Discipleship at Messiah

We have this treasure in jars of clay –II Corinthians 4:7

          Do you remember the Old Testament story of how David became king?  You can read it in I Samuel 16:1-13.  If one of us wrote the story it would probably go something like this:
          Once upon a time, the children of Israel looked around them and saw that other people had kings to rule over them and became jealous.  They insisted that God give them one too.  Finally God agrees but only after instructing the prophet Samuel to warn them of the pitfalls and the cost.
          Despite the warning, the people persist and Samuel is sent by God out into the country to find the man whom he has chosen to be their first king. His name is Saul and though he comes from the smallest of the tribes, he is a kingly type–handsome and tall (head and shoulders above anyone else).  In an ancient ritual, oil is poured over him, and “he is given a new heart.”
          Saul becomes a powerful and great king with God’s help.  But the day comes when he becomes “great in his own eyes” (too big for his breeches), turns his back on God, God’s Spirit leaves him, and God rejects him as king.
          The old prophet Samuel, who loves Saul, is given the painful and sorrowful message with instructions to anoint a new king.  He is sent to Jesse of Bethlehem and told that one of Jesse’s sons will be the king.  On a secret mission, he examines seven sons but is told by God, none of them is the one.  On inquiry, he discovers that Jesse has a younger son out tending the sheep.  David is called in and identified as God’s choice.  David is short, ruddy, and very young.  The anointing oil is poured over him and “from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” (v.13)
          Immediately, the people rally around David, Saul is removed from the throne, David rules wisely and well and everyone lives happily ever after.
          Or perhaps, David goes into a training program for future kings, where he is given the best of everything, all which befits one who is to be king.  Saul dies, David becomes a great king and lives happily ever after.
          But that is a fairy tale.  The real story is much different.
          After David is anointed secretly by Samuel, he wins the king’s favor by killing the giant Goliath and by his great musical ability with a harp.   However, as David becomes powerful and popular, Saul becomes jealous and drives him to live as an outlaw.  Nine different times he attempts to assassinate David.  Only after years does David become king.
          His life then is full of sorrow and pain, at least partly brought on by his sins, including adultery and murder.  A son, Amnon, rapes his sister, Tamar, and is killed by his brother Absolum in vengeance.  Absolum leads a revolt against his father and drives David out of the capital city.  Eventually Absolum is defeated and killed by Joab, David’s commander.
          No, we would not have done it that way would we?
          When a person is tapped by God, surrenders to him, receives His Spirit, all temptations, weaknesses, problems should  be over.  Or better yet, when a person becomes a Christian, she/he should no longer even have to endure the pain, struggle of continuing to live in a world like this, even the possiblity of sin, failure.  Why not take him immediately to heaven?
          David’s story always stands as a reminder that it doesn’t work that way.  And Paul gives insight in this in our II Corinthians 4:7:

“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

You see, God deliberately leaves us in this frail human body, in this sin scarred world so that we will be  protected from the basic sin, pride.  It was an ancient Roman practice that after a victory the General rode a chariot with a crown held over his head.  There was the crowd’s applause BUT also shouting “Look behind you and remember you will die.”  This was followed by soldiers, who sang his praises BUT also hurled jests and insults.  The intent was to foster humility.
          Humility is necessary for the character God is forming.  If we separate ourselves to God, surrender to Him, we receive this treasure, this light and it is possible that it shines through to glorify God.  Someone has said that the cracks in the old clay pots let the light shine through.  This is demonstrated in the contrasts of human struggle and God’s sufficiency:

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

It is in our human frailty, that the life of Jesus can be revealed.  When people see that we are real human beings and that God is at work in us, then Jesus will be lifted up–and will draw all people to Him.

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he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  Matthew 24:13

Maybe it has something to do with getting older.  But, whatever the reason, I am coming to appreciate how important the simple trait of persistence is for the Christian life.  To live faithfully through all kinds of circumstances, good, bad and indifferent is a test of character which, perhaps more than anything, reveals the power of God’s grace in a person’s life.
Jesus warned that there would come a day when wickedness would increase and the love of most would grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matt. 24:12,13).
We all have seen it.  Some person starts on the Christian pilgrimage in a spectacular way.  They have an enthusiasm and energy which infects others.  They serve effectively in many ways.  But the days, weeks, months, years pass and one day it becomes clear that they have become an empty shell, void of any real life and in many cases may actually have fallen by the wayside.
As surely as this is true of individuals, it is also true of churches.  Many ministries which churches start with great enthusiasm and success simply seem to run out of steam when the glow and excitement wear off.
Pastors who come to a new church with ideas, enthusiasm, and dreams often find that to simply and persistently be faithful when the newness wears off is a lot tougher than moving on to another church.
We talk about the cost of following Jesus but equally important is persistence.  In fact, it much easier to pay the price “short-term” than to stay at the post year after year.
Now, this is no plea for “beating dead horses”, for failing to recognize the need for change, or accepting boredom and lifeless actions as “just the way it is.”  On the contrary, it is refusal to give in to that spirit, along with disciplined fellowship with God, which makes it possible to pass through the valleys.  It is to believe that God’s mercies are new every day; that it is possible to find personal renewal whatever the circumstances.
That is what enables you to be faithful, a church to be faithful, a pastor to be faithful–to “stand firm” ’til God says it’s the end.  So the end is not yet.  There is much to be done.

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I- TO ASSESS A SITUATION
The Biblical term is discernment.

A- God’s direction
Abraham’s servant sent to get wife for Isaac.
The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful. (Gen 24:21 NRSV)

B- Your attitude
Advice from the Psalmist
When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. (Psa 4:4 NRSV)

II- TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTION
To hear God’s word
Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God. (Deu 27:9 NRSV)

III- TO KNOW GOD
A- God is present in silence.
and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. (1 Ki 19:12 NRSV)
B- There is some knowledge of God that can only come in stillness.

IV- TO HONOR TO GOD
Silence in face of God’s words/actions
But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! (Hab 2:20 NRSV)

V- IT IS ESSENTIAL TO DISCIPLESHIP
A- Its all about what God is doing.
B- We are called to listen and observe what God is saying and doing.

“If Christians were known as the people who listened–not the people who only talk–it could change, in days and weeks, the place of Christians in this post-Christian era of American culture.” -Michael Card

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I Cor. 7:31  this world in its present form is passing away.
Mark 2:22  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

Being a former history teacher, I am aware that the most pervasive trait of history is change.  And the characteristic of our time is rapid change.  It is strange how we view change.  We expect change and see the absence of change as being a problem.  For example, growth is change.  In almost every area of our lives we believe growth to be good.  We look for growth in our children (physical and otherwise), our businesses, our cities, and our net worth.

However, we also have an aversion to change.  We get comfortable with the way things are–our lives, our routine–and it is often unsettling when things change.  In the church, we often seek refuge from the rapid change around us.  We look for something that is secure, to which we can attach and anchor our lives.  The Bible assures us that God is that anchor—“Jesus  Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb.13:8).

However, we have the mission of taking the unchanging good news of Jesus Christ to a rapidly changing world.  And to do that in a way that enables our secular contemporaries to hear, we have to change our methods in ways that pull and stretch us and move us out of our comfort zones.  The fact is that more and more people around us find “church” a foreign language, an unfamiliar world.  If we are faithful to God’s call to “make disciples” we must do it in a language they understand.

The two primary ways our culture communicates is through music (a very different music from classic church music) and technology.  People are very visual and feeling oriented.  They have short attention spans and expect things to move quickly.  Whether we believe that good or bad, it is a fact.  And we must deal with it if they are to hear what we have to say about Jesus.

All of this has profound implications for the way we do church–worship, ministry, etc. It calls for changes that are very difficult for most of us, who are comfortable with the way church has always been for us.

I believe the leadership of our church is committed to sharing Jesus with those unchurched, pre-Christians (as they are sometimes called) around us.  At least we say we are, according our purpose statement.  To do that will call us to some costly choices and actions that will greatly change the church as we know it.

Please pray that we will be obedient to Jesus and walk closely with Him.

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If only you had known, on this great day, the way that leads to peace!  But no; it is hidden from your sight…because you did not recognize God’s moment when it came. Luke 19:42, 45b

In my wife’s home church, where we were married, there was a young couple, not much older than us.  Sam and Samantha (not their real names) later were next door neighbors to my wife’s parents.  Sam went to work for a new hardware store which was part of a small chain.  The store had a profit sharing plan for employees in which they were paid with stock in the company.  Sam retired after 10 or 15 yrs, a wealthy man.

You see the store he went to work for was Lowes Hardware, and it was one of their first stores.  We would say he was in the right place at the right time.  It was a once in a life time opportunity, etc.

In what has to be one of the most moving and dramatic scenes in the whole Bible, Jesus begins his last journey toward Jerusalem.  Through the town of Bethany, home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, on a bright clear spring day, riding on a borrowed donkey he begins the ascent of the Mount of Olives.  Imagine how the scene might have looked.  There before them lay Jerusalem in all its splendor…and Jesus wept.

Jerusalem had missed its opportunity or soon would.  God’s moment has come and gone.  It happens all the time—to people, churches, even nations.  And it is a tragedy which can bring tears to the eyes of Jesus.

In the Bible there are two concepts of time.  One comes from the word chronos  which has to do with duration—days, weeks, months, years.  The other—kairos (used in this passage)—relates to opportunity and fulfillment.  It is the right time, the once-in-a-lifetime moment.  Someone has said, “There are critical periods in the life of men when that which is not done at the moment will never be done.”¹  (¹Vollmer, 181)  Contrary to the popular saying “history is repeating itself” history does not and cannot repeat itself.

Some times are more important, more critical than others.  At the top of the list is God’s visitation which comes at some time or another to everyone.  And though God can and usually does visit many times, each visit is unique and unrepeatable.

In our Seeker’s class this last Sunday we talked about Thomas who was not present with the rest of the disciples when Jesus met them on the day of His resurrection.  A week later Thomas met Jesus but it was not the same as it would have been seven days earlier.

Today and every day is a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to be involved what God is doing.  Don’t miss what God has for you today.  It will be different tomorrow.

But how can we do that?  These three things are crucial.

First- Be open to change, new things.  Quite simply it is easy to get into “ruts.”  Christians are prone to get “hung up” on tradition.  Habits can be positive but they can also get in the way of growth.  Because something worked once (or even several times), or because it worked for someone else, must not blind me to a fresh opportunity from God.  We can fall victim to what someone has called “the seven last words of the church”  “we never did it this way before.”

Second- Be open to criticism. Criticism of ourselves, our position, our ideas is not easy to take but often so necessary to God’s movement in our life.  It can come from our friends but also from those who are not.  We can learn a great deal about our selves and the gospel from those who don’t agree with us.  They can show us inconsistencies, how others see us.

The  late John Wimber told this story:

He got into a taxi with an Iranian driver in NY.  As he was pulling out of the parking place, they were almost hit by a van with a sign– Pentecostal Church.
“[The driver] got real upset and said, ‘That guy’s drunk.’  I said, ‘No, he’s a Pentecostal.  Drunk in the spirit, maybe, but not with wine.’
He asked, ‘Do you know about church?’
I said, ‘Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?’
It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church.  He knew about the pastor that ran off with the choir master’s wife, the couple that had burned the church down and collected the insurance–every horrible thing you could imagine.
We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on  the landing I gave him an extra large tip.  He got a suspicious look in his eyes–he’d been around, you know.
I said, ‘Answer me this one question.’  Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him.  ‘If there was a God and he had a church, WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?
He sat there for a while making up his mind to play or not.  Finally he sighed and said, ‘Well, if there was a God and he had a church–they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach the Book.’
I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest.  ‘Oh, God.’  I just cried, I couldn’t help it.  I thought, ‘Oh Lord, they know.  The world knows what it’s supposed to be like.  The only ones that don’t know is the Church.’”¹

Third- Constantly evaluate in light of God’s will and purpose.  That must take precedence over any method, person, or institution.  It is always the underlying question in any circumstance, action or decision.  It is always the foundation of any opportunity.

¹John Wimber, Cutting Edge, Sprng ’03, p 5

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