When Will Jesus Be Enough?
As you may know, I am about to depart on a three month sabbatical from ministry. After seven years of replanting Heartland Church I am definitely ready for an extended period of rest. As I prepare to leave, I find myself very contemplative regarding the necessity of rest and how it is critical in seeing the heart refocused on Jesus. I would love for you to join me in thinking about this for your lives and how we can all recalibrate to the rhythms of rest to which God has called all of us.
At its core, proper rest serves as an effective reminder that God is the One who is doing all the work and that He doesn’t need us to get things done. When we rest we give a tangible testimony to our own heart, and to everyone around us, that we trust God to do the work that He has purposed to do in and through our lives. It is good for us to watch the plow still moving even as we take our hands off of it. But rest isn’t just valuable in reminding our hearts of the sufficiency of God’s work. It also affords us the time to see the heart reoriented back to what is central and most important in our lives. And that is what I am most excited about as I head into sabbatical.
Here is the question that I am asking my heart as I prepare to unplug and seek the Lord more fully: “When will Jesus be enough for me?” I would encourage you to think about this question for your life as well. In a world of constant distractions, where we are continually tempted to try and find satisfaction and contentment in created things, when will Jesus be enough for us? In other words, what does it look like to live a life that is wholly and completely contended in the presence of Jesus? What does it look like to be so delighted with His presence that it drives us into the pursuit of Him above everything else in our lives?
As I think about this question for my life, my heart is guided by the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 — “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-11)
The truth is that Paul had achieved everything that the religious world cherished and admired. He had status, knowledge, reputation, influence and the respect of his peers. He was commonly referred to as the Pharisee of Pharisees and yet, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, everything changed. Paul looked at all of the things that he had accomplished and accumulated over the course of his life and he called it all loss compared to the all surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. After years of religious activity and striving, Paul had finally met the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ, and He immediately became all Paul wanted. This is where my heart is given to caution as Heartland turns the page from a church replant to an established church (and as I go on sabbatical to see my heart prepared for this next season of ministry). It is so easy for us to look good on the outside and receive a bunch of accolades from people for various things all while experiencing a spiritual emptiness that is bred when we are trying to find satisfaction, contentment and joy in things other than Jesus. In other words, things can look good on the outside while being eroded by a cancer that is spreading underneath the surface. Proper rest and reflection, whether it be on a day of sabbath or on an extended sabbatical, gives us the opportunity to turn to the Lord and have Him search our heart and reveal anything that does not proceed from faith.
I am certain that this next season of ministry for Heartland looks like a radical reshaping of our lives around the gospel where we learn to truly depend upon the leading of the Spirit and where we find great delight in the presence of Jesus. And if that is going to happen in increasing ways throughout the entire body, it must start with the elders recognizing our constant neediness of His grace as we seek His righteousness above all other things. Put simply, we must sell everything in order to buy the field and take possession of the great treasure (which is Jesus Himself). We do not want to find ourselves in the position that Israel was in as God charged them with honoring Him with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him.
When Jesus becomes our greatest treasure, obedience stops feeling transactional and feels like a love filled exercise that produces inexpressible joy in the heart. When Jesus becomes our greatest treasure, surrendering to Him becomes a natural expression of our worship. When He is our treasure, we are able to truly embrace our weakness as we boast in His strength and sufficiency. When He is at the center of our lives, we are moved from confessing Him with only our lips, to confessing Him with our every day lives.
And so, I ask myself, when will Jesus be enough? Maybe a better question is, what is competing with Jesus in my heart? What is it that I fear losing the most? Where do I tend to run to experience comfort? What is it that defines my worth and my value? What needs to happen in order for me to feel secure? Paul discovered that everything else fades away in comparison to knowing and being with Jesus. And when that reality grips the heart, worship becomes genuine, holiness becomes joyful, and surrender becomes true freedom. That is what I want to rediscover and grow in over the course of my sabbatical, and I would encourage you to think through these same issues in your heart as you seek rest in Him.
Please be in prayer for me and my family as we seek to rest and chase after the heart of Jesus to experience greater freedom and joy in His presence. We will be praying for you as well when we are aware and look forward to sharing (and hearing) everything that God did while we were apart.
Because of Christ,
Jeff Neville
At its core, proper rest serves as an effective reminder that God is the One who is doing all the work and that He doesn’t need us to get things done. When we rest we give a tangible testimony to our own heart, and to everyone around us, that we trust God to do the work that He has purposed to do in and through our lives. It is good for us to watch the plow still moving even as we take our hands off of it. But rest isn’t just valuable in reminding our hearts of the sufficiency of God’s work. It also affords us the time to see the heart reoriented back to what is central and most important in our lives. And that is what I am most excited about as I head into sabbatical.
Here is the question that I am asking my heart as I prepare to unplug and seek the Lord more fully: “When will Jesus be enough for me?” I would encourage you to think about this question for your life as well. In a world of constant distractions, where we are continually tempted to try and find satisfaction and contentment in created things, when will Jesus be enough for us? In other words, what does it look like to live a life that is wholly and completely contended in the presence of Jesus? What does it look like to be so delighted with His presence that it drives us into the pursuit of Him above everything else in our lives?
As I think about this question for my life, my heart is guided by the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 — “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-11)
The truth is that Paul had achieved everything that the religious world cherished and admired. He had status, knowledge, reputation, influence and the respect of his peers. He was commonly referred to as the Pharisee of Pharisees and yet, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, everything changed. Paul looked at all of the things that he had accomplished and accumulated over the course of his life and he called it all loss compared to the all surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. After years of religious activity and striving, Paul had finally met the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ, and He immediately became all Paul wanted. This is where my heart is given to caution as Heartland turns the page from a church replant to an established church (and as I go on sabbatical to see my heart prepared for this next season of ministry). It is so easy for us to look good on the outside and receive a bunch of accolades from people for various things all while experiencing a spiritual emptiness that is bred when we are trying to find satisfaction, contentment and joy in things other than Jesus. In other words, things can look good on the outside while being eroded by a cancer that is spreading underneath the surface. Proper rest and reflection, whether it be on a day of sabbath or on an extended sabbatical, gives us the opportunity to turn to the Lord and have Him search our heart and reveal anything that does not proceed from faith.
I am certain that this next season of ministry for Heartland looks like a radical reshaping of our lives around the gospel where we learn to truly depend upon the leading of the Spirit and where we find great delight in the presence of Jesus. And if that is going to happen in increasing ways throughout the entire body, it must start with the elders recognizing our constant neediness of His grace as we seek His righteousness above all other things. Put simply, we must sell everything in order to buy the field and take possession of the great treasure (which is Jesus Himself). We do not want to find ourselves in the position that Israel was in as God charged them with honoring Him with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him.
When Jesus becomes our greatest treasure, obedience stops feeling transactional and feels like a love filled exercise that produces inexpressible joy in the heart. When Jesus becomes our greatest treasure, surrendering to Him becomes a natural expression of our worship. When He is our treasure, we are able to truly embrace our weakness as we boast in His strength and sufficiency. When He is at the center of our lives, we are moved from confessing Him with only our lips, to confessing Him with our every day lives.
And so, I ask myself, when will Jesus be enough? Maybe a better question is, what is competing with Jesus in my heart? What is it that I fear losing the most? Where do I tend to run to experience comfort? What is it that defines my worth and my value? What needs to happen in order for me to feel secure? Paul discovered that everything else fades away in comparison to knowing and being with Jesus. And when that reality grips the heart, worship becomes genuine, holiness becomes joyful, and surrender becomes true freedom. That is what I want to rediscover and grow in over the course of my sabbatical, and I would encourage you to think through these same issues in your heart as you seek rest in Him.
Please be in prayer for me and my family as we seek to rest and chase after the heart of Jesus to experience greater freedom and joy in His presence. We will be praying for you as well when we are aware and look forward to sharing (and hearing) everything that God did while we were apart.
Because of Christ,
Jeff Neville
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