Love Your Neighbors This Summer

Ah, summer! We spend all year long looking forward to summer. The smell of fresh air, freshly cut grass, and beautiful flowers—no school and summer vacations. Even the word “summer” has a warm, friendly ring to it. Summer is when we all take a big long break. But there is one thing that we never get to take a break from – can you guess what it is? Yep, it’s being a minister of the gospel! 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not….”

So, how do we turn our summers into opportunities for ministry? Read along with me today as we explore some ways to use the dog days of summer as an opportunity to expand the influence of Jesus in your neighborhood!

It goes without saying that our neighborhoods are one of our primary places of ministry. First, we have our homes, then we have our work, and then we have where we live. If you live in cold, snowy, or rainy climates during the wintertime, getting to know your neighbors can be a little more difficult in the winter. Most people sort of “hermit” away in their homes during these inhospitable months. Growing up in Minnesota, we never really knew when summer would come. Some years spring would be perfectly timed in April, and summer would come along in June. Other years, like this year, winter lasted until May, and then one day, it was 80 degrees. But whenever, and however it comes, when it does - the doors open, the jackets come off, and the sunscreen gets lathered! Out comes the barbecue, the lawnmower, and the hedge trimmer; in comes the opportunity to get to know our neighbors and serve them well!

It is a universal truth that people love to be outside when the weather is nice. And when they are outside, that means you have the chance to get to know them.

One of the things I love to do in summer is hosting a potluck or a cookout. When the grill is in the front of the house, it’s super easy to invite my neighbors over for a burger or a Coke (or, in my case, a Mountain Dew). This gives me the chance to bless them with a meal and strike up a conversation. The same goes for if I’m out on a walk and my neighbor is in their front yard. I’ll stop and say hello and ask how their day is going. These small connections can open the door for even greater ministry opportunities in the future!

Another great way to engage with your neighbors is to find ways to serve them. For example, if you see someone working on a project in their yard, lend a hand! Or, if you have elderly neighbors or neighbors with mobility issues, offer to mow their lawn after cutting your own. I know someone who does tree-trimming on the side and will offer it to his neighbors in exchange for dinner. What a great idea! That way, he gets to serve and connect!

The point is that your neighborhood is ripe with opportunities to be Jesus to someone. Remember, as a Jesus Follower, EVERYTHING about you should be changing, and EVERYONE around you should be benefitting from your faith, whether they believe in Jesus or not.

- Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Is it Nuclear or Heaven on Earth?

In the past three weeks, we’ve talked about The Cultural Mandate from Genesis 1:28 to subdue and cultivate the earth in order to bring flourishing to all people; The Great Commandment to love God and love others; and finally, The Great Commission to teach others everything that we’ve been taught about Jesus. 

But how do we hold three of these at once? And how do they play out in the marketplace? How about in the workplaces of America?

 Let me draw an ugly picture first – the picture of what it looks like when we live out of balance. If you look at Wall Street or corporate culture or political behavior, most of what they do is in obedience to The Cultural Mandate. They are indeed subduing the earth! But, and this is a big “but,” they do so in ignorance of The Great Commandment and The Great Commission. What do you get when you teach believers to live out The Cultural Mandate but ignore The Great Commandment and Great Commission? 

You get the world as we know it today. 

A lot of people make a lot of money and keep it all for themselves. But God’s intention for business, and really for any job, was for flourishing to happen, for loving to happen, and for people to find out about Jesus naturally. When we take just one of the directions from God and ignore the others, things fall apart and what we end up with is a culture that is ignorant of Jesus, ignorant of God, self-centered, and falling apart. 

However, when you combine The Cultural Mandate with The Great Commandment in The Great Commission, you will see a nation humbled before God, with love flowing to all of our neighbors, flourishing in every neighborhood, and with millions hearing about Jesus because of Christ-followers living out their faith at work. Talk about an ideal world! Sign me up today!

If your work doesn’t reflect The Cultural Mandate, Great Commandment, and Great Commission all combined into one, maybe it’s time to re-dedicate your life to the mission that you’ve been given the mission of following Jesus in your work! iWork4Him is dedicated to helping equip you to do just that. A great place to start? The iWork4Him Covenant.

- Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Called to Make Disciples

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ”

— Matthew 28:19-20

What happens when The Cultural Mandate, The Great Commandment, and The Great Commission collide? Simple: we find our purpose and calling as followers of Christ.

Jesus spent 3 1/2 years teaching his disciples. So, in all that time, what exactly did he teach them? 

How to live life. How to execute The Great Commandment. How to love God and love others. How to follow him. And at the end of it all, how to pass the same understanding, the same calling, on to others. 

It’s important to note that before Jesus spent 3 1/2 years teaching his disciples, he was involved in, and then ran, a family business – a carpentry business. And after 30 years of experience loving the people in his city, Jesus went on to teach the disciples how to replicate his holy behavior in the marketplace across the globe. The Great Commission was the culmination of Christ’s commands when he said, “go and teach the nations everything I have commanded you, teaching them everything that I have taught you.”

As Jesus-Followers, our calling is to teach others what we know about Jesus; sometimes, that’s other Christians and sometimes other pre-believers. The bottom line is the commission is for all of us. This doesn’t just apply to pastors and missionaries; it applies to workplace believers, the “carpenters” of today. The Great Commission is for everyone. 

Every week at work, your behavior should reflect this Great Commission. So, I want to challenge you this week: each day when you leave for work, picture yourself as a missionary headed off to a place full of people who need to know Jesus. 

Demonstrate that you know Jesus by the acts of your love and your behavior. Share with others about Jesus through the natural conversations that happen at work. Join the iWork4Him Covenant and commit to pray, work, care, and share in the name of Christ. 

How does this fit in with The Cultural Mandate and The Great Commandment? Find out at next week’s blog.

- Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Called to Love

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these. ”

— Mark 12:30-31

What happens when The Cultural Mandate, The Great Commandment, and The Great Commission collide? Simple: we find our purpose and calling as followers of Christ. 

 Last week, we talked about The Cultural Mandate to bring flourishing to the world through our work. This week, I want to focus on The Great Commandment. In Mark 12, Jesus is asked by a teacher of religious law what the greatest commandment was. Jesus’s answer?  

 Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This sums up the law and the prophets. So basically, in two sentences, Jesus summarizes the entire Old Testament.  

 It was always about love.  

 God created humans because of love. He caused them to multiply because of love. He gave them work because of love. In fact, 1 John 4:16 says, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” So, it makes sense that the way people would know that you love God is when you love people.  

 Does your work reflect God’s love? Too often, as Christ-followers, our work behavior doesn’t match our Christian behavior. Too often, our behavior doesn’t reflect this Great Commandment to love God and love people.  

When you see that Jesus summarized 800- 900 pages of the Bible in two sentences, did the significance of his statement resonate with you? The commandment is to love.  

 How can you show your love for God and those around you today? 

 Stay tuned for week four of this blog series to see how all of these pieces come together as one: The Cultural Mandate, The Great Commandment, and next week we talk about The Great Commission. Until then, take a listen to this incredible sheWorks4Him podcast episode with Rachel Rose Nelson, who is gathering together businesses to fight human trafficking and exploitation. Talk about love in action!

- Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Living with a Transformed Mindset

In Matthew 10, a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. The answer: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (v.27) 

God wants your whole life; He isn't interested in just a part of it. He doesn't just want your Sunday mornings. He wants it all. 365 days this year, but 366 in 2024. So today, I want to talk to you about one of my favorite verses. Romans 12:2 says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." 

When God transforms your mind, it transforms EVERYTHING. 

True story, this very verse is what got iWork4Him started. I was so tired of running into "Christians" in the marketplace whose behavior was the exact opposite of loving God and loving people. Their behavior matched the expected behavior of the world… but here's the thing: we are no longer of the world. 

Chapter 2 of iWork4Him shares my testimony of living a bi-furcated life at work from 20 to 40 years old. My mentors taught me that business is business and church is church; they have nothing to do with each other. My behavior matched that training, but IT WAS WRONG TRAINING. 

Romans 12:2 says DON'T copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you by CHANGING the way you think. When you change the way you think, you change the way you act. When you change the way you act, the world will be impacted because you will be loving God and loving people. In 2006, when I realized that my behavior matched the customs of this world, I knew I had a problem. How would I ever attract anyone to Jesus if I looked just like any old joe in business? 

For the last 16 years, I have been changing. What about you? 

As we have talked all month long on this blog, does your life reflect Jesus's great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself? Is Romans 12:2 a call to action for you? If your honest answer is “no,” then I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of iWork4Him: Change the Way You Think About Faith and Work. Inside, you will not only find my story, but also the stories of many other believers just like you who went through the process of having their mindset transformed.

Remember that you are a new creation, and everyone around you at work should be BENEFITTING from your faith walk with Jesus whether they know Him or not.

- Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

We've Been Lied To

Most people who believe in Jesus think that to have a Kingdom impact and make a difference in the lives of others, they need to quit their jobs and go work in a ministry. It’s sad, but it’s true. If I had $100 for every time I have heard this, I would be driving a sweet new Honda Odyssey.

Martha and I recently released a trilogy of books. In one of them, iWork4Him: Change the Way You Think About Faith and Work, I address the lies that many of us have been taught. The lie that our work is only significant if we work for a ministry. The lie that as someone who doesn’t work as a pastor or missionary, you are a 2nd tier citizen in the Kingdom of God. The lie that work is work and church is church, and they have nothing to do with each other. The list goes on. Satan uses so many lies to belittle the lives of Christ-followers and make them question God’s purpose for them. But the TRUTH is that God created work, He loves work, and He wants to use you in your work to glorify Him and introduce others to Jesus.

So, hear me when I say this: God’s purpose for you is being carried out right where you are. Because this is God’s will for you: love God, love people. When you do this, when you love your neighbor as Christ loves you, you are acting as His ambassador to the world, and everyone you come in contact with will be blessed (whether they have faith in God or even know who God is.) Remember, the Holy Spirit wafts from you like a sweet fragrance, like a perfume that others not only notice but are drawn to.

You are part of an elite force of 2 billion people called to positively impact the planet with your faith in God. You don't need to quit your job to operate in significance; you already are. You just need to shift your mindset and realize that when you leave church on Sunday (either virtually or actually), you aren’t leaving God’s will or calling on your life – you are entering your mission field!

I want to invite you to join the workplace mission field today by committing to the iWork4Him Nation Covenant. And for more information on living out your calling at work, I want to invite you to read the 1st chapter of our new book, iWork4Him: Change the Way You Think About Faith and Work for FREE.

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER OF IWORK4HIM

JOIN THE IWORK4HIM NATION NOW 

Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!