Category: discipleship

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In the book, In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen wrote of the temptations faced by leaders in the church, and by the church as a whole. Those temptations are relevance, popularity, and leading.

The first temptation is to be relevant, to be able to do things, to fix things, to take care of things. All of us, individually and corporately, are called to minister to others. It is easy to think that we have to “make a difference” in the lives of the people we serve, and to fall into the belief that that they need us to change them. This is a trap that I have fallen into more than a few times. Nouwen writes that the way to change this thinking is to spend time contemplating the love of the Father for us and learning to grow in our love for him. Instead of worrying about positions on issues of the day, or trying to figure out how best to solve the problems of other people, we “must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source of their words, advice, and guidance.”
The next temptation is to be popular. We all want to be thought well of, to accomplish things that will make folks look at us and applaud. If we were honest with ourselves we would have to admit that a great deal of what we do individually, and a great deal of what is done in the church, is to attract others to ourselves. The answer to this temptation is to remember that “We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers , we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much car as anyone we care for.” We all need to remain open and vulnerable to those we serve, keeping in mind that what they need is the love of God. We are simply to love God, and let him love others through us.
The third temptation is the temptation to be powerful. This is possibly the temptation that the church has succumbed to the most. The early church had no political, economic, or cultural power; and it turned the world upside down. Since then the church has bought into the philosophy that the way to change the world is through power. While the church has continued to do great things through the centuries, I wonder how much more good could have been accomplished for the Kingdom if Christians had remembered that our power is from the Spirit of God, and that our warfare is spiritual not physical. As someone who has been in a position of authority over my students and athletes over the years, that temptation has been hard for me to overcome. I still struggle with the tension between loving those I work with and exercising authority when needed.
None of us likes to be powerless. We have been taught to not be weak, or even be seen as week. I appreciate what Nouwen says about powerlessness: “Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. They refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly.”
In my own journey, I am learning more and more to love Jesus, to trust him to guide me and give me that abundant life. May we all realize that we are not the ones that change the lives of others. We are simply the vessels that the Father chooses to flow through.
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Tom Sawyer Christianity

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer gets Huck Finn and a group of boys together to form a gang of robbers and murderers. Tom gives the gang members a list of rules that they must follow in order to be a part of the gang. When questioned about some of these rules, Tom says that these rules must be followed because that’s what robbers and murderers did in the books that he read. Because it was in the books, that’s what robbers and murderers did, therefore that’s what the gang was supposed to do. Of course, the rules had nothing to do with reality, and the boys ended up doing what you would expect from a group of young boys: they pretended to rob and kill. No one was harmed, and the gang eventually broke up because it got too hard to get together.

As I read I thought how much this is like a large segment of Christianity today. Folks gather in buildings every Sunday and listen to what essentially is a list of rules that they must follow in order to be in the gang. These rules range from behavior codes regarding dress, music, etc., to principles and steps to follow to be a better _______________. The unfortunate thing is that some in those buildings think they are part of the Body because they made a decision and are following the rules, but are deluded. While determining whether someone really belongs to Christ is way above my pay grade, a good look at the fruit shows a problem.
The rules and the principles and steps are like the rules in Tom Sawyer’s gang; they do not correspond to reality. What is real is that Jesus has finished it. He has done everything that needed to be done. Christ has accomplished everything we need. When he said, “It is finished,” on the cross, he meant it. He has called us to follow him, and has given us everything we need to do that. Christ did not call us to give assent to a set of propositions about him. He did not tell us to follow a set of rules, to get our act together, or to “get right” with him. He called us into relationship with him.
It is true that a relationship with Jesus will bring about changes in our lives. We are a new creation, and we are called to live as people who are different. Those changes that make us different will come about by the Spirit of God in us, not from following a set of rules or steps. We are not only saved without human effort, we also live in the power of the Spirit, not our own power. We can not get any closer to God by our efforts, we can not please God in our own strength. Everything we do must be done by God’s power. Tom Sawyer’s gang failed because they were trying to be a gang like Tom had read about, but had no ability to do what those gangs did. How many Christians flounder in their lives, and how many congregations are powerless because they are trying to be what they have read about, but are doing it in their own power.
Tom Sawyer’s gang was playing at being a gang. I wonder how many of us who claim Christ are playing at following him. What would it look like if churches were made up of people who were fully committed to following Jesus in the power of the Spirit?
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Sin

Sin is a popular topic in many Christian circles. Some constantly preach against it. Most agree that it is a problem, and it is. I see a problem with the way a lot of Christians see sin and our relationship to sin. Some believe that we are “just sinners saved by grace.” Many others believe that there are two natures living in us, and that the one we “feed” the most is the one that is stronger. I believe Scripture shows us a different way of looking at sin.

Sin is the force that ruled us before we came to Christ. We were indeed, sinners before we came to faith. Now though, we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). We have become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), we have a new spirit (Rom. 8:16), and the Spirit of God is in us (1 Cor. 3:16). We are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10), we belong to God (1 Pet. 2:9), and we are dead to sin (Rom. 6:11).

Yes, but we still sin! True, but that doesn’t change who we are. Sin is still a force that remains in us, but it is no longer part of our nature. Before we came to Christ, sin told us what to do, and those ways of thinking and seeing the world were ingrained in us. When we become a child of God, sin still dwells in us (Rom. 7:17). It is still there, whispering in our ear and seeking to influence us to act in a way that is incompatible with who we truly are. When we sin, it is not because we are still sinful, but it is because we still sometimes do things according to the old way of thinking.

If I am angry with someone and continue to dwell on that anger and not give it up to God, it is not because I am an angry person, but is because I am acting out of an old script in which I was an angry individual who did not forgive and held on to my anger. I need to realize that kind of anger is not compatible with who I am as a child of God. I need to allow the Spirit to transform my thinking in this area.

When I am proud and think that I am better than others, when I fail to see others as God’s image bearers, when I am selfish in my interactions with others, it is not because I am sinful. It is because I fail to see these sinful actions as not fitting with who I am in Christ. Again, I need to have my mind renewed. The same is true when I fail to trust the love and goodness of my Father. Any time I sin, it is because I have not taken my thoughts captive and run them through the filter of my identity as a child of God.

May the Spirit renew and transform our minds so we increasingly live as the new creations we are!

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Forgiveness and Wholeness

The readings this week in the Mosaic Bible are on forgiveness. In one of the selections, Bill Senyard writes:

“Think about this. If the victim and the perpetrator are both, by faith, made whole-
imagine the new dynamics between them and with others. The result is a new creation-
a community that looks strangely fearless, vulnerable, and intimate. Of the present fruit
of the passion of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:18), I would suggest that this is one of the most
neglected.
Many Scriptures describe what redeemed relationships could now look like in Jesus
Christ – husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and workers. If each party is
redemptively healed, then relationships take on a radical trajectory – for no one needs to
steal, to use, to abuse. In the end, only forgiven people are free to give to others with
abandon.”
I agree with Senyard that the most neglected, even forgotten, part of forgiveness is reconciliation. We are taught, rightly so, that God forgives us our sins, and therefore God will not punish us. That is true, but I believe that God’s forgiveness does more than take away our guilt and punishment. According to 2 Corinthians 5:18, God has reconciled us to himself through Christ. One of the aspects of our forgiveness is reconciliation with God. Our relationship with him is redeemed and we are healed. We are made whole.
Because we are forgiven, we are to forgive others. As Senyard writes, only the forgiven are free to give to others with abandon. An important part of forgiving others is reconciliation. If I am wronged by someone, and I don’t seek to be reconciled and see both of us made whole, am I truly forgiving? Am I whole if my relationship with others is not whole? Some who wrong me may have no desire to be reconciled. I believe that I should still go to them and make the attempt. If they do not wish to be made whole, then I have no further responsibility, but I can at least try. In that attempt, I believe healing will take place in my own heart.
Another part of seeking wholeness is making sure that we are blameless in our relationships. Sometimes we are guilty of sinning against others. Either we truly don’t know about the offense, or we are so wrapped up in ourselves that we don’t recognize what we have done. If my relationship with my wife is strained, and I don’t go to her and find out what the problem is and seek forgiveness and reconciliation, can I really say that I love her? By the same token, if my relationship with a brother or sister is strained and I have even an inkling that I may have sinned against them, I am to go to them and do what I can to make it right. If I don’t, can I really say that I love them?
Jesus gives both parties in a relationship responsibility to maintain the health of that relationship. In Matthew 5:23-24, he teaches the responsibility of the one who commits an offense. In Matthew 18 Jesus gives us the responsibility of one who has been wronged. In the passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul states that we who have been forgiven and made whole have been given a ministry of reconciling others to God. I believe that part of that ministry is bringing wholeness to our relationships with others, which brings wholeness to us and to them.
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Qualities of a Learner 4

This is the final post in a series on qualities of a learner. In part 1 we looked at being caring and principled. Part 2 was about being open minded, a thinker, and knowledgeable. In part 3 we looked at being reflective, inquiring, and a communicator. This time I want to look at the qualities of balance and risk taking.

A learner of Jesus should be balanced. This is another dirty word for some. Some see balance as being wishy-washy and not passionate about anything. That is not how I see balanced. Someone who is a follower of Jesus is going to be seen as unbalanced by many in the world. The source of our passion in life is Jesus, and our wholehearted devotion is to him alone. I see balanced as being able to experience all of the myriad ways God blesses us, and the ways we worship him. It can be easy for someone who is an active, serving individual to neglect and even disparage contemplation and study. It can also be easy for a contemplative to neglect action. There are many ways for us to relate to the Father and to draw near to him, and we should be open to those at different times in our lives.
Lastly, the learner of Jesus must be a risk taker. Considering what Jesus said about what would happen to his followers, we should realize that simply throwing in our lot with Christ is taking a risk. We risk when we tell those around us that we owe allegiance to the King of Kings, and no other. We risk when we don’t go along with the powers that be. Those actually may be somewhat easy for some. What many of us find hard is the risk taken in loving others and laying down our lives for them. That is risky because relationships can be messy. If I am not willing to risk rejection and pain, then my relationships will never be as deep as my Master desires them to be. It is risky for me to go to a brother or sister and ask their forgiveness, because they may refuse. It is also risky to go to another and tell them how they have sinned against me. They may well turn that around and hurt me further. My responsibility is not to change them or win them over. My responsibility is to trust my Abba to take care of me and throw myself on his love and grace as I seek to be reconciled. It may not turn out the way I want, but the One who created the universe can redeem any situation, no matter how hard.
Jesus, help those of us who are your followers to be caring, thoughtful, open minded communicators who are principled in our lives. Help us to not fear to take risks, to be knowledgeable inquirers who take time to reflect on you. In all this give us the balance that comes from living in your presence.
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Qualities of a Learner 3

This is the third of four posts in a series on the qualities of a learner. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here. So far, we have looked at five learner profile qualities in the IB program. Those five are: caring, principled, thinker, open minded, and knowledgeable. I have tried to relate these qualities to the life of one who is a follower (learner) of Jesus.

A learner is an inquirer. This person asks questions. They want to know, and are not afraid to reveal what they don’t know. As Bob Edwards said in a comment, one of the qualities he thinks of in a learner is humility. I think humility enters in here. Inquirers do not sit back and pretend to know it all. They recognize what they don’t know and will ask. Learners of Jesus have more to learn than we ever can in a lifetime, so we must be always inquiring.
A learner is also a communicator. As learners of Jesus, we are to be communicators. It’s easy to get the idea that we are to simply communicate the “gospel.” While we are to let others know that there is a King and that God is making all things new, we also need to remind our brothers and sisters in Christ of what the love that the Father has shown to us. We also need to remind each other that we are in this together, communicate our love for each other, and encourage each other to love and good deeds. Communication is something we all need to work on. How many problems would be solved if we really sought to communicate with each other instead of just talking at each other.
Another learner quality is reflective. This is the quality of taking the time to think things over. Many followers of Jesus would call this contemplative. While it is true that some are called to a lifestyle of contemplation, all of us could benefit by taking some time out of our far too busy lives to just be in Abba’s presence, thinking about what he has done for us and listening to his voice. Jesus said that his sheep would hear his voice. That is tough to do with so much noise around us, but it is a quality that is vital to our spiritual life.
On top of the qualities of caring, principled, thinker, open minded, and knowledgeable, let us also be inquirers who communicate, and who also take the time to reflect.
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Qualities of a Learner 2

In the first post, we looked at two of the Learner Profile Qualities in the IB program and how they relate to life for followers of Jesus. We looked at being caring and being principled. Today I want to look at three more qualities of a learner.

A learner is a thinker. They stop and ponder before they act. They use the mental faculties that God gave them. A learner of Jesus should be a thinker as well. While faith in Jesus is not an intellectual exercise and there are many things that are a mystery to us, we must be thinkers. We are told to test the spirits and to be alert to the schemes of our enemy, satan. To do that we must be able to think and understand. For too many years, too many Christians have blindly followed those who have been able to sway them with appeals to tradition or rules, or by the strength of their personality. Our relationships with others would be vastly improved as well if we would stop and think about whether what we are about to do or say is showing love.
A learner is also open minded. I know open mindedness is considered of the devil by some, and if it meant just blindly swallowing every thing that came down the road (see above) I would agree. I see being open minded as recognizing that I don’t have a monopoly on truth, that there are some things that I believe now that will be shown to have been wrong. I always told my Bible students that I believe that when we stand before God he will tell us that we were all wrong about certain things (and no, I don’t know what those things will be) Being open minded means being teachable and open to the Spirit changing us as we grow and learn more of Christ.
The next quality of a learner is being knowledgeable. It’s close to thinker, in that being a thinker will make you more knowledgeable. Spend time with folks who have grown up in churches, and you will be amazed at the number who know things that just aren’t so. There is a lot of misinformation out there. Some of it is spread by preachers who feel free to play fast and loose with Scripture in order to promote their agenda. Some of it is spread by preachers who, quite frankly, are themselves ignorant. Again, while I don’t believe following Jesus is an intellectual exercise, and there is much that we just don’t know, We have to use our minds so we don’t become tossed back and forth with every teaching that looks good on the surface.
May God help us who are learners of Jesus to be caring, principled, thinkers, open minded, and knowledgeable.
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Qualities of a Learner

The middle school where I work is part of the International Baccalaureate program. The program is designed to develop students who are able to think beyond their own neighborhoods and cities (and in the case of some middle schoolers, get them to think beyond themselves). One of the things stressed in the IB program is what are called Learner Profile Qualities. As we were discussing these qualities in a class this past week, I was thinking of how these qualities relate to living life as a follower of Jesus. I am going to attempt to put some of these thoughts here in a series of posts. I hope you’ll bear with me.

One goal of the IB program is to develop life-long learners. If we are followers of Jesus, we are learners. We realize that we don’t have all the answers, and that we need constant teaching. We are apprentices who are continually learning to be like our Rabbi. One of the qualities of a learner is caring. I don’t know where this quality is ranked in IB, but I think it is the basic quality for a learner of Jesus. The most important command that Jesus gave us is to love each other. John, in his first letter goes so far as to say that if we don’t have love we don’t really belong to Christ at all. Jesus said that the defining mark of a follower is love for other followers. Beyond that, Jesus said that the second greatest commandment, after love God, is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. A characteristic of the early church is that there were no needy persons among them. We are to care for each other, to love each other, to be willing even to lay down our lives for each other.
A second quality of a learner is being principled. Being principled means doing the right thing, no matter what. This is a quality that some students have a problem with. It is also a problem that sometimes gives learners of Jesus a hard time. It’s far too easy to not do the hard things that Jesus calls us to do. Sometimes we try to justify this by reminding others that we are under grace, and doing certain things is just being legalistic. Sometimes we look at something that Jesus clearly wants us to do, and justify not doing it because of other people. Either they aren’t doing it so why should we, or I’m not going to do that because certain folks might treat us badly. Like a middle schooler, we are afraid of what our peers think or what they might do, so we excuse our failure to do what is right. We are called to obey Christ no matter what, and to leave the results of that obedience in his hands.
Be caring and principled.
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Church: First Century and Twenty-first Century Part 2

On Tuesday, we looked at the first two things to which the church in Acts 2 was devoted. To sum up, the early believers were committed to Jesus Christ and to each other. Today, I want to discuss the other two things that had the church’s devotion.

The Christians in the first days of the Church were devoted to the breaking of bread, according to Acts 2. Breaking bread meant something far greater than taking communion together, especially the way it is done in many churches today. I believe that this goes along with fellowship. In those times, to break bread with someone meant to share a meal with them. Sharing a meal meant that person was accepted as an equal, as someone who was valued. When the Apostle Paul gives his instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper, he is talking about more than just passing a few crackers and cups of grape juice around. The early church met together for meals, and it seems that “communion” was a part of those meals (Someone who has more knowledge than I do can feel free to correct me). Table fellowship is an important part of living life together. It is around the table that conversation flows, and folks get to know each other. It is around the table that the relationships so vital to the body are formed and strengthened.
The last focus of the church was prayer. When the early church prayed in Acts 4, the place where they were was shaken. Their prayers shook buildings and empires. Today, we have reduced corporate prayer to something that happens on one night of the week or when there is an emergency situation. I wonder if one of the reasons we don’t pray as a church is because we don’t know each other. If we aren’t devoted to the life together, we aren’t going to feel comfortable letting each other know what our real needs are. So, our times of prayer as a body can tend to be very shallow. Our personal prayers for each other can also become flat, if we aren’t able to be open and honest with each other. Prayer may be the single biggest thing missing in churches today. I think that lack may be tied to the lack of devotion to Christ and to each other.
A great deal of negative rumors were spread about the first Christians, but the one statement that no one could deny was, “Behold, how these Christians love one another.” I pray that statement once again becomes the truest thing that people can say about us.
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Church: First Century and Twenty-first Century

In Acts 2, Luke gives us an account of the first days of the early Church. Verses 42-47 describe what the earliest believers did as a group:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I don’t believe that the accounts of the practices of the first century churches are prescriptive. Many of the things they did would not fit in another time or another culture. However, I do believe that the attitudes that the first Christians had, and the actions driven by those attitudes, are necessary for any group to be vital and show Christ to a watching world. This is especially true in smaller fellowships where it is not easy to get lost in the crowd.

Notice verse 42. The early followers of Jesus were devoted to four things. We’ll talk about the first two in this post, and the next two in another post. The first was the teaching of the apostles about Jesus Christ. They were committed to learning how to follow this Lord from the ones who had spent three years as his disciples. They weren’t learning how to be a better ____________________. Somehow in the last 2000 years, we have drifted away from that original teaching and replaced it any number of teachings that could easily pass for motivational lectures, or sermons that betray the speaker’s desire to control the lives of his listeners.

The second thing they were committed to was fellowship, or as The Message puts it, “the life together.” Again, we have drifted away from the original. Fellowship now means a covered dish supper or some other type of special event where church members get together. To the early church, fellowship carried the idea of living life together, of being involved in one another’s lives, of having an intimate relationship with their brothers and sisters and fellow members of the Body. There was a bond that they were committed to.

You could say that the first century Christians were devoted to Jesus Christ and to each other. In a later post, we’ll look further at the devotion of our spiritual forerunners.