The Power of Small

"And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons." Mark 3:14-15

What would it mean to adopt a Christ-like method of faith community?  It would mean spending our lives completely enmeshed in the lives of others.  Sharing every meal, traveling every road, spending every night - together.  Christ choose the most relationally intensive method of community possible to spread the good news.  And while he taught workshops and offered free healing and feeding parties to thousands, the ones who carried the message were the ones who shared every moment with him for three years.  They knew one another in the raw.  They were familiar with one another's vices, problems, unique gifts, and idiosyncrasies.  They shared their pasts, their fears, and their hopes with full disclosure.  While this might not look like the best business model on paper, its really the only way to do discipleship.  The only biblical way to teach and equip people to become agents for the gospel is to draw them into meaningful, committed relationship of intentional faith development.  Disciples aren't accidents.  They are people who others have poured themselves into with love and faithfulness.  These kinds of relationships don't happen on Sunday mornings where hundreds or even dozens gather to listen to special musicians and speakers.  It doesn't even happen in bible studies that people attend every few weeks in smaller gatherings.   The model that Jesus set included twelve people who spent every waking moment with him for several years.  I often find people wanting to grow in their faith in a way that won't disrupt the rest of their lives.  They want to attend a class that will "introduce them to the bible" or they want to become involved in a ministry that will "give them a chance to serve".  There is nothing wrong with these endeavors, but they will rarely result in disciples.  Knowing other Christians won't make you a better Christian.  Worshiping next to other Christians won't in and of itself draw you into the depth of faith.  The best way to become all that Christ wants you to be is to learn and share consistently, vulnerably, and frequently with the "Body of Christ" through some kind of small fellowship.

"Oh Lord, your first disciples left everything to follow you.  If you are calling me to a deeper relationship with you, give me the strength to make the kind of commitment I need to make.  Put a desire in my heart to grow in you above all things.  In Christ's name.  Amen"

Knowing the Supernatural

My wife woke me early wednesday morning with an intense look on her face.  "Ray, come here. You have to come see this".  I followed her to the window in our bathroom and this is what we looked at together.  From where we stood, it looked like a 90 foot illumined cross standing in our neighbors front yard.  That night, before I went to bed, I had asked God for an increase in faith.  This was yet another powerful "sign" in a string of supernatural happenings in my life this month.  It turns out that we had a full moon that night and in that particular moment this is the way it shined through our bathroom window.  It was also God showing off.  Please keep in mind, I've been "demysticized" by the modern seminary experience.  I'm an educated theologian that has learned that every story of the supernatural can carry symbolic meaning for a deeper purpose.  I've often heard stories "less educated" Christians share about encounters with God that are supernatural and I think to myself "I'm sure that is true on some critical narrative level".  But I'm coming to believe that sometimes, God just chooses to do some crazy things in our everyday experience to encourage us and get our attention.  God's character is to be active through deeds of redemption, transformation, salvation, and liberation in people's lives.  That often happens in hidden, invisible, and subtle ways.  But sometimes, God wrecks shop.  Sometimes, God does things in our natural experience that are beyond our expectations and understanding so that we might know divine power and love.  This early morning sign of God's love through my bathroom window is an encouragement from God to me.  God is encouraging me to expect more from him, to stop limiting, boxing-in, and compartmentalizing him in my neat little sections of existence.  My God is too big, too creative, and too willing to be known to be limited by my concepts and religious knowledge.  I want to know the God who exists beyond my understanding and explorations.  I want to know the supernatural God.

"Lord, I love it when you blow me away.  I am so glad that you reveal yourself in ways that make me feel small.  In those moments, my faith increases, and I hope anew for your Spirit to do mighty things in my life, in the church, and in the world.  Keep showing off I pray through the name of the incarnate deity, Amen".  

Leaning Hard on the Spirit

"Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28
  
   I am truly alive when I lean hard on the Spirit.  When I live trusting that God is real and powerful and willing to work in and through me, I experience true freedom.  Each circumstance and moment that I place in the capable will and love of God is sanctified and emboldened by Him.  To lean is to rest, to depend, to transfer burden and weight onto another.  To lean is to take some of the pressure to stand off of yourself.  Conversely, any and every moment, interaction, challenge, and task that I do not trust Christ with becomes an opportunity for my flesh to reign in fear, uncertainty, insecurity, and strife.  To not lean is to allow all of the pressure, strain, and weight to be my sole burden and responsibility.  But because I do not want others to know that I'm depending on myself and not on the Spirit of Christ, I've learned to lean on Christ as if he were made of cardboard.  Gingerly, hesitantly. always making sure I'm there with my own energy and wisdom as a back up in case there is any moment when he looks like he can't pull it through.  It is time for me to be honest with myself:  Faith is not just knowing God is there.  Faith is throwing all of my weight on the promise that God will reign in and through my life in every moment I submit to Him.
     The church of the last century has done a great job making faith into an easy thing.  "Just say these words and you'll reach the fullness of God's intention for you! Speak the sinners prayer and you've arrived on the mountain".  No.  A prayer of confession and trust in forgiveness is only the beginning.  The gospel calls us to lay down ALL things before Christ.  I want to lean hard on the Spirit of God!  I desire each moment to be a new adventure in witnessing first hand the character and particular power of the Creator in my life!  When we lean hard on the Spirit, he can do more with us.  When we hold back, leaning on our own power and will, there is less for God to work with.  The level at which I trust God with my life is the level at which I experience God's power and love in my life.

"Oh God, forgive me for leaning too hard on my own strength.  Its not working for me very well.  I am tired and beat up because of it.  I want to lean fully on your grace.  I want to put all of the weight of my life in your care so you can do things that only you can do. Help me to trust you, through the power of the Faithful One, Jesus Christ. Amen."        

Seeking The Word

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." John 1:14

Most of us wonder if God really has something to say to us.  Something that will have an impact on our lives.  If we conclude that God may have some word to share with us, we then wonder what it is we must accomplish in order to hear what he has to say.  Must we be silent for hours and listen for a whisper buried deep in our minds?  Must we learn the "god" language so we can understand?  Must we find some key to open some door that will lead us to some message?  I have tried all of these things in a diligent effort to have the chance to hear a word that is really from God for me.  But what if a word from the Lord was not as hard to hear as we thought?  What if it was nearer to us than we imagined?  What if God has already done the leg work to meet you where you are and speak right into your ear?  "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."  The truth is that God's word - his heart, expression, outpouring character, thoughts, and personal feelings - have broken right into our present reality.  God has translated himself into our language.  Not only that, God has then come in familiarity and permanently put himself at arm's length from you.  God is not a fleeting hidden code that slips through the fingers only once pursued for a lifetime.  God is not like the great wild mountain bull elk reclusive in the craggy peaks of a distant land.  No wonder most of us don't live our lives as if God was speaking to us in every moment!  We understand his word as a diamond in the rough! And while God's word is no less precious than the finest jewel, it is more like the air you breath.  Right there.  And yet we chase, struggle, and exasperate ourselves, usually opting to only seek it in the most dire circumstances when a journey like that will be worth it.  In Jesus Christ, the word of God has entered our very experience and existence.  God has taken the fullness of eternity, presented it in our likeness and then placed it in our own neighborhood.  And then we operate daily as if such a tremendous treasure wasn't even there.  May we never again wonder if God wants to speak to us.  And may we be careful not to focus our eyes beyond the truth that stares back at us only inches away.  Everything about your life matters to God.  Would you like to know what God has to say to you about it? Reach out, listen, and believe in the God that speaks.

"Loving Father, you are closer to me than my own skin.  You've humbled yourself through your son to be here with me and speak your word of life in my every circumstance.  I want to hear you now and listen to the sweetness of your voice my whole life long.  Through Christ I pray, Amen."

        

Freedom of Humility

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" James 4:6

To humble oneself is to become free.  Long ago, Adam and Eve took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order to become like God.  This was an entering into bondage and oppression to sin.  This desire to become like God by knowing good and evil is a fundamental hinderance to experiencing fullness of life.  God made us to be dependent, needy, and ignorant.  Not because He wanted us to be weak or powerless, but because when we stand in proper relationship to an almighty and all knowing God, that is what we are and should be.  Whenever we seek to be independent, to need nothing but ourselves, and to know all things, we jeopardize that intended relationship with God.   We build our existence on lies rather than the truth.  This sets us up for tragedy.  To trust in that which is mortal, perishable, limited, and failing is to build my house on that which will - in due time and under due pressure - crumble to the ground.  It is to place my bet on a horse that cannot even finish the race without injury to self and others.  You see, God intends us to be dependent, needy, and ignorant because his plan is to provide us with everything we need.  Not that we would posses it for ourselves but that we might find it in him and thereby be in fellowship with him.  Dependence, neediness, and ignorance are only negative terms for those who have no provider, no lover and no teacher!  There was one person who had for himself all independence, who needed nothing at all from any creature, and who knew all things in heaven and earth.  He is the Messiah.  And yet in Jesus Christ we find one who chose to humble himself in the form of a slave.  Let's be real with ourselves: all have taken from the tree and all have pursued self-sufficiency and endless knowledge.  There is no going back.  But like Christ, we can chose humility.  Just as we chose self over God and others, we can choose to spiritually cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes and to repent.  We can resolve to know nothing and need no one but Christ himself.  We can take on the attitude that Christ adopted, that though he was in the form of God he did not count it as something to be exploited but humbled himself (Phil. 2).  By choosing humility we come closest to realizing the perfect relationship with God, self, and others that our Creator originally desired.  We free ourselves from the tyranny of being right, of taking care of ourselves, and of being responsible for determining good and evil in every situation.  By choosing humility we open our lives to the possibility of being provided for by the one who lacks nothing, of being taught in every moment by the maker of all things, and of receiving constant affection by the lover of our lives.

"Almighty God, I have chosen to try and be god over my own life and other's lives as well.  I have been more arrogant than I know by pursuing self-reliance, perfect knowledge, and independence apart from you.  Forgive me for wasting my life in such ways.  I long for the likeness of your son to reign in me through the power of my baptism.  I long to be in relationship with you the way you intend.  Amen."      

Practicing His Presence

"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!'" Psalm 122:1

I don't spend enough time being aware of God's presence.  In fact, I probably spend under 5% of my waking day enjoying the fact that my maker, my provider, my savior, my friend, and the lover of my soul is waiting to spend one on one time with me.  Imagine if I spent that little time with my computer or my phone!  I'd never get anything done! Imagine if I spent that much waking time with my wife!  Our marriage would be falling apart!  Imagine if I spent that little time doing chores around the house!  Our place would be a mess!  And yet somewhere inside of me is the idea that I can get by with spending such a tiny amount of my day with Jesus and have him still be my Lord.  I just won't happen.  Don't hear me wrong, this isn't about duty or holy obligation.  This has nothing to do with religious activity.   It is nothing less than a matter of life and death. The fact is that my soul is wasting away without it's source.  My heart is not beating without its first love.  My being is starving without its bread of life.  I cannot live without practicing his presence.  It would be one thing if being in the presence of my God was virtually impossible for me.  On Mount Saini, Moses had to hide his face from the Lord and only the high priest could enter the holiest place where God's presence dwelt.  Elijah waited in the cleft of the mountain for the Lord to pass by for just a moment.  The Psalmist longs to make the journey to experience God's presence at the Temple for a short pilgrimage.  Experiencing the actual presence of the Almighty has historically been a rare and dangerous endeavor, something that most people would never undergo.  But this is not the case for me.  Because of Jesus Christ, my God is constantly accessible.  I can sit with him, talk with him, listen to him, and be held by him all of the time.  I have no excuse.  He is more available than my computer or phone, more ready to listen than my friends or family, more patient and compassionate than even my wife.  But he gets 5%.

"Oh God, you are here with me now.  You are always available in your infinite love for me.   I don't want to close my awareness off to you anymore.  I want to be with you now and stay with you.  For I am alive in your midst.  Life is but a fleeting longing when I ignore your presence.  I will draw near to you now..."

Standards for Successful Church

"But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love." 1 Thessalonians 3:6a

What makes a church successful?  What makes them stand apart from other churches?  Is it outstanding programs and ministries?  Tremendous growth trends?  Increases in pledges and monetary giving? Professions of faith and baptisms? Missional activity? Paul sent one of his finest, Timothy, to check in on the church at Thessalonica.  It was an audit of sorts.  He was worried that the fellowship there may have faltered a bit due to all of the difficult times.  Thankfully, Timothy came back with a wonderful report! Membership had increased 10% since Paul was last there!  Adult baptisms were way up from the previous year!  To cap it off, the Thessalonians were starting a new building program that would house new youth ministries! No. There were two things Paul was hoping he would find in the church in Thessalonica in order to deam his mission there a success.  Faith and Love.  Thats it.  These are the two things that led Paul to name this church his "glory" and "crown of boasting" (2:19).  Above all things they displayed faith in God and love for God and one another.  If this is what the scripture clearly tells us is the highest calling of the Church of Jesus Christ, why are we spending our energy, resources, and time doing anything else?  Could it be that God has priorities for His church that we have deemed too simple for our ambitions?  Are we after something other than His desires?  The time has come (and has always been) for those who call themselves the Church to focus on what really matters: The heart of Christ that commands us to love God and one another through faith in him.  If we do not occupy ourselves on this first thing, than we can never expect to have "all these things given to you as well" (Matt 6:33).  Once again, we've got it backward.  We think that if we "get them in the door, get them involved, and get them to give" we'll have a lasting church!  Yet it seems all people like the Apostle Paul seem to care about is that our faith would become famous among neighboring countries and that our love for God and one another would sound forth to the edge of planet (1:8).  Want more from church?  Share faith and love with someone today.

"Oh God, I have spent so much time and energy on the wrong things.  I've modeled my christian life after the world's aims and methods rather than learning from your word.  Call me again to the simple truth of your gospel.  It was love that rescued me and love that the world needs.  Help be to live with such faith in this moment.  Amen."