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

This is an interesting story through which we can view the Up position of the relationship triangle.  The fundamental question that each of us has to face is: what is in our Up position?

When we look at Abraham’s behavior here in this story we do not see a person who has God in his Up position at this particular moment.  He is not protecting the purity of Sarah.  He is not protecting the purity of her womb.  He is not protecting the future testimony that God will do through an old man and a barren woman.  He is trading God’s great design for His own safety and prosperity.  Certainly Abraham is a man of faith, but in this particular story we see his flaw more than his faithfulness.

Fortunately, in this story we see that God is a loving and forgiving God.  God protects Abimelech.  God protects Sarah.  God even protects and forgives Abraham. 

There is a reason that God deserves to be our object of worship.  He deserves to be in our Up position because He gives us true identity.  He forgives us when we sin.  He protects us when we fail to do so.  Nobody else can do for us what God can do, even when we do not deserve it.

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Year 4, Day 13: Genesis 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

Abraham displays a great sense of Up in this passage.  He comes across two kings.  One of them gives spiritual truth.  The other offers worldly gain.  Which one does Abraham choose?

Abraham meets Melchizedek.  Melchizedek offers him a spiritual blessing.  In Melchizedek, Abraham sees a spiritual superior.  In fact, this is the only man in Genesis that Abraham treats as a spiritual superior.  Melchizedek gives Abraham a spiritual blessing and Abraham humbles himself in his midst.  Abraham gives him a tithe.  Abraham values the spirituality of Melchizedek because of his relationship with God.

Then Abraham meets Bera, the king of Sodom.  Bera offers Abraham all the plunder from the war if Abraham would allow him to have the people.  On the surface, Bera is giving Abraham an opportunity for incredible worldly gain.  But Abraham is able to reject this offer.  Again, this is because of his relationship with God.   For Abraham, worldly gain is nothing if it doesn’t come from God.

Because Abraham has a good Up relationship with God, he is able to live with values that reflect that relationship.  He is able to be humble when called upon.  He is able to value true blessing rather than worldly gain.  It all starts with Abraham’s relationship with God.

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Year 4, Day 9: Genesis 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

There are many ways to go with Genesis 9 and a look at discipleship.  Today, I am struck by the examples we see in Noah’s sons – especially when Noah is in a compromising situation.  For me, we see here a great example of contrast, and it really helps define the “In” for Noah.

At the end of this chapter we see Noah get drunk and become unable to control his circumstances.  Of course that is sinful behavior.  But along comes Ham.  Ham finds his father drunk.  What does Ham do?  He goes out and tells his brothers.  Rather than help his father out, Ham broadcasts his father’s sin.  This is not “In” behavior.  Here we have a clear example of people who are blood related but not acting as spiritual family.

On the other hand, we have the example of Shem and Japheth.  What do they do when they hear about Noah’s condition?  They resolve the issue.  In fact, they resolve the issue in such a way as to try and not disgrace their father further and to not get wrapped up in his sinfulness themselves.  That’s “In” behavior.  They are there for Noah when he needs them.  They cannot take away his sinful behavior, but they can be there to help discern and manage what he’s gotten himself into.

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Year 4, Day 8: Genesis 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

I love seeing what happened to Noah once the waters subsided.  Remember, he was on the ark for over a year when it was all said and done.  He was trapped there with all those animals, his family, and the like.  A year had gone by before the sealed ark was reopened.  What is the first thing that Noah does?  He builds an altar and worships God.

That’s awesome.  I’m sure that Noah – like the rest of us – had his faults.  I’m sure when he stepped off the ark he wanted to run free with feet back on stable ground again.  I’m sure he wanted to build a shelter for his family.  I’m sure he wanted to do a bunch of things, honestly.  But he worships God first.

It makes me wonder today, what is in my Up position?  Is God my first thought this morning?  Is my identity really beginning with the Father?  Is my authority really beginning with the King?  Is God setting the agenda for my missional focus and spiritual relationships?

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Year 4, Day 3: Genesis 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

You might wonder how it is we go from the epitome of the Bible’s perspective of sin to talking about the in dimension of relationships.  It’s a bit of a mental leap, but I think it is a leap that bears out some fruit.

As I am being discipled, I am constantly being reminded about the need to have an in dimension to my life.  I need to share vision.  I need to share leadership.  The developing spiritual community around me needs to be family on mission, not a church on the pastor’s mission.  When I speak like this, I am reminded of Paul’s famous words in Galatians 3: “For there is no longer Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.  For you all are one in Christ.”  When I read through Genesis 1-2 I get a sense of the oneness and the completion of creation.

So when does hierarchy come in?  Where does this inner need to be in control come into play?  When do we as humans begin to feel the need to dominate over one another?  It comes in the curse to the woman.  “You shall desire your husband, but he shall rule over you.”  It is on that curse – that consequence of sinful behavior – that we hear the first words of human hierarchy.

As a leader, I need to understand that my internal need to be in control comes not out of God’s design but out of my own sinful nature.  I need the in dimension to help me let go of my human sinful tendencies.  It is one thing for people to willingly submit spiritually.  But it is another thing for me to assume that reality.  True submission, a true in dimension to relationship, comes out of the Spirit and our togetherness as a part of God’s creation.

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Year 3, Day 357: Revelation 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

As we read through this chapter on the beasts of Revelation, we see something interesting.  The people of the earth see this first beast.  They marvel at it.  It occupies their attention.  They worship it.  For the people of Revelation 13, this first beast occupies their Up.

The beast blasphemes.  The beast makes war against God’s people.  The beast leads people astray.  Because the people have something in the Up besides God, they are cleanly led astray from God, righteousness, peace, grace, and mercy.

We must be careful what occupies our Up.  We must be careful what we worship.  We must be careful what we put in the center of our life.  If we are not careful, like the people of the earth we’ll find ourselves worshiping something that leads us away from God.

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Year 3, Day 352: Revelation 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word that speaks to our relationship with God.  God is love.  God draws us to Him.  It is God who gives us truth.  It is God who gives us identity.  It is God who gives us authority. 

In this chapter we hear about a God who is a living God.  Often it is easy to put God on a shelf and not consider our relationship with Him as we go through our life.  But here we hear that God is living.  He cannot be ignored.  He brings hope to the hopeless.  He comes in judgment to those who would oppose Him.  He controls the elemental forces of the world.

It is also God who calls us and sustains us.  It is God that we worship.  It is God who gives meaning to our lives.  It is God in whom our eternal life rests.

As we read this passage, I can’t help but ask if I make enough space in my life for intimacy with God.  Am I at peace with God?  Is God renewing me?  Am I obedient to God?  Do I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life?

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Year 3, Day 348: Revelation 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: This is the word that describes our relationship with God.  It is God that gives us our identity and our authority.  It is God that gives power to our submission to His mission.

In each of these four churches, we can see an example of the importance of Up:

• Ephesus knows how to test the spirits and endure for the sake of Christ.  However, they also have forgotten their first love.  It is easy to fall into a pattern of ministry where God’s love no longer shines through us as it should.  When our relationship with God falters, we can end up going through the motions for academic or ritualistic reasons rather than for God’s love.
• Smyrna is able to do great things because their relationship with God is what it should be.  They are able to endure persecution.  They are able to understand that they are rich regardless of their financial condition.  They are able to stand under slander.  They are even able to look death in the face and not blink.  Because their relationship with God is strong, they can look forward to the crown of life.
• In Pergamum, we see a group of people who are able to do the work of the Lord even though they are in proximity to the work of Satan.  This is accomplished through their relationship with the Father.  However, we also see that their relationship with God is not as strong as it could be as they continue to see hierarchy among their ranks.
• In Thyatira, we can hear about a group of people who are growing in their relationship with God.  However, we can see that their Up is still not where it should be.  The people of Thyatira have an issue with sexual immorality.  Instead of turning to God as the center of their passion, they are turning to the lust of the flesh.  God wants to be the center of our life.  That’s what Up is all about.

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Year 3, Day 337: Daniel 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up/Out

• Up: Our relationship with the Father
• Out: Our relationship with a broken world

Here in this story we get a powerful example of each of these two elements of life:

• Up.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego take a stand of faith.  They know what they believe and they act upon it.  As they do it, they literally experience relationship with one who “is like a son of the gods.”  I read that testimony and see a revelation of God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ, coming among Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  When we take a stand of faith, God will dwell with us and allow us to struggle, persevere, and endure to the end.  That is what “up” is all about.
• Out.  Nebuchadnezzar himself makes the comment about “the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego take their stand and impact the broken world around them.  Nebuchadnezzar is brought closer to seeing the power of God.  Nebuchadnezzar is brought closer to truly understanding relationship with God.  That is what “out” is all about.

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