This past June, Shannon gave birth to our second boy…Mason Lee David Qualls.  While Mars Hill Church doesn’t believe in Infant Baptism, we do have baby dedications.  This Sunday (Christmas), our church will be having baby dedications.  If you aren’t familiar with baby dedications, this is where the parents present the child to the church, the church and the parents promise to raise the child to know about Jesus, and they pray for the child and family.

There isn’t anything magical about a baby dedication. It doesn’t make the child a Christian (only Jesus can do that).  It’s actually more for the parents and the church.  This isn’t to try to secure the child a place in heaven, but it’s to set in the heart of the parents and church how the child should be raised. If it doesn’t save the child, why should you do a  baby dedication?

Well here are the three reasons, Shannon and I are doing it.

1. It’s Biblical

You see in the Old Testament that God gave Abraham a sign to show that he and his family were dedicated to the Lord (circumcision).  As we entered the new covenant, we see that this particular symbol was done away with as the sign. Baptism replaced it as the sign of someone that has believed in Jesus for their salvation.  While some would now say that we should now baptize infants because of this, I don’t see enough in scripture to support baptizing children (another topic for another time).  I see baptism consistently happening when someone comes to a personal faith in Jesus.

What I do see constantly in scripture though is parents being dedicated to raising their children to know Jesus.

• Deuteronomy 6
• Proverbs 22:6
• Luke 2:22-24

2. It’s Counter-Cultural

Where I live in Albuquerque, NM, it seems like you generally have three options when it comes to the subject of dedicating your child –   Abandonment, Religion, or Spirituality.  The majority of kids in Albuquerque will grow up without a dad in their house.  They will never know what it means to have the daily influence of a man in their lives.  They will grow up having daddy issues that only Jesus can save them from.  By the grace of God, my boys will not have to experience that.

To say that Albuquerque is steeped in Catholic tradition would be an understatement.  While I believe there are a lot of Catholics that love Jesus and I’ll be hanging out in heaven with, there are a lot of Catholics in this area that feel they have get in to heaven free ticket.  They will site that they were baptized as an infant and took their first holy communion at such and such an age.  There faith is based in a ceremony and not in Jesus.

If you’re not abandoned or religious in ABQ, then you’re left to be raised in some vague spiritual system.  Children are raised with a mix of various religious, spiritual, and demonic rituals.  This leaves the child finding their righteousness in anything and everything…other than Jesus.

I want Mason’s dedication to be a counter-cultural witness to the saving grace of Jesus alone.  We are dedicated to Jesus alone, and we dedicate Mason to Jesus alone.  By the grace of God, we are raising him to trust in Jesus and not religion or spirituality.

3. It’s Familial

Shannon and I want to build a legacy.  We want the name Qualls to decrease and the name of Jesus to always increase. When I hear the name Graham, Wesley, Spurgeon, and Edwards, I think of Jesus.  I want the name of Qualls to be synonymous with Jesus.  The sad thing is that it only takes one generation for this to stop.  Therefore, it is my hope that some day I will get to be at the baby dedications of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But it must start with me.  So this Sunday I am pumped that we get to dedicate Mason Lee David Qualls to Jesus. Come join us if you are in town.

This perspective of a missional church starkly contrasts the typical church today that sees itself as a church that has missions.  In these churches, missions are always done by a specially called person who is a missionary.  Missions is always done in a foreign country.  Missions is a program or ministry that is run by a committee in the church.  The church goes on mission trips, has a missions fund, and has a missions bulletin board in the foyer with a map of the world with colored pushpins in it.  Missions is completely separate from the church and exist out of the church.  The church has missions.

Whereas a missional church understands the opposite—the mission of God has a church.  This perspective changes everything.  This means that the mission field is where the church is.  We are all missionaries.  There is no missions program.  Instead, every program and ministry is a missional program.  The church doesn’t run missions—the mission runs the church.  The church doesn’t have a mission.  The mission has a church.  This is what it means to be a missional church.  Being missional isn’t the next catchy fad, but instead it is being caught up in the mission of God.

The word missional’s meaning is rooted deeply within the understanding of the church’s purpose. This purpose displays itself in three different ways. The church is a missionary sent on mission as a sign and instrument of the Missio Dei. The first area in which we are called to be missional is as a missionary in our own culture. The general idea of a missionary is a person in a foreign country in a completely non-Christian culture. But in reality, today all Christians live in non-Christian cultures. Tim Keller gives insight into this reality by focusing on the missionary Lesslie Newbigin:

The British missionary Lesslie Newbigin went to India around 1950. There he was involved with a church living ‘in mission’ in a very non-Christian culture. When he returned to England some 30 years later, he discovered that now the Western church too existed in a non-Christian society, but it had not adapted to its new situation. Though public institutions and popular culture of Europe and North America no longer ‘Christianized’ people, the church still ran its ministries assuming that a stream of ‘Christianized,’ traditional/moral people would simply show up in services. Some churches certainly did ‘evangelism’ as one ministry among many. But the church in the West had not become completely ‘missional’—adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community, and service—so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it. It had not developed a ‘missiology of western culture’ the way it had done so for other nonbelieving cultures.

Even if you are in a “Christianized” culture, the reality is that we still need to view ourselves as missionaries. Every culture needs some amount of contextualization of the gospel. This means that you have to be missionary to do the contextualization needed to present the gospel.

While Paul displays Jesus’ preeminence and authority over all of creation, he also takes the time to show Jesus in authority over the church. Right before Paul declares Jesus’ preeminence over everything in Col. 1:18, he states that Jesus “is the head of the body, the church.” Wright states:

It is to this Jesus Christ, none other, that the Colossians now belong in belonging to the church. This is the moment when…the thought moves from creation to new creation. Paul starts where the Colossians are, as members of the one world-wide people of God. If God’s people are the new humanity, the metaphor of a human body is utterly appropriate to express not only mutual interdependence (as in Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12ff.) but also, as here, an organic and dependent relation to Christ himself.[1]

Jesus isn’t just the ultimate authority in the church, but he intimately leads his church. As it is impossible for our bodies to survive and move without our head, so it is true of the church. Jesus is in a deep and intimate relationship as he leads his church. Jesus is the head and we are “his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24).

Jesus’ headship in the church is also reiterated in Paul’s references to his and Colossians place in the church under and for Jesus. From the very first sentence in his letter to the Colossians, Paul shows Jesus’ headship by saying that he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:1). Paul’s apostleship is only shown to be of value because of its relationship to Jesus. When Paul speaks of Epaphras, he says that Epaphras “is a faithful minister of Christ” (Col. 1:7). Being called to one body in Christ, the Colossians are called to “let the peace of Christ rule in [their] hearts” (Col. 3:15). As the body of Christ, they are called to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). Lastly, Paul gives them a clear perspective on their work, saying that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23-24). As members of the body of Christ, the person the Colossians ultimately work for isn’t here on earth but the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus isn’t just the head of the church, but he is also displayed at the source of the church. Paul continues in verse 18 to say that Jesus “is the beginning.” MacArthur gives a better understanding of what Paul meant when he used the word beginning:

Arche (beginning) used here in the twofold sense of source and primacy. The church has its origins in Jesus. God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). It is He who gives life to His church. His sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf provided our new life. As head of the Body, Jesus holds the chief position, or highest rank in the church. As the beginning, He is its originator.[2]

Because of the work of Jesus on the cross, the Colossians have been brought into the body of Christ. The source of the church is Jesus, as “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20). The Colossians have been saved from their sin to Jesus and his body, the church.

[2] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 51.

Because of Jesus’ standing as fully God and his role as the agent of creation, Paul naturally displays Jesus’ preeminence over all of creation. Paul tells the Colossians that Jesus is “the first-born of all creation” (Col. 1:15). Some might see this as confusing and think that Paul was saying that Jesus was created. Paul’s Jewish readers would have understood exactly the point he was making. “’Firstborn’ was a Hebraic-Jewish way of saying ‘specially honored.’ In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was called ‘firstborn’ (Ex 4:22). So was David (Ps 89:27). In such contexts, the reference is not to physical birth but to position of honor before God. Paul is saying that Christ has ‘pride of place’ over all creation.”[1]

Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that Jesus “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). Jesus “is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Col. 1:18). John MacArthur Jr. comments on these verses, saying, “As a result of His death and resurrection, Jesus has come to have first place in everything. Paul summarizes for emphasis in verse 18. He wants to drive home the point as forcefully as he can that Jesus is not merely another emanation from God.”[2]

In the same line of thought, Paul focuses on Jesus authority. Jesus is “the head of all rule and authority” (Col. 2:10). The Father “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15). Ultimately, Jesus reigns over all of creation as he is “seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Paul emphasizes the authority of Jesus by continuously using the title of Lord [kurious] for Jesus.[3] The word kurious ascribes to Jesus the place and position of might, power, master, and owner and is “the NT Gr. Equivalent for the OT Hebr. Jehovah.”[4] As Paul is writing to the Colossians, it is clear to see that he wants them to see Jesus in his rightful place, high and exalted in complete preeminence and authority over all of creation.

[2] MacArthur Jr., Colossians and Philemon, 52.

[3] Col. 1:3,10; 2:6; 3:13,17,18,20,22,23,24; 4:7,17

[4] Zodhiates, The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary, 900.

Paul also displays Jesus as creator in Colossians. He states that “by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” (Col. 1:16). Paul wants to hammer home the point that everything was created by Jesus.  In fact, he goes on to restate his point. He says that Jesus was the agent and purpose of creation as “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16).   William Hendriksen explains:

All things – it makes no difference whether they be material or spiritual – were created in him, that is, with reference to the Son, the firstborn. As two walls and the bricks in these walls are arranged in relation to the cornerstone, from which they derive their angle of direction, so it was in relation to Christ that all things were originally created. He is their Point of Reference. Moreover, it is through him, as the Agent in creation, and with a view to him or for him as creation’s Goal that they owe their settled state.[1]

The Apostle Paul wanted to make sure there was no confusion about Jesus’ place in creation. He wanted to make it very clear to the Colossians that Jesus was creator and not creation.

Paul also goes on to emphasize Jesus’ intimate relationship with his creation. The next verse states that “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Jesus didn’t simply create the heavens and the earth to only walk away. Instead, Jesus sustains creation. Wright comments on Col. 1:17 saying, “The world is now sustained and upheld by Christ…The verb, again, is in the perfect, indicating that ‘everything’ has held together in him and continues to do so. Through him the world is sustained, prevented from falling into chaos. No creature is autonomous. All are God’s servants (Ps. 119:91) and dependents (Ps. 104).”[2]

Jesus’ act of sustaining is also focused on the Christians in Colossae. Paul states that “when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). It is only the life that is lived in Christ that ultimately leads to glory with him. Paul refers to Jesus’ sustaining power elsewhere in Colossians. Paul is “struggling with all his energy that [Jesus] powerfully works within me” (Col. 1:29). The Colossians are told that since they have received Jesus Christ, they are now to “walk in Him” (Col. 2:6). Jesus is their savior and sustainer.

[2] Wright, Colossians and Philemon, 73.

While Paul clearly articulates the deity of Jesus, he doesn’t shy away from focusing on Jesus’ humanity. In Colossians 2:9, Paul makes the second of his statements about Jesus having all the fullness of deity dwell in Him, but Paul doesn’t end there. Within the same sentence, Paul uses one simple word that could seemingly be completely contradictory or at least paradoxical. Paul states that in Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” [emphasis added]. Paul is stating that Jesus is fully God while also being fully human.

Paul uses the word “bodily” (soma) in his statement to combat the thought that Jesus was simply a spirit that appeared to be human. This can be seen in Paul’s previous statement in Colossians that this body was a “body of flesh” (Col. 1:22). The Complete Word Study Dictionary explains that “in Col. 1:22 the expression ‘in the body of his flesh [sarx]’ means in his body incarnate, flesh that forms an organized whole. This is the antithesis of he psuche… , the soul … , and to pneuma … , the spirit … ; or where soma, psuche and pneuma make a peripharasis for the whole man.”[1] Jesus was God incarnate.

Paul also emphasized this fact in the references to Jesus’ death. Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead” [emphasis added] (Col. 1:18). Jesus reconciles all things “making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19). “He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death” (Col. 1:22). We have “been buried with him in baptism” (Col. 2:12). Since God is immortal, these references to Jesus’ death can only be attributed to the fact that Jesus was human.

Now Paul isn’t simply saying in these passages that God simply put on a suit of flesh and walked around on earth for a little over 30 years and then removed it. He is saying that Jesus is 100% human. To every extent that we are human, Jesus is. These can be known from Paul’s statement that the Colossians are “reconciled in [Jesus’] body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:22). The only way that Jesus could have completely reconciled them was if he was completely human. The early church fathers made this clear in their defense against Apollinarianism at the Council of Constantinople.  Fred Sanders explains:

Behind the rejection of Apollinarianism was a vision of salvation represented by the soteriological axiom: ‘What is not assumed is not healed.’ This axiom, articulated by Gregory of Nazianzus (who chaired part of the proceedings), presupposes that the Son of God saved humanity by ‘taking on’ or ‘assuming’ human nature into union with himself. Everything in human nature needs to be saved, so everything must be taken into union with Christ. In this light if Christ had no human soul, the human soul is left unredeemed.[2]

So when Paul says that we are “reconciled in his body of flesh” (Col. 1:22), this is only possible if Jesus is fully human. If any part of Jesus is less than human, then humanity could not be completely reconciled with God.

As you turn the pages of the letter to the Colossians, you can see that Paul wanted the readers to know that Jesus was fully human. This was not in contradiction to Jesus’ deity but in addition to it. In Jesus, “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). Jesus was both fully God and fully man.

The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary: New Testament

[2] Scott Horrell et al., Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology (B&H Academic, 2007), 20.

Jesus lived in community.  He grew up in a large family.  He spent his entire ministry with 12 close-knit friends.  He had larger groups of people who followed him during his ministry.  He constantly ate meals with people.  He healed people.  He prayed for people.  He preached to multitudes.  His life was marked with constant and continuous community.  Everything he did was within the context of community.

Jesus’ lifestyle of continuous community didn’t start with his ministry here on earth but was just an extension of his eternal relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit.  We are called to live in community because God lives in community with Himself.

God’s tri-Personal reality is intrinsic to his existence as the one God who alone is God.  He is a socially related being within himself.  In this tri-Personal relationship the three Persons love one another, support one another, assist one another, team with one another, honor one another, communicate with one another, and in everything respect and enjoy one another.  They are in need of nothing but each other throughout all eternity.  Such is the richness and the fullness and the completion of the social relationship that exists in the Trinity. [i]

In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells us the way that we image him to those around us is by living in loving community.  He puts it this way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[ii] When Jesus says we will have love for one another, he isn’t talking about the typical-everyday-pithy love that we come across.  He is talking about a deep, never ending, never failing, all-encompassing kind of love.  It is the same kind of love that he showed his disciples by loving them at their best and at their worst.  It is the love Jesus is talking about when he said; “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”[iii]

Because of this love, it is in community that we help each other grow.  It is in community that we pray for one another.  It is in community that we repent.  It is in community that we care for one another.  It is in community that we spread the gospel (more on this next week).  It is in community that we bear the image of God and ultimately bring glory to Jesus and find deep joy in our lives.  Spend this week focusing on how you are called to live in loving community with brothers and sisters in Christ.

[ii] John 13:34-35 (ESV)

[iii] John 15:13 (ESV)

After understanding that everything we do is worship, you will begin to see that one of the biggest idols in your life is stuff.  More than likely, you are a worshipper of stuff.  Your car, house, computer, iPod, phone, television, paycheck, books, yard, clothes, furniture, bike, music instrument, and movie collection all hold a higher place in your life than God.  You spend more time focusing on them than Him.

At heart, we are very selfish and greedy.  This is in direct contrast to God the Father who gave us His Son and the Son who gave up His life for us.  If we want to grow closer in our understanding of God, we need to become generous people.  We need to have the mindset that God is more important than stuff.

Here is the amazing thing.  You can use your stuff to worship God.  Your stuff is really God’s stuff and He can do with it whatever He wants.  When you invest your stuff in the kingdom of God, you start to put God before your stuff.  By being generous with your stuff, you are aligning your heart with the heart of God.  Here are some simple tips and steps for developing a discipline of being generous with God’s stuff.

Tip #1: Make it a priority. You’re not going to be generous until you make it a priority.   For example, when I was in college, I had a moment of enlightenment. I was a poor college student, and I went out to eat with a group guys. At the end of the meal, an older gentleman in the group paid for the meal. I remember telling him how I wish I could do the same thing. He responded with the kindest of words: “If you aren’t generous when you have nothing, then you won’t be generous when you have everything.”  You have to make being generous a priority in your life. There are too many other shiny things that will take center stage if you don’t. Make it a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly task to look for ways to be more generous in your life.

Tip #2: Have a budget. 
You won’t know what to give until you know what you have. This works for both your money and your time. For your money, you should have a budget for every month. This takes away the excuse of saying, “I just don’t have any money to give.” You don’t have money to be generous with because you don’t plan.  Most people will tell you that when you first started budgeting, it was like you get a raise.  When you start budgeting, you are finally able to plan. You are able to make your money work for you instead of the opposite.
 You also need to budget your time. Some of us don’t serve others because we never have any extra time. Here is a tip…there is no such thing as “extra” time. There are 24 hours in a day and that is all you have. Just like your paycheck only has a set amount of money, your life only has a set amount of time. You have to budget your time wisely so you’re able to serve those around you.

Tip #3: Give first. This has two implications. You can take the idea of biblical “first fruits.” This was the commandment given by God that you should give the first of everything that you receive (animals, harvest, children, etc.) to God. The top line of your budget should have a line for a certain percentage of your money that you want to give away. When you get paid you should automatically take that percentage of money out of your check to give away.  If you’re a member of a church, it should go to your church. No questions. No ifs, ands, or buts. Just do it. Then budget the rest to live off of. If you don’t do this, you’ll just make excuses and never be generous with the money you have. This will teach you to be generous. The other implication is if you have the option to serve someone or to do something else with the “free” time in your life, serve. Give of yourself first. Generosity now has the priority. So skip watching TV and go do a generous act.

Tip #4: Have a separate checking account. This is a little trick that my wife and I learned when we weren’t part of a local church for a while. We didn’t have a place that we could write a check to for a weekly tithe. So we opened up another checking account and we transferred a percentage of our paychecks into the account every time we got paid. Then we knew we could use this account to be generous whenever the opportunity presented itself without having to worry about whether we were using money that was needed to pay the bills. When we became members of a church, we started giving our tithe to them. We still transfer the money into the account so we don’t get it mixed up with the rest of the money we have, but we enjoyed having the freedom of the extra checking account so much that we transfer an additional amount of money into it every month so we can be generous when the Holy Spirit presents us with opportunities.

Tip #5: Give first and ask questions later. Now this might sound like you’re to give money to anyone on the street who asks you for it, but this is different. What this means is that we have the tendency to ask the question “Why?” Why should I be generous with my time and money? The reality of it is that you can’t understand the answer to that question until you start being generous. You could read scripture. You could hear stories from other people’s lives. You could see a vision of heaven coming to earth. But you won’t get it. You won’t get it until you take a homeless guy across the street to Arby’s for lunch. You won’t get it until you mow your elderly neighbor’s yard without them asking or paying you. You won’t get it until you help your wife’s single-mother-coworker pay her rent. You won’t get it until you pay for lunch for you and your friends, knowing that you might not be able to eat dinner. If you decide that you aren’t going to be generous until you understand why, you’ll never be generous. The reality is you need to give first and then ask questions, because by giving you’ll find a lot of the answers.

Jesus continuously worshiped God the Father.  Depending on your background, the word worship could have a lot of baggage with it.  Some view worship as a meeting time once a week.  Some view worship as a music genre.  Some view worship as doing a set of prayers/chants/mantras.  Some view worship as singing some songs.

While all of these are forms of worship, they all fall short of a full understanding of what worship is.  Worship at its core is giving value to something or someone.  In his book Unceasing Worship, Harold M. Best defines worship better by saying that, “worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.”[i]

Human beings are worshipers.  Everything we do, says, think, or feel is an act of worship.  At the heart of everything we do is giving value to someone or something. We are born worshiping and we never stop. The only thing that changes is what we worship.  God is the only one worthy of worship.  God’s original design was for us to continuously worship Him, but sin entered the world and we started worshiping lesser things.  We started to worship created things (ourselves generally being at the top of the list).  We started to worship idols.[ii]

The reality is that at the heart of all sin is an issue with worship.  Romans 1:24-25 puts it this way, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”[iii] Because of sin, instead of continuously worshiping God, we continuously worship created things.  Because of sin, we have had no desire to ever give glory to God.

Now that we are being made into the image of Christ, we are able to glorify God with our lives once again.  Jesus used everything in his life to worship God.  He is the only person to perfectly worship God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can do the same. Instead of worshiping money, we can use money to worship God.  Instead of worshiping our jobs, we can use our jobs to worship God. Instead worshiping our families, we can use our families to worship God.  Instead of worshiping all of our stuff, we can use our stuff to worship God.  In Jesus, we have been freed to worship God.  Spend this week focusing on how you are called to worship God with all your life.

[ii] An idol is anything that we worship that isn’t God.

[iii] (ESV)