Why Discipleship?

So, let’s just start with the question: Why Discipleship? It seems like an unnecessary question to most in the Church. However, if Discipleship isn’t happening in our churches across America, it’s probably the place we need to start. I make no apologies for starting there. If you start in the wrong place, you are surely going to arrive at the wrong destination. When the Green Bay Packers were on a 10-year losing streak and at the bottom of the league, Vince Lombardi (yeah, the guy the trophy is named after) came in with vision, inspiration, and strategy but quickly determined he’d have to take the players back to the basics for any of that to produce results. He gathered the team, held up a ball, and uttered the now-famous words, “This is a football…” Once they were clear on the fundamentals of the game, then the team was ready for vision, inspiration, and strategy. And the results are part of Hall of Fame history.

The simple answer to our question is: It’s the purpose of the Church! Right now, my Reformed brothers are screaming “Foul!” because the Westminster Confession states that the chief end of man, and by extension the Church, is to glorify God. Point conceded. However, that is dangerously vague; it doesn’t give us marching orders. The Church glorifies God by fulfilling its purpose, to make disciples. And my Purpose Driven brothers are crying out, “But there are 5 purposes.” I honestly wish there was a different word being used. “Purpose” is your reason for existing. While I believe that the PD model is not only valid, but useful for maintaining a holistic, well-rounded, “healthy” church, I also believe that it allows for individual churches and individuals to compartmentalize and re-prioritize.

Why do I say that Discipleship is the purpose of the Church? Because of the Great Commission. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you know where it is? If you said Matthew 28, you get half credit (because we like to treat Discipleship as though it’s school and there will be an exam at the end – but that is a post for another day). Let’s look at the Great Commission as it appears in Scripture:

Matthew 28:18 -20  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

Mark 16:15-16  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Luke 24:45-48  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”

John 20:21  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (This is one we will come back to….)

Acts 1:8  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Maybe you don’t get half credit but 20% credit, since the Great Commission is found five times in Scripture. You see, The Great Commission, Christ’s instructions to the Church concerning what she is to be doing until He returns, is about Discipleship. It is by fulfilling this purpose in the manner in which He commands that the Church glorifies God. And the whole (Church) is the product of the parts (the faithful). This is not something that someone can opt out of or delegate to “professionals.” This is the calling of everyone who has called upon the name of the Lord.

Do I hear moaning? Do I hear complaints that I have made the case with those verses for the mission of the Church being Missions/Evangelism and not Discipleship? That’s the next post….

What Does the LORD Want Explored?

So, after taking such a long break from blogging, the question was: So, what do I start with? It's not that I have nothing on my mind. For any of you who know me, it should be clear that the problem is exactly the opposite. I have TOO MUCH on my mind. A much bigger problem for me is focusing in on a single topic and sticking with it - rather than chasing down rabbit trails.

So, as I was praying about what I should blog, a discipleship partner made a suggestion. The irony in the circumstances is that what he suggested wasn't even on my radar. For the past 5 years, since leaving SoCal and moving to Lanco, I have been obsessed with Ecclesiology, the theology of the Church, what and how she is to be and do. There was and is so much brokenness in this area (I'm sure not just this area), that it consumed me. Why can't the Church be all the Lord wants her to be?

But this brother in the Lord, another abused and wounded saint, pointed me in a new direction. It was during a mini-rant on Discipleship that he politely interrupted me saying, "That may be the third time you have said that same thing to me about Discipleship and I have never heard it before from anyone else. I think you should blog about that!" Honestly, I thought, "But I'm interested in sharing what is wrong with the Church!" Then it began to dawn on me, like a wave washing over me: The reason the Church is so messed up is because it's full of people, including its leaders, who have never been discipled.

I confess that I had been so focused on what is wrong in the Church that I missed all of the clues around me as to the REASON. And when I say "clues" I don't mean items which must be deciphered and which will lead you to the answer. It was the actual answer being plainly repeated to me over and over again. From the church member who said no one was interested in teaching her about Christianity, to the brand new pastor who was bitter because no one in his church had ever discipled him. From the seeker fumbling through her brand-new Bible desperately trying to find John while the teacher droned on unwaveringly about the church's position on Eternal Security to the three-decade Christian who said that he learned more from me in 32 months of Discipleship than in all his previous years combined. The REASON was right there before my eyes and ears all along. Discipleship isn't happening in most churches in the US.

Before you accuse me of being this wounded, jaded man who makes up things to complain about, you need to know that this is the same conclusion that most contemporary surveys of the US Church have come to. The most well-known is the Willow Creek Reveal study. The sad fact is out there from many sources - We are not discipling the folks who call themselves "Christian."

I will endeavor to unpack this problem over the next MANY blog posts. In taking on this challenge, I will start by saying that I don't have all the "right answers." What you will get is my perspective, the perspective of an APE (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist), informed by Scripture and my observations of and experience with many churches over a decade and a half of ministry. I also have as my guide the Living Spirit of God, Someone with Whom I am in intimate fellowship. And I submit all that I write and say to the communion of the faith, to the True Church, those who have genuine relationship with the Lord, who seek to walk in His ways and to glorify Him in all that they do as they "keep in step with the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). As a reminder to myself and as an example to you, I insert a section of Anselm's Proslogion in his attempt to prove the existence of God. May it encourage all of us as to what can be if we earnestly seek faithfulness.

I have come to you as a poor man to a rich one, as a poor wretch to a merciful giver. May I not return empty and rejected! And if "I sigh before I eat" (Job 3:4), once I have sighed give me something to eat. Lord, turned in (incurvatus) as I am I can only look down, so raise me up so that I can look up. "My iniquities heaped on my head" cover me over and weigh me down "like a heavy load" (Ps. 37:5). Dig me out and set me free before "the pit" created by them "shuts its jaws over me" (Ps. 67:16). Let me see your light, even if I see it from afar or from the depths. Teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to this seeker. For I cannot seek you unless you teach me how, nor can I find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in desiring you, and desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you and love you in finding you.
I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks that you have created in me this your image, so that I can remember you, think about you and love you. But it is so worn away by sins, so smudged over by the smoke of sins, that it cannot do what it was created to do unless you renew and reform it. I do not even try, Lord, to rise up to your heights, because my intellect does not measure up to that task; but I do want to understand in some small measure your truth, which my heart believes in and loved. Nor do I seek to understand so that I can believe, but rather I believe so that I can understand. For I believe this too, that "unless I believe I shall not understand" (Isa. 7:9).

Amen & amen...

Safe to Get Back in the Water

Well, I took quite a while off blogging. I did this for a couple reasons. First, folks were reading into my posts about specific circumstances despite the fact that I talk about general issues. While I can't stop that (and hope that people actually take biblical principles and measure their specific circumstances against those standards), I thought it best to lay low until the dust could settle. But also, there was an individual who was obsessed with my blog, checking it 3x each week. This behavior lasted for months after I suspended posting. It seems that he/she hasn't returned in quite a while now, so perhaps it's safe to get back in the blogging swing. My hope is that this space will help you to think deeply about our calling as Christ's representatives in the world, that deep reflection will lead to conviction, repentance and change if warranted, and that the Kingdom of God would expand in influence in your corner of this world.

Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus!
s

What about Saturday?

So, yesterday was Good Friday and tomorrow is Easter Sunday, but today is Saturday. What do you do with that?

Catholic tradition calls it Holy Saturday, the day that Christ’s body lay in the tomb. The Eastern tradition calls today The Great Sabbath because it’s the day that Jesus rested from His finished work on the cross. But both of those focus on God lying in state, if you will. And I have been reflecting on the disciples on that first Saturday.

Scripture is silent about Saturday, but I think it’s easy enough to know what was happening based upon Friday and Sunday. We know that on Sunday the disciples were together and they were not at the tomb. But why weren’t they standing outside that tomb waiting for Jesus to come out? He had told them several times that He would rise on the third day. Yet, they were not there. But they hadn’t scattered; they were together on Easter morning. Think about Friday. John tells us who was at the cross:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27

Where are the disciples? Only John is mentioned being there. Well, think back to when Jesus was arrested and taken before the authorities. Peter followed along, trying not to be noticed. But he was recognized and confronted about being part of the Jesus following. Folks, this was a very real threat. Jesus had been arrested as a traitor. Anyone associated with Him could likewise be executed. That’s why Peter denied Christ three times; he was trying to stay alive. And that’s where all of Christ’s Apostles are until Easter morning, hiding out in fear of death.

Stay with me. Isn’t that where each one of us is following Good Friday? Without the Resurrection of Easter morning, don’t we have a dead savior? If Christ wasn’t raised on Easter, there is no hope. Nothing He said or did, even who He was, is true. And if He is not God, we have no hope.

Look at it another way. Did Jesus die for your sins, receiving the punishment that was rightly due you? I hope you answered “Yes!” But, if He wasn’t raised from the dead, He could not and cannot save you. That’s not a philosophical argument; it’s what Scripture says:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

You see, living in Holy Saturday is hopeless. But many a Christian professes a crucified Savior, but misses the power and life of the Resurrection. They are perpetually living the fear and uncertainty of Saturday. So, reflect today on the hopelessness of crucified hope. Reflect on the fear that grips the desperate, hopefully just for this day. For tomorrow brings a new day, a GLORIOUS DAY…

Good(?) Friday

I had thought of lots of things that I could write on this Good Friday, 2012. But I'm not sure that there's anything worth adding to what the Scriptures have already said. So, today, on this Good Friday observance, I will post something for Sean. You see, Sean thinks the Bible was written to support the stories of the disciples, so that they could have power and recognition. But this is an odd story to write. It's not the story I would write. I would not create a weak god. He would not suffer. He would demonstrate power, not servitude.

But my god would whimper before this God. This God was not created by clever tricksters of the first century. This God revealed His coming to men, more than 500 years before He came, weak like an infant. Read Eugene Peterson's translation of Isaiah's prophecy of the death of Jesus. This is not the story that men would write. Therefore, it is infinitely more glorious. Read it and reflect. Easter is coming, full of light and hope and life. But let today be Good Friday. Let it be our darkest day so that His light may shine all the brighter. S

Isaiah 53 - The Message Paraphrase
Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.

Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Wrong Prescription

What sort of lenses are you wearing? You know. We put on sunglasses with dark lenses because we are sensitive to bright light or to people peering into our eyes. Or we put on prescription lenses because we have imperfect eyesight and we wish to see more clearly. If you wear glasses, most are light enough these days that you don't even realize they are there.

Years ago, when I got my first pair of corrective lenses, I thought it would be cool to get prescription sunglasses. My hope was to be able to see clearly while enjoying my active outdoors lifestyle. The lenses I got had a purple tint to them. They were great for seeing in bright light conditions, especially on the ski slopes. After a short time, I didn't even realize that I was seeing the world in shades of purple. It looked normal to me. Fast-forward 10 years and I was told that the purple tint of my glasses was highly addictive and had created extreme photosensitivity in my eyes. My body, in order to protect itself, was developing a protective coating on my eyes which would eventually blind me. And all of this was happening without my knowledge, just because I had put on a pair of sunglasses, a very wrong pair.

So, what lenses are you wearing? I'm not necessarily talking about your physical eyes right now. I'd like to focus your attention on the eyes of your heart. We all have lenses through which we perceive the world. Our lenses are the result of our life's journey, what we've been taught, what we've seen modeled, or what we've experienced, both painful and wonderful. Our lenses are so much a part of us that we don't even know they exist. But we all have them and they alter reality to create our perception of what really is.

This is a conversation that I have had in the church for years and am just starting to have at the Vo-Tech where I'm teaching. You see, we slide into a mode where we deal with people and situations from our prejudices, conclusions that we have drawn before investigating the facts. It leads teachers and administrators to deal with teens using a template intended for all. It discounts the circumstances that have preceded today and dehumanizes the person. Schools generally run from ministering to the whole person, falling back on "teaching" content and referring problem cases for discipline and correction. Amazing teachers are the ones who enter the mess of the person to find out who they really are and why they are struggling so they can truly educate the whole person.

Today in church I was reminded of a video that I had intended to post months ago but I had lost the thought (my ADD got the better of me). But this video (below) out of Fellowship Church addresses the issue of how we see the world around us. Watch it and then let's have an honest discussion about how inconvenient it is to truly see people. Let's talk about our calling as Followers of the Inconvenienced God. And let's pray for one another that the Living Spirit of God would give us, not only eyes to see but, a heart like His, one which compels us in the name of Christ, Love, and all which is holy and sacred to enter the mess of the world with the full power of the Gospel of Grace.

So Far From God

This weekend, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day as a nation. The irony is that in Ireland, they watch news reports about our celebrations which include corned beef & cabbage, green beer (usually way too much beer), parades filled with people dressed like leprechauns, and even rivers dyed green. And they wonder why we would celebrate one of their Holy Days with such foolishness.

You see, St. Patrick was an amazing missionary who brought the Christian faith to their island nation. And he was responsible for planting a church and a movement that was characterized by a profound understanding of the sent-ness of God’s people. The gospel for the Celts wasn’t so much about saving individuals, although that was certainly part of it. It was a powerful gospel which transformed lives, families, and communities. More than that, it broke down dividing walls between tribes, giving an island filled with tribal conflict a unifying identity in Christ. And the message, fueled by the Spirit of God, swept throughout the land and captured hearts all to the praise and glory of God.

Then there’s our celebration. Christ has no place in American St. Patrick’s Day. Some creative missional pockets are trying to restore the holiness of the day, but they are the extreme minority. Churches try to ignore or even condemn the holiday. And we miss a huge opportunity to remember faithfulness and to challenge God’s people.

And what does evangelism look like in America? Well, I took a picture of a sign at our local gas station. It’s below. Click on it to get a larger image if you have a hard time making out the object I have pointed out. The sign is advertizing gas station sandwiches. Yummy! But some well-meaning but misguided saint has put a tract on the sign. The message? I’m not sure. “Come inside and get a lousy, but cheap sandwich. And while you choke it down, read this literature that will probably make you nauseous if you are far from Christ.” And the person who put it there has annoyed a merchant in the community, provided a few laughs at the local pub, but feels like he has done his part to be a witness of the gospel in a broken world. It’s a good thing that it’s the Spirit that saves people and not us. But I’m sure that we’re called to a whole lot more than this.