In the Old Testament Law for the Israelites, God gave Moses some pretty crazy food restrictions. It's OK to eat land animals that have split hooves and chew cud, but not camels (because the hoof is not completely split) or the pig (because it doesn't chew cud). It's OK to eat fish with fins and scales, but not if they have only one or neither. And don't eat skinks. (I don't want to eat skinks, but now that you tell me that I can't, I'm tempted to.) Don't eat certain animals because they are considered "unclean," even though their cleanliness habits are not really different than other animals.
Also, houses with mold - unclean. People with leprosy - unclean. Dead bodies - unclean. Touch any of those, and you become unclean, too.
Anything that was "unclean" was not necessarily morally "bad." Some of the laws about being clean have to do with everyday, unavoidable necessities of life. Rather than evil, "unclean" means "unacceptable," particularly with relationship to the rituals of the tabernacle (and later, the temple). Nothing unclean could be used for the ceremonies and sacrifices. Anyone who touched something unclean became unclean, and then he couldn't be involved with the ceremonies until he went through a cleansing ritual. Once clean, then he was "acceptable" and could participate. The correct terms here are "ceremonially clean" and "ceremonially unclean."
So, why the weird restrictions? Why do rock badgers get a bad rap, for example? The best theory I've read so far is that the "unclean" things are "abnormal." The normal house has no mold ("normal" meaning "as it should be" instead of "more common"). Animals that both chew the cud and split the hoof are "normal," but those that have the odd combination are "abnormal." Fish "normally" have fins and scales. Bodies "ought" to be alive - that's their normal state, what they were made to be.
There's nothing magic about clean or unclean animals. Clean animals aren't "better," necessarily. The laws were primarily for the purpose of revealing God and His character. So, everything associated with the tabernacle must be a prime example of its kind - "normal" (as it should be), unblemished, highest quality, unspoiled, and so on. And it must be so because of what that teaches us about God. If less than the best was acceptable in the worship of God, then what would that teach us about God?
So, now look at sin from a new perspective. Sin is not just "bad" because it falls into the bad category that God arbitrarily set. Sin is any departure from the perfect character of God or from God's perfect design - "abnormal." Sin is abnormal (even though it's very common). Therefore, sin makes us abnormal or "unclean," and therefore "unacceptable" for the worship of God. Not because we're just "bad," but because abnormal is unfitting for worshiping the perfect God. We are "unclean," not because we're "dirty," but because we depart from God's ideal. We need to be made "clean" - made "normal" again. Then and only then are we "acceptable," fitting for the worship of God.
This new look at sin gives us a new look at the work of Christ. He alone makes us "clean," "acceptable," fitting for worshiping God. He "normalizes" us to the perfect character and design of God, because He fulfills the perfect design of God for our race.
We receive this by faith. Even though we don't suddenly become actually normal, we are then covered by the "normalcy" of Christ until He finishes the work of making us actually normal. That work continues in every believer until He completes it.
How to respond to this truth? Rather than setting our sights on being meritoriously "good," it is more accurate to pursue becoming more and more fitting for the worship of God. In other words, rather than me trying to be the most moral me, my focus would be taken off of me and onto the God worthy of worship. My goal would be to become more and more suited to worship Him. I get to worship Him now by the grace of Christ, but my pursuit is to be increasingly appropriate for that privilege.
This kind of transformation is a work of Christ within us that we embrace by faith. He will eventually complete that transformation. Until then, my habits and actions will either be in concert with His work or contrary to it. May my eyes be fixed on what a holy God is worthy of, rather than trying to feel worthy within myself.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
When I'm 80...
When I'm 80...
- I want to still have Lynne next to me. She's my living reminder that it's more important to be than to do - that doing comes from being.
- I want to be healthy enough to get myself to a good BBQ restaurant. That would mean I can still chew and digest great food, that I'm capable of driving, that I can still celebrate the simple good things in life, that I'm still in the city I love, and that I still have a little money to spend.
- I want to be generous enough to be contagious. I'll know I'm really generous not if someone else tells me, but if someone else becomes more generous because they appreciate generosity's beauty.
- I want to have no relational debts. I'll be in the last chapter, and I don't want to live knowing that any day could mean unresolved relationships. I don't want to have to make peace on my deathbed; I want to already have peace on my deathbed.
- I want all my scars to tell stories with good endings. I have scars, and I will have more. Physical scars, emotional scars, relational scars. Scars are the stories of wounds - hopefully healed ones. Since they are inevitable, I want every story to have a good ending. They may not all be "happy endings," but I want them to at least be good endings. I don't want to waste any scars.
- I want it to be hard to remember the last time I was a jerk to anyone - and not because of a faulty memory. I'm still a jerk way too often. I'd rather not be, but there it is for now. I would like to grow up enough that I'd have to think wayyyy back to remember the last time it was true.
- I want the peace that surpasses all understanding ruling my heart. I don't want my name on a building or enough money to buy that BBQ restaurant. I don't want more interesting photos on social media than the rest of you. I don't want any substitute for peace ... I just want peace. A peace so contrary to a broken world that it makes no sense. A peace so invasive that it's in charge of my heart.
- I want be truly influencing others to follow Christ. Not a religion, not an approved list of behaviors, but a Person who lives still.
- I want to still be able to make painful puns. I want my mind sharp enough to still play with words like toys. Of course, this may contradict the whole "jerk" thing...
- I don't want to complete my bucket list. I don't want to dream that small.
Criminy! I now have only 30 years to become that man.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
With deep grief I have watched the events surrounding the Ferguson, MO, case and the Eric Garner case. I grieve over the loss of life, regardless of circumstance. I grieve over those who responded with violence, regardless of reason. I grieve over the angry divisiveness, heartlessness, and bitter words exchanged in the streets and online. I grieve that, no matter how you look at these stories, race is still an open-wound issue in our time.
I'm not going to tell you who I think is right or wrong, and I won't tell you who you should think is right or wrong, because that would reduce what you should think down to a single idea. The issues are complex, and I would hope that every one of us has a complex, even conflicting set of thoughts about them.
In all this, I have observed that people responded to the same set of facts based on how they were already bent. In other words, if I knew your socio-political leanings before these events occurred, I could have quite accurately predicted your responses to them. The facts of the case are the facts of the case, but how people responded to those facts was overwhelmingly conditioned by what they already believed before the facts were presented.
In other words, the facts matter less than our preconceived narratives. We all have agendas - things we want to happen, ways we want to be followed, structures we want in place. We have a narrative in our minds of how things have been and ought to be. Sadly, the real lives of the real people involved in real events are merely props to affirm the narratives in our minds. We're using them ... and their tragedies ... to affirm what we already believe. It doesn't matter which side of these issues people are on; I observe the same phenomenon in both directions.
Facts should change us, not vice versa. But we're letting it happen. How else could our differing responses be so easily predictable before the facts even came to light? The facts could have been different, but our respective conclusions would have been the same! And we're pretty angry about these "facts" - even though they don't really matter.
It's not just these two events. The same thing happens daily with politics, religion, international relations, and of course sports. It's not just them who do this; it's us. No sense in pointing fingers - both sides of every issue are filled with rhetoric that could be scripted without looking at a single fact.
Jesus once said that even if a man rose from the dead and warned people, they wouldn't listen. Facts don't matter - they just get repurposed. Therefore, the facts of your life don't matter, either, because my narrative is already set. I'll twist your story to fit my narrative, so you don't really matter.
The only way I can be different than this is to allow people to mess up my narrative.
When I was a young kid, we didn't have any pets. Somehow, I had it in my mind that dogs and cats were the same animal, but that dogs were the boys and cats were the girls. (To save my own life, I will not explain how that conclusion actuallymakes made some sense.) Our neighbors had a cat and a dog ... but the cat was male and the dog was female! That totally messed up my young narrative! I fought it, but eventually I allowed reality to change my narrative. The only way I could retain my narrative would have been to slander the reputations those two animals. (Sound familiar?)
Allowing your narrative to be changed doesn't mean you have to put your core beliefs on the chopping block. Whatever core beliefs are true need not change, even when the narratives must. Even though I have discovered halfway decent people who graduated from KU, I don't have to abandon my core belief in the absolute superiority of Mizzou. They changed my narrative, but not my core belief!
This is especially crucial when we consider our kids, who encounter narrative-busting people every day. If our narrative fails to accommodate the variety of lifestories they eat lunch with and study algebra together with, they will abandon the narrative - they will not abandon the busters. And if they abandon the narrative, they are far more likely to abandon the core beliefs you want to pass on.
I'm not going to tell you who I think is right or wrong, and I won't tell you who you should think is right or wrong, because that would reduce what you should think down to a single idea. The issues are complex, and I would hope that every one of us has a complex, even conflicting set of thoughts about them.
In all this, I have observed that people responded to the same set of facts based on how they were already bent. In other words, if I knew your socio-political leanings before these events occurred, I could have quite accurately predicted your responses to them. The facts of the case are the facts of the case, but how people responded to those facts was overwhelmingly conditioned by what they already believed before the facts were presented.
In other words, the facts matter less than our preconceived narratives. We all have agendas - things we want to happen, ways we want to be followed, structures we want in place. We have a narrative in our minds of how things have been and ought to be. Sadly, the real lives of the real people involved in real events are merely props to affirm the narratives in our minds. We're using them ... and their tragedies ... to affirm what we already believe. It doesn't matter which side of these issues people are on; I observe the same phenomenon in both directions.
Facts should change us, not vice versa. But we're letting it happen. How else could our differing responses be so easily predictable before the facts even came to light? The facts could have been different, but our respective conclusions would have been the same! And we're pretty angry about these "facts" - even though they don't really matter.
It's not just these two events. The same thing happens daily with politics, religion, international relations, and of course sports. It's not just them who do this; it's us. No sense in pointing fingers - both sides of every issue are filled with rhetoric that could be scripted without looking at a single fact.
Jesus once said that even if a man rose from the dead and warned people, they wouldn't listen. Facts don't matter - they just get repurposed. Therefore, the facts of your life don't matter, either, because my narrative is already set. I'll twist your story to fit my narrative, so you don't really matter.
The only way I can be different than this is to allow people to mess up my narrative.
When I was a young kid, we didn't have any pets. Somehow, I had it in my mind that dogs and cats were the same animal, but that dogs were the boys and cats were the girls. (To save my own life, I will not explain how that conclusion actually
Allowing your narrative to be changed doesn't mean you have to put your core beliefs on the chopping block. Whatever core beliefs are true need not change, even when the narratives must. Even though I have discovered halfway decent people who graduated from KU, I don't have to abandon my core belief in the absolute superiority of Mizzou. They changed my narrative, but not my core belief!
This is especially crucial when we consider our kids, who encounter narrative-busting people every day. If our narrative fails to accommodate the variety of lifestories they eat lunch with and study algebra together with, they will abandon the narrative - they will not abandon the busters. And if they abandon the narrative, they are far more likely to abandon the core beliefs you want to pass on.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
I Don't Want You to Know Me
I don't want you to know me. Not the real me. In fact, I work really hard so that you won't know me, and indeed so that you can't know me.
If you knew me, you'd know my faults, fears, and failures. I mess things up, I have selfish tendencies, I'm not up to snuff in some basic character issues, I get angry, I don't always eat right, and I say stupid things. It's embarrassing. "Aha!" you say - "I already know plenty of your faults." Yes, you do. You know the faults that I don't keep totally secret. You don't know my worst, ugliest, most disappointing, shameful faults. I don't let you. They are part of me, and since I have successfully hidden them from you, I have successfully prevented you from knowing me.
If you knew these things about me, you probably wouldn't like me. The faults I let you know about may be annoying, but they usually don't prevent people from liking who they think I am. But the faults I hide - wow - if you knew them, then you wouldn't like me. Or at least not nearly as much. People with my secrets aren't really likable ... not really.
Instead, I tell you just enough to fool you. I actually want you to know my lesser faults, because then I can fool you that I'm being "transparent." I'll let you know about my molehill problem so that you won't bother to ask about my mountain problem. I give you a splinter to distract you from the plank. To be honest, you're pretty easy to fool.
In other words, what I present to you is a false me. It's a projection of a person, an image of someone who doesn't exist, a catalog of qualities good enough to make a phantom likable. Who you think I am isn't even a person. You can't have a real relationship with an unreal person, so you don't have a real relationship with me, no matter how often I tell you I appreciate our "relationship."
You see, I'd rather you knew a false me than the real me. I'd prefer that you like a false me than be disappointed with the real me. I don't want to be rejected, so I don't allow the real me to be accepted. I can coast along pretty well if you like the person I project to you, and then I can pretend that you really like me. But you don't ... because you don't even know me.
I do this because I falsely get my identity and acceptance from you. I know intellectually that my identity is in Christ and my acceptance from God by grace through Christ. I know all that. And yet I still vainly try to get my sense of self from you. If I truly did get my identity from being in Christ, and if I truly did accept my own acceptance by grace from the perfectly gracious God, then I would let you know the real me ... the accepted me who knows who he is. But I don't. Instead, I put on you responsibilities that belong only to God.
I don't want you to know me because you're my idol. I don't idolize you in the worship-y way, but I look to you for something only God can give. Thereby, I foolishly make you my idol.
I'm sorry for putting you in such an awkward position. It's unfair to expect you to provide what only God can. Plus, it never works. I can't be known by idols.
Read this again to see if you find yourself in this composite (but not totally fictional) character.
If you knew me, you'd know my faults, fears, and failures. I mess things up, I have selfish tendencies, I'm not up to snuff in some basic character issues, I get angry, I don't always eat right, and I say stupid things. It's embarrassing. "Aha!" you say - "I already know plenty of your faults." Yes, you do. You know the faults that I don't keep totally secret. You don't know my worst, ugliest, most disappointing, shameful faults. I don't let you. They are part of me, and since I have successfully hidden them from you, I have successfully prevented you from knowing me.
If you knew these things about me, you probably wouldn't like me. The faults I let you know about may be annoying, but they usually don't prevent people from liking who they think I am. But the faults I hide - wow - if you knew them, then you wouldn't like me. Or at least not nearly as much. People with my secrets aren't really likable ... not really.
Instead, I tell you just enough to fool you. I actually want you to know my lesser faults, because then I can fool you that I'm being "transparent." I'll let you know about my molehill problem so that you won't bother to ask about my mountain problem. I give you a splinter to distract you from the plank. To be honest, you're pretty easy to fool.
In other words, what I present to you is a false me. It's a projection of a person, an image of someone who doesn't exist, a catalog of qualities good enough to make a phantom likable. Who you think I am isn't even a person. You can't have a real relationship with an unreal person, so you don't have a real relationship with me, no matter how often I tell you I appreciate our "relationship."
You see, I'd rather you knew a false me than the real me. I'd prefer that you like a false me than be disappointed with the real me. I don't want to be rejected, so I don't allow the real me to be accepted. I can coast along pretty well if you like the person I project to you, and then I can pretend that you really like me. But you don't ... because you don't even know me.
I do this because I falsely get my identity and acceptance from you. I know intellectually that my identity is in Christ and my acceptance from God by grace through Christ. I know all that. And yet I still vainly try to get my sense of self from you. If I truly did get my identity from being in Christ, and if I truly did accept my own acceptance by grace from the perfectly gracious God, then I would let you know the real me ... the accepted me who knows who he is. But I don't. Instead, I put on you responsibilities that belong only to God.
I don't want you to know me because you're my idol. I don't idolize you in the worship-y way, but I look to you for something only God can give. Thereby, I foolishly make you my idol.
I'm sorry for putting you in such an awkward position. It's unfair to expect you to provide what only God can. Plus, it never works. I can't be known by idols.
Read this again to see if you find yourself in this composite (but not totally fictional) character.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
I Don't Have Time for This!
This Sunday is the last in our series on how Jesus redefines everything in our lives as disciples, pulling our thoughts mostly out of 1 and 2 Corinthians. To review, this is where we've been:
This Sunday's message will be "I don't have time for this!" from 1 Cor 9:19-27.
And we don't really have time for all this ... do we??? I simply can't add all those things to my life, because I'm already hovering around the "overwhelmed" status. Quite frankly, I just end up feeling guilty about all this, which is worse than before.
We must be honest enough to admit whatever feelings like this we have, and we must be brave enough to explore those questions.
I'm not going to explore here what we're going to explore Sunday morning, but I did want to create a simple list of the series so we can see the big picture of where we've been. I also wanted to put the question about time in your mind in advance to get you thinking about it so that we gather together with fresh, real questions and ideas.
Let me prime the pump with the following:
- I am a Disciple (the "tree")
- I am on Mission (the "fruit")
- I am Being Transformed (the "roots")
- I Worship the Risen Christ (the "trunk")
- I Belong to a Community (the "branches")
- I am a Disciple who Makes Disciples (but what kind?)
- I am Missionary (learning to think like a missionary right here)
- I am a Consumer (we can become consumers of church, rather than disciples)
- I have a Vocation (our 3 callings)
This Sunday's message will be "I don't have time for this!" from 1 Cor 9:19-27.
And we don't really have time for all this ... do we??? I simply can't add all those things to my life, because I'm already hovering around the "overwhelmed" status. Quite frankly, I just end up feeling guilty about all this, which is worse than before.
We must be honest enough to admit whatever feelings like this we have, and we must be brave enough to explore those questions.
I'm not going to explore here what we're going to explore Sunday morning, but I did want to create a simple list of the series so we can see the big picture of where we've been. I also wanted to put the question about time in your mind in advance to get you thinking about it so that we gather together with fresh, real questions and ideas.
Let me prime the pump with the following:
- Does God ever give us too little time for what He desires for us?
- Are we foisting our idea of "time" onto God's plan? If so, how?
- What are we not fully believing that then leads us to think we don't have enough time?
- Are there things I'm not yet willing to give up in order to live life "on mission" according to a list like this? If so, how should I respond?
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
D17 Review
For the last 17 weeks, we've been discussing the "D17" - Seventeen Truths of Discipleship. There are more than 17 truths, and one could generate a completely legitimate list that differs from this one. Rather than trying to be the definitive list on discipleship, we would rather just focus on how a list like this can stimulate us to think about discipleship differently and seriously.
Discipling is the thing Jesus told the Church to do as the Church. His commission to us is not, "Get to heaven" or "Keep your nose clean" or "Pursue the American Dream with a Christian twist," but "be about the business of discipling all people groups" (my paraphrase). Therefore, we absolutely must have strong and clear convictions about the thing Jesus commissioned us to do.
Below is the list of 17 all together in one place. I encourage you to copy or print this list, keep it in front you, and spend some serious time reading, contemplating, processing, and reacting to it. What ideas about discipleship challenge you? What life changes are needed to be more serious about discipling others?
The impact of a list like this should be lifelong changes in convictions and habits. This will only happen by intentionality on your part. That's it ... no good intentions, no haranguing on my part, no feelings of being convicted will change a thing. Only your decision and action to be intentional. This is what Christ gave for His Church to do. Do I take that from Him slightly or seriously? Will we take this seriously as a family? Will we take this seriously as a church?
See this blog for discussions on each of these. So much more can be written, but enough writing for now. There is enough here in just this one list to occupy us for the rest of our lives.
Discipling is the thing Jesus told the Church to do as the Church. His commission to us is not, "Get to heaven" or "Keep your nose clean" or "Pursue the American Dream with a Christian twist," but "be about the business of discipling all people groups" (my paraphrase). Therefore, we absolutely must have strong and clear convictions about the thing Jesus commissioned us to do.
Below is the list of 17 all together in one place. I encourage you to copy or print this list, keep it in front you, and spend some serious time reading, contemplating, processing, and reacting to it. What ideas about discipleship challenge you? What life changes are needed to be more serious about discipling others?
The impact of a list like this should be lifelong changes in convictions and habits. This will only happen by intentionality on your part. That's it ... no good intentions, no haranguing on my part, no feelings of being convicted will change a thing. Only your decision and action to be intentional. This is what Christ gave for His Church to do. Do I take that from Him slightly or seriously? Will we take this seriously as a family? Will we take this seriously as a church?
- Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in every area of your life in light of the Gospel (Mk 9:21-24)
- Discipleship must be Spirit-led, because only He can reveal spiritual truth (Jn 16:8-11; 1 Cor 2:9-16)
- Discipleship must be Gospel-saturated (1 Cor 15:1-11)
- Discipleship must be community-based (Phm 1-3; 1 Thess 1:1; Lk 10:1)
- Discipleship must be individually-tailored, based in one’s identity in Christ (Jn 21:21-22)
- Discipleship must be holistic (Mk 12:28-31; Mt 23:23; Jms 1:27; 2:15-16)
- Discipleship needs to be frequent and long-term (Jn 15:26-27)
- Discipleship has to be modeled and experienced (Jn 13:12-17)
- Jesus’ kind of discipleship is mostly unscheduled but very intentional (both organized and organic) (Mk 8:27)
- Every moment is a discipleship opportunity (Mk 8:14-21)
- Discipleship is going to be others-focused, especially the least of these (Mt 25:40; Lk 7:18-22)
- We would never raise kids the way that most churches try to raise disciples (1 Tim 3:4-5)
- Discipleship begins before conversion (Jn 6; 20:24-28)
- Discipleship is obedience-driven (Mt 28:20; Jn 8:31-32; 15:10)
- Discipleship is costly (Lk 9:57-62; 14:26-35; Mt 10:37-39)
- Discipleship is not about works performed, but about becoming like the Redeemer (Mt 7:22-23; Rom 8:29; 1 Jn 3:1-3)
- Discipleship requires humility (Jn 13:12-17; Mk 10:42-45)
See this blog for discussions on each of these. So much more can be written, but enough writing for now. There is enough here in just this one list to occupy us for the rest of our lives.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
D17 P17: I Like the Entire List ... Except this One
For the last 17 weeks, we've looked at the "D17" - 17 truths about discipleship. We will list them all together next week, but this entry is about the last one. And it's probably the one I like the least, because it's the only one on the list that I don't personally aspire to. Perhaps the same is true for you, too.
Why? Because Jesus. (To use the grammatically incorrect but common phrasing.) Because this is exactly how Jesus made disciples, and He expects us to make disciples the same way as He did. Consider two key events in Jesus discipling His followers. The more compelling of the two happened on the night He was betrayed as He shared the Passover meal with His disciples.
So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, for I am. If then I—your Lord and Teacher—wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:12–17)
This is His key example for His disciples - the lasting image before the Cross. They will continue His ministry of making disciples who make disciples with the humble attitude of a servant washing someone else's dirty feet. The Jews considered this task too demeaning even for Jewish slaves - only foreign slaves would be made to do this. Jesus says that His model of disciplemaking is something so humble that it's lower in stature than something they considered too demeaning for a slave.
He finishes by saying that if we do this voluntarily, we are blessed. How crazy upside-down is that? No matter how you turn this and twist this, you can't escape that the Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.
The second example is a teaching He gave to His disciples:
And Jesus called them to himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their people in high positions exercise authority over them. But it is not like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)
The key phrase for me here is "It is not like this among you!" He didn't say that it shouldn't be or that we should avoid it. He said that it is not that way. Our "system" or manner of making disciples will not be making disciples if it's not like this - like servanthood. Not even Jesus came to be served but to be a servant to others.
Making a disciple is serving them with such a humble attitude of service that it is more humble than that of a slave. We cannot make disciples the Jesus way if we have an attitude of superiority, as if we're better than the one we disciple, or that we're their spiritual "hero." The Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.
For those who refuse to intentionally make disciples because they don't feel qualified or good enough, there's good news! You've got a lot of the humility required already! Now, that sense of inadequacy comes from a model of discipleship that expects the discipler to be the superior one, the "expert." But it is not that way with you. Now, all you have to do is turn that humility into the attitude of a servant with respect to someone else's discipleship. Every follower of Jesus can be a discipler of others, and the ones who think themselves pretty special are the least qualified.
If we don't grab onto this last truth of the D17, then the entire 16 truths before this one will not be effective. Humility is non-optional. We cannot make disciples with pride, arrogance, or even a sense of superiority. We can only make authentic disciples of Jesus by being more humble than First Century Jewish slaves.
Discipleship requires humility.
Why? Because Jesus. (To use the grammatically incorrect but common phrasing.) Because this is exactly how Jesus made disciples, and He expects us to make disciples the same way as He did. Consider two key events in Jesus discipling His followers. The more compelling of the two happened on the night He was betrayed as He shared the Passover meal with His disciples.
So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, for I am. If then I—your Lord and Teacher—wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:12–17)
This is His key example for His disciples - the lasting image before the Cross. They will continue His ministry of making disciples who make disciples with the humble attitude of a servant washing someone else's dirty feet. The Jews considered this task too demeaning even for Jewish slaves - only foreign slaves would be made to do this. Jesus says that His model of disciplemaking is something so humble that it's lower in stature than something they considered too demeaning for a slave.
He finishes by saying that if we do this voluntarily, we are blessed. How crazy upside-down is that? No matter how you turn this and twist this, you can't escape that the Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.
The second example is a teaching He gave to His disciples:
And Jesus called them to himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their people in high positions exercise authority over them. But it is not like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)
The key phrase for me here is "It is not like this among you!" He didn't say that it shouldn't be or that we should avoid it. He said that it is not that way. Our "system" or manner of making disciples will not be making disciples if it's not like this - like servanthood. Not even Jesus came to be served but to be a servant to others.
Making a disciple is serving them with such a humble attitude of service that it is more humble than that of a slave. We cannot make disciples the Jesus way if we have an attitude of superiority, as if we're better than the one we disciple, or that we're their spiritual "hero." The Jesus way of making disciples requires humility.
For those who refuse to intentionally make disciples because they don't feel qualified or good enough, there's good news! You've got a lot of the humility required already! Now, that sense of inadequacy comes from a model of discipleship that expects the discipler to be the superior one, the "expert." But it is not that way with you. Now, all you have to do is turn that humility into the attitude of a servant with respect to someone else's discipleship. Every follower of Jesus can be a discipler of others, and the ones who think themselves pretty special are the least qualified.
If we don't grab onto this last truth of the D17, then the entire 16 truths before this one will not be effective. Humility is non-optional. We cannot make disciples with pride, arrogance, or even a sense of superiority. We can only make authentic disciples of Jesus by being more humble than First Century Jewish slaves.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
D17 P16: I really don't care what you do...
Throughout this series on the "D17" (17 truths about discipleship), we have explored several things we ought to do. Discipling is something we do, and through discipling, we teach others things they ought to do (especially to do all that Jesus commands, as He taught in the key text of the missional conversation, the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20). In fact, one of the main thrusts of discipling is to get people off the bench and into the game, to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
The 16th truth of discipleship may sound like a total contradiction to all of that.
Discipling is indeed about doing - taking up our crosses and following Him. But discipleship is not about the works we perform. It sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth at once.
Think of it this way: a game of football is not about hiking and passing and blocking and running. It's not the goal of the game to hike the ball. Hiking the ball is what you do in order to achieve the goal (scoring more points than your opponent). Hiking is necessary and essential. It requires training and practice. It must be done well. But football is not about that.
Works are what we do as disciples, but that's not the goal of discipleship. What we do is necessary and essential, and may required training and practice. But if Person A does more works than Person B, that doesn't necessarily mean he's accomplished the goal. The goal is not to "hike the ball," but to become like the one who redeems us.
In Matt 7:22-23, Jesus warns His listeners that just because people did things "in His name," they weren't guaranteed entrance into the Kingdom. "Depart from me," He tells them, "I never knew you." The accumulation of your works is not what matters.
Paul says in Rom 8:29 and John says in 1 Jn 3:1-3 that the destiny of those in Christ is that they will continually be made more and more like Him, the Redeemer, and eventually will be exactly like Him. That's the goal. That's the work that Jesus is doing in His followers, and therefore the work that followers should be doing with each other. In other words, discipleship.
Everything, and I mean everything, we do as followers should be for the purpose of us becoming more like Christ. It is not about accumulating good works, although it's certainly the case that good works can make us more like Christ. Again, hiking the ball compared to winning the game.
This also means that everything God does in our lives will be to the same end - to make us more like Christ. Everything He allows in our lives, everything He puts before us, every way that He answers our prayer - everything, and I mean everything, He does in our lives is carrying out His promise to make us more like His Son.
The 16th truth of discipleship may sound like a total contradiction to all of that.
Discipleship is not about works performed, but about becoming like the Redeemer.
Think of it this way: a game of football is not about hiking and passing and blocking and running. It's not the goal of the game to hike the ball. Hiking the ball is what you do in order to achieve the goal (scoring more points than your opponent). Hiking is necessary and essential. It requires training and practice. It must be done well. But football is not about that.
Works are what we do as disciples, but that's not the goal of discipleship. What we do is necessary and essential, and may required training and practice. But if Person A does more works than Person B, that doesn't necessarily mean he's accomplished the goal. The goal is not to "hike the ball," but to become like the one who redeems us.
In Matt 7:22-23, Jesus warns His listeners that just because people did things "in His name," they weren't guaranteed entrance into the Kingdom. "Depart from me," He tells them, "I never knew you." The accumulation of your works is not what matters.
Paul says in Rom 8:29 and John says in 1 Jn 3:1-3 that the destiny of those in Christ is that they will continually be made more and more like Him, the Redeemer, and eventually will be exactly like Him. That's the goal. That's the work that Jesus is doing in His followers, and therefore the work that followers should be doing with each other. In other words, discipleship.
Everything, and I mean everything, we do as followers should be for the purpose of us becoming more like Christ. It is not about accumulating good works, although it's certainly the case that good works can make us more like Christ. Again, hiking the ball compared to winning the game.
This also means that everything God does in our lives will be to the same end - to make us more like Christ. Everything He allows in our lives, everything He puts before us, every way that He answers our prayer - everything, and I mean everything, He does in our lives is carrying out His promise to make us more like His Son.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
D17 P15: If you hahve to ahsk...
When the menu has food I can't pronounce and doesn't list the price of anything, I know I'm in the wrong restaurant. I won't like the food any better than a Gates burnt ends sandwich, and I won't be able to pay for it. "If you hahve to ahsk, you cahn't afforhd it."
The Gospel is offered to us freely. There is no price tag on it that tells us how much we must pay in order to acquire it. But it is a gross misunderstanding of the Gospel to then conclude that the Gospel doesn't cost us anything. A lack of a price tag doesn't mean it doesn't have a price. The lack of a price tag merely says, "You can't afford it."
"Free" doesn't mean "without personal cost."
"Free" means that the price to bring you into the Kingdom of God is so large that it must be given to you as a gift by the only one who can actually afford it. But following Christ still costs you everything. Following Christ means forsaking all other gods, giving up living for yourself, surrendering your security in mere things, and being willing to let go of everything, even of your own life, if that's what it takes to follow Christ more completely.
Furthermore, "free" doesn't mean "of little value."
The value is determined not by what you would pay to acquire (which you can't afford any way). Rather, the value is determined by the price that Jesus paid to offer it to you freely - which was His life, His unbroken relationship with the Father, and the penalty of sin. If the Gospel didn't cost anyone anything in any way, how valuable would it be? A free gift of gold is more precious than a free gift of tissue paper - it's still free, but the value is determined by the cost paid by the giver.
The 15th entry in our series of the 17 truths of discipleship ("D17") is this:
It is offered to us freely (we can't pay for it, let alone afford it). But it cost Jesus the greatest costs ever paid, and receiving that gift means it costs us every reliance on worldly ways and every attempt to find in things that which can only be fully found in God through Christ.
How can the Gospel cost us nothing and yet cost us everything? No analogy is perfect, but consider the difference between purchasing something and ridding yourself of valueless things in order to make room for what's truly valuable. Purchasing means I give an equivalently valuable thing in order to get something in return - I deserve the thing because I paid its worth. "Making room" is ridding yourself of all things that occupy the spaces designed to be filled uniquely by God.
Those spaces are not confined to Sunday mornings or to mere behaviors. Rather, they are the very spaces of what it means to be human: my sense of personal identity, the satisfaction of my soul, my security, the purpose I live for, the ways I choose to respond to challenges and stresses - everything about being human. The Gospel costs us every false way of filling those spaces so that they can be filled by God alone.
The Gospel costs us everything related to being human so that we can finally be truly human.
To disciple someone else will also cost you - time, effort, money, and emotional energy. You will enter into the messiness of someone else's imperfect life, and you will give up the facade covering the messiness of your own. It will cost you tears. It will create some heartbreak. You will suffer some disappointment. And it's worth every bit of it!
And we if share the Gospel without also telling people that it will cost them everything, we sell the Gospel short and lie about its true nature. People must know that the Gospel is free but is also worth giving up everything. Jesus did not shy away from telling others what following Him would cost:
The Gospel is offered to us freely. There is no price tag on it that tells us how much we must pay in order to acquire it. But it is a gross misunderstanding of the Gospel to then conclude that the Gospel doesn't cost us anything. A lack of a price tag doesn't mean it doesn't have a price. The lack of a price tag merely says, "You can't afford it."
"Free" doesn't mean "without personal cost."
"Free" means that the price to bring you into the Kingdom of God is so large that it must be given to you as a gift by the only one who can actually afford it. But following Christ still costs you everything. Following Christ means forsaking all other gods, giving up living for yourself, surrendering your security in mere things, and being willing to let go of everything, even of your own life, if that's what it takes to follow Christ more completely.
Furthermore, "free" doesn't mean "of little value."
The value is determined not by what you would pay to acquire (which you can't afford any way). Rather, the value is determined by the price that Jesus paid to offer it to you freely - which was His life, His unbroken relationship with the Father, and the penalty of sin. If the Gospel didn't cost anyone anything in any way, how valuable would it be? A free gift of gold is more precious than a free gift of tissue paper - it's still free, but the value is determined by the cost paid by the giver.
The 15th entry in our series of the 17 truths of discipleship ("D17") is this:
Discipleship is costly (Luke 9:57-62; 14:26-35; Matt 10:37-39).
It is offered to us freely (we can't pay for it, let alone afford it). But it cost Jesus the greatest costs ever paid, and receiving that gift means it costs us every reliance on worldly ways and every attempt to find in things that which can only be fully found in God through Christ.
How can the Gospel cost us nothing and yet cost us everything? No analogy is perfect, but consider the difference between purchasing something and ridding yourself of valueless things in order to make room for what's truly valuable. Purchasing means I give an equivalently valuable thing in order to get something in return - I deserve the thing because I paid its worth. "Making room" is ridding yourself of all things that occupy the spaces designed to be filled uniquely by God.
Those spaces are not confined to Sunday mornings or to mere behaviors. Rather, they are the very spaces of what it means to be human: my sense of personal identity, the satisfaction of my soul, my security, the purpose I live for, the ways I choose to respond to challenges and stresses - everything about being human. The Gospel costs us every false way of filling those spaces so that they can be filled by God alone.
The Gospel costs us everything related to being human so that we can finally be truly human.
To disciple someone else will also cost you - time, effort, money, and emotional energy. You will enter into the messiness of someone else's imperfect life, and you will give up the facade covering the messiness of your own. It will cost you tears. It will create some heartbreak. You will suffer some disappointment. And it's worth every bit of it!
And we if share the Gospel without also telling people that it will cost them everything, we sell the Gospel short and lie about its true nature. People must know that the Gospel is free but is also worth giving up everything. Jesus did not shy away from telling others what following Him would cost:
Luke 9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”
60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
35 “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Matthew 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
D17 P14: What must non-legalists do?
Grace is the most scandalous aspect of the Gospel, the hardest pill to swallow, and ironically, one of the biggest barriers to embracing the Gospel. Grace says you can't earn or deserve any favor from God, no matter what you do. But we love to earn and deserve. Just when we begin to come to terms with grace, we begin to lose perspective on the do part of the Gospel. We are not legalists, who teach you must do in order to garner His favor. But ... what must non-legalists do?
The discipleship mindset is anchored in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), where Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples of all nations. Included in this commission is the command to "teach them to obey everything I commanded you." Discipling someone includes teaching him what to do.
Prior to giving the Great Commission, Jesus consistently did exactly this - teach people to obey His commands. For example, in John 8:31-32, He says, "If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples." Discipleship is marked by doing. Again in John 15:10, he says, "If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love." Not only is our discipleship marked by doing, Jesus' own relationship with His Father is marked by doing.
But we're not legalists!!!
The 14th entry in our series on the 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17") is:
Jesus was not merely a philosopher, teaching us only to have a particular worldview. The Gospel affects not only our theology, our philosophy, and our worldview; the Gospel transforms what we do. The Gospel is not about just getting your entry ticket to heaven, but living now in God's Kingdom according to the nature of God's Kingdom. We get to live this way!!!
Disciples are followers, which means far more than merely "following Jesus' teachings" by agreeing with the good stuff He says. It means following Him - following a Person by doing as He does, speaking as He speaks, thinking as He thinks, and following the path that He blazes.
We're not legalists - we don't teach that you gain merit or favor by what you do. We're practitioners of Grace, those who practice (do) what Grace is. We are followers of the One who merited all of the Father's favor on our behalf. Following cannot exclude doing and still be considered "following."
As we disciple one another, we teach and encourage ourselves to do all that Jesus tells us to do as a matter of following, not as a matter of earning. As one author put it, "Stop trying to be a 'good Christian' and just do what Jesus says."
The discipleship mindset is anchored in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), where Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples of all nations. Included in this commission is the command to "teach them to obey everything I commanded you." Discipling someone includes teaching him what to do.
Prior to giving the Great Commission, Jesus consistently did exactly this - teach people to obey His commands. For example, in John 8:31-32, He says, "If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples." Discipleship is marked by doing. Again in John 15:10, he says, "If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love." Not only is our discipleship marked by doing, Jesus' own relationship with His Father is marked by doing.
But we're not legalists!!!
The 14th entry in our series on the 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17") is:
Discipleship is obedience-driven.
Jesus was not merely a philosopher, teaching us only to have a particular worldview. The Gospel affects not only our theology, our philosophy, and our worldview; the Gospel transforms what we do. The Gospel is not about just getting your entry ticket to heaven, but living now in God's Kingdom according to the nature of God's Kingdom. We get to live this way!!!
Disciples are followers, which means far more than merely "following Jesus' teachings" by agreeing with the good stuff He says. It means following Him - following a Person by doing as He does, speaking as He speaks, thinking as He thinks, and following the path that He blazes.
We're not legalists - we don't teach that you gain merit or favor by what you do. We're practitioners of Grace, those who practice (do) what Grace is. We are followers of the One who merited all of the Father's favor on our behalf. Following cannot exclude doing and still be considered "following."
As we disciple one another, we teach and encourage ourselves to do all that Jesus tells us to do as a matter of following, not as a matter of earning. As one author put it, "Stop trying to be a 'good Christian' and just do what Jesus says."
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
D17 P13 - We got the heart before the course
I was always taught this order: evangelism, conversion, discipleship, service. That's the order of how things happen, and pretty clean lines in between them. Maybe a person is involved in service while he is being discipled, but the norm is that Christian service comes largely after the bulk of discipleship. Never mind that little nagging voice that says, "But, when is anything in the Christian life this tidy?"
There are some other questions that challenge this tidy order:
This is a completely different model than I was taught (and perhaps a number of you, too). But it certainly squares better with our observations of Scripture and life.
This is our 13th entry in the "D17" (the 17 truths of discipleship):
The incremental process of growing ever more complete as a follower of Jesus is discipleship, which starts before conversion and continues after conversion. Once someone converts, that doesn't mean she stops moving from unbelief to belief in every area of her life in light of the Gospel.
This also means that conversion is really the job of God the Holy Spirit, not us. Our commission is to disciple, not convert, because we can't convert anyone. Disciple them, and God will do the converting. Teach them about conversion, pray for it, encourage it, but since you can't make it happen, don't try. Cultivate a rich environment for conversion to occur by discipling, but expect the power for conversion to come from God, not from your words or magnetic presence.
With this understanding of discipling, it is now something we can do with anyone. Any influence to move from unbelief to belief is an act of discipling, and that's the very thing Jesus commanded us to do.
There are some other questions that challenge this tidy order:
- Scripture calls some people disciples of Jesus before they convert (e.g. John 6).
- Scripture calls other people disciples of people like John - no conversion involved.
- The word disciple just means "student" or "follower."
- Jesus taught people to serve as part of discipling them, not after (and ... gasp ... perhaps even before they converted).
- Paul talks about evangelizing the Roman believers (Rom 1:15) - people who already converted and are being discipled. Evangelizing the converted???
- Jesus tells His disciples in the "Great Commission" (Matt 28:18-20) to disciple people from all nations, not specifically to evangelize them.
- Every believer is told to disciple, but not every believer is equipped to do what we've typically labeled "discipleship." Something has to give, and perhaps it's our narrowed view of what it means to disciple someone.
Not only does the Christian life not fit into a nice, tidy progression, the New Testament doesn't fit into it, either.
Instead of any semblance of an inviolable order, what we see in Scripture and in our lives tends to be more like:
- Discipling someone is the process of orienting them more and more toward Jesus, no matter where they are spiritually. To recall our very first definition of discipleship: "Discipleship" is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel." That's something that everyone can do at any point of spiritual development.
- All of these activities are acts of discipling someone. Evangelizing someone is discipling her. Someone's conversion is a milestone is the larger process of discipling. Service is something learned as part of the discipling process, and in fact, every act of service is part of one's discipleship. Everything is part of the larger concept of discipling.
- Evangelizing is something that can be done after conversion, too. Therefore, evangelizing someone is more than just the words that guide him to conversion.
This is a completely different model than I was taught (and perhaps a number of you, too). But it certainly squares better with our observations of Scripture and life.
This is our 13th entry in the "D17" (the 17 truths of discipleship):
Discipleship begins before conversion.
This also means that conversion is really the job of God the Holy Spirit, not us. Our commission is to disciple, not convert, because we can't convert anyone. Disciple them, and God will do the converting. Teach them about conversion, pray for it, encourage it, but since you can't make it happen, don't try. Cultivate a rich environment for conversion to occur by discipling, but expect the power for conversion to come from God, not from your words or magnetic presence.
With this understanding of discipling, it is now something we can do with anyone. Any influence to move from unbelief to belief is an act of discipling, and that's the very thing Jesus commanded us to do.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
D17 P12: It's Family, Stupid
As we have journeyed through the "D17" (the 17 truths about discipleship), you have perhaps noticed I refer frequently to author and speaker Caesar Kalinowski (see http://caesarkalinowski.com/). I have read a few of his books and heard him speak a number of times, and I appreciate his fresh way of clarifying ideas that are sometimes elusive. It was at a small conference in KC with about 30 other pastors where he was teaching that I got the idea for this D17 list. Many of the items on this list came from that talk.
There was one thing he said in that conference that stopped me dead in my tracks, which is our 12th entry in the D17 list:
Wow.
His point is best illustrated by trying to envision what this would look like:
Yeah, we're intentional about raising our kids. Of course, we are. We get together about once a week for a couple of hours (sometimes less). That's the only time I see most of them. For the first part, we separate off into different rooms based on age or what topic we're interested in. We've got these convenient booklets that tell us what we're supposed to learn, and if we fill in all the blanks right, then we're going GREAT. But then we all come together. And I, being the dad, set up my chair at the front of the room, and the rest of the family forms a few semicircle rows to face me and listen quietly while I talk.
Sometimes, a few of our family members get together at a time other than Sunday morning ... if there's no soccer game. It's a hassle, because my wife has to get the house all clean first - wouldn't want the kids to know how we normally live. There's nothing they can learn from us based on how we really live - we want them to learn how to do the Christian life from those snippets of our presentable lives we allow them to see. The last thing we want them to see is how normal family members live normal life ... what could they possibly learn from that?
We don't ever expect our kids to walk in a manner consistent with our family name. We really want them to. We complain if they don't. But we don't really expect them to. Otherwise, we would be having difficult-but-real conversations about bearing the family name together. More importantly, we would be lovingly showing them how the Gospel applies to everyday life and that our real issue is not behavior but faith.
Yeah, we're super-intentional about how we raise our kids.
We would never expect our kids to grow up as healthy people with this kind of family rhythm. Why should we expect disciples to grow into greater health and maturity this way?
The premise for Kalinowski's point is from 1 Tim 3:4-5, where Paul tells Timothy that one of the desired traits of a church elder is that he be a good dad discipling his own kids, because discipling the church family should look a lot like discipling your own family members. Because ... church is a family.
We are aghast watching the increasing institutionalization of raising children in our society. We should be equally concerned wherever we see it happening in our churches for disciplemaking.
Here's perhaps a simpler way to think about it: Treat one another like family, including discipling one another. However we ought to disciple our sons, daughters, siblings, spouse, and even parents is how we ought to disciple our church family.
Just two chapters later, Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim 5.1-2):
Like family. Not like a Model T on the assembly line.
There was one thing he said in that conference that stopped me dead in my tracks, which is our 12th entry in the D17 list:
We would never raise kids the way that most churches try to raise disciples.
Wow.
His point is best illustrated by trying to envision what this would look like:
Yeah, we're intentional about raising our kids. Of course, we are. We get together about once a week for a couple of hours (sometimes less). That's the only time I see most of them. For the first part, we separate off into different rooms based on age or what topic we're interested in. We've got these convenient booklets that tell us what we're supposed to learn, and if we fill in all the blanks right, then we're going GREAT. But then we all come together. And I, being the dad, set up my chair at the front of the room, and the rest of the family forms a few semicircle rows to face me and listen quietly while I talk.
Sometimes, a few of our family members get together at a time other than Sunday morning ... if there's no soccer game. It's a hassle, because my wife has to get the house all clean first - wouldn't want the kids to know how we normally live. There's nothing they can learn from us based on how we really live - we want them to learn how to do the Christian life from those snippets of our presentable lives we allow them to see. The last thing we want them to see is how normal family members live normal life ... what could they possibly learn from that?
We don't ever expect our kids to walk in a manner consistent with our family name. We really want them to. We complain if they don't. But we don't really expect them to. Otherwise, we would be having difficult-but-real conversations about bearing the family name together. More importantly, we would be lovingly showing them how the Gospel applies to everyday life and that our real issue is not behavior but faith.
Yeah, we're super-intentional about how we raise our kids.
We would never expect our kids to grow up as healthy people with this kind of family rhythm. Why should we expect disciples to grow into greater health and maturity this way?
The premise for Kalinowski's point is from 1 Tim 3:4-5, where Paul tells Timothy that one of the desired traits of a church elder is that he be a good dad discipling his own kids, because discipling the church family should look a lot like discipling your own family members. Because ... church is a family.
We are aghast watching the increasing institutionalization of raising children in our society. We should be equally concerned wherever we see it happening in our churches for disciplemaking.
Here's perhaps a simpler way to think about it: Treat one another like family, including discipling one another. However we ought to disciple our sons, daughters, siblings, spouse, and even parents is how we ought to disciple our church family.
Just two chapters later, Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim 5.1-2):
Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a father, younger men as brothers,
older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
D17 P11: All the way to the least
Last Saturday, we attended the fundraiser for Bridge of Hope Church in the urban core of KCK. Many of you are very familiar with BoH and Pastor Luther - I would love to introduce the rest of you to them sometime.
Luther asked me that while I was acknowledging their partners if I would be willing to share some thoughts about why we support their ministry. For me, it's a Gospel question, expressed in three statements:
Luther asked me that while I was acknowledging their partners if I would be willing to share some thoughts about why we support their ministry. For me, it's a Gospel question, expressed in three statements:
- You don’t get the Gospel until you extend it to the “least of these.”
- You don’t get the Gospel until you put the “least of these” first.
- You don’t get the Gospel until you surrender to the reality that we really are equal in Christ.
First, until you are personally extending the Gospel to those who don't rank high in the world's twisted value system, you don't fully comprehend the reach of the Gospel. You don't personally experience in the marrow of your bones how far the Gospel goes until your bones are being used to bring the Gospel to society's marginalized and forgotten. If you think the Gospel stops short of anyone (or live like the Gospel stops short of anyone), you don't get it fully, yet. If the Gospel extends to the "least," then it extends to everyone.
Second, until you put these "least ones" first, you don't see how completely the Gospel reverses the human condition. On a few occasions, people asked Jesus to distinguish who was greatest among them, and he responded with the enigmatic, "In the Kingdom of God, the first shall be last, and the last, first; he who is greatest among you shall be the servant of all." If that's what the Kingdom of God is like, then I don't get it or the Gospel (the Good News of the Kingdom of God) until I live it, until I personally put the last first and become the servant of all.
Third, until you give into the idea in Gal 3:28 that in Christ no one is above another, you don't get this Gospel. Speaking into a society with strict categories elevating one group over another, the Gospel demanded that those with privilege surrender to the equality with all others in Christ. When we personally throw up our hands in total surrender that we have no spiritual advantage over anyone in Christ, then we comprehend a key aspect of the Gospel.
That is why we are involved with Bridge of Hope, who specializes in ministry to the "least" - those who are my equals in Christ.
From this, we derive the 11th truth about discipleship in our "D17" series (17 truths about discipleship):
Discipleship is going to be others-focused, especially the least of these.
To be disciplemakers is to be focused on the spiritual growth of others. That's the orientation of disciplemaking. But in order to really get the Gospel, we must pay particular attention to those who don't rank high in the world's twisted value system. That's the reach of disciplemaking. We must point in the right direction and reach to the fullest extend in order to "get" the Gospel and personally experience the richness of being one of Jesus' disciplemakers.
Who in your neighborhood or place of employment is considered by the group to be the "least"? What would be communicated about the Gospel of Jesus Christ if you paid particular attention to that one, with a heart to influence him or her even a little in the direction of the Kingdom of God?
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
D17 P10: Never Not a Chance
Jesus and His disciples are in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee, rowing (not leisurely motoring) their way across. There was no Igloo cooler on the boat, and there was no drive-through McDonald's waiting for them on the other side. You will eat if and only if you bring your own food. Except that they didn't. With no apparent gluten allergy, it was bread they were missing. (Mark 8:14-21)
WWJD? What will Jesus do? Will He tell a parable about ten virgins, of whom five were not prepared with oil in their lamps? Will He turn crumbs into a feast, with leftovers? Will He quote Isaiah's teaching on the value of fasting? Nope, nope, and nope.
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees!" What? What in the world does that mean? What's that have to do with anything we've been talking about for the last two years? And most importantly ... does this mean we're not getting any bread???
Jesus took this moment of a not-so-serious problem to explain something about the Kingdom of God. For the Master Discipler, every moment was a discipleship opportunity, which is our 10th of 17 truths about discipleship (the "D17"):
What this doesn't mean: We become annoying busybodies always trying to drive the conversation to the "deep" stuff. Most of discipleship doesn't happen in the rarefied air of lofty theological monologues. Rather, most of it happens in the daily rhythms of life, when you're talking about baseball and gardening and children's shoes and sock-eating clothes dryers. It happens seated next to each other on the bleachers at the kids' game or while changing the brakes.
What this does mean: Our radar is always on. The radar is good for recognizing those sudden opportunities to drive down to the deep stuff. But the radar is also good for being constantly aware that the person I'm sitting next to at the game or talking with about kids' shoes is someone I can influence to follow Jesus more in some way. Not necessarily taking them from 0 to 100 in 5 minutes, but offering a new idea, an attitude, an offer to pray, or just unconditional love. Always.
Recall our first truth of the D17: Discipleship is moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel. Based on that definition, considering every moment a discipleship opportunity means that every minute of every day is a chance that I might encourage someone to move away from unbelief toward belief is one area of life.
That means every moment of your life has the potential to see Jesus followed more faithfully. That makes every moment important.
* This idea is based on writings by Caesar Kalinowski.
WWJD? What will Jesus do? Will He tell a parable about ten virgins, of whom five were not prepared with oil in their lamps? Will He turn crumbs into a feast, with leftovers? Will He quote Isaiah's teaching on the value of fasting? Nope, nope, and nope.
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees!" What? What in the world does that mean? What's that have to do with anything we've been talking about for the last two years? And most importantly ... does this mean we're not getting any bread???
Jesus took this moment of a not-so-serious problem to explain something about the Kingdom of God. For the Master Discipler, every moment was a discipleship opportunity, which is our 10th of 17 truths about discipleship (the "D17"):
Every moment is a discipleship opportunity.*
What this doesn't mean: We become annoying busybodies always trying to drive the conversation to the "deep" stuff. Most of discipleship doesn't happen in the rarefied air of lofty theological monologues. Rather, most of it happens in the daily rhythms of life, when you're talking about baseball and gardening and children's shoes and sock-eating clothes dryers. It happens seated next to each other on the bleachers at the kids' game or while changing the brakes.
What this does mean: Our radar is always on. The radar is good for recognizing those sudden opportunities to drive down to the deep stuff. But the radar is also good for being constantly aware that the person I'm sitting next to at the game or talking with about kids' shoes is someone I can influence to follow Jesus more in some way. Not necessarily taking them from 0 to 100 in 5 minutes, but offering a new idea, an attitude, an offer to pray, or just unconditional love. Always.
Recall our first truth of the D17: Discipleship is moving from unbelief to belief in every area of life in light of the Gospel. Based on that definition, considering every moment a discipleship opportunity means that every minute of every day is a chance that I might encourage someone to move away from unbelief toward belief is one area of life.
That means every moment of your life has the potential to see Jesus followed more faithfully. That makes every moment important.
* This idea is based on writings by Caesar Kalinowski.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
D17 Part 9: Bye Bye Syllabi
I was that guy - that guy in college who on the first day of class took the syllabus from each class and within hours had a spreadsheet for the entire semester of what homework needed to be started by what day so that it would be ready not just on the due date, but before the due date. You know ... just in case. I carefully figured in load balancing, too, so that I was not trying to do too much homework at the same time (which of course meant that some projects had to be done well before the due date). Mock me if you will, but it worked swimmingly well. And I had no sympathy for those who had to crunch for their homework in full stress mode because they realized too late something was due tomorrow!!! Slackers. Schedulophobic syllabi-peasants.
In other words, the primary way Jesus discipled others was "Off Calendar, but On Purpose."
A typical example is in Mark 8:27, "... on the way, He asked His disciples..." On the way ... as they were going about their daily rhythms, traveling, working on a project, eating dinner, going to the market, fishing in a boat. The disciples' "classroom" was just about any place, inside or outside, but rarely was it a room we would typically label a "classroom." While they were busy doing disciple-y things was the most common time that Jesus taught discipleship.
He asked His disciples ... unscheduled didn't mean unintentional. He was very intentional. He had a purpose - there were specific things He wanted His disciples to learn. He frequently asked them questions in order to most effectively drive to that purpose. He was no slacker.
Jesus observed His surroundings and the circumstances, with the attitude that He was never not discipling. Then He seized those moments, teaching far more often during the unscheduled times.
Many of us like our schedules, and in fact find it hard to function without scheduling. I like to think it's because I'm so busy and important and necessary and valuable and indispensable and worthwhile. It's more the case that my schedule can be a way to avoid an attitude of never not discipling. Being too scheduled to disciple others is both safe and pious.
Scheduled times for discipleship are not bad. The danger is that we might limit discipling to certain blocks of time, and miss out on the richest environments that Jesus used to disciple others.
Recall that in our missional marching orders, Jesus said, "As you go, make disciples..." (Matt 28:19). Don't segregate disciplemaking to only certain venues, certain times, and certain methods. Adopt an attitude of never not discipling. Remain alert for the richest opportunities to orient someone more toward Jesus, especially when you're nowhere near a classroom.
I am that guy - that guy that if it's not on my calendar or to-do list, it won't get done. In fact, if it's not on either of those two electronic lists, it flat out doesn't exist. You and I could talk about it for 20 minutes, but if it doesn't make the calendar or to-do list, our conversation never happened.
Which is why I'm so challenged by the 9th entry in our "17 Truths About Discipleship" ("D17").
Jesus’ kind of discipleship is mostly unscheduled but very intentional.
In other words, the primary way Jesus discipled others was "Off Calendar, but On Purpose."
A typical example is in Mark 8:27, "... on the way, He asked His disciples..." On the way ... as they were going about their daily rhythms, traveling, working on a project, eating dinner, going to the market, fishing in a boat. The disciples' "classroom" was just about any place, inside or outside, but rarely was it a room we would typically label a "classroom." While they were busy doing disciple-y things was the most common time that Jesus taught discipleship.
He asked His disciples ... unscheduled didn't mean unintentional. He was very intentional. He had a purpose - there were specific things He wanted His disciples to learn. He frequently asked them questions in order to most effectively drive to that purpose. He was no slacker.
Jesus observed His surroundings and the circumstances, with the attitude that He was never not discipling. Then He seized those moments, teaching far more often during the unscheduled times.
Many of us like our schedules, and in fact find it hard to function without scheduling. I like to think it's because I'm so busy and important and necessary and valuable and indispensable and worthwhile. It's more the case that my schedule can be a way to avoid an attitude of never not discipling. Being too scheduled to disciple others is both safe and pious.
Scheduled times for discipleship are not bad. The danger is that we might limit discipling to certain blocks of time, and miss out on the richest environments that Jesus used to disciple others.
Recall that in our missional marching orders, Jesus said, "As you go, make disciples..." (Matt 28:19). Don't segregate disciplemaking to only certain venues, certain times, and certain methods. Adopt an attitude of never not discipling. Remain alert for the richest opportunities to orient someone more toward Jesus, especially when you're nowhere near a classroom.
Monday, September 15, 2014
D17 Part 8: Stop telling me what to do ... and just show me
Then Jesus began talking about pouring water into the basin as He showed a PowerPoint picture of a basin on the screen, and then He began to colorfully describe washing the disciples’ feet, gesturing with His hands in the air. He then surprised them by pulling out a towel as an illustration, which He then put on the pulpit so people could see it as He spoke.
So He walked over to Simon Peter, who was seated in the 3rd row. Peter interrupted the monologue and said to Him, “Lord, do You talk about washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I have been talking about, you do not realize now, but you will understand when you stream the video of this later.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You talk about washing my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not talk about washing you, you totally ruin the wordpicture.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then not only talk about washing my feet, but also talk about washing my hands and my head.”
Jesus said to him, “He who has studied all about bathing needs only to talk about his feet, but has pretty much talked about being clean in general. And you talk a lot about being clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was thinking really hard about betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you talk about being clean.”
So when He had finished talking about washing their feet, and put away His lesson props and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have illustrated for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, talked about washing your feet, you also ought to talk about washing one another’s feet.”
On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, knowing He had so very little time left to teach His disciples, He takes all the time necessary to wash 12 pairs of filthy feet. Why? It takes less than a 10 seconds to say, “You should serve one another with the same kind of humility as it takes to wash a bunch of dirty feet.” Boom. Done. Lesson over, discipleship accomplished (right?). Instead, He just washes their feet, and then talks about it.
His entire ministry is filled with doing all the things He would later expect the disciples to do. He even had them do some of those things while He observed and then gave them feedback on it. That was how Jesus discipled them. Like the washing of the feet, Jesus showed them how to disciple one another by discipling them as He expected us to imitate.
Our 8th truth of discipleship of the Seventeen Truths of Discipleship (the "D17") is:
So He walked over to Simon Peter, who was seated in the 3rd row. Peter interrupted the monologue and said to Him, “Lord, do You talk about washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I have been talking about, you do not realize now, but you will understand when you stream the video of this later.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You talk about washing my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not talk about washing you, you totally ruin the wordpicture.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then not only talk about washing my feet, but also talk about washing my hands and my head.”
Jesus said to him, “He who has studied all about bathing needs only to talk about his feet, but has pretty much talked about being clean in general. And you talk a lot about being clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was thinking really hard about betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you talk about being clean.”
So when He had finished talking about washing their feet, and put away His lesson props and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have illustrated for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, talked about washing your feet, you also ought to talk about washing one another’s feet.”
On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, knowing He had so very little time left to teach His disciples, He takes all the time necessary to wash 12 pairs of filthy feet. Why? It takes less than a 10 seconds to say, “You should serve one another with the same kind of humility as it takes to wash a bunch of dirty feet.” Boom. Done. Lesson over, discipleship accomplished (right?). Instead, He just washes their feet, and then talks about it.
His entire ministry is filled with doing all the things He would later expect the disciples to do. He even had them do some of those things while He observed and then gave them feedback on it. That was how Jesus discipled them. Like the washing of the feet, Jesus showed them how to disciple one another by discipling them as He expected us to imitate.
Our 8th truth of discipleship of the Seventeen Truths of Discipleship (the "D17") is:
Discipleship has to be modeled and experienced.
We are called to disciple one another, and to do so as Jesus discipled the Twelve. We can assume that Jesus demonstrated for us not only the what but the how. Disciples are learners, but they learn primarily by doing. That's how Jesus discipled them. We are too much in the habit of trying to disciple one another by talking only.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. (James 1:22)
Let's drop any expectation that any disciple will learn anything significant about the life of a disciple unless they see it modeled and experience it firsthand. Don't expect disciples to learn how to pray without prayer being modeled (by the way, the Lord's Prayer is nothing except Jesus modeling prayer rather than lecturing about prayer). Don't expect disciples to learn how to read the Bible devotionally until it's modeled for them. Or talking about their faith, or being generous, or serving those in need, or using his or her talents to bring human flourishing in others, or anything else about the genuine Christian life. And especially, don't expect disciples to learn how to disciple others without experiencing being discipled.
Model for others what you want them to learn about following Christ. Seek out those who can model for you what you want to learn about following Christ. Talk about discipleship ... but wait until after actually doing something disciples do.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
D17 Part 7: Frequent and Long-term
Form a picture in your mind. I'm going to write one word, and I want you to picture a scene that best depicts that word in action. Here's the word: discipleship. Before you read any further, spend a minute just painting that picture in your mind - the people, the setting, the sights and sounds, location, furniture. What's in your hands, if anything? What is in front of you? Who else is with you? How long will you be there? What do you do after this scene?
Go ahead ... picture that scene. Then continue reading...
For quite some time, the scene that would pop into my head would be two people of the same gender at a table, with Bibles, pens, and a notebook or workbook. Maybe an extra book. Definitely coffee. So, we're either at coffee shop or in someone's home. We meet at a certain time on the same day of the week, and we end at a certain time, because we've got other things to do. It may be the only 90 minutes or so that I see that person during that week.
My first experience of "being discipled" took place in a dorm room. My friend and I would play racquetball for an hour, then go back to the dorms, sit at a desk with our Bibles, pens, and notebooks. It was an extremely formative time. But we also hung out together several times during the week. We didn't have a workbook, so the first time I saw discipleship workbooks, I wondered if perhaps we had been doing discipleship the wrong way.
As formative as that time was, I can tell you only two things in particular that I learned during that time. One was a historical fact, and the other was a piece of advice that applies only to relatively rare situations. It was formative, and I learned some great habits, but what I learned largely has become part of my swirl of Christian knowledge without any ability to attribute who taught me what.
I remember another situation that I never would have called "discipleship" (until recently), but was as impacting to my Christian life as was the time spent with my racquetball friend. In Austin, I used to help take food donated by groceries stores, make sandwiches, and then hand them out to the homeless downtown. Week after week, I worked side by side with a guy about 10 years my senior. Like me, he had a job during the day and family at home. As we made sandwiches and handed them out, we talked. And he discipled me - without a table, a pen, a book, or even a Bible. I remember specific things that he said that have stayed with me. Practical, daily, fully Christian ways of looking at life and doing life.
Both were examples of discipleship, neither had a prepared curriculum, and together they help illustrate the seventh of 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17"):
Go ahead ... picture that scene. Then continue reading...
For quite some time, the scene that would pop into my head would be two people of the same gender at a table, with Bibles, pens, and a notebook or workbook. Maybe an extra book. Definitely coffee. So, we're either at coffee shop or in someone's home. We meet at a certain time on the same day of the week, and we end at a certain time, because we've got other things to do. It may be the only 90 minutes or so that I see that person during that week.
My first experience of "being discipled" took place in a dorm room. My friend and I would play racquetball for an hour, then go back to the dorms, sit at a desk with our Bibles, pens, and notebooks. It was an extremely formative time. But we also hung out together several times during the week. We didn't have a workbook, so the first time I saw discipleship workbooks, I wondered if perhaps we had been doing discipleship the wrong way.
As formative as that time was, I can tell you only two things in particular that I learned during that time. One was a historical fact, and the other was a piece of advice that applies only to relatively rare situations. It was formative, and I learned some great habits, but what I learned largely has become part of my swirl of Christian knowledge without any ability to attribute who taught me what.
I remember another situation that I never would have called "discipleship" (until recently), but was as impacting to my Christian life as was the time spent with my racquetball friend. In Austin, I used to help take food donated by groceries stores, make sandwiches, and then hand them out to the homeless downtown. Week after week, I worked side by side with a guy about 10 years my senior. Like me, he had a job during the day and family at home. As we made sandwiches and handed them out, we talked. And he discipled me - without a table, a pen, a book, or even a Bible. I remember specific things that he said that have stayed with me. Practical, daily, fully Christian ways of looking at life and doing life.
Both were examples of discipleship, neither had a prepared curriculum, and together they help illustrate the seventh of 17 Truths of Discipleship ("D17"):
Discipleship needs to be frequent and long-term.*
Not just once in a while, and ideally, not just once a week. Not just for 12 weeks, finish the workbook, and then you're done, but month after month, and year after year. That's how these guys discipled me - as we were doing life, more than just a formal "discipleship time," related to real life. Sometimes, I learned specific lessons that I still remember. Other times, the lessons just became part of who I am. Both were formative.
When we picture "discipleship," the image that should come to mind should somehow resemble how Jesus discipled His disciples. Frequent contact, not just formal "discipleship" settings. As they were doing life, busy with the rhythms of life. And long-term - Jesus spent three years in near-constant contact with them. If you add up all the hours Jesus spent with them, and then tried to accumulate that many hours at just one hour per week, it would take over 3 decades!
In John 15:26-27, Jesus emphasizes the importance of all the number of hours the disciples spent with Him, and how that impacts them as His disciples:
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
When you think discipleship, think less about workbooks and coffee shops, and think more about racquetball and making sandwiches with someone who's traveled the journey longer than you.
* This aspect of discipleship comes from the teachings of Caesar Kalinowski.
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