Following Jesus

What does it take to be a follower of Jesus? What does it mean to be a disciple of the crucified and risen Jesus?

I have been thinking about these questions deeply over the past several years. As a pastor, it is my job, my calling, to empower and enable people to become followers of Jesus. So what is a disciple and how do you know if you meet one? Put another way, would a stranger be able to tell, by looking at your life, that you were a Jesus follower?

This is a tough question which causes us to deeply examine our lives and most likely repent and seek forgiveness. Lutherans in particular, have difficulty understanding discipleship. We know that being a good person and making Godly decisions are not what achieves and maintains our relationship with God. It is only through God’s amazing gift of grace and love, and not by our own doing, that we can be in relationship with God. Yet being convinced of our inherent sinfulness does not excuse us from the path of discipleship.

It is not enough for us simply to accept the gift of grace and believe the right things about Jesus. (Well in a sense this is enough, at least in regards to our salvation.) God expects us and needs us to be agents of grace and peace in the world, to be God’s hands and feet, to share the love of Christ with a hurting and suffering world. We cannot make this kind of impact unless our lives become transformed, sanctified, and prepared by God’s love and grace. We cannot become these kinds of people without growth, change, and disciple.

Being a disciple is an important and most necessary calling. Being a disciple of Jesus requires work and effort. Being a disciple of Jesus requires us to make sacrifices and live lives that are different from those around us. Jesus was constantly challenging his would-be followers to change their lives, to allow God to transform them to whom they were created to be.

‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the moneyto the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” Mark 10:20-22

In the story of the rich young man, Jesus discusses the transformation a person of wealth must undergo. The young man had been faithfully following the law his entire life and yet Jesus asked for more. It was not enough simply to follow the law, the young man had to give up what he held most dear, his wealth. It isn’t being wealthy that is the problem for him, but it is the elevated status wealth played in his life which required change. It was a challenge to give up what he held most dear in order to fully follow Jesus. Being a disciple means more than following the law and having the right beliefs, being a disciple means submitting our lives to God. Being a disciple means putting God first. The young man was happy to follow God when it was easy, but when it required sacrifice he fell apart.

To become a disciple we must give our heart and our lives to God, without holding back. It is a difficult, sacrificial, arduous road. But it is a road which leads to our transformation, growth and liberation. A road which leads to the life God intended for you, and life which positively impacts the world. I pray that God might grant you the strength and courage to follow Christ with your entire heart and life, knowing that neither your ability nor inability to become a true disciple will change your salvation, but through God’s grace you have been afforded the opportunity to live a life of significance and meaning.

What is keeping you from being a true disciple? What are you holding back?

Go, See, Share!

Do you expect to see God at work in your daily life? Are looking for the signs that God is active? Are you sharing with others what you see?

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret…For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:26-32)

Paul was a wonderful teacher and pastor of the early church and was extremely concerned that the budding Christian communities he helped establish would be hospitable to all people. Paul goes out his way, time and time again, to address the real and present needs of the people, and encourages them to find ways to live together in community.

In his letter to the Corinthians, and in particular in chapter 14, Paul is trying to bring order to a chaotic and unruly worship experience. It seems as though the people are so excited to share their “God stories” in worship that they are not taking turns. Everyone wants to speak at once and the unstructured nature of worship is causing problems for the church. Can you imagine what it would be like to have this problem? What would our church be like if people came together and eagerly shared their stories, so eagerly in fact that they tripped all over themselves trying to share?

It seems that Paul’s exhortation to bring order to worship has been taken extremely seriously in the history of the church. We like order and tradition and predictability—this is human nature. Chaos and disorder are disturbing and threatening. But are we missing something? Could we use a bit more disorder in our lives? Are we making room for the Spirit of God to intercede and show us something new? Are we making time to listen to God and one another?

In our life together as church, I would love to have the problem of the people of Corinth. I would love to have so many powerful stories of what God is doing in our lives that we have to be reminded to take turns.

An even bigger issue for us isn’t order or disorder in worship. I believe many haven’t yet opened their eyes to see what God is up to in the world. God is alive and moving in our lives and in the world. Are you looking? We can easily get so caught up in our own busy lives that we don’t even look for God. Or perhaps even worse, we believe that God is not present in our everyday lives. But God is present in all of life: at home, at work, at the grocery store, on the street, and even in the church.

So start looking for God and you will see. "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) Then come and share with the rest of us, I promise we will all get a turn.

Still Days

Now that all of the presents have been opened, the food has been eaten, and family members have returned home, what is next? Each year we hustle like crazy preparing for and anticipating the Christmas celebration, and each year we inevitably suffer a post-holidays let down. After so much excitement, is there anything more depressing than a return to normalcy?

In many ways January is a most depressing month: the weather is cold and dreary, there are no more big social gathering to attend, and by now our New Year’s resolutions have already been broken. It all sounds so awful doesn’t it? Yet for me this time of year is truly wonderful, and not just because I really enjoy cross country skiing. We are given great opportunities in non-exciting times to examine our lives and make important changes. It is in times of quiet, when I have a chance to reflect, that I have moments of insight and self-discovery. It is moments of true stillness I have felt most deeply the presence of God.

“Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

This is one of my favorite scripture passages because it reminds me to calm down and make room for God in my life. In fact this verse from Psalm 46 can be a mantra of sorts with me. Whenever life gets hectic and out of control, taking time to seek the peace and presence of God can make a huge difference

Perhaps the quiet and still days to come are opportunities to connect in a deeper more meaningful way with God. Perhaps the days to come will give you an opportunity to reflect upon your life and your priorities and make needed changes. Wherever you happen to be in life, take time this season to be still and feel the presence of our Lord. The stillness of January is a blessing and I pray you find peace and strength in the days to come.

Carnal Knowledge

What does it mean that Jesus was born today? What is Christmas all about?

In the past several years I have grown more and more cynical about Christmas. I am not a militant "let's put Christ back in Christmas" type, those who feel compelled to object to any politcal correctness or perceived assaults on Christmas. No, for me it is simply the thought-- this isn't how it is supposed to be. Shopping, parties, obligatory gift giving, consumerism--it all leaves me feeling cold. Is Christmas in America what God had in mind? Or are we missing something?

If I were to reclaim Christmas, it would have nothing to do with a nativity scene at city hall. Christmas is fundamentally about the fact that God came to this world to live among us. "And the Word became flesh and lived among us" (John 1:14) This Word is the word that was present at creation,the Word was with God and was God, the Word that God spoke that brought creation into being, the Word that became a human being in order to free all of humanity from a world of darkness and despair. The Word is Jesus Christ and is God's best and only strategy to change the lives of individuals and the world. In order to reclaim christmas, we must reclaim the original story of Christmas, the story of God's love poured out for all of the world.

I find the fact that God's strategy for changing the world was to become like us, to take on flesh and live like we live, truly remarkable. Certainly God with the whole all-knowing, all-powerful thing could have simply spoken the word and fixed everything. But God doesn't want a world of perfection, but a world where people faithful serve and love one another. God does this by living life as we live, filled with the fullness of human existence. Jesus experienced joy, laughter, love, pleasure, pain, sorrow, and despair. He experienced the fullness of life to deepen a connection between us and God, to connect God and humanity in a life-giving and blessed way. Jesus also shows us how to live a life of faithfulness, humility, and peace. He teaches us to be passionate about God, life, justice, and one another. Jesus opens our eyes and our hearts to live the life God intends for us. The Christmas story is a story about God's unconditional love for us.

When we follow the example of Jesus' life and love one another with the love of God, we can change the world. Jesus shows us how to live and to love, and frees us from our bondage. When we celebrate Christmas we celebrate God's amazing love and grace, freely given to all, a love and grace which changes lives.

So let each of us celebrate with joy the awesome gift we have been given and know we are loved, and share that love with all we meet.

Christmas Surprise

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Luke 1:26-28

The Christmas season is now upon us, with all its promise and its trappings. It seems that Christmas begins earlier each and every year, with all of the advertisements, sales, lights, and music. But for some reason, and perhaps it is just me, Christmas really snuck up on me this year. There has been so much going in our community and in our world that I have been caught by surprise when it was time to really prepare for this season (by writing a Christmas newsletter). Perhaps it has been the historic times we are living in with an unprecedented election, and looming anxiety over our collective financial future, but I am not ready for Advent much less Christmas!

Imagine the great surprise Mary must have felt when the angel Gabriel visited her and shared the message that she would bear God’s son. Mary must have been caught slightly off-guard by the visit and shocked by the message. There are of course several surprising aspects to Mary’s story. She is young, poor, and a virgin. If God were to pick someone to bear the messiah, a person like Mary would be a most unlikely choice. So what is God up to? Why was Mary chosen? What does this tell us about Christmas? What does this tell us about God? What does this tell us about ourselves?

God is full of surprises and unexpected reversals. God is unpredictable and mysterious, and there are things about the ways of God we simply cannot know. The choice of Mary, however, is part of a larger pattern of God lifting up the lowly, elevating the downtrodden, and liberating the oppressed. As Jesus said to the disciples: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:16) God’s loving and gracious ways often reverse the unjust and uncaring ways of the world. God is with the lowly, the suffering, and the oppressed. God’s love is amazing because it extends to those the world has forgotten.

Wherever you find yourself this Christmas season, no matter how difficult or challenging your situation might be, know that the love of Christ is with you. This time of year is a time to reflect on the miracles God has worked in our lives, a time to give thanks for our many blessings, a time to marvel at the mystery of God. We may not know what the future holds but we know the Lord will be with us, surprising us all.

Context Matters

"Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you... " Acts 17: 22-23

The Apostle Paul was the most effective and very best preacher and evangelist in the early church. He traveled extensively throughout the region of the Mediterranean Sea proclaiming the gospel to all whom he met, both Jewish and Gentile. Paul truly never let an opporunity to share the gospel pass, he looked for openings to share God's grace and took them.

After reading the book of Acts several times in recent days, and being familiar with Paul's own writing, it has become increasingly clear that Paul was a truly gifted and effective communicator. Paul understood how to deliver the message about Jesus so that it could be received and understood. Depending on who Paul was talking with he shaped his message and method accordingly. Paul was an expert in reading the culture and context of the places he visitied and sharing the good news in ways people responded to. Paul didn't change the message of the gospel, it is always God's grace, but he changed the methods he used to share the gospel depending on his audience. Paul was a contextual theologian, who took seriously the lives, values, and beliefs of those with whom he shared

In Acts 17 we see how Paul contextualizes the gospel for the Greeks in Athens. The Greeks worshipped many gods and were open-minded to new ideas or insights. In fact, the Greek philosophers were obssesed with discussing and debating ideas and would do so in public meetings all day. When Paul comes to Athens he comes across a group of philosophers and he decides to share the gospel with them (of course he doesn't miss the opportunity). But Paul shares the story of the gospel in a totally different way with the Greeks than he would with his fellow Jews. With a Jewish audience, Paul talks about the original convenant with Abraham, the law, and prophets and demonstrates how Jesus is the fulfillment of God's long promised messiah. This approach, while effective with a Jewish audience, would be meaningless to Greeks. Paul puts the gospel in terms that the Greeks would understand. He talks about the shrine to an "unknown God" and uses quotes from Greek poetry to share the gospel. The message is the same, but the method varied depending on who is was sharing with.

For me context is everything. If we want to share the message of who God is and what God has done in our lives with others, we must first understand where the other person is coming from. We must first seek to understand the other person, we must humbly listen, we must share openly. Context also means having a deep undestanding of culture. To share effectively we must understand the values and beliefs of the culture they belong to.

Perhaps an example is needed. Suppose you wanted to have a discussion with a teenager. Would it help to understand something about teenage culture? Do you know what kind of music teenagers listen to? Do you know what facebook is? Do you text? In order to effectively communicate with teenagers we have to understand teenage culture, appreciate teenage culture, and share our messages in terms that make sense within the teenage culture. This is not easy and requires us to be open and willing to move beyond ourselves and our own values and appreciate the values of others. It is difficult but it is also extremely effective when done well.

We are all called to share Christ with those God places in our path, through our actions and words. In order to do so we must, like Paul, be willing and able to understand context and communicate in ways that can be received.

What are the challenges to understanding context?
How would you share the gospel with someone of a different culture or background?