Unburdened

By: Vance Pitman

ISBN: 978 0801094613

READ: April 2022

RATING: 6/10

Summary: This is a book about discipleship, not disciple making. However, some churches use it as the basis of their disciple making strategy. The best part of this book is its focus and simplicity. Reducing our lives down to a few questions helpfully improves focus. He reduces Jesus’ life down to His relationship with God the Father, with His disciples, and with the world. That was helpful to me, even though I chose to slice mine differently. Pitman also offers strong perspective on grace vs. works, freedom from sin, and commitment to one another. However, the book doesn’t weave disciple making into the fabric of our lives as disciples. He offers a new-checklist after spending considerable time emphasizing freedom from trying, and he doesn’t distinguish fellowship from discipleship. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading this book—plenty of strong Biblical wisdom, but it wouldn’t be one that I’d encourage either.

Chapter titles are: Acknowledgements, Introduction, Part One The Foundation 1. The Problem: We’re Aiming at the Wrong Target 2. The Solution: It’s All About Relationships Part Two Abide 3. The Goal of the Christian Life 4. Freedom from “Trying” 5. Freedom from Sin and Temptation Part Three Connect 6. You Belong To God’s Family 7. Freedom from Relational Conflict 8. Freedom from Relational Isolation Part Four Share 9. You Have a Mission 10. Freedom from Complacency 11. Freedom from This World 12. The 5 Percent Life Challenge Notes

Introduction:

“What comes to mind when you hear the word religion? What images do you see? What memories come flooding back? What emotions do you feel?” pg. 18

“Religion is all about rules I have to follow even when they don’t benefit anyone and don’t make sense.” Pg. 18

“The burden of measuring up as a follower of Jesus so dominated my life that I had convinced myself dishonesty about my spiritual life was better than genuine transparency.” Pg. 20

“…I thought, How do they all do it? How can they have it all together while I’m flailing and failing so miserably to live for Jesus? The weight of my religious burden was more than I could handle, and I wanted to give up.” Pg. 20

“How did this change come about? We’ll discuss that process in detail throughout the pages of this book, but God finally set me free by using two crucial keys to unlock the bars of expectations that formed my spiritual prison.” Pg. 22

“The first key was my own spiritual brokenness. I eventually got to a place where I was broken down on many levels. God used a number of difficult circumstances to strip me of my desire to perform as a Christian. I was done trying to live the Christian life based on expectations, and after years of struggle, I’d finally reached a place of complete surrender.” Pg. 22

“The second key was an incredible mentor God brought into my life….the foundation of my spiritual life for decades now, and it serves as the foundation for what I want to communicate through this book: the Christian life is not me living for Jesus, but Jesus living His life in and through me.” Pg. 22

“I want to show you how three simple relationships can lead you to what Paul called ‘The simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.’” Pg. 23

“Those three relationships are the following: 1. Your relationship with God. 2. Your relationship with other believers. 3. Your relationship with the world.” Pg. 23

Part 1: The Foundation:

Chapter 1: The Problem

“…always be sure you’re aiming at the right target.” Pg. 29

“First, do you desire to faithfully follow Jesus? If you answered yes to that question, you’ve just identified the ‘target’ of your life: to be a faithful Jesus follower. That’s your bullseye. That’s your aim—your primary goal.” Pg. 29

“When I look around the American church today, I see two primary targets people aim at in their spiritual lives: activity and information. Both of these targets are wrong when it comes to defining what it means to faithfully follow Jesus. Both lead to unnecessary burdens and a misrepresentation of Jesus to a watching world.” Pg. 30

“Making activity a target happens when we define following Jesus based on what we do.” Pg. 30

“The problem is basing our lives on the false idea that doing good things and avoiding bad things earns some kind of spiritual credit in God’s heavenly Bank and Trust.” Pg. 32

“The second wrong target is information. This target defines following Jesus based on what a person knows.” Pg. 32

“No, the problem with aiming at information as our spiritual target is that it elevates knowing about Jesus above knowing Jesus Himself.” Pg. 33

“…we often prefer a superficial system of religion over a genuine relationship with Christ because the superficial system is easier to control.” Pg. 36

“Religion is one of those ‘heavy burdens.’ And like the Pharisees, those of us in the modern church are in danger of allowing a bunch of superficial rules, traditions, and dogmas to distract us from what it really means to follow Jesus. We’ve substituted all these things for the simplicity and purity of devotion to Him.” Pg. 37

Chapter 2 – The Solution

“After a full year of intense prayer and study, we made a discovery that still strikes me as so amazing and yet so wonderfully simple. We realized that Jesus’ life revolved around three specific relationships.” Pg. 43

Those three relationships are: Jesus and God the Father, Jesus and His disciples, Jesus and the world. Pg. 43-47 -While this schema is true and seems simple at first, the author has simply divided up everyone on earth into someone who is either following Jesus or not following Jesus.

“Jesus prioritized spending time with the Father above all else.” Pg. 44

“Jesus modeled what it looks like to live in total dependence on the Holy Spirit through moment-by-moment fellowship with the Father.” Pg. 45

“The Christian life is not even you and me trying to mimic the life Jesus lived. Those approaches create burdens. The Christian life is a life of Jesus Christ fleshed out in our lives—yours and mine—through the power of the Holy Spirit.” -This seems to contradict Matthew 4:19, Luke 6:40, 1 Jn. 2:6, et al.

“His design was for our relationship with Him to be enjoyed in the context of relationship with other people.” pg. 51

“We do have a personal relationship with God. But it was never designed to be private.” Pg. 51

“Here’s what I’m saying to you today: every moment of our lives it to be lived on mission in light of that moment around the throne of Jesus.” Pg. 55

Chapter 3 The Goal of the Christian Life

“Why did Jesus call these men as disciples? So they would be with Him [ref to Mk. 3:14]. Jesus didn’t say their purpose was to live for Him. He didn’t say He was calling them to obey Him or honor Him or please Him in some way. He called them so they could be with Him and He could be with them.” pg. 62

“Being with Jesus always comes before doing anything. Doing flows from being, not the other way around.” Pg. 62

“This is a crucial principle for anyone who wants to live as a faithful follower of Jesus: the primary call on my life is not to do something for Jesus; the primary call on my life is to be with Jesus.” Pg. 63

What’s our goal? Pgs. 63-69

1. The Overall Objective: To know God

2. The Daily Objective: To Spend Time with God

Chapter 4 Freedom from “Trying”

Symptoms of Trying: pgs. 79-82

1. Striving to Earn Spiritual Maturity

2. Experiencing Spiritual Guilt

3. Developing Spiritual Arrogance

The Antidote to Trying: pgs86-87

1. Remember

2. Repent

3. Return

Chapter 5: Freedom from Sin and Temptation

“The reality is that sin creates a burden in our lives—especially when our sin gives birth to sinful patterns, habits, and strongholds.” Pg. 94

“But many Christians incorrectly assume that the goal of the Christian life is to not sin.” Pg. 95

Tough Questions: pgs. 96-98

1. Does a Christian want to sin?

-No. “Because Christ now lives in us…we long for what He longs for. And the things Jesus longs for are not sinful.” One of the things Jesus is changing about us is what we desire.

“In other words, my flesh thought I wanted to sin, but the minute I went through with it, I realized that sin wasn’t really what I wanted.” Pg. 97

2. Does a Christian have to sin?

-No. 1 Cor. 10:13, Rom. 6:6-7, 2 Pt. 1:2-3

3. If a Christian doesn’t want to sin and doesn’t have to sin, then why do we sin?

“Obedience becomes the fruit of your life once you focus on intimacy with Him. This in no way suggests that obedience in unimportant in the life of a believer. It just reveals that obedience isn’t the focus of your life as a believer. Loving Jesus is the focus.” Pg. 100

“Our obedience is in direct proportion to our love. This means if I’m struggling in an area of obedience, I don’t have an obedience problem; I have a love for Jesus problem.” Pg. 100

“The sinful part of us longs to separate us from Christ and His grace, so we’re in a battle every moment of every day, where we have to deal with the temptation to back to our old way of life and live apart from Christ in us.” pg. 101

“So the more I pursue Christ, the more He makes Himself known to me. And the more Christ makes Himself known to me, the more I love Him. And the more I love Him, the more obedience spills out of my life because of His grace.” Pg. 105

Part 3 Connect

Chapter 6 You Belong to God’s Family

“When babies are born, they don’t enter this world in isolation. They’re born into a family.” Pg. 114

“Here’s the point, the New Testament knows nothing of Christianity without community.” Pg. 115

“Because I have a relationship with God, I now have a relationship with God’s family.” Pg. 116

Chapter 7 Freedom from Relational Conflict

“It’s impossible to be right with God if I’m not right with God’s family.” Pg. 132

“The Scriptures are clear. It’s a lie to say we’re right with God if we’re not right with someone in His family.” Pg. 134

Chapter 8 Freedom from Isolation

“…a new study that found that half of Americans are lonely.” Pg. 143

“My relationship with God frows by fellowship with His family.” Pg. 144

Time for a check-up: pg. 152

Are you meeting need within the body of Christ?

Are you aware of any current needs other followers of Jesus have that God has given you the ability to meet?

Are you sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in pointing out the needs of those around you?

Do you find joy in meeting the needs of others?

When was the last time God used you to meet a specific need in the life of one of your brothers or sisters in Christ?

When was the last time you can remember God meeting your need through a brother or sister in Christ?

Part 4 Share

Chapter 9 You Have a Mission

“God’s plan is to reach people through reached people.” pg. 164

Chapter 10 Freedom from Complacency

“I believe God birthed our church to be a sending station for His activity both locally and globally. At Hope Church, we believe this so strongly that we emphasize sending in our membership process. In our dinner for new members I always say, ‘If you join our church, we’re going to do everything we can to talk you into leaving.’” Pg. 178-179

“Why is ‘sending’ so important? Because being ‘sent’ is who Jesus is.” Pg. 179

Chapter 11 Freedom from this World

“…more than 50 percent of churchgoers are unfamiliar with the Great Commission. More than 50 percent!” pg. 191

“The same thing happens in your relationship with Jesus. As you walk with Him, what is on His heart begins to be on your heart.” Pg. 195

“I was Jesus’ disciple, but I wasn’t passionate about the same thing He was.” Pg. 196

“And yet here was Jesus, crying out that the consuming passion of His life every moment of every day was the kingdom of God.” Pg. 196

“Did you know that over one hundred references to the ‘kingdom of God’ are spread across sixteen different books of the New Testament?” pg. 196

The kingdom is believers, big, and being built. Pg. 197

“If you become passionate about God’s kingdom being expanded, and if you leverage your life for the sake of the Kingdom, the enemy will take notice and oppose you.” Pg. 199

“Tertullian, and early church father, even said, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’” Pg. 200

“Is your yes on the table? That’s a scary question to answer. His invitation might be to leverage your job, or where you live, for His glory and the expansion of the Kingdom, but He might send you to the other side of the world.” Pg. 206

Chapter 12 The 5 Percent Life Challenge

“That’s because my relationship with my wife is the foundation of our family. As my relationship with her improves, all the other relationships in my family improves.” Pg. 210

5 Percent Life challenge: pg. 213

1% of your day invested in God time. 15 minutes in His Word and prayer.

1% of your week invested in Gather time. 1.5 hours spent in worship gathered with the church.

1% of your month invested in Group time. 7 hours each month spent with people who are about and who about you, doing life together.

2% of your year invested in Go time. 7 days each year intentionally serving on God’s mission.

-Did we just end the book with a different checklist? This is literally on the last page of the book!