Jesus said, "Follow Me" - Part 2

Environments play an important role within our lives.  Likely, when you think back over the momentous occasions in your life, you can remember specific things about the environment.  I remember the distinct feeling of the church that Amanda and I were married in, even though I had never been in it before, and haven't been since.  Places like the beach create a flood of memories and feelings for me, simply by experiencing the environment.  Environments also can create certain behaviors--put my four year old in a relatively open space with things that he can climb on and jump off of, and you can bet he's not going to sit in a corner and read a book!  The flashing lights of an arcade will always pair with teenage boys.  Candlelit dinners will always mean something more than a couple trying to save on electricity.  And I can't even tell you how many times I've almost run out of gas looking for the relatively clean, well-lit gas station, in the hopes that the bathroom inside matched the environment outside!  Environment means something.

In the last post, I talked about the first three of the seven factors that we use to describe what it practically means to follow Jesus.  We said we need to live a lifestyle of worship, be connected to and invested in authentic community, and base our lives on the foundation of the Word.  All three of these were characteristics of the way that Jesus lived His life, and part of what He means when He calls us to follow Him.

However, can I point out something that may or may not be obvious at this point?  If we achieve each of these three things, regularly engaging them as a part of our journey with Christ, we still haven't really gotten anywhere.  I can be someone who regularly connects my heart with Jesus in worship, stays connected to brothers and sisters in community, and can be a student of the Word, and yet, I could still be bored!  You might argue with me, reasoning that true worship, real community, and a right understanding of the Word can't exist without action coming out.  Before I agree with you (that will be coming in tomorrow's post), I would simply rebut your argument with "Exhibit A: The American Church."  While I would agree that there's been a breakdown somewhere along the way, it seems that these three things are held in pretty high regard with no real behavioral transformation in quite a few places all around us...

However, just as a physical environment sets the stage for certain behaviors, these three factors create a spiritual environment.  They may not be "ends" by themselves, but they are certainly "means" to which we get to the ends!  Now, here's what's vital to understand--the environment is set, not for my activity, but for God's activity.  Maybe the best way to think of it is that worship, community, and the Word all act like kindling and wood for a fire--but only God can set that pile of sticks aflame.

So, that brings us to the fourth factor: Prayer as the First Work.  At our church, we call it "the first work" because we believe that it's the first and most important work to which we're called.  Here's why: when we engage Jesus through prayer, we never remain the same!  When we truly encounter Him, it's always a generative encounter.  Often, one of our early encounters will produce salvation.  Things like spiritual gifts are also produced.  But so are things like: mercy for the broken, compassion for the hurting, drive to know more of Jesus and His Word, desire for holiness, a heart for service, passion to see people know Jesus, and on and on.  It's through that encounter that Jesus does His best work!  And if you look back a few blog posts ago ("Good and Best"), it's also when He reminds us of what's most important.

So what happens after that encounter?  Do we simply enjoy all that He's producing in us?  Tomorrow's post will round out the cycle...

This material is taken from the forthcoming book “Follow Me: Discipleship that Moves Us” which will be released in early 2013.

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” So where did everyone go?

All verbs are not created equal.  There are commands that give me a perfectly clear directive: “Eat this meat.”  “Ride this bike.”  “Drink this coffee.  And that coffee, too.”  Makes sense.  You need to do no more than command me and get out the way. 

However, other commands have always eluded me for one reason or another.  “Conjugate this verb.”  Huh?  “Transpose this stanza.”  Will it hurt?  “Wash these windows.”  Silence…  Difficult, confusing, unsavory—whatever the reason, there are commands that seem to constantly elude.

The question I’ve been wrestling with over the last few weeks is this: what kind of command did Jesus give to us when He said, “Follow me”?  Difficult?  Sure.  Confusing?  Maybe…  Unsavory?  Depends on the moment.  Clear, direct, and to the point?  You betcha.  So why are there so few in the “Jesus line,” actually following after Him?

For years, I’ve attributed both my own lack of true pursuit, as well as the very short line of crazies that seem to be actually trying to follow Him, to the challenge of figuring out what that actually looks like in 21^st century North America.  It’s hard for us to really know what Jesus meant for us to do, I reasoned, since His culture is 2000 years removed from ours.  So much of what we have to deal with He didn’t really deal with: you know, money, family, jobs, broken government systems, stressed economies… oh, wait… 

Maybe the challenge is that “following” seems so intangible and personal to us.  After all, Matthew “followed” by leaving behind the tax collector’s booth (Mark 2:14), and Nicodemus “followed” by remaining in the sect of the Pharisees (John 3:9-15, 7:50, 19:39).  Lydia followed with her wealth in tow (Acts 16:14-15)—Ananias and Sapphira tried that, and they didn’t get too far… literally. (Acts 5:1-11)  Does “following” look different for each of us?

As we as a church have wrestled with what Jesus meant to “follow” Him, and what that might look like for the average “dude and dudette” in the good ol’ U.S. of A. in the 21^st century, we’ve come back to seven distinct areas.  Jesus Himself lived them, so it makes sense that He would call us to live them as well.  However, a real commitment to that life radically alters day in and day out living!  I’ll be the first to admit that my family and I are still in the “baby steps” stages of this pursuit, and it’s already led to some head-scratching decisions for us as a family.  However, Paul’s admonition that by forsaking the values of the world and living under the values of Jesus is the only path that leads to the “live that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19) is enough to keep us chugging along the path to joy.

What are the seven areas?  So glad you asked!  I’m going to post the first three today, one more tomorrow, and then the last three on Friday.  Stay tuned!

Living a Lifestyle of Worship.  Interestingly, we don’t see Jesus gathering on the Sabbath, singing songs, and then calling that activity “worship.”  Rather, worship for Jesus had a much broader definition—He connected all of life to the reality of the Father’s presence in His life.  “I always do the things that are pleasing to [the Father].” (John 8:29)  Jesus never segmented life—everything fell under the authority and jurisdiction of the Father.  We must do the same.  Our families, our finances, our jobs, our hobbies, our eating, drinking, and chores that we run around and accomplish—each of them are an opportunity either for distraction from the glory of God or for worship.

Having Authentic Community with Believers.  I’m constantly amazed by Christians who claim that the need for deep, transparent community with other brothers and sisters just “isn’t their personality.”  Hebrews 3:12-13 goes as far as to say that without it, our hearts will harden and we’ll fall away!  Jesus Himself shared His deepest struggles to His inner circle of disciples, humbly asking them to pray for Him (Matthew 26:38).  Everything in our world pushes toward surface relationships where we trumpet our strengths and hide our weakness.  Christian community requires a concerted effort to not only do the opposite, but to commit to one another that we’ll continue in that way.

Building on the Foundation of the Word.  Jesus knew His Bible.  Not simply because He was the Author, but by the difficult work of memorization and meditation.  His responses to the temptation of Satan in the wilderness shows a deep knowledge of and meditation on the book of  Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:1-11).  Paul declares that the Word of God is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be…equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, emphasis added)  In a world that seems to have gone completely mad, we are called back to the solid foundation of the Word—not as a “road map for life” as is so often stated, but rather, as a revelation of the One who is life (John 1:1-4).

Worship, Community, and the Word.  Summarized: love God and love people, often cited as the “Great Commandment.”  (Matthew 22:37-40)  Certainly the specifics of each of these will look different for every follower, but if those of us who intend to follow Jesus get serious about each of these, our lives will become the environments in which Jesus does His incredible work.  Is it hard?  You betcha.  Sometimes it’s “washing the windows” hard.  Sometimes it’s even harder than that.  (See Romans 8:22)  But it’s worth it.  Why?  Because, as Peter said to Jesus after one particularly hard call to follow Him: “Where else would we go?

“You alone have the words of life.” (John 6:68)

This material is taken from the forthcoming book “Follow Me: Discipleship that Moves Us” which will be released in early 2013.

How Confident?

As I plug through the Gospel of Mark, I've been meditating this week on the story that opens Mark chapter 2.  You might be familiar--Jesus is trying to take a vacation after an especially exhausting season of ministry, but everyone finds out where He is and the crowd descends.  He, of course, being God and all, is far more gracious than I would be.  While I would be assembling the shotgun (OK, for those who know me, you know I would actually be sneaking out the back door and running like crazy), Jesus is graciously teaching them.  Mark doesn't tell us what He's teaching, but he does record this crazy moment where four friends are carrying their paralyzed friend on a stretcher and are trying to get him to see Jesus so that he can be healed.  Of course, the crowd is dense and they can't get the stretcher anywhere near Him.

Momentary sidebar: if you know this story, you know what's about to happen.  They're literally going to rip a hole in the roof of this house so that they can lower their friend down in front of Jesus.  That being the case, why is every sermon on spiritual friendship on either David and Jonathan or Paul and Barnabas?  I'm not opposed to those guys, and I know we don't have much to go on with this fivesome, but seriously... tearing a hole in somebody's roof?  If I can ever be that kind of friend or have that kind of friend...

But I digress.

So they dig a hole in the roof.  You can picture Jesus sitting there teaching (Hebrew teachers almost always sat to teach, while their listeners stood, which would do wonders for people staying awake during sermons...), when suddenly, tiny pieces of hardened clay start to fall on His head.  Now, we always picture Jesus as this calm and cool dude, but 100% God and 100% man says to me that He looked up, saw the roof about to give way, and His eyes got all big and crazy as He stood up and ran backwards, pressing against the wall to get out of the way of falling shingles.  Maybe He narrowly missed a big piece of the ceiling hitting Him in the head--maybe they took out the front row.  Maybe there was screaming.  Maybe laughing.  We don't know, because Mark leaves out such details.  What we do know is that they lowered the paralyzed dude from the roof right in front of Jesus.

He had to be looking at Jesus with such hope!  Mark doesn't say if this man was paralyzed from birth or if he was the victim of some tragic camel accident--either way, things haven't been going too well for him.  Jesus is his hope!  Or maybe.  Mark records that it was actually the faith of the friends that Jesus took notice of, so it could be that this man had already given up hope.  Do you know anyone like that?  Things are so tough that even when a break seems to be coming their way, they assume it's going to fall through.  As far as they are concerned, all hope is gone.  Maybe he assumed the stretcher would slip and he would plummet to his death.  Maybe he figured Jesus was a fraud.  Whatever the case, he had given up hope.  Let me be frank--if you're a follower of Jesus and you don't have a friend like that, it's time to broaden your circle of friends!  There are thousands of people around us that have just that outlook on life.  This particular man was lucky enough to have four friends who seemed to have enough faith for him as well.  Maybe God's put you or I in the position to be that friend for someone else...

We can almost picture the stretcher settling on the floor in front of Jesus, and Jesus slowly relaxing His tense body and moving away from His position of pressed up against the back wall of the house.  He must have had a marveled look on His face as He surveyed the entire scene.  Then, of course, seeing their faith... He healed the man.  Right?  Nope.  That's not how the story reads.  He forgives his sins.  At that, Mark leaves everyone's reaction out except for the scribes.  I would have loved to know how the man reacted to that pronouncement, or how the four friends reacted, finding out that their time they are about to spend in jail for massive vandalism has only secured forgiveness for their still paralyzed friend.  However, we do know what the scribes said, or at least what they thought:

"Blasphemy!"

And, of course, as Jesus has the annoying habit of doing, He reads their minds.  This is why Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church in Texas, always says that if he was hanging out around Jesus he would just mentally recite Psalms over and over again: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want... Nope, not thinking anything bad, Jesus!  Just constant worship and prayer.  You know how it goes."  Count me in on that one.

Jesus confronts them on their unspoken thoughts, and asks the amazing question: "Which is easier?  To forgive sins, or to make this paralyzed dude walk?"  Commentators have tried to figure out the riddle, but this is one of those places that the plain reading of the text is the way to go: They're both impossible.  At least for you and I.    For Jesus, they're both simple--and incredibly costly.  Isaiah 53, which Jesus had likely memorized from a young age, tells us that it would be "by His stripes" we would be healed, and that "our sin would be upon Him."  Free to all, but very, very expensive to One.

Of course (spoiler alert!), He ultimately heals the man.  His expressed purpose is to show that He also has the power to forgive sins, but I'm sure there was some compassion there as well.  The man walks out.  The scribes are both amazed and somewhat incensed at His inference that He's, you know, God.  And unless there was a very understanding homeowner, four friends were carted off to jail.  Satisfied, I'm sure.  Those were some good friends.

But here's the thing that I've been meditating on: If we understand that Jesus can actually do this stuff, why doesn't it transform the way that we live?  If Jesus is able to speak both true forgiveness of sin and healing for all of our brokenness, why don't our lives look like it?  Sure, there are times when situations look bleak--but if we're assured of the love of Jesus toward us and His ability to do anything that He chooses to do, shouldn't we always have hope?  Or put another way: If we live as people without hope in a world full of people without hope, do we really have a message to give?  1 Peter 3:15 tells us that we should always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have.  That Scripture gets quoted quite a bit.  Here's the part that doesn't get much attention: Peter is assuming the question!  We're to be ready to give an answer because our lives are going to beg the question!  How many times have you been asked about the hope that you have?  Ouch.

Dear readers, if you're not a believer in Jesus, let me apologize for the fact that we as Christians (and I as a Christian!) much more often generate strange looks than beg questioning about the hope that we have.  Please recognize that it's a reflection of our sinfulness and anemic faith, not the ability of our Savior.  For my Christian friends--would you join me in asking Jesus to give you real faith?  A recognition that He is the God of the impossible?  And then, step by step, according to His strength, actually live in light of that faith?

Here's to hoping that the questions will be coming.  And to knowing if they actually do, it's quite likely that we'll have the answer.

Good and Best

My life is completely full.  I realize that I'm not stating anything that isn't true for a vast majority of the world, but it's true.  Completely filled up.  Lots of people, lots of stuff, lots of responsibilities, lots of work.  Oh, and on a good week, at least a little bit of exercise.  Family.  Friends.  Church.  Neighbors.  Friends that are neighbors and go with us to church and hang out with our family.  Cooking.  Cleaning (at least now and then).  Homeschooling.  Well, homeschool gym class, and helping Amanda process the rest of homeschooling.  Writing is inconsistent because life is too full.  I can only remember one book that I read purely for fun in the last 10 years. (And I only chug through about 40-50 a year...)  I mean FULL, people!  And don't get me wrong--full of incredibly GOOD things.  I have an incredible wife, four terrific kids, I get to earn an income doing something I both love and am called to do, we have great friends, a wonderful house... it's all good.  And full.

As I write this, I know the exact same thing is true for many of you who will read this.  In fact, even more full for some.  My kids are still in the "chase them around and keep them out of trouble" age, which is not to be confused with the "drive them around in order to try to keep them out of trouble" teenage years or the "follow them around and bail them out of trouble" years that none of us hope for but lots live through.  I currently cannot imagine adding the chaos of four teenage schedules to our life, but it doesn't really take higher math to discover that it's coming, and it's not that far away.  So for those of you in that boat currently, I pray with you that the boat doesn't sink...

But here's the real question that I've been pondering on this very full day in the midst of a full week in the midst of what seems to be a full life: As my life fills up constantly to overflowing with lots of good stuff, am I somehow missing the best?  When God called me to Himself and transformed my heart and mind and outlook on the world around me, was this what He had in mind?  I've been studying the gospel of Mark, and have again and again just been wrecked by how much of the life of Jesus is almost nowhere to be found in me.  The things He was most passionate about I seem to have very little, if any, connection with.  The activities that filled His life look an awful lot different than the activities that fill my life.  He reacts to people (and their annoying habit of interrupting everything that seems important at any given moment) dramatically differently than I do.  I see all of that, and I wonder... have I been so filled up with the good that I missed the best?

I'm old enough to remember the Atari 2600.  Old school video games with joysticks and the ridiculous paddle wheels that got all jumpy after about 10 minutes of use and could no longer stay steady enough to hit the ball on "SuperBreakout" when the ball started moving really fast.  I had one of the early versions: a large machine in black plastic and brown wood grain, with these shiny levers that could be depressed and then would spring back up to the top of their slot.  I can see it in my mind so clearly: the "reset" button.  When things didn't work right, when Pitfall Harry died before his time, when the space aliens landed on the ground with loud, robotic "UH"--you just hit "reset" and started over.

What would it look like to gather my wife and family around me and in one quick motion, hit reset?  Cancel it all and start over.  Of course, there are many reasons that would be an absolutely terrible idea.  But in some ways... However, life can't be reset.  That said, the out of control feeling that most of us constantly live with in our very "full of good stuff" lives--it's actually an illusion.  We do have a choice.  We don't have to do what we've always done just because we've always done it.  We're allowed to stop.  Of course, there are consequences.  But I wonder if those consequences are terribly worse than the slow decay of our souls when that hole that was intended for "best" is systematically stuffed full of the "good" and we feel the constant, nagging reality that all of this "good" will never satisfy us.

I was studying Mark 1 today.  Jesus was given a call at baptism in the form of the Father's declaration of His identity.  That identity was tested in the wilderness.  When He emerged, He declared the outworking of that call--the Kingdom of God was at hand, and everyone everywhere should repent and believe the Good News of the gospel.  He went to the synagogue to teach, and suddenly there's this demon possessed dude in front of Him.  He casts out the demon, the man is healed, and chaos ensues.  Suddenly, everyone needs to be healed.  So He does.  One after another, from sundown until late into the night.  The next morning, He rises early, likely still full of the "good" from the day before.  He meets with the Father.  The expectation and even pressure is clearly to continue meeting the needs of the sick and the broken--we hear as much in Peter's frantic call to Jesus when they finally find Him.  But Jesus says "no, thanks."  Healing is good.  But that's not why I came.  It's not the best.  I must get back to doing the best.  And, despite everyone's expectations, despite what was clearly common sense, despite every outward indication of success, He rejects the good and embraces the best.

There's nothing that says you and I can't do that.  We just have to have the courage.

Sex, Dating and Relationships by- Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas

As a pastor, one of the things that I think is most important about any church is that it's a safe place to ask questions, express doubt, and test belief.  Specifically, it's important to see that the Bible doesn't back away from challenges and questions, but speaks boldly to a variety of different topics.  Likely each of us can remember hearing some variation of: "Why? Because I said so, that's why!" as children, and we would all probably admit that a response like that didn't inspire confidence or motivation for the requested behavior.  We often obeyed, but only because of duty or fear of punishment.

Sadly, many Christians see God as a "Because I said so!" kind of deity.  Over years, we've trained people not to ask questions, not to probe for deeper understanding, not to challenge traditional ways of thinking, etc.  Of course, with that kind of a church environment, is it any wonder that so many of us follow Jesus because of duty or fear of punishment!  However, even a cursory study of the Word would show that God has called us to Himself primarily for His glory; therefore, our begrudging submission is the last thing that He desires, because it in no way brings Him glory.  He's called us--wired us, in fact--to find the greatest possible joy in following and pursuing Him, and that's what should be the driver of our pursuit!

All that to say that this past spring I had the thought that we should all as a congregation ask questions about God and faith, and then take the summer to investigate what God had to say about those things.  It was a brilliant summer series in that each message was effectively "stand-alone", so vacations, guest speakers, etc. didn't interrupt the flow.  However, here's where it wasn't quite so brilliant: I hadn't thought about the amount of research and study that would go into such a series.  Whew!  Tons of new books read and digested in record time...

One of the questions asked was in regards to whether premarital sex was truly a sin biblically, and the corollary question "how far is too far?"  I found the new book Sex, Dating and Relationships to be a clear, concise, thoroughly biblical and refreshing treatment on the subject.  The authors base their study and position not simply on the moral code, but on the typology that's present throughout the Scriptures which ties the husband/wife relationship to the relationship of Christ and the Church.  With this parallel clearly in mind, the purpose and use of sexuality is no longer simply about following rules, but rather, it's a direct statement of worship and understanding of the nature and character of God Himself.

The authors make the case that God has instituted three categories of relational interaction: family, neighbor, and spouse.  The obvious exclusion from these categories is the "dating" relationship category--they state quite effectively that the process leading up to marriage is really a specific category of the neighbor relationship, not a unique category itself.  From the perspective of sexuality, this is a revolutionary idea: family and neighbor both preclude sexuality, while the spousal relationship obviously requires it.  Therefore, the basis on which we operate "pre-marriage" is within the neighbor category.  Simply put: any thing a young man wouldn't do with his sister, he shouldn't be doing with his girlfriend!

Obviously, this is a hugely counter-cultural position, and one that very few will take seriously in practice.  However, one of the great strengths of the book is the critique the authors give of the lack of true commitment outside of the covenant of marriage within so-called "exclusive" relationships, where unhealthy sexual activity is most often found.  They rightly state that an "exclusive dating relationship" is only as committed as each of the parties is to that relationship, and the fact that it can be ended immediately based on the desire of one or the other, with no mutual consent or process (read: the definition of a teenage break-up) means that there is no possibility of true commitment in that relationship prior to engagement and marriage.  As opposed to the traditional model of dating, they build the case for "dating friendships" that explore romantic relationships within the context of healthy community, and then when a decision for marriage is made, the couple moves directly towards that covenant with only a very short engagement period.

There's much more to the book, but it's a very important addition to this very important discussion, and I highly recommend it.  I think older teens and beyond will find it readable, although a bit challenging at times.  However, it should be required reading for every youth pastor and youth leader who are engaging these conversations with students.  I wish it had been in my library a decade ago.