Discipleship at Messiah

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  -Luke 9:23-24 

“When Life Is Defined By A Cross”

            There is a side of Christianity we generally like to avoid.  We love it up in Galilee, where Jesus is talking about the lilies of the field and becoming like little children; but we did not know we were in for any crosses.  Why can’t people simply be kind to each other?  We say, “live and let live,” follow out Jesus’ moral ideals and have everything come out all right.” (Shoemaker, 33)

            But THAT FATEFUL NIGHT and the day following, it became abundantly clear what the disciples have desperately tried to avoid—even though Jesus had tried to prepare them—at the heart of the authentic Christian message has always been the scandal, the cross.

            To Jesus’ contemporaries, the sheer disgrace of dying on a cross as a thief;  to the self-righteous, the idea it was necessary for salvation;  to all, the real scandal, the stumbling block of the cross is that it symbolizes the kind of life Jesus’ Disciples are called to live—a life of servant.  In fact, a slave is closer to the Biblical idea.

            The Apostle Paul gives explicit expression to this:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, …he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross.  (Philippians: 2:5,8)                   

            And that is exactly what troubles us.  “We do not want to die.  We want to live—richly,   interestingly, profitably in this world—to make our mark, to enjoy our comforts, and to do a little good conveniently on the side.” (Sam Shoemaker, 36)

            Jesus’ own words place the issue clearly before us:

                        Unless  a grain  of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
                        He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 
                        If anyone serves me, he must follow…the Father will honor him.”

              We often talk  about service but rarely do we really think of service in this sense—the bond slave who gives life for the master.

            In reality, what Jesus does is turn things upside down.  He gives a new definition of greatness =service, and the extent of that service the cross.

             If you  think discipleship is about God making life easier, helping you be a winner, etc. and other such sugar coated drivel, you have not heard about the cross.  It is mind blowing demands and challenges.  Remember Mission Impossible—“Your mission Mr. Phelps…”.  Your mission, your assignment follower of Jesus is “live a life defined by a cross.”  It is life under orders and in the interests of others.

            Jesus laid it out and then demonstrated it with his own life for you (and me).

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I love stories about children—those stories where their innocence, honesty, directness and transparency shine through.  I especially love them when they are about my grandchildren!  I’m sure that surprises you.

Two recent ones made me really stop and say, “God help us.”  Our six-year-old granddaughter asked the children sitting around her table to raise their hand if they knew Jesus. Our grandson, then, a first grader told a similar story.  But he went a step further.

His mother says, “He came home and told me he had helped two and a half people to ask Jesus into their hearts that day. When I asked him how that came about he said he simply asked a bunch of the kids in his class if they knew Jesus and if they said no he asked them if they wanted to have clean hearts and go to heaven. Then I asked him how he got two and a half! and he said three people actually said they wanted to do it but he didn’t believe one of them really meant it so he was counting him as a half!”

Could it just be possible there are a lot of “half Christians”—people who say they are followers of Jesus but don’t really mean it?  The granddaughter said most of the children she asked raised their hands.  But then she added, “they don’t act like it.”

Folks, if children get it, is there any excuse for us?  If we say we know Jesus we should mean it and it should show.

Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

Blessings and I hope to see you “on the road with Jesus.”

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–Ephesians 2:8

Do you like to receive gifts?  I do.  Most folks I know do.  But, occasionally I run across someone who has a hard time receiving a gift.  Often that happens when someone has to admit a need.  That’s part of the problem with receiving God’s gift of salvation—we have to admit we are needy.  There is something about human nature, something within us, that resists that notion for all we are worth.  Our self sufficient, earn-your-way, don’t-be-beholding to anyone nature believes we have to DO something.  I remember a man, in one church, where I was pastor, who was critical of anyone who testified to God’s work in their life.  As he put it, they “talked about how good they were.”   Now if your idea is that you are Christian because you do good works, that’s how sharing what God has done in your life appears to you.  If I understand the good news, I know that I cannot earn forgiveness or take credit for what ever I may become.

In fact, to understand grace, we must first realize the utter helplessness of our state–“dead in sin” as the Bible puts it.  Only when we know the domination of evil instincts (“desires of flesh”), false ideas (“desires of mind”), can we appreciate grace.  It is then that the message that it’s free is truly good news.

God offers you a great gift.  Take it.

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The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty…; they are soon gone,…So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. -Psalm 90:10,12

As I begin this post on the last day of 2009  it seems like only yesterday everyone was talking about Y2K, the beginning of the year 2000.  You remember–all computers were going to go crazy, planes would crash and all sorts of catastrophic events would happen.   But they didn’t.

I just celebrated my 70th Christmas and I can’t believe it.  Where did all those years go?  Just yesterday someone referred to how quickly time goes.  And if God grants me another year, at the end of 2010, it will seem such a short time ago that this year ended.  So, it is not the length of our time, but what we do with those short years.  We are promised that if we follow Jesus that time will not be wasted but will be used by God to fulfill His great plan.

Have a blessed 2010 “on the road with Jesus.”

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Some might respond to that this way, “My Life’s A Shambles.  Why Should I Be Thankful?”

Is that your situation?–for most of us, probably not.  When most of America thinks of its blessings, the list will include–family, health, job, food, shelter, freedom and, to some degree or another, those extras such as nice homes with central air/heat, nice cars, opportunities to travel, etc.  If we are especially thoughtful about it, we might include things like the beauty of nature, art, human achievement.

For some, however, it may be true, life is a mess.  Even though you might not fit that pattern, I want you to think about that question.  For when all is said and done, all of those things are very fragile, to some degree, simply accidents of history.  Is there something more to Thanksgiving than that?

The Bible says yes, emphatically yes.  In fact, a case might be made that gratitude, thankfulness may be the primary spiritual virtue/value.   Thanksgiving motivates worship, service, and evangelism.  Thanksgiving is the primary ingredient in worship, even the goal of evangelism (II Cor. 2:4 where the gospel is spread so that “thanksgiving might overflow” to the glory of God).  If that is true then there has to be some basis for gratitude that is not dependent on circumstances or the accidents of history.  In other words if you were stripped of everything what would be left to be thankful for?

First is God’s enduring love. In Old Testament, when David brought ark, symbolic of God’s presence to Jerusalem and the pattern of worship established, a group was specifically designated by name to give thanks to the Lord.  The reason given was “for his love endures forever.”  That phrase “his love endures forever” is repeated 41 times.  The inscription on many wedding rings, “love is eternal”, in many cases, is but a romantic notion or wishful thinking.  But with God it is the most fundamental and dependable reality.  God’s love lasts forever. A song by Steven Curtis Chapman puts it like this:

Like the stars belong in the sky
Like a fish belongs in the water
Just like children you and I belong in the hands of the Father.
This is where we belong
Where you and I were meant to be all along
made by the Father to live in his love
It’s the purpose and plan
For the heart of man.

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Phillip Yancey says, “Nothing you can do can make God love you any more or any less.”  And that love finds its expression in Jesus Christ.

The second thing we have to be thankful for is God’ family. Some time ago I saw where 54% of pet owners would choose their pet as a companion over another human being if stranded on a desert island.  Some sample statements from the Scripture illustrate what I mean:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. (they are examples) -Romans 1:8
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? (they are the cause for joy) -I Thess 3:9
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. (a growing faith and love)–II Thess. 1:3

Folks the greatest gift God has given you, next to Himself, is one another!  What an unexplored treasure for most Christians.  How inclined we are to try to go it on our own.  How quick we are to break fellowship.

Third is God’s appointment or calling. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.-I Tim 1:12  You are chosen!  To be able to work for God is to work for the greatest employer, at the most important job, with the greatest pay scale and benefits.”

But most of all it is God’s victory. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. -I Cor 15:57

Gratitude, thankfulness is a powerful force in our lives.  The story is told of a man whose wife had left him.  He was depressed, had lost faith in God and joy in living.  One rainy morning he stopped in a restaurant to eat breakfast.  It was a gloomy atmosphere.  Several people present but no one was talking.  A little girl said to her mother, “Momma, why don’t we say our prayers here?”  A server responded, “Sure honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?”  The customers were told, “Bow your heads.”  And the little girl prayed, “God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food.  Amen.”  The person telling the story said that prayer changed the entire atmosphere.

As it has been said, “God grant me one more thing—a grateful heart.”

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