How "Bossy" Is Your Faith?

Speaker: 00:00:00

Beatitudes Introduction_mixdown:

It's been said that most people

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don't quit their jobs, they quit

their managers or their bosses.

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Have you ever had a job you liked,

but a boss you couldn't stand?

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And what does this possibly have to

do with the purpose of this podcast,

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which is to help people become

spiritually strong, relationally smart?

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There's a connection.

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Stay tuned.

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We're going to talk about that today.

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If your desire is to become

spiritually stronger, emotionally

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healthier, and relationally

smarter, you're at the right place.

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Speaker and writer Stephanie

Smith inspires and equips you

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to achieve these three key aims.

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If you're a parent, you'll also

learn how to raise empowered

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kids ready for adulthood.

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Let's get started.

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In 2020 and 2021, so many people

quit their jobs that it became

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known as the great resignation.

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And it had a huge impact, not just

economically here in the United States and

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in other places around the world, but it's

impacted entire industries significantly.

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You know, historically, we've considered

what's happened to towns and areas

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when factories closed, and, and we've

probably seen the photos of towns before

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and after in areas when there was a, a

thriving industry, and then the factory

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shuts down, and all of a sudden, it

looks kind of like a, a ghost town.

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Now we have major office buildings

and commercial real estate that are

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sitting vacant or nearly vacant and

whose value has dropped exponentially.

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The impact of all of that job changing

is still with us and we aren't

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really even fully experiencing all

of the significance of that yet.

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And what's become known

following the great resignation

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is the great reshuffling.

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And what's interesting, because studies

are still kind of mixed, and they're still

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a little bit early to, to indicate this

on, on a longitudinal way, but happiness

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levels for people who change jobs seems

to indicate that people were much happier.

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for a while, actually for about a year.

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And then it seems that

happiness levels dropped.

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Well, there can be a lot of factors for

why that's the case, but one of those is

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because the reality of the new job and

the new people that come with it sets in.

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That honeymoon kind of phase is over.

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And people begin to understand

and live with the reality.

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There are no perfect jobs because

there are no perfect colleagues

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and there are no perfect clients

and there are no perfect bosses.

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Now, maybe you're tuning in and

you're like, okay, wait a minute.

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This is starting to sound like

a business podcast and I didn't

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think that's what this was about.

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Well, you're right.

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It's not.

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But most of us can relate to this

example of how we view and the

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experiences that we've had with bosses.

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And this is something that I want

you to keep in mind as we talk

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about how we view the gospel.

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How do we really, truly

view the Christian faith?

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Because that same pattern that can happen

in the way that people views their bosses

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can happen also as it comes to our faith.

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Now, certainly this can happen on a

church level, but that's really not

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going to be what I focus on today.

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But what I mean by that is people can

move from one church to another to

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another in search of a better staff

or a congregation, or people have

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just decided to opt out of church

in person and let's just do virtual

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church because, you know, and I'm not

dissing that and saying that there,

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that that has no value or has no place.

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But it also depends on why

a person is doing that.

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And is it because, oh, well, then I

don't have to deal with real people.

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And sometimes people leave churches.

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It's not always for negative reasons,

you know, sometimes it's because, okay,

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I, I need to move either because I need

to grow personally and this, this is

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just no longer the right place for that.

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It doesn't always have to

be some big negative reason.

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Or it can be because I'm going to

go somewhere else and I'm going

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to help another church flourish.

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And that can also be a reason

why people change churches.

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But what I want to talk about today

is how we view the gospel and how it

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impacts how we show up in life, not

primarily how we show up in church.

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Well, that's the secondary part

of that, but we can tend to view

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the gospel, the Christian faith,

I think in, in one of three ways,

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similar to how we can view a boss.

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We either can see a boss that we can

never please, we are never going to be

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able to do enough to earn this, this

person's respect or their approval

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you know, temporarily we might, but

we know that they're always going

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to go back to this default negative,

tyrannical way of, of dealing with us.

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The second way that we can approach

this as, as a well meaning, but kind

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of inept boss that, you know, we like

personally that we wouldn't look to

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for professional guidance or growth.

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And sometimes those are the bosses

that really create quandaries for

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people, because it's like, you

know, I like this person personally.

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And I like my job, but after a while, just

recognizing they don't have the skill set.

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They don't have the mindset.

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They don't have the time, energy, the

resources, the desire, whatever, to

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really help provide what I need for

professional guidance or for growth.

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And those can be the bosses that

sometimes are the hardest to leave.

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Or third, we can have the boss who

wants us to succeed, somebody who

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we respect, we look at and we say,

wow, they're doing their job well.

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And rather than seeing us as a threat,

there's somebody that we're going

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to look to who has the wisdom that

we need to help us grow and succeed.

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You know, through much of our

cultural history in the U.

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S., it was the first example that

tended to characterize Christianity.

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Christianity could be seen as this

demanding, tyrannical belief that

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a person could never do enough, a

person was never going to measure up.

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We were always going to fall short

and be met with an angry response.

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And this would have been characterized

by a, a heavy emphasis on what

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historically would have been called

like fire and brimstone, you know,

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health centered kind of teaching.

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And there are still some remnants

of that thinking with us today

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especially in, in certain areas.

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Of the country or and in certain

age categories, but culturally,

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I think overall, the pendulum

swung to the other extreme.

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And, you know, many people today would

have no idea of what the the phrase

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fire and brimstone even even met,

but the pendulum has swung so that

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it's, it's more that Christianity.

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It's a nice idea.

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And a person had goes so far as to accept

Christ as Savior in the same way that if

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I'm working in a job and I think, okay,

yeah, I accept that person is my manager.

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They're they're my boss.

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I get that.

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I report to them.

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I understand that.

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I'm I'm I'm all good with that.

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But we don't really accept

Christianity as an authority.

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That's really relevant

to our everyday life.

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It's kind of like this boss who just

remains behind a closed office door,

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and we only knock on that door to

ask for help in extreme situations.

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When there's an emergencies, but,

you know, we're not looking to that,

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that boss for the routine every day,

day to day kind of stuff of life.

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And that's how we can also

approach Christianity.

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And in both cases, what we end

up with are 2 different forms

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of a gospel of sin management.

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And in the first, it's that

Christianity is this tyrannical

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demanding punitive boss.

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And then the second Christianity is this.

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Nice but irrelevant boss that's just

reserved for emergencies and, you know,

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okay, maybe like a weekly check in.

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I want you to really think about how you

perceive Christianity and, and the gospel.

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You know, Dallas Willard, who's, who's

writing has had a significant impact

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in my faith and I, I wish I would

have come to know his works years

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before I did, but he writes powerfully

and eloquently about this concept

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of the gospel of sin management and

in his book, the divine conspiracy,

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rediscovering our hidden life in God.

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Fantastic book.

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It's not like a, an, a book that you

just sit down and, and breeze through.

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At least I didn't.

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And many of the women that participated

in a book study with me didn't because

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his writing is it's very readable.

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It's not like, oh, I have to labor

through this archaic tome, but it's,

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The depth of his material just makes

you want to say, I need to soak this

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in slowly because there, this is some

really meaningful stuff that really

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challenges my, my beliefs and my thoughts.

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And yet at the same time.

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Profoundly relevant to everyday life.

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So I want to read some quotes that he had

in, in his book, the divine conspiracy

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on this whole issue of, you know, doing

the gospel is basically being like a

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sand management Kind of, kind of thing.

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Here we go.

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Can we seriously believe that God

would establish a plan for us that

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essentially bypasses the awesome

needs of present human life and

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leaves human character untouched?

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Would he leave us even

temporarily marooned with no

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help in our kind of world?

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Our kinds of problems?

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Psychological, emotional,

social, and global?

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Can we believe that the essence

of Christian faith and salvation

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covers nothing but death and after?

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Can we believe that being saved

really has nothing whatever to do

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with the kind of persons we are?

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Are we to suppose that God gives

us nothing that really influences

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character and spirituality?

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And are we to suppose that in

fact Jesus has no substantial

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impact on our Real lives.

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History has brought us to the point

where the Christian message is thought

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to be essentially concerned with only

how to deal with sin, with wrongdoing

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or wrong being and its effects.

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Life, our actual existence, is not

included in what is now presented as

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the heart of the Christian message.

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Or is included only marginally.

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The current gospel then becomes

a gospel of Zen management.

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Transformation of life and character

is no part of the redemptive message.

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End quote.

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Oh, that is relevant to us and it

requires us to really look at how

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do we approach our Christian faith?

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I mean, what do we really think

about its role in our life?

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Do we see it As this tyrannical force,

that's just always waiting to check every

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box for everything that we've done wrong.

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So they can lash out some sort of,

of punishment or, and I think this

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is probably more likely in our

culture here in the United States.

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It's more of the, okay,

that, that's a nice idea.

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I've checked the one big box of salvation,

and maybe there's a few boxes under that

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that I've checked, but most of the rest of

my life, the gospel is not really relevant

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to in terms of how I actually live.

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Now, it's not so much that I would

say that from a position of belief.

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It's more that I would practice

that from a position of how

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I show up every single day.

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It's not so much something that I would

say to someone in, in my words, but it

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is what I say by how I live my life.

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Well, in the upcoming weeks, we're

going to be looking at the how,

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how big and relevant is our gospel?

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Really?

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I mean, to us, how can we think that

anybody else really needs the gospel?

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Or anything more than just enough of

it to quote, get them saved so they can

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go to heaven and we're not going to be

terribly motivated necessarily to share

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the gospel if, if that's how we see it,

whether it's with the tyrannical boss

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or it's with the kind, but inept one.

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One of the specific ways that

we're going to be looking at

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that is through a familiar Bible

passage Called the Beatitudes.

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Now, if you just heard that and

went, oh, yeah, the Beatitudes.

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Yeah, I've read that.

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I know that blah blah blah You know,

sometimes when something is familiar

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to us, we risk thinking that we know

it, we get it, we understand it.

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And the Beatitudes are one of those things

that, Oh, they, they look beautiful,

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you know, calligraphy, some sort of

wall art and they, they sound great.

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And, and there are messages that

can like show up on bumper stickers

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and all that kind of thing.

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But when we really dig

into the Beatitudes.

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Wow, do they show the relevance of the

gospel and this life of faith to how we

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show up in every single part of our life.

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And it shows that the gospel

is not about sin management.

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It is so much more than that.

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So just get prepared.

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We're going to, we're going

to be walking through those.

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We're also going to have

some upcoming interviews.

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There are people that I want to introduce

you to and so that you get to meet

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and you get to hear their message.

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So you're going to have some of

that coming up in the weeks ahead.

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As well, I invite you then in preparation,

not only for these interviews, but

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in preparation for our dive into the

Beatitudes, I want you to really consider

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how do you view the gospel and don't

look at that as in terms of, oh, you

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have to come up with the right answer.

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Just be honest with yourself.

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About how do you really

see the Christian faith?

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Is it with that tyrannical boss?

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Is it with the kind, but inept one, or is

it that the Christian faith, this gospel,

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this good news, is it something that

you really see as that boss whose wisdom

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that you need, not just for emergencies.

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Not just for the big stuff, but

something that you need every single

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day in order to show up and to

live your one precious life well.

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Wise people and mature

people are curious people.

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You know, people who retain

their curiosity and their

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teachability are people who

continue to grow throughout life.

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Because you've heard me say this before.

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There is no neutral in life.

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You are either growing

or you are decaying.

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That's it.

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There's no just, oh, well,

I'm just kind of maintaining.

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Life is impossible.

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It's impossible to do that in our lives.

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We're either growing or we are decaying.

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And so just, you know, have curiosity

and, and have the willingness to.

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To really dig in and to examine,

you know, what's, what's your

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real mindset about this whole

Christian, you know, faith thing.

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Hey, I've got two things I'm going to

invite you to do as you are thinking

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about this topic over the coming days.

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Number 1 is to share this podcast, send

a text to a friend hit a share button

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on the podcast app that you're listening

to this to, you know, write a quick

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email to, you know, a group to friends

posted on your social media account.

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Let other people know that,

hey, this is something that's,

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that's worth listening to.

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And the other thing is, if you

haven't already, you need to go

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to the website, stephanieprisons.

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com and sign up for my weekly

newsletter there, High Impact.

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It's a totally free resource, and it's

going to give you links, not just to

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things that I create for the podcast

or, you know, Or other things, but

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it's also going to give you information

about other people and resources

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that can help you in this endeavor.

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That is to be spiritually

strong, emotionally healthy,

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and relationally smart.

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All right, my friend, remember this and

live like this is true because it is.

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You have an impact.

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That is.

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Immeasurable, eternal, and irreplaceable.

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I'll see you next time.

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Thank you for listening.

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Visit the website StephaniePresents.

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com and sign up for High Impact to join

the mission of building spiritually

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strong, healthy, Emotionally healthy and

relationally smart women and families.

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You can also book Stephanie

to speak at your event and

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check out additional resources.

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Together, we can invite and

equip generations to engage

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fully in God's grand story.