Engaging Scripture

That time Jesus told us to do evil

Yeah. That time Jesus told us to be evil.

For real. He did.

Is there a catch? Though I’ve barely written ten words, you’re probably suspecting that there’s a catch. There’s no way I would believe that Jesus told us to do evil, would I?

Except that this is what he Jesus said: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves…”. You can read the whole context if you want at Luke 16:1-15.

What Jesus is doing in this section is normal enough for him. He is teaching his disciples. Some Pharisees are there too, Luke tells us. Though not mentioned specifically, we suspect the large crowds that have been following him in this phase of his ministry are still there too, hoping to catch him healing or say something offensive to the Pharisees.

Go ahead and click on the scripture link above and read the section. There’s a very interesting parable, and the teaching I mentioned. Does Jesus really tell people to use their money to make friends? Yes, but can he mean that? Is there more to the story?

I did some digging this week and found that scholars are conflicted about this section. Kenneth Bailey, in his work Poet & Peasant, says that “many commentators affirm that this parable is the most difficult of all the synoptic [material in Matthew, Mark and Luke] parables.” He goes on to quote C. C. Torrey as writing:

This passage brings before us a new Jesus, one seems inclined to compromise with evil. He approves a program of canny self-interest, recommending to his disciples a standard of life which is generally recognized as inferior: ‘I say to you, gain friends by means of money.’ This is not the worst of it; he bases the teaching on the story of a shrewd scoundrel who feathered his own nest at the expense of the man who had trusted him; and then [Jesus] appears to say to his disciples, ‘Let this be your model!’

Huh? What gives? Is Jesus compromising with evil? Why is no one talking about this?

Bailey tells us that people have talked about this: “The seeming incongruity of a story that praises a scoundrel has been an embarrassment to the Church at least since Julian the Apostate used the parable to assert the inferiority of the Christian faith and its founder.”

Have you heard of this before? I hadn’t.

So what should we do?

Join us at Faith Church this coming Sunday morning, and you’ll find out.

How an old painting can change your life – Luke 15

Years ago a guy by the name of Henri Nouwen sat in front of an old painting hanging in a old art museum in Russia. He stared at the painting, studying it for six straight hours. It changed his life. You can read all about it in his powerful book, The Return of the Prodigal Son. The painting is Rembrandt’s work of the same title, and Nouwen saw it at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. At the time Nouwen was feeling very lost. Though he was a priest who had dedicated his life to the Lord, he felt like something was very wrong inside. Maybe you feel some of that too.

I find Nouwen’s book to be the best work on spirituality I’ve ever read, and I bought a print of Rembrandt’s painting to hang in my office so I can regularly remember what I learned from Jesus’ parable.

As I mentioned last week, many of us feel lost, whether we are Christian or not. Just as Nouwen learned through the parable and the painting we can be found by God.

What I write here is a distillation of Nouwen’s writing. You really should get the book, though, because what he has to say is so encouraging, challenging and hopeful!

First of all, Jesus teaches that We Can Be Lost In A Distant Country.

Before we can be found, we need to realize that we have traveled to a distant country.

In his book Nouwen explains what is going on in the first part of the parable, Luke 15:11-16, where the son asks for his share of the inheritance:

“Kenneth Bailey, in his penetrating explanation of Luke’s story, shows that the son’s manner of leaving is tantamount to wishing his father dead. Bailey writes, ‘For over 15 years I have been asking people from all walks of life, from Morocco to India and from Turkey to Sudan, about the implications of a son’s request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has always been emphatically the same…the conversation runs as follows:

KB: Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?

Villager: Never!

KB: Could anyone make such a request?

Villager: Impossible!

KB: If anyone ever did, what would happen?

Villager: His father would beat him, of course!

KB: Why?

Villager: The request means he wants his father to die.”

The son deeply disrespects his family and community by leaving. Things get worse because he practices reckless living which is living without thinking. Usually we think of prodigals as people go off the deep end, like the younger son in this story. We have people like this in our lives. People that we point to. People that we compare ourselves to so that we feel pretty good about ourselves and our relatively good behavior. The reality is that we all can travel to distant countries and practice reckless living. Think you have not done so? When God is not enough for us we seek acceptance, love, etc. in “distant countries.” Anger, Jealousy, Bitterness, Lust, Greed, and Fantasies show us that we are lost in distant countries.

Still some of us may think, “I’m not like that.” Maybe, then, we are more like the elder son.

In the parable, Jesus teaches us through the elder son that We Can Be Lost At Home. In Luke 15:25-30 we meet the elder son, who though he stayed home, didn’t practice reckless living, and was faithful, he was just as lost as his younger brother. How so? The lostness of the younger son is outward, while the elder son had a lostness that was hidden, inside.

When the elder son moans about slaving for his father, Nouwen points out that “in this complaint, obedience has become a burden and service a slavery.” The elder son revealed his heart. He was not joyfully, graciously serving his father because he loved his father. To him his service to his father felt like slavery. That tells us something about the lostness of his heart, doesn’t it?

Additionally, the older son was confused about the purpose of celebration. How could irresponsibility be celebrated rather than dutifulness? He was so bitter about this that he refused to enter the house. Jesus purposely gives us that detail. The older son was no more home than his younger brother; both had left the house.

We can be lost abroad or at home. We need to allow ourselves to be found. We must be found and live in the Father’s embrace.

In Luke 15:17-24; 31-32 we read about the Father, especially that wonderful moment when he wraps his arms around his lost son.

Why is his embrace so important? Because lostness in the parable is depicted as a state of leaving the father. Something we choose. Deliberate separation.

Being found in his embrace starts by coming to your senses (vs. 17). The younger son must realize that his life had become pitiful, sinful and rebellious. Note the big difference between “coming to his senses” and “reckless living/living without thinking.”

In response to the son’s realization, repentance and return, do you see what the Father does? This shows us how God feels about his lost children! He celebrates our return and restores us. The ring, robe, and sandals are indications not of slavery but of sonship. Slaves didn’t wear those symbols, only sons did. Though we can be lost, God wants to fully restore us!

But the image of God’s love goes even further in the parable. See how the Father comes to both sons. His love is unconditional and non-comparing. Though the elder refuses to enter the party, the Father goes out to him, pleading with him to enter.

We don’t know the outcome of the elder son. But we do know how difficult it is for the prideful, the arrogant, the complainer, the bitter to soften their hearts. God wants us to know what an amazing loving, caring God he is, though. He wants to change our hearts, make us new.

And so Nouwen concludes:

“But had I, myself, really ever dared to step into the center, kneel down, and let myself be held by a forgiving God? I so much wanted to keep some control over my spiritual journey, to remain able to predict at least a part of the outcome, that relinquishing the security of the observer for the vulnerability of the returning son seemed close to impossible.”

We need to be found by God and live in his embrace. We need to remain in that moment where he has wrapped his arms around us saying “You are my son whom I love. Welcome home.”

So how do live in the Father’s embrace? Nouwen suggests that we make the following our practice:

Unceasing prayer to stay in his embrace.
Thankfulness that his love is unconditional and non-comparing.
Rejoice in celebration with him.

Are you feeling lost? Let yourself be found in God’s embrace.

Check out this contemporary retelling of the parable, and come home:

How God feels about you when you feel lost

Ravi Zacharias tells a story about two English Navy men on leave for the weekend. They decide to go to a local pub and enjoy themselves. As you can imagine, they get wasted. Eventually they leave the pub walking through the city for hours only to realize they are hopelessly lost. So they ask a passerby, “Excuse me, bloke, could you tell us where we are?”

Unbeknownst to them, they had just addressed their commanding officer who was incensed at their condition and disrespect. He growls back, “Do you know who I am?!?”

So the one sailor looks at the other and says, “I think we’re really in trouble now!”

The second sailor says, “Yeah! We don’t know where we are, and he doesn’t know who he is!”

Like the sailors and their officer, many times in life we don’t know where or who we are! Many of us feel lost, but we would never admit it.

I once had representatives from a cult group come to my house. We had a nice chat. They agreed with everything we talked about except the possibility that they might be lost. Not lost like those sailors. They knew their location. But they would not agree that they might be lost spiritually, that their beliefs might be misguided. I tried to say that the nature of faith is that possibility that we might be wrong. I have to concede that about my faith. It wouldn’t be true faith otherwise. They refused to agree with me.

Do you ever wonder if we believe a lie? Those visitors wouldn’t hear it, and I fear we will not either. We believe those without Christ are lost and can be found in him, accepting him as Savior.

So why do many Christians seem lost? Without hope, love, faith, or peace?

On Sunday we come to another one of Jesus’ famous stories, the parable of the Prodigal Son. We’re going to be looking at all of Luke 15, of which the Prodigal story is a part, because the whole chapter is actually three stories about lost things. A sheep, a coin and a son.

The story of the prodigal is about much more than a lost son. I have found Henri Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son to be a wonderful guide for mining the depths of Jesus’ story. Jesus tells such a simple story, but it’s implications are profound. I encourage anyone to pick up a copy of Nouwen’s book, as he covers the story so well.

And if you are feeling lost, even in a small way, I encourage you to join us at Faith Church this coming to learn more about how God feels about lost things.

What does it really mean to follow Jesus? Luke 14:25-35

Just as the military recruiter had a wonderful offer for me, to be a chaplain, Jesus has an offer for you: Are you interested in being his disciple? And just as I had to consider how becoming a military chaplain would affect my family and my church, Jesus says that before becoming his disciple, we need to consider what it will involve.

He tells some parables in Luke 14:25-35 to explain what you need to do. They are pretty simple:

First, in verses 28-30, he says you need to be like the builder who thoroughly plans out his building. You don’t take the building preparation lightly. If you do, and you get halfway into building and you realize you screwed up the plans, and you have to stop…it will be awful. Not only will you have wasted a lot of time and money, but you’ll have a half-building and be the ridicule of the town.

Second, in verses 31-32, you need to be like a king who plans out a battle carefully. Otherwise you might have to seek a treaty rather than get the win.

And why does he tell these stories? He wants to sum up the principle of counting the cost of discipleship. You have a choice to be his disciple or not to be. If you want to be his disciple, then he says in verse 33, like the builder and the king you have to plan it out and know ahead of time that there is only one way to be disciple, and that is to give up everything for him.

There is no half building and half battle. Likewise there is no half disciple. There is no “I’ll just believe in him so I can go to heaven when I die…and I’ll leave the hard disciple stuff up to others.” Jesus is saying that won’t work. As his brother James would later go on to write in James chapter 2, even the demons believe. But there is a wrong belief and a right belief. The wrong belief is what the demons have. They know Jesus is the truth, they know he is the savior. But their belief doesn’t lead to a life change. So they have the wrong kind of belief.

We need to have right belief. Belief that leads to discipleship. There is no halfway. Instead we need to go all the way, give up everything, and believe in him and then completely follow him.

That’s why he says in verses 34-35 that halfway believers are like salt that has gone stale. Thrown out.

So again I ask, will you be his disciple?

What will it look like for you to be his disciple?

Start where he wants you to start. Come to him, with everything. Follow him. Give up all for him. There is no other way.

Or maybe there is another way? Thinking back to the military recruiter who had an offer for me, when you join the military, would it be fair to say that you give up your life? And you have to do things the military way? Does the military have a lower tier where you can still be in the military but not have to give up your life? Is it possible to just go to a meeting once per week, read the manual, and still get paid? Of course not.

When you follow Jesus, it’s all or nothing, he is saying. But this is where it can get confusing.

You do not have to become a missionary or a pastor to give up all to follow him. If you are gifted to do those things, of course you should consider them a viable option. But most should still be an employee at your job, a stay-at-home mom, a student at school, a neighbor, a dad, a grandparent. And in all of those important areas of life, you allow Jesus to have complete control over you.

As we have seen Jesus teach, and as we have seen him confront the legalists, giving Jesus complete control is not about following man-made religious rules. Instead it is saying “Jesus I want to give up all to you, I want to learn what it means to follow you way every minute, every hour, every day of my life.”

Make 2016 the year where you make forward steps in following Jesus.

If you know you are struggling to follow him in some way, then I encourage you to get that out in the open. To not only tell Jesus about it, and not only to ask him to help you follow him better and help you change, but also tell it to someone else. Get input and help from someone that is farther along in following Jesus, and ask them to disciple you to help you better follow Jesus.

That time a military recruiter called me with an amazing proposal

A couple years ago, I got one of those out-of-the blue calls that sounded legit, but also made me very suspicious. It was from a military recruiter, the Army Reserves to be precise.

At the time I was 39 years old. Not quite the age anymore to be considered for military service. He explained that he was recruiting for the military chaplaincy, and at 39 I had a couple more years before I would be too old to start a career in the military. He told me I didn’t need to worry…I wouldn’t have to go through basic training!

I would, however, have to go through a chaplaincy training program, but the Army Reserves realizes that its chaplains are usually already in full-time ministry, so they try to fit the training around a pastor’s schedule.

As a chaplain in the reserves, after my training was complete, my responsibilities would be just like any other Reservist, spending one weekend per month on base, and two weeks each summer. Of course, if my unit got called up to active duty, I would go with them. The recruiter assured me that many of their chaplains are full-time pastors, and their churches work around their Reserves schedule.

Additionally, and this piqued my interest, I would be qualified for a military pension if I served 20 years, and because I already had my master’s degree, I would start my military career as an officer!

I couldn’t believe it. I had not sought this out. I had not had a conversation with the chaplains in my denomination. It came completely as a surprise. How did he find out about me?

Maybe he just looked on my denomination’s website? I don’t know. And it doesn’t really matter how he found out. What mattered was that this was a serious offer, and I needed to evaluate it.

I have to admit that there was an inkling of interest deep within me. I liked the idea of a military pension. I liked the idea of being an officer is the US Army. And I’ve heard from my military chaplain colleagues how many wonderful ministry opportunities there are for chaplains. I like all of that, and it excited me.

So Michelle and I needed to talk about it. We needed to pray about it. If I became a military chaplain, it could deeply impact my family. Would my wife and kids be okay with having me gone so much? And what if my unit got called up, and I went to serve in a war zone?

I also needed to talk with my church, or at least the group of leaders in my church that could give me honest feedback about this decision. It was an opportunity that could also deeply impact our church. My church already graciously and wisely allows me one Sunday off preaching every month. It doesn’t always happen, but I’m very thankful for it. This chaplaincy opportunity would go well beyond the once/month off though. Would the church be okay with me being gone so much? And what would happen to this full-time ministry that I committed to before the Lord and before the church if my unit did get called up and I would be gone for months?

Simply put, for an opportunity like this, I would have to count the cost. And I would have to get others to join the evaluation process with me. It was an amazing opportunity. Very enticing. But it came with a cost.

This coming Sunday at Faith Church we will study Luke 14:25-35, a passage about counting the cost. Check it out before worship on Sunday. Like that recruiter, God is offering you an amazing opportunity, as we’ll see in this teaching by Jesus, but we need to count the cost.

So we invite you to join us to learn more.

That time Jesus said a chicken would save the world – Luke 13:22-35

In this story, Jesus takes a question from the crowd: “Will only a few be saved?”

How will he answer?

144,000? Maybe that’s how many will be saved?

Nope, he doesn’t say that. His answer is a story. He tells a parable about a man with a house, and the house has a narrow door. In the story people will try too enter the house, but the owner will shut the door. Outside the people start banging on the door, frustrated as to why the owner will not let them in. From the other side of the door he calls to them “I never knew you! Go away.”

Outside you can see the people looking really confused, shrugging to one another with a look on their face that says “What is he talking about?” They respond back to him saying “But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!” It sure sounds like the people outside have convincing evidence for him to think, “You’re right…fine!” then open the door and let them in. There seems to be a relationship between the people outside and the owner of the house.

Instead the owner shouts back, “I never knew you! Away!”

The Pharisees speak up because they suspected, rightly, that Jesus was telling this story about them. They tell him to leave that place because they local maniac king Herod was apparently uttering threats against Jesus!

Jesus, undeterred, says “Go tell that fox that I must be about my business.” Jesus then proceeds to say that a chicken will save the world.

Kind of.

But truly, when you think about it.

He doesn’t use the words: “a chicken will save the world.” He says that he is like a hen who has desired to gather her chicks. He is using a simile, a figure of speech, to liken himself to a chicken. And he does desire to save the world. That was why he was born. That was the focus of his preaching, that the Kingdom of God was being made known through him. That people should follow his way.

And so in an astounding image, Jesus says that he looks at the people (and he specifically mentions the city of Jerusalem here), and desires to draw them in like a hen would lift up her wings and cover her little chicks.

That’s how God feels about us. He loves us and wants to save us. Jesus never answers the question if just a few will be saved. Instead he reminds of how God wants to save us. He has not only provided a door, albeit a narrow one, for us to walk through in order to be saved. God also loves us and wants to save us. We see the heart of God in this passage. God’s heart is an attitude of grace, love and mercy for us.

There’s a problem though.

In the narrow door story, the people thought they knew Jesus, but they were wrong.

In the hen story, Jesus goes on to tell the people, they were not willing to be gathered under his wings. Instead people are like a chick who would run away from the loving, care of the mother hen.

We might ask why any chick would do that. Why would they be unwilling when the care of their mother is so good and safe and warm? I can’t answer for a chick, but I think you and I can answer that question for humanity.

So what if we rewrite the question: Why would so many people turn away from God? When God loves us so much, when he gives us grace and mercy, when he sent his Son to give his life for us so that we can walk through that narrow door, why would we not want to be close to him?

There are many reasons why a person would not want to be close to God.

It could be distractions. Our American society has a lot of entertaining distractions to offer. If we have food, clothing, and fun (and we have oodles of them here), why do we need God?

It could be disbelief. Plenty of people simply don’t believe in God.

It could be particular view of God. Some see God as a tyrant or judgmental. Who would want to be close to that kind of God?

There could be more reasons. How do you feel about God? Do you feel close to him? Do you feel far?

I don’t know that I can answer the questions and concerns that you have about God. But the parables Jesus tells us in this passage give us some clues. First, the narrow door is still open. Enter through it. Get to know him, to really know him. Knowing him starts with a question: “What does it mean to really know him?” Then make this year the year where you seek that answer. Jesus’ parable suggests clearly that we should not assume that we know him. Instead have a teachable heart that says “Lord, I want to know you better!”

I came across an article this past week that could point out roadblocks that could prevent you from knowing God better. It’s called 10 People Nobody Can Help. Are you one of those 10?

Second, be like the chick that is willing to be gathered under his wings. Run to him. Remember that he loves you. God is not angry at you. He wants to be close to you. Jesus’ point is that staying under his wings is the best possible place to be. Do you believe that being close to Jesus is the best possible place to be? I will probably not be able to convince you. Instead I urge you to take him at his word and give him a try.

Want to know how to run to him?

It starts with prayer in the midst of situation “Lord, I trust in you. Take my life. I give myself to you. I want you to help me. I want to know you more.” And you have to mean it.

Jesus, another time, said “Abide in me, and let my words abide in you.” Get his words in you. Study the Bible. Even if it is reflecting on one verse per day. Read a chapter of Proverbs per day. Read a Psalm per day. Then get in touch with someone who can help you study the Bible deeper. Get a study bible and use the notes.

Be committed to his mission of making disciples. Be discipled yourself by someone who is more mature. Ask them to disciple you. I should be able to go to each of you and ask “Who is discipling you?” and you should be able to give me that name. And from the other direction I should be able to ask you “Who are you discipling?” and you should have a name. You can ask the same questions of me!

Abide under his wings through being generous with your money. Abide through giving of your time to serve the Lord…in a ministry in the church, in a community outreach, etc. This is the sacrificial nature of the disciple of Jesus.

As we head into 2016 let’s take a look at Jesus and let’s check our hearts. Are we “riding the coattails” of our family’s Christian values, are we hoping we are being good enough because there are so many others who are worse?

OR are we willing to do the hard work, to make tough choices and to follow God’s best way for our lives? To look at ourselves and see which ways we might be able to make changes to grow to be more and more like our Jesus. He wants to gather us. He loves us. Are we running to him or away from him?”

Q & A with Jesus – How many will be saved?

Every now and then I get to preach on a passage of Scripture that I’ve covered before. This coming Sunday is one of those times, as we will study Luke 13:22-35. Last time it gave me the chance to talk about a guy I’d like to think I know pretty well, Bono, the lead singer of the band U2. At the time, I was preaching the Lectionary texts for Lent. (You can read all about it here. And the follow-up post here.)

I try to read back over those sermons each time I preach them again. If there is material I can use again, I just might, but almost always I find that I need to start from scratch, even if I feel that previous sermon was decent. Technically, last time I only preached on Luke 13:22-30, and this time we’ll add verses 31-35.

Take a look at the passage, as it raises some difficult questions. Luke sets the scene by telling us that Jesus is continuing his preaching and teaching ministry in the towns and villages he passes through as he is on his way to Jerusalem. The crowds are big, no surprise, and on this particular day, a person in the crowd starts a little Q & A with Jesus. The person asks “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

It is a question that comes up often in Jesus’ ministry, and one that people still today ask. Recently a college friend asked this very question.

The answers are varied. Some believe all will be saved. We call that view universalism. It is quite popular as it depicts a gracious, loving, merciful God who can’t let any of his human sons and daughters perish in hell.

Others believe there is no hell.

Still others believe that there is a hell and people will go there. Some views depict God placing people there of his own desire and choice. Others say that humans choose to go there, mostly out of disobedience to God, primarily for failing to believe in him and follow his ways.

What is so interesting to me, as I write this on Christmas Eve, is that tonight at our Christmas Eve Service we will be talking about and celebrating the purpose of Jesus’ birth, and in Luke 13:22-35 Jesus himself, about 30 years into his adulthood, is also talking about his purpose. What does adult Jesus have to say about why he came? What he has to say directly relates to the question of how many will be saved!

As is so often the case, he decides to answer the question from the crowd with a story. A story about a man with a house that has a door. Then he goes on to liken himself to a chicken, and a female chicken at that!

Join us Sunday at Faith Church to hear how Jesus answers the question of how many will be saved!

How God’s Kingdom can change the world – Luke 13:10-21

We Christians talk a lot about the Kingdom of God, but what exactly is it? Just a place people go to in the afterlife? Heaven? Jesus often said things “The Kingdom of God is among you, is near, has come.” What in the world did he mean? The people in his day often seemed confused about the Kingdom of God. I wonder if we are too.

In Luke 13:10-21, Jesus has the perfect opportunity to talk further about the Kingdom. After ticking off the local synagogue ruler for doing a healing on the Sabbath, Jesus tells two super short parables about the Kingdom.

First is the Mustard seed; it’s tiny, but grows huge. I’ve never seen this in real life, so I’m going to take Jesus’ word for it.

The second is about Yeast; again it is tiny, but infects a huge lump of dough. How huge? Massive. The NIV says “large amount of dough”, but Jesus actually uses a specific measurement here. If you’re reading in the Greek, it is 3 satas. A sata was 12-13 liters. So about 36 liters worth of dough. Who can do the math to convert that to gallons? 9.5. You can make a lot of bread with 9.5 gallons of dough. To his main point, Jesus is right. Even a tiny amount of yeast will expand, multiply and spread through that dough. Again, I haven’t worked with yeast before, but some bakers I’ve talked with vouched for this story. They told me that it is amazing to watch work through some dough.

What is the Kingdom of God like? In these two parables Jesus teaches that the Kingdom starts small, but grows and expands with surprising hugeness.

What in the world is Jesus thinking here? Why would he want to tell these two parables at this point?
With the healing having just taken place, and with the interaction about Sabbath, what about this situation caused him to think about the nature of the Kingdom of God? Could it be that he wants to point out to the people how different the Kingdom of God is to the religious system that they are used to?
The Kingdom of God is surprising like the mustard seed. That tiny little seed grows into something huge. The Kingdom of God, like the Yeast, is contagious, it spreads surprisingly fast through even a large group. The Kingdom of God grows and strengthens as it grows. How does this happen? By following the rules and regulations of a man-made religious system? Nope. Instead the Kingdom’s surprising growth happens in us and through us when we follow the way of Jesus who was willing to follow the way of the Kingdom even if it meant not following the man-made rules of the local religious system.

I love how Jesus refers to this in the Lord’s Prayer that we talked about a few weeks ago. You know the phrase “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”? Think about the dynamic of that. God wants his kingdom to come into our lives so we are transformed by him. Our lives should be growing, changing as a result of following Jesus. Let the Kingdom of God work its way through your life.
Let the Kingdom of God grow in you. Let’s not be a people who brainlessly follow religious rules, like the synagogue ruler wanted Jesus to. Let us allow God’s Kingdom to fully infect us.

How? How do we allow God’s Kingdom to flow through us? There are at least a couple lessons to learn from this story in Luke 13:10-21:

First, do good, like Jesus did. There are so many ways to apply this. What does being a do-gooder look like for you in your home, in your office, in your school?

Second, practice the principle of Sabbath: rest, don’t work 24-7, worship, be with your family. I’ve been convicted of this lately. Our denomination sets how much vacation time I get. Pastors start with three weeks of vacation each year. Each of those weeks can include one Sunday off. For every ten years of ministry, you get an additional week off, maxing out at five weeks. Each year pastors are also allowed to be away for one Sunday of Ministry or Study Leave, such as when I was away on the mission trip to Kenya. I’ve been with the EC Church for 13 years in full-time ministry, so I now can take four weeks off each year, including four Sundays away.

Frankly, I’ve done a terrible job of taking my vacation. Don’t applaud that. Sometimes employees where it as a badge of honor that they don’t take vacation. There is a great reason for vacation, and no matter your profession it is very wise to take it. I say that based in the principle of Sabbath. As much as you and I should be finding weekly time for rest, family and worship each week, we should also use our vacation time.

I am not trying to impose a new rule, a new Sabbath day, or anything like that. I am saying that we should look at the principle of Sabbath, and we should apply it to our lives. There are some other ways to allow the Kingdom of God to infect you:

Be disciples who make disciples – watch the Kingdom grow through you.
Pray for the filling of the Spirit.
Immerse yourself in the Word of God – Read the Word.

Do you ever think, “What can I do? I am just one insignificant person?” But that’s exactly how the kingdom of God starts. Through one person. Start Small. One little thing. If each person did one thing, imagine the impact. We can too easily think that our one life impact is too small, doesn’t matter. We don’t have to get massive attention, or right away make a radical impact. Our culture loves to highlight the big splashes. But what about all the people who are just faithful in small ways? They never get a news story about them. They never become famous. But they are being faithful. Put together they are a massive impact.

This is one of the reasons why I love that in our school district we have a ministerium that works together in unity. Churches of all shapes and sizes have joined together to promote Christ and share his love to our community. In recent years the ministerium started Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services which features a clothing bank and food bank making a difference in the lives of people in our school district. I’m honored to be a part of that.

Allowing the Kingdom to infect your life might start very small. Like the mustard seed. Like the yeast. But that is okay. Start something!

Have you lost the Christmas (Kingdom) Spirit?

My family loves the movie Elf. This year we watched the movie version starring Will Ferrell, and the cartoon version starring Jim Parsons, both to hilarious laughter, though I think most of the family would say they prefer the movie version.

The premise of the movie is that a human, named Buddy, is raised by elves in Santa’s Workshop. As he grows into an adult he struggles being so different from the elves, as you can see in the picture above. His solution is to leave the North Pole, and travel to New York City to find his real dad. Once there much hilarity ensues, but in the process Buddy discovers a troubling reality. So many people, including his dad, have lost the Christmas spirit.

Buddy, of course, has a personal friendship with Santa and his reindeer, so he assumes the truth of Christmas. Buddy is filled with Christmas spirit. In New York City, though, he finds Santa Claus impersonators, a disturbing lack of Christmas cheer, and plenty of nonbelievers.

One of the central questions of the movie is how to help people regain that Christmas spirit. I encourage you to watch the movie to see how it turns out.

As we continue studying the Gospel of Luke we come to Luke 13:10-21 where some people in Jesus’ community, like those people in the movie Elf, seem to have lost something. While the people in the movie lost the Christmas spirit, the people in Jesus’ day had lost a true understanding of the Kingdom of God.

In Luke, we’ll see that they thought the Kingdom was one way, and Jesus says “No, it is something very different.” In essence we’ll hear Jesus say “You’ve lost the spirit of the Kingdom of God.” It’s a pretty shocking story because the very people who are to understand the Kingdom best actually don’t understand it.

Because of that, this story just might be very instructive to us. Do we know what the Kingdom of God is like? Do we understand how it works? How is God’s Kingdom supposed to impact us? Can you say that you have been impacted by the Kingdom of God?

What does the Kingdom of God matter, anyway? Is it possible that we think we have a firm grasp on the Kingdom of God, but we have actually lost it?

Join us at Faith Church as we talk about this further.

God’s not angry; he wants you to Flourish! Luke 13:1-9

Is God angry? Yesterday at Faith Church, we looked at Luke 13:1-9, a story where people in the crowd following Jesus mentioned a current event. Much like we’ve had mass shootings lately, there were actually two awful tragedies that had recently happened in Jesus’ day. The crowd referred to the Roman leader Pilate who killed a bunch of people, and then Jesus talked about a tower that fell on 18 people killing them.

Jesus knows the question on people’s minds that day. He knows why these questions came up. Is God angry? Were these two horrors the result of God punishing the people for their sins? Jesus’ answer is a clear NO. Jesus says these disasters did not happen because the Lord was punishing people for their sin. Their sins were no worse than others.

Why did Pilate mix the Galileans’ blood with their sacrifices? Most likely because he was a maniac, psychopath who went overboard to put down any rebellion or discord. It was his sick way of keeping the peace.

Why did the tower fall? Maybe it was old. Maybe it wasn’t well-built. Maybe there was a wind storm.

We don’t why either of these situations happened. But we do know from Jesus’ mouth that these situations didn’t happen because these people were worse sinners. We live in a fallen world where tragedy and disease and violence is part and parcel of the world.

Jesus goes on to say that there is a larger issue. God wasn’t punishing people in these two headline stories of the day. Their sins weren’t worse and somehow deserving of diving judgment. Instead Jesus twice says that what we should be concerned about when we hear of tragedy is that we are all sinners who could perish.

He’s not grim and fatalistic though. He says there is hope, we can repent!

So we need to talk about repentance. But before we do that, Jesus tells a parable to explain things even further. He talks about a fig tree that bears no fruit for three years. The normal response for a tree like that is: Cut it down. It is taking up precious space. Get rid of it, plant a new one.

But the gardener in the story intervenes. “Leave it alone for one more year,” he says. This is mercy! It is for us the image of God as a long-suffering God. And this was after three years of no fruit. But he is still willing to give MORE time.

We so often hear about God’s judgment, but this parable reminds us that God is a merciful God! I hear people concerned that God is so violent, especially in the Old Testament. In my personal reading this week, though, I came across Psalm 78.

In this short retelling of the history of Israel we see his anger for sure, but only after numerous affronts from his people. For centuries all he did over and over was help them, save them, rescue them and provide for them. And yet they respond by worshiping other gods, complaining, and disobeying him. It’s all a bit too personal really. When I put myself in God’s shoes, and I read the words the psalmist uses to describe God’s emotion and reactions, I think about the task of parenting. It can be so frustrating! And what I need to do is turn my gaze on me and see that that is how God can feel about me. I can be so fickle, so quick to lose interest in him. So quick to allow my thoughts and heart to wander. But Psalm 78 reminds me that he is amazingly loving, gracious and merciful.

Back in Luke 13 the gracious merciful gardener says to the owner, “Please let me have one more year with this tree. I will fertilize it. I’ll work with it. I’ll give it go.”

You know what this is a picture of? Discipleship. It’s a person who gets involved. Gets their hands dirty. It’s messy. But people can grow, they can bear fruit.

What will it take to become a fruit-bearing disciple of Jesus?

Fertilization. You work with a plant to bring it to health. That’s the heart of God. He isn’t angry, giving up on us. He is merciful and gracious and love us. He wants to see us get healthy and grow and produce fruit for him. He gives us another chance. He forgives.

That’s why Jesus was born, that’s the message of the Christmas story: he came to rescue us, so we could flourish. He entered into the pain of our world with us. We are not alone. He knows our pain. He’s not angry. Instead we should respond, Jesus says, first by repenting. Repentance is when we admit our sins, we confess them, we get them out in the open, and we say “I’m going to make a change.” And then we work on making that change. That’s where the fertilizer comes in. We work to get healthy so we can grow and produce fruit for his kingdom.

I think it is really important to ask what kind of fruit we are talking about.

Maybe the Fruit of the Spirit? Probably not, because Paul will only refer to that about 30 years later. But it is absolutely appropriate for us to think that disciples of Jesus will grow the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Those character qualities should be coming out of our lives. Because of that I think it is important to talk about opposites of fruits. Do you struggle with negativity, complaining, bitterness, impatience, anger? What will it take to change those wrong attitudes and actions into the fruit of the Spirit?

So while Jesus was probably not talking about the Fruit of the Spirit, what fruit was he talking about? The fruit of a fig tree was more fig trees. Fig trees produce figs which have seeds that can produce more. That is the fruit. For a follower of Jesus, then, the fruit we should be producing is more disciples of Jesus.

What is a disciple of Jesus? Not just a believer. Not just a church-goer or worshiper. But one who is being transformed into the image the Christ. One who is becoming like Christ in heart, attitude, and action. One of Jesus’ main actions was making more disciples.

Take a look at how this works in the parable. The farmer does not expect a fig tree which has been barren for three years to magically start bearing fruit in year 4. Same for us. We have the Spirit, but we can choose to not allow him to work through us.

Why do people choose not to make disciples?

They were never discipled themselves and don’t know what it looks like.
They are scared.
They think they can’t do it.
They think that it is just for the professionals (pastors, worship leaders, missionaries).
They have been taught that that they just need to believe, and go to church and be good.

No matter the reason, the reality is that many Christians are like a fig tree that bears no fruit. But there is hope, Jesus says. If you are not producing fruit, you can repent and change.

To bear fruit we have to choose to bear fruit! If we are not bearing fruit, and we don’t know how, we need a gardener in our lives to fertilize us. In other words, if we are not bearing fruit, we might need to be taught how. We need to be discipled. We need people to invest in our lives to guide us, lead us.

We can choose to totally avoid discipleship and disciplemaking. As Jesus’ brother James would later say, “Faith without works is dead.” That is a serious charge, and should give us pause. If we cannot see fruit in our lives, we should want there to be fruit. We need to repent, just as Jesus said in the first part. We need to repent of our lack of following him, we need to repent of our failure to make disciples.

Remember that God is not just a God of judgment, he is a God of mercy. He gives more time!

We should all want to be fruit-bearing trees. And the first step is to have a humble, honest admission of the true state of our discipleship to Jesus. If we are not bearing fruit, then we should say “I am not bearing fruit. I admit it. But I want to do what it takes to bear fruit.”

Remember that there is mercy! Today there is mercy from God. If you are not bearing fruit, there is mercy! God wants to give you time, God wants to see you be fertilized, to flourish for his Kingdom and mission.

There’s no rule here. God is not saying “You have one year to become fruit bearing! And if you don’t disciple someone this year, I will cut you off!”

No, the parable is a story to guide us. So what if we make it a goal? What if in 2016 we say “Lord, I want to become a fruitful disciple in 2016. Give me one person.”

Parents, your first priority is your kids. If you are not discipling them, make them a focus.

But you can all think about discipling the people in your church, or maybe a coworker, a neighbor, friends in school or someone on your club or sports team. It starts with being a real friend, building a real relationship with them, no matter if they want to be a disciple or not. Then care for them, pray for them, encourage them and love them.

Remember that the process of fertilizing is messy, dirty hands work. If you know you are not bearing fruit and you need to repent and be fertilized, seek that out.

If you know of someone else in your life who needs to repent and be fertilized, start by praying for them. Would you make a commitment to pray for that person as often as possible, maybe every day, in 2016? Ask God to give you the opportunity to be the kind and merciful gardener in their lives. Then watch for the opportunity to materialize, and go for it. Disciple them. Want to learn more about how to disciple others? I’d be glad to talk with you.

God’s not angry. He wants us to flourish!