Keeping Up With the Roberts Family
Each month Cliff and Denise Roberts write home to their high desert family at New Life Fellowship to share all the happenings in their lives and their new church community. We look forward to posting their spiritual insights as they continue walking with the Lord in Lakeland, Tennessee.
june: taking risks for the lord
I was listening to a podcast that Denise shared with me recently, and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a message I’d shared years ago about how taking risks for the Lord is right. I’d also written about that recently in book form too. I felt prompted to share some of that this month and to include it here with a bit of personal application that’s stirring in my heart today. So, here ya go.
————————————————
We all know about those drug advertisement commercials and how the potential horrific side effects are described in warp-speed legalese and shown in tiny print on the bottom of the screen while happy people frolic about with not a care in the world. The point that’s being hidden is obvious: there’s a risk to taking this medicine/drug/prescription/etc. Risks are everywhere, in everything we do because we don’t know the outcome. But while we may be unsure about what will happen next, God isn’t. In fact, He keeps us ignorant and uncertain about lots of stuff. James 4:13-15 says, “Look here, you people who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’” (NLT) We don’t know if we’ll even finish reading this next senten…(I guess we made it!) We don’t know if the next meal we eat will upset our tummy. We don’t know if our entire economy is going to collapse within a year. Risk is a part of life! Safety and security are illusions, and yet this false sense of protecting ourselves and our stuff often paralyzes us from risking for others as we follow Christ.
If we risk our possessions, we might be without; yet the early church practiced exactly that (Ac. 2:44-45; 4:32) and our Father promises to meet our needs (Mt. 6:31-33). If we risk total honesty, we might lose reputation, likes or friends; yet we’re encouraged in Scripture to confess our sins to one another (Ja. 5:16) and that the wounds of our friends are faithful…actually good for us (Pr. 27:6). If we risk being too outspoken about the Lord, we might lose our job, or position, or even our freedom; yet Christ’s call to His disciples in Matthew 10:32 is to do exactly that! It’s actually RIGHT to risk for the cause of Christ! If we risk following Him, it might alienate us from others in uncomfortable and isolating ways—yes, kinda like denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following in His footsteps. (Mk. 8:34)
(I won’t include all the details here, but read 2 Samuel 10 about Joab’s risk taken in battle. Read Esther’s words of risk in Esther 4. Read about how three Hebrews risked everything in Daniel 3. None of them knew the outcome, but they committed themselves to the Lord and risked everything for Him.)
The Apostle Paul’s entire life was one risk after another. He wrote to the church at Corinth, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-28 NIV) Paul lived every day with risk. He never knew where trouble or hardship or persecution would come from next. Safety didn’t exist for him, and he could either waste his life trying to secure that mirage, or he could risk his life for the sake of Christ. Paul’s heart was clear on this matter: “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24 NIV) Paul risked his life every day for the cause of Christ. And this was right.
Jesus called His disciples to a life of risk. “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends,” He told them in Luke 21:16, “and they will put some of you to death.” How many of them would be put to death? Some. Not all, but some…and there’s the risk. We simply don’t know. Some will die and some will live, but we don’t know the outcome ourselves. God doesn’t tell us everything that will happen to us. He tells us of persecutions, sufferings, blessings and rewards. He gives us direction, calls for our obedience and asks us to trust Him. It’s by His sovereign design that we take risks in following Him. Jesus said in John 15 that if people persecuted Him, they would persecute His disciples as well. Peter echoes the same idea in 1 Peter 4:12-14, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (NIV)
Risk is right, and it’s not because God promises us success in everything. When we risk, we aren’t always “successful” as some would define it. John the Baptist risked calling King Herod an adulterer and got his head chopped off for it. Paul risked his final trip to Jerusalem where he was beaten, imprisoned, shipped off to Rome and eventually executed. Martyrdom is real, and the blood of countless Christians covers the globe as a testimony of their willingness to risk their very lives for the gospel.
So how do we balance this call to risk with all of His many promises in Scripture? How do we reconcile Jesus’ promise that some of His disciples would be killed with His promise that not a hair of their head will perish? (Lk. 21:17-18) How do we reconcile His promise to meet our needs (Mt. 6:33) with the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 who were tortured, destitute, afflicted and wandering through the deserts? I think Paul explains it best in Romans 8:35-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)
Paul doesn’t say that Christ’s love for us will keep us safe from suffering. In fact, our relationship with Christ will probably bring us suffering. But will any of those hardships, dangers or persecutions separate us from God’s love? NO! And the reason those things cannot separate us from God’s love is NOT because these things don’t happen to Christians. They do happen and Christ’s love for us doesn’t always spare us the suffering. Risk is real, and our lives are filled with pain—joy too, but also pain. Instead, the Bible says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors”—not by avoiding all these things, not by being saved from all these things, not by living in a dreamworld of comfort and safety apart from all these things—but in all these things. IN all these things, we are never separated from God’s love. IN all these things, we are still surrounded by the presence of the Holy Spirit. IN all these things, we are more than conquerors. And the power to risk, sacrifice and step into the uncomfortable unknown is found in the promise of God. The power to risk is in the promise of God.
Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (NIV) “All things” means that I can suffer hunger through Him who strengthens me. I can be destitute through Him who strengthens me. I can suffer loss and injury through Him who strengthens me. I can risk for the cause of Christ, through Him who strengthens me.
Where’s our comfort and assurance in the face of risk? It’s found in this: no matter what risk we take for Christ, nothing will ever separate us from His love. At the end of every risk—even if it results in our death—the love of God triumphs. That promise is our confidence and it frees us to be bold risk-takers. It’s not about heroism, a thirst for adventure, courageous self-reliance or efforts to win the Lord’s favor. It’s about a childlike faith in the triumph of God’s love. It’s a faith that knows that on the other side of every risk we take in pursuit of Christ’s glory, God will still be holding us. We will be more than conquerors, more than obedient servants, more than faithful followers—we will be the recipients of infinite, unconditional, all-surpassing, overwhelming love from our Father in heaven.
His promise empowers us to take risks for the sake of Christ. Every good thing waiting to bless us and every evil waiting to destroy us—everything will in the end help us to boast only in the cross of Christ, and will bring glory to the Father. Faith in God’s promises frees us to risk and to find for ourselves that it is far better to lose our life for the sake of Christ than to waste it trying to secure an imaginary safety. It is right to risk for the cause of Christ. As Paul writes so eloquently, it is right to “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, (Phil. 3:8 NIV) Risk is right.
————————————————
If true friendships are our way forward as the body of Christ (and with all my heart I believe they are), it requires a level of risk-taking sacrifice that we are largely unfamiliar with as modern day Christians. Honest transparency with one another is a huge risk, and one we’re only selectively comfortable doing semi-regularly in certain settings. But among life-on-life, daily interactive, time-invested friendships, it should be normal ministry with each other. The Lord is calling us to confess our sins to one another, to sharpen one another like iron on iron, to love one another so deeply that people know we’re His disciples. There’s risk involved because that’s not our routine and it requires far more from us than weekly group attendance. There’s a personal sacrifice of time necessary for those relationships to develop, and time is a limited resource we’re given to steward briefly here on earth. Are we using it to be busy doing all the stuff, or are we investing it in friendships that can’t grow any other way?
The Lord is calling His Church to fill our lives with His presence. That happens on a personal level daily as we read His Word and spend time in prayer and worship. That also happens corporately as we gather to glorify the Lord and magnify His name publicly. But it will also happen among friends who have dedicated their lives to one another. That sacrificial love that risks rejection and loss for our honesty and investment, is how we’re called to fellowship with one another. God is anointing those friendship investments with His manifest presence among us—I’m experiencing it firsthand. He is filling my life with people whom my heart is opening up to more and more, but at the cost of my time, my prayers, my resources, my schedule, my life involvement beyond my own personal interests. Is there risk involved in all of that? Absolutely, and in so many ways. That’s another conversation entirely, but one I’m happy to have if y’all wanna chat about it.
I’d like to say that our family has all learned this lesson really well and that we’ve become professional “risk-takers for Jesus” now. After all, we moved across the country simply because the Lord said to, right? But, I’m a work in progress in the hands of a very patient God. He continues to stretch my faith and puts me into uncomfortable and unfamiliar places regularly. I do my best to listen and wait for His response, but even steps of obedience and faith can lead to things I feel unprepared for. I’m in a season of preparation, and while I know He’s directing my steps, I’m still not sure what I’m stepping into. Risk? Yeah, but I trust Him and that’s enough for me.
I’m gonna ask the rest of my family for some pictures to include now (since that’s kinda NOT my thing), but I want to say THANK YOU first. Our lives are filled with cherished friends, and while we enjoy rubbing shoulders with y’all in our home, we love the texts, prayers, phone calls and emails too. The body of Christ is just so much fun to be a part of and YOU are so much of what we enjoy. We’re humbled by the support network God has put together for us from all across the country. If you ever wanna chat, my cell is (760) 217-8854. If you want to email me something, you can send it to godurmyall@hotmail.com. If you wanna stop by for a visit, we live at 4481 Mount Gillespie Dr. in Lakeland, TN. And if you want to send financial support, you can give through New Life Fellowship in person or even online by designating it “Missions: The Roberts” or something similar (https://newlifebarstow.com/give). We love y’all lots and lots and hope to see many of you this summer among all our varied activities. Okay, now bring on the heat!
<><
The Roberts Family
(Cliff, Denise, Purity, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Honor and Life)
————————————————
We all know about those drug advertisement commercials and how the potential horrific side effects are described in warp-speed legalese and shown in tiny print on the bottom of the screen while happy people frolic about with not a care in the world. The point that’s being hidden is obvious: there’s a risk to taking this medicine/drug/prescription/etc. Risks are everywhere, in everything we do because we don’t know the outcome. But while we may be unsure about what will happen next, God isn’t. In fact, He keeps us ignorant and uncertain about lots of stuff. James 4:13-15 says, “Look here, you people who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’” (NLT) We don’t know if we’ll even finish reading this next senten…(I guess we made it!) We don’t know if the next meal we eat will upset our tummy. We don’t know if our entire economy is going to collapse within a year. Risk is a part of life! Safety and security are illusions, and yet this false sense of protecting ourselves and our stuff often paralyzes us from risking for others as we follow Christ.
If we risk our possessions, we might be without; yet the early church practiced exactly that (Ac. 2:44-45; 4:32) and our Father promises to meet our needs (Mt. 6:31-33). If we risk total honesty, we might lose reputation, likes or friends; yet we’re encouraged in Scripture to confess our sins to one another (Ja. 5:16) and that the wounds of our friends are faithful…actually good for us (Pr. 27:6). If we risk being too outspoken about the Lord, we might lose our job, or position, or even our freedom; yet Christ’s call to His disciples in Matthew 10:32 is to do exactly that! It’s actually RIGHT to risk for the cause of Christ! If we risk following Him, it might alienate us from others in uncomfortable and isolating ways—yes, kinda like denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following in His footsteps. (Mk. 8:34)
(I won’t include all the details here, but read 2 Samuel 10 about Joab’s risk taken in battle. Read Esther’s words of risk in Esther 4. Read about how three Hebrews risked everything in Daniel 3. None of them knew the outcome, but they committed themselves to the Lord and risked everything for Him.)
The Apostle Paul’s entire life was one risk after another. He wrote to the church at Corinth, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-28 NIV) Paul lived every day with risk. He never knew where trouble or hardship or persecution would come from next. Safety didn’t exist for him, and he could either waste his life trying to secure that mirage, or he could risk his life for the sake of Christ. Paul’s heart was clear on this matter: “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24 NIV) Paul risked his life every day for the cause of Christ. And this was right.
Jesus called His disciples to a life of risk. “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends,” He told them in Luke 21:16, “and they will put some of you to death.” How many of them would be put to death? Some. Not all, but some…and there’s the risk. We simply don’t know. Some will die and some will live, but we don’t know the outcome ourselves. God doesn’t tell us everything that will happen to us. He tells us of persecutions, sufferings, blessings and rewards. He gives us direction, calls for our obedience and asks us to trust Him. It’s by His sovereign design that we take risks in following Him. Jesus said in John 15 that if people persecuted Him, they would persecute His disciples as well. Peter echoes the same idea in 1 Peter 4:12-14, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (NIV)
Risk is right, and it’s not because God promises us success in everything. When we risk, we aren’t always “successful” as some would define it. John the Baptist risked calling King Herod an adulterer and got his head chopped off for it. Paul risked his final trip to Jerusalem where he was beaten, imprisoned, shipped off to Rome and eventually executed. Martyrdom is real, and the blood of countless Christians covers the globe as a testimony of their willingness to risk their very lives for the gospel.
So how do we balance this call to risk with all of His many promises in Scripture? How do we reconcile Jesus’ promise that some of His disciples would be killed with His promise that not a hair of their head will perish? (Lk. 21:17-18) How do we reconcile His promise to meet our needs (Mt. 6:33) with the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 who were tortured, destitute, afflicted and wandering through the deserts? I think Paul explains it best in Romans 8:35-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)
Paul doesn’t say that Christ’s love for us will keep us safe from suffering. In fact, our relationship with Christ will probably bring us suffering. But will any of those hardships, dangers or persecutions separate us from God’s love? NO! And the reason those things cannot separate us from God’s love is NOT because these things don’t happen to Christians. They do happen and Christ’s love for us doesn’t always spare us the suffering. Risk is real, and our lives are filled with pain—joy too, but also pain. Instead, the Bible says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors”—not by avoiding all these things, not by being saved from all these things, not by living in a dreamworld of comfort and safety apart from all these things—but in all these things. IN all these things, we are never separated from God’s love. IN all these things, we are still surrounded by the presence of the Holy Spirit. IN all these things, we are more than conquerors. And the power to risk, sacrifice and step into the uncomfortable unknown is found in the promise of God. The power to risk is in the promise of God.
Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (NIV) “All things” means that I can suffer hunger through Him who strengthens me. I can be destitute through Him who strengthens me. I can suffer loss and injury through Him who strengthens me. I can risk for the cause of Christ, through Him who strengthens me.
Where’s our comfort and assurance in the face of risk? It’s found in this: no matter what risk we take for Christ, nothing will ever separate us from His love. At the end of every risk—even if it results in our death—the love of God triumphs. That promise is our confidence and it frees us to be bold risk-takers. It’s not about heroism, a thirst for adventure, courageous self-reliance or efforts to win the Lord’s favor. It’s about a childlike faith in the triumph of God’s love. It’s a faith that knows that on the other side of every risk we take in pursuit of Christ’s glory, God will still be holding us. We will be more than conquerors, more than obedient servants, more than faithful followers—we will be the recipients of infinite, unconditional, all-surpassing, overwhelming love from our Father in heaven.
His promise empowers us to take risks for the sake of Christ. Every good thing waiting to bless us and every evil waiting to destroy us—everything will in the end help us to boast only in the cross of Christ, and will bring glory to the Father. Faith in God’s promises frees us to risk and to find for ourselves that it is far better to lose our life for the sake of Christ than to waste it trying to secure an imaginary safety. It is right to risk for the cause of Christ. As Paul writes so eloquently, it is right to “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, (Phil. 3:8 NIV) Risk is right.
————————————————
If true friendships are our way forward as the body of Christ (and with all my heart I believe they are), it requires a level of risk-taking sacrifice that we are largely unfamiliar with as modern day Christians. Honest transparency with one another is a huge risk, and one we’re only selectively comfortable doing semi-regularly in certain settings. But among life-on-life, daily interactive, time-invested friendships, it should be normal ministry with each other. The Lord is calling us to confess our sins to one another, to sharpen one another like iron on iron, to love one another so deeply that people know we’re His disciples. There’s risk involved because that’s not our routine and it requires far more from us than weekly group attendance. There’s a personal sacrifice of time necessary for those relationships to develop, and time is a limited resource we’re given to steward briefly here on earth. Are we using it to be busy doing all the stuff, or are we investing it in friendships that can’t grow any other way?
The Lord is calling His Church to fill our lives with His presence. That happens on a personal level daily as we read His Word and spend time in prayer and worship. That also happens corporately as we gather to glorify the Lord and magnify His name publicly. But it will also happen among friends who have dedicated their lives to one another. That sacrificial love that risks rejection and loss for our honesty and investment, is how we’re called to fellowship with one another. God is anointing those friendship investments with His manifest presence among us—I’m experiencing it firsthand. He is filling my life with people whom my heart is opening up to more and more, but at the cost of my time, my prayers, my resources, my schedule, my life involvement beyond my own personal interests. Is there risk involved in all of that? Absolutely, and in so many ways. That’s another conversation entirely, but one I’m happy to have if y’all wanna chat about it.
I’d like to say that our family has all learned this lesson really well and that we’ve become professional “risk-takers for Jesus” now. After all, we moved across the country simply because the Lord said to, right? But, I’m a work in progress in the hands of a very patient God. He continues to stretch my faith and puts me into uncomfortable and unfamiliar places regularly. I do my best to listen and wait for His response, but even steps of obedience and faith can lead to things I feel unprepared for. I’m in a season of preparation, and while I know He’s directing my steps, I’m still not sure what I’m stepping into. Risk? Yeah, but I trust Him and that’s enough for me.
I’m gonna ask the rest of my family for some pictures to include now (since that’s kinda NOT my thing), but I want to say THANK YOU first. Our lives are filled with cherished friends, and while we enjoy rubbing shoulders with y’all in our home, we love the texts, prayers, phone calls and emails too. The body of Christ is just so much fun to be a part of and YOU are so much of what we enjoy. We’re humbled by the support network God has put together for us from all across the country. If you ever wanna chat, my cell is (760) 217-8854. If you want to email me something, you can send it to godurmyall@hotmail.com. If you wanna stop by for a visit, we live at 4481 Mount Gillespie Dr. in Lakeland, TN. And if you want to send financial support, you can give through New Life Fellowship in person or even online by designating it “Missions: The Roberts” or something similar (https://newlifebarstow.com/give). We love y’all lots and lots and hope to see many of you this summer among all our varied activities. Okay, now bring on the heat!
<><
The Roberts Family
(Cliff, Denise, Purity, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Honor and Life)
Sure, it was a comfortable chair. Sure, the color was lots of fun.
But I think Denise gave the final approval on adding this lovely chair to our playroom furniture because of the dashing young man modeling here with his snacks.
But I think Denise gave the final approval on adding this lovely chair to our playroom furniture because of the dashing young man modeling here with his snacks.
When my daughter takes pictures of herself on my phone without me knowing about it, she needs to understand that the GOOFIEST pic is the one
that’s gonna get shared with all of my friends.
that’s gonna get shared with all of my friends.
We graduated another homeschooler!
Wisdom is officially done with high school
and already enjoying her summer of FREEDOM. You go, girl!
Wisdom is officially done with high school
and already enjoying her summer of FREEDOM. You go, girl!
Does this picture really even need a caption? Sheesh, just like their mother, huh? Lol!