Click this link to read the unedited interview: http://frankviola.org/2012/01/23/ntwright
Who Do You Love?
I heard a couple of things recently that made me think. I know that can be dangerous, and it sometimes gets me in trouble, but I thought anyway. The first was a statement by an individual that he wasn’t indebted to anyone. The second was a Facebook post to the effect that if you want a world where true love is possible, you must allow each person to freely choose who to love. While I can understand the sentiment behind both statements, I believe that they are anti-thetical to the way a follower of Jesus should see things.
The statement about not being in debt to anyone is directly contradicted by Paul’s admonition in Romans 13:8 to owe nothing to anyone except love. Alan Knox has a good post on this here. As those who are loved by the Father and indwelt by his Spirit, we do have one debt. We owe love to our fellow believers, our brothers and sisters.
In Alan’s post, he states that, “I can’t choose who to love.” That leads me to the second statement. As followers of the one who gave his life for us, we have only one choice, to love. Anything else is disobedience to our Master. In John 15, Jesus tells us that his command is to love each other as he has loved us. Since our Savior’s love led him to lay down his life for us, we are to do the same for our brothers and sisters. Doesn’t sound like freely choosing who to love, does it? Jesus also states that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. He then goes on to state that our neighbor is anyone who we come in contact with. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes the whole idea of love to the extreme when he tells us to even love our enemies! Sounds to me like he leaves us with no choice. In John 13:35, Jesus says that the world will know that we belong to him because of our love.
There is entirely too much pain and suffering in this world, much of it caused by a lack of love. Unfortunately, this is also true among those who claim to follow the King who founded his kingdom on sacrificial love. Those who are not followers of Jesus know that we are supposed to be different. Many of them also know that the main thing that is supposed to distinguish us is love. Is it any wonder they look at the church and feel that we have nothing to offer them?
Brothers and sisters, we have a debt. It is to love. We have no choice. We are to love everyone who crosses our path. Anything else is blatant disobedience to our Lord and Master.
Which Jesus?
A few years ago Todd Agnew wrote a son in which he asked the question, “Which Jesus do you follow?” It’s a good question.
In the first century, some folks followed Jesus because they thought he was the one who was going to overthrow the Romans and restore the glory of Israel. Today, some follow a Jesus who is either going to bring America back to God (with their help, of course), or one who will bring social justice and equality to America. In the first century, some followed Jesus because they saw in him a good teacher. Today, there are many who follow a Jesus who said good things, and who left us a good moral example to follow.
When Jesus was here on earth, there were some who followed him because he rattled the cages of the religious elite. Today, there are those who follow a Jesus who is anti-anything except a free-lance expression of faith. When Jesus walked in physical form, there were many (perhaps the largest number) who followed him because he fed them, he healed them, he took care of them. It seems like the many folks who follow Jesus today follow a Jesus who will give them whatever they want, as long as they have enough faith to say it and then claim it. Some of those blatantly tell others that God wants them to be wealthy, healthy, good looking, successful, etc., and all they have to do is speak it into existence. Others will start out with the teaching that Jesus has accomplished it all and we live by God’s grace and not our own efforts. That is a good teaching, by the way. We are saved, and we do live by God’s grace and Jesus’ finished work. But then these teacher go on to say that because of Jesus finished work, we can now claim anything we want. It may be a successful business, a nice car or house, younger looking features, good health, lots of money, or just a life without any problems. They teach that we can speak these things into existence, and that if there is anything that goes goofy in life, it has to be the work of satan along with a lack of faith.
Now, I will be the first to say that God does bless people with wealth, health, etc. There have certainly been many wealthy and successful followers of Christ through the centuries. If you take a careful look at Jesus’ call to follow him though, you’ll find that he deliberately makes it difficult for those who are with him for what they can get. In fact, many of them leave him when they realize he’s not what they thought. Some of them turned against him and called for his death. Jesus call to follow him is an invitation to lose our life, to die. As C.S. Lewis said, God doesn’t want to simply move in and renovate the house. He wants to tear the house down and rebuild it. Jesus said that those who would find their life must lose it. He also said that the greatest love was to lay down our lives for our friends, as he did for us.
Following Jesus means dying. Dying to our old way of thinking and living. Dying to the things of this world. Dying to our own desires and wishes. The Psalmist says that if we delight in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. I believe that means if we delight in God, he will give us more of what we delight in – himself. When you think about it, God is all we need. Anything else is just dessert.
Out of the Cave, Into the…
Some of you have read my recent post about finding myself in a cave. I’m now out of the cave, although still not far from the entrance. I now find myself in the middle of a thicket, sort of like a stand of rhododendron or mountain laurel, so thick that you cannot see out of it. It is still somewhat dark, and the direction I should take is unclear. I see many paths out, but don’t know yet which one to take.
There is the path that would take me back into the church world I left a few years ago. Next to it is the path that would take me to the land of the mega-church. Here I could find a place to hide and lick my wounds. One path seems to go in circles, and looks as if it would leave me no better off. Yet another way out continues in the search for community. That is the path that interests me the most, and the way that I have learned most about in the last couple of days.
You see, I have learned something about community, and about myself. I think I’m beginning to learn why I spent time in the dark cave. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a pretty laid back individual, but that when I am passionate about something, I tend to go all out. As I learned more and more about the God’s desire for his children to live as brothers and sisters because of Christ, I became more and more passionate with living in community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” As I look back on the past year, and my desire to have and fight for community, I realize I inadvertently pushed it too hard and may have been part of the cause of its destruction. I know that my heart was good, but I think I may have wanted community so badly that I didn’t see the problems that it was causing. Even though I tried to sacrificially love those around me, I think that I didn’t leave room for God to work, thinking that as long as we spent enough time together, growth and maturity would automatically happen.
I now realize that community is something that has to happen naturally, as God’s people learn to love one another. It is something that cannot be forced, and the Holy Spirit must be the one to form it rather than humans whose motives can be tainted by our own needs. I also realize that a particular form of community may not last as long as I think, and that I need to be willing to let it go when it is time. For those of you reading this who have been on the receiving end of my misguided efforts, I am sorry. I put the ideal of community ahead of my brothers and sisters. I was wrong.
As to what is next in this journey along the back roads, only God knows. I know that Jan and I still desire to share our lives with some fellow Christ-followers. I also know that it may not take any form that we expect. It may be in a regular gathering. It may take place in just getting together with one or two who share our desire. What I also know is that I want it to be something that happens as Christ’s Spirit moves, not when I think it should happen.
I’m learning to trust my Father. As I leave the thicket, I want to be hear my Shepherd’s voice and follow him wherever he leads, whenever he leads, and to whatever he leads. I would appreciate your prayers.
Suffering
If you know any human being, you know someone who has suffered. Suffering is one thing we all have in common, to one degree or another. Through most of human history, suffering has been the norm. For the follower of Jesus, suffering is what our Lord told us would happen to us (John 16:33).
In the West, particularly in America, we seem to have bought the notion that suffering is something that happens to those who are “sinners,” or to those Christians who just don’t have enough faith. We don’t like suffering (I am included in that number). It hurts. It’s hard. It doesn’t fit our image of the “blessed life.” It lasts too long. I have heard this attitude described as wanting the crown without the cross. Take a look at the kind of preaching you will find in a lot of churches and organizations. There are steps to become a better (fill in the blank), principles to be happy, keys to finding your best life.
You don’t hear many sermons on Romans 5:3; 8:17-18; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Philippians 3:10; 1 Peter 2:19, and other passages that speak of our suffering as followers of Jesus, and how that suffering allows us the privilege of entering into the sufferings of Christ. We simply don’t take seriously the many times our Lord tells us that following him is going to cost us something. It’s not really anything big, just our life!
Some of us wouldn’t mind suffering so much if it didn’t take so doggone long. I think the word longsuffering is appropriate. Suffering seems to last and last, so we look for a quick fix, and when one can’t be found, we complain to God that it’s too hard and is going on too long. We live in an instant gratification culture, where you can get it quick and get it your way. What we forget is the simple fact that if we seriously follow Jesus, we give up the microwave, Burger King life. What we do get, we get in God’s timing and in his way. We don’t really like that. I know I don’t. It gets in the way and messes up our plans for a nice tidy life. It reminds us that Someone else is in control, not us.
Suffering is a fact of life, even for those who claim that their faith puts them above and beyond it. Wouldn’t it be better to suffer for the King and his Kingdom, knowing he can and will redeem it and that it can’t even begin to compare with the glory that awaits us? I think I’ll take that deal. God help me.
Confession Time
I have a confession to make. I don’t follow Jesus perfectly. That’s not the confession though. If you are reading this, you don’t follow Jesus perfectly either. As far as I can tell, Enoch is the one who walked the closest with God, and one day he just wasn’t there. I haven’t seen that happen with anyone else.
My confession is this: I don’t follow Jesus freely. Coming from a background where my actions and obedience counted for more than what was in my heart, it has been relatively easy for me to feel free to do certain things that I was taught were sin. That is not the problem. The problem is that, in trying to follow Jesus, I have been wearing chains that have kept me from freely doing so.
I have tried to be the perfect disciple. I have tried to always say the right thing and always be there for those who need help or are hurting. God has blessed (cursed?) me with a soft heart and in my desire to empathize with people and show them God’s love, I have tried too hard. When things go wrong, I beat myself up because I have not done a good job of loving, serving, being a friend, etc. Just ask Jan. I’ll even beat myself up because I beat myself up!
I came to the realization today that Jesus has not called me to follow him perfectly. He simply calls me to follow him. He has called me to be free. Galatians 5:1 says that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Think about it. Christ has set us free so we can be free! Free from sin, yes. Free from death, yes. Free from guilt, yes. I realized that he has also set us free from anything that would keep us from following him with a wild abandon. Free from the opinions and expectations of others. Free from always having to do or say the right thing. Free from second guessing and beating ourselves up. Free to fully trust the love of the Father, the power of the Spirit to change lives, and the promise in Romans 8:28 that God does work in everything for the good of us becoming like Christ. I’ve always “believed” that in my head and gave lip service, but I want to grasp hold of those truths and hold onto them with everything in me.
I want to follow my Lord and Savior with every fiber of my being, to hear only my Shepherd’s voice and be trusting enough to follow him with abandon. I want to love others recklessly, to give myself as Jesus did, to simply do whatever my Master tells me to do, regardless. I want to believe without question that my Father loves me even when I’m not perfect, and that he can and will redeem my screw-ups and bring good out of them. I want to not second guess myself, and I want others to see Jesus in me to such an extent that they don’t doubt the goodness of my heart or the love of Jesus.
On top of all that, I want to be and do all this without trying. I want to come to know my Jesus so intimately that it all comes out of my union with him. It seems like a lot to ask for, but my Father is over all and I believe he wants that for me. All I have to do is take it.
I want to follow Jesus freely, not perfectly.
Accountability and Focus
Some of you may have been part of an accountability group at some time in your life. I’ve been in men’s groups that began with the intent to be that. Interestingly, those groups broke up before the amount of trust necessary was built up. As my understanding of grace and the Gospel has changed over the years, my view of such groups has also changed.
I do believe it is vital for God’s people to spend time with one another to exhort and build up each other, and that we are called to make disciples. I think the focus of many accountability groups is on the wrong thing. Of course, that may be due to the fact that the focus of many churches is wrong. Accountability groups are usually formed in an attempt to help a group of folks stop doing any number of sinful behaviors. The idea is that if a member knows he will be asked if he did _____________________ during the time between meetings. That may cause enough fear to keep them from committing that sin. It also may drive them to lie and become more adept at hiding it. Focusing on sin can create an atmosphere of self-righteousness on the part of those who can control themselves, and failure and shame on the part of those who continue to stumble.
I believe that our focus in the church and in any group of Christ-followers should be on Jesus and what he has done for us. When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” I believe that he meant more than just the work of sacrificing himself for our sins. I believe that Jesus was saying that it all is finished, that there is nothing else for us to do. Once we are adopted as God’s children, we are in Christ. We are the Father’s beloved sons and daughters, and we have the Holy Spirit living in us. There is nothing we must or can do to earn God’s favor, it is already ours.
As we focus on God’s love for us and the fact that we are God’s children, our mindset becomes one of desiring to live like the sons and daughters of God that we are. Rather than focus on our sins and trying harder to do better, we remember that because Jesus has done it all, we can do what God wants us to do. When we do sin, it is because we have forgotten who we are. Look at the letters of Paul in the New Testament. He is constantly telling his readers to live like the people they really are, not like the ones they used to be.
We do need to exhort and encourage each other. We cannot live without it. Rather than trying to find out if a brother or sister has sinned in the past week, we need to remind each other that it is finished. Jesus has done it all and God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. As we give each other the Gospel, we remind each other to live out of our heritage because we are God’s children and we have his nature in us. We are a new creation.
Don’t focus on sin. Focus on Jesus.
Facebook and Community
Facebook has become quite the cultural phenomenon. One indication that something is popular and successful is the number of attempts to copy it. I like Facebook, in fact I have it open in another window as I type this. Because of Facebook, I have reconnected with folks I went to high school and college with as well as former students. It helps Jan and me keep up better with what is going on in our son’s and daughter’s lives. It is a good way to keep in touch with family and former friends and acquaintances.
Facebook becomes a problem when people use it to try to replace real friendships. It is relatively easy to pile up a lot of “friends,” especially if you have lived a few years and known many people. While these “friends” may have been friends at one time, if the only contact we have with them is on a social networking site, I question whether they can really be called friends. Unfortunately, this is not limited to those whose friendship was based on common interests, work, or school. I can see how those might have faded after a while as interests change, and people moved away.
This way of seeing friends also exists in the church. It manifests itself in mega-churches, where many members are acquaintances who have a “relationship” with hundreds of folks who they may see once a week or so. It also manifests itself in those who actually use Facebook as a substitute for real friendship and community. Those of us who follow Jesus are more than just “friends.” We are brothers and sisters. We are members of one Body. We are members of one another. We are called to live in community.
I don’t believe that we can recreate the first century church, nor should we. We live in different times, with different issues. But I do believe the attitude the early Christians had is the same attitude we are called to. They were devoted to Jesus Christ as the King who gave himself for them and was in control of their lives. They were devoted to each other, taking Jesus at his word when he said that love was laying down their life for their friends (how many would lay down their lives for “friends” who they only deal with online).
Living in real community doesn’t necessarily mean that we move into a house together or set up a commune. It does mean that we are devoted to those God has brought into our lives because we are devoted to Christ and because we have the same Father. It can be messy and difficult. It is easy to type “praying” on a Facebook status. It is harder to pray in person with that person. It is harder to sacrifice time and effort to help that person. It is harder still to meet that friend at the police station, hospital, or morgue when something has gone terribly wrong. How many of our on-line friends could, or would do that for us. How many would lay down their lives for us.
We are called to follow Jesus. He didn’t just click on the “Like” button for us or leave a nice comment on our status. He lived to show us how to live and then he did the ultimate. He laid down his life for us, his friends. We are commanded to do the same. It can’t be done on-line. It must be real life.
Runners and Soldiers
Scripture portrays life as a follower of Jesus as running a race. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Galatians 2:2, Galatians 5:7, and Hebrews 12:1, we are told to run a good race with discipline and perseverance. Alan Knox has a post on his blog titled, “It’s a long, hard road, but we’re running together,” in which he writes about a group he is a part of that runs trails together. In this post, Alan tells how each member of the group watches out for each other member as they navigate the hazards of running trails. There are roots and rocks that can trip an unsuspecting runner, and the results can be painful or catastrophic. Since trail running can be so dangerous when done alone, running in a group is a necessity. Alan writes of a runner in their group who had knee problems and at one point needed to walk. The entire group walked with her rather than leave her behind.
We are also given the picture in the Bible of being a soldier. Philippians 2:25, 2 Timothy 2:3 & 4, and Philemon 1:2 speak of being a soldier and Romans 13:12 and Ephesians 6:10-13 exhort us to put on our armor. A characteristic of a good army is that they do not leave any of their number behind. Men will risk their own lives to rescue a fallen comrade and bring him back to their lines. When soldiers go to war, they have to know that the person fighting alongside them will give up their lives for them if need be. On the flip side of this, the Church has been called the only army that shoots its own wounded. This should never be.
In our fellowships, we need to remember that God brings people into our lives for a reason. They are there for us to serve them and be a blessing to them, or for us to be served and blessed by them. We are in this race, this war together. We are all at different stages in our spiritual journey. All of us are wounded, some more than others. Some can run a long time at a sprint, while others tire easily and have to walk a lot. Sometimes those who can run faster and longer must adjust their pace to stay with the walkers. Sometimes we may be called on to sacrifice ourselves in order to rescue a fallen brother or sister. Jesus said that the greatest love we could have is the love that causes us to lay down our lives.
We must walk this walk, run this race, fight this war together. If we don’t we give our enemy a foothold to steal, kill, and destroy, and we fail to show the world what God’s love is truly like. God help us to live in love for each other.
Good News From the Church Front
I know I tend to be a bit critical of the American church and what I see as a turning away from what Jesus intended. It’s not all bad, though. I would be the first to admit that God can use anyone, even churches that I could never be a part of. Here is a good example of followers of Jesus in churches, one traditional and one more contemporary, doing what our Savior commanded us to do.
I praise God for his people who are willing to show love to others, no matter what we may disagree on.