The Way of Jesus

I've been in some good conversations lately about actively living/walking in the way of Jesus. Seems like we often talk about living the way Jesus lived or acting the way Jesus acted. It gets difficult to cut through the vague to hear someone say something specific.

"I think people need to act more like Jesus." Easy criticism. What does that mean? What would you change about your day if you were going to "act more like Jesus." Whatever you come up with, why don't you go ahead and change that?

These conversations and thoughts led me to dig into the teachings of Jesus more intensely than I have in the past. For reasons I can't quite figure out myself, I started with the Sermon on the Mount. I recommend you read it. Matthew 5:3-7:27. Go ahead. If you just go ahead and read it you will get far more out of it than if you continue reading this blog post.

For those who have read it (especially recently) and you want to continue this post. Here's more...

I find Jesus utterly surprising. Opening this compacted set of powerful teachings is a list - we call it the Beatitudes - of blessings. And who Jesus pronounces a blessing for surprises me. It probably surprised everyone there. He didn't say a blessing over the rich, the powerful, the beautiful, the cool, the popular, or those with many friends. He blesses the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, those hungering and thirsting for some righteousness, and for those who care deeply about these same things (merciful, pure in heart, peacemaking, righteous).

As I get to know Jesus better, I love that he asks me to get out of my comfort zone and try to see people the way he sees them. Maybe I can actually walk the way he walked or live the way he lived if I get to know his heart and begin to see the way he sees.

Blessed are the teenagers in that awkward stage...
Blessed are the crying or demanding toddlers at the grocery store...
Blessed are the people who can't seem to keep a job and always try to make excuses for themselves...
Blessed are the couple you just met at church and it turns out they've been there for years and you just didn't see them...
Blessed are the guys from another ethnicity that you are intimidated by...
Blessed are the two people talking or answering their phones during the movie you paid full price for...
Blessed are the drivers who cut you off...
Blessed are the Japanese survivors who lost many friends and family...
Blessed are the children's Sunday school teachers who never get to go to "big church"...
Blessed are the people who walk from their low-income apartment to the beer stop around the corner...
Blessed are those who think the best years of their lives are behind them...
Blessed are those who will not be able to buy turkey or ham for Thanksgiving or Christmas...
Blessed are those who will never get an A on a test...
Blessed are those who marry "that person" against their family's wishes...
Blessed are the ones who battle depression and have a successful day when they manage to get out of bed and leave the house for a little while...
Blessed are those who had to bury their dog or cat this week...
Blessed are those have a really strong opinion about everything and make sure you hear it...
Blessed are those who are caring for an aged parent...
Blessed are those who are carrying hurts and just won't heal...
Blessed are those who can't seem to do anything right...

These are the people that came to my mind when I tried to think of people that I don't bless. Maybe if I bless them, I can see them with Jesus' eyes and then I can love them as he does.

Is there someone in your life that you would find it unexpected for Jesus to bless them? What if you did it?

Who knows where this journey through the Sermon on the Mount will take me. If you want to come along, I welcome the company.

Serious question: who would you bless if you were to intentionally bless someone that doesn't get blessed much (or at all)?

Grace or Disgrace?

I have recently observed an exchange in a social network in which a Christian publicly "called out" another Christian for using a crass word in a public comment.

My first thought? Here we go again. Yet another instance of Christianity being publicly smeared by someone choosing "being right" over "being loving."

Take a quick glance at Matthew 22:34-40. The Pharisees try to trap Jesus by asking him to declare which of the commandments was the greatest. Jesus responds with the greatest commandment "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and throws in the second greatest commandment for good measure "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Neither of these commands was in the original list? Did Jesus forget the list? (Probably not as he was there when it was written.) No, clearly Jesus' response to their question is to point out to them how all of God's commands are to be understood. A paradigm shift for sure.

According to Jesus' statement of the first and second greatest commandments, Christians are to be such experts on love that they have no trouble at all obeying any other law that God has established.

I didn't get very far into this before I was reminded of Matthew 7:1-5 which includes Jesus' famous question "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but you do not see the log in your own eye?" Actually, the mental image this conjures usually is enough comedy to help me get over the angst it generates.

It is brash and rude to confront someone publicly. It always has been. Further, people who believe it is both their right and their job to point out another person's sin, have failed utterly to grasp Jesus comment on the speck and the log, are likely in violation of the second greatest command, and are guilty of disgrace. If this is a strong statement, let me ask you to please spend some time meditating on Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 7:1-5 before you comment or email me or give your input on this.

And now a moment of back-pedaling. I do not make these comments as though I am perfect. This is why I cannot name specifically the person who set me off or anyone for that matter. What if I reach for the speck only to find my arm is not as long as the log in my eye? Instead, I make these comments in defense of the confronted.

I have brought this up in discussion before and it is generally not well received. There seems to be a sense of Christian duty to make sure someone says something to that guy who sinned or that girl who sinned. We rally to speak the truth in love. Then we forget love altogether and confront because we're offended. Matthew 18:1 (someone was going to quote this as a counterpoint to what I'm saying, so I'll head it off now) says, "If your brother sins against YOU, go and tell him his fault between you and him ALONE." If you tell someone else about it first, you are guilty of gossip. If you don't address it in a private manner there is no conceivable way to convince me that it is being done in love, putting the good of that brother ahead of your own, or for the purpose of restoring that brother.

Here are some common myths regarding a Christian who sins:

Myth 1 - They don't know they sinned and they need to be shown their error so they can repent. (When I have sinned, I know before I committed the sin that I was sinning...every time). If you have the Holy Spirit living in you and guiding you, how do you "slip up" and sin without realizing it? No, if we are honest, we choose to sin. We know something is sin, we feel the temptation, and we choose to sin. You are not a victim of temptation. Take responsibility for yourself. And for the confronter, how can you be sure that you are not confronting from pride with a holier-than-thou attitude?

Myth 2 - Your are confronting your brother out of love. This is tricky. 1 Corinthians 13 has a great checklist to reference if you want to know whether your actions are loving or not.

Myth 3 - Your brother has sinned against you. We take other peoples failures too personally. I don't need to draw this out, but what if we were in the same trench in the same war with our brother? What if we didn't put them on the other side of a conflict they didn't know existed? I just think we should tone down our self-righteous indignation, check our egos at the door, and stop being wounded other peoples' behavior.

Myth 4 - Your brother has sinned. We have gotten very good at making something sin because we don't like it. It's quite possible, when you are offended, that your brother has not sinned at all you've just made an assumption or otherwise misunderstood your brother and are now talking yourself into having been sinned against. If something feels like an offense, it is healthy for the relationship for you to ask that person if they intended to offend you by that. This feels like the spirit behind Matthew 18:1. Don't you want to keep a friendship with your friend? If so, don't you want to make sure you aren't treating your friend unfairly by assuming something they didn't mean? Or, wouldn't you sacrifice your own comfort for the sake of keeping your friend? These conversations are not easy and should always be done sparingly, humbly, and with understanding as a goal - not correction. I have always found these conversations to be worth the having, though.

Here's what I'm driving at. We are created for relationship, so common sense would say it is better to keep a friend then right a wrong (look up 1 Peter 4:8). I have had countless conversations with friends who have sinned and are aware of their sin and are looking for help to get through the pain they have caused. They want to know that being a sinner has not made them less than human. They want forgiveness. They want to know that God still loves them and I still love them (they want me to follow the first and second greatest commandments). When I've treated them as with respect as an equal and refused to patronize them, discipleship happens! Conversely, I've heard and seen so much hurt caused in the name of "speaking the truth in love" that I can't tell whether it is love or the truth that Christians remain mostly ignorant of.

Please, for the love of God and the love of your brother, spend some time learning about Matthew 7:1-5 and 1 Corinthians 13 before you take a crack at Matthew 18:1.

How to have a good conversation

Is there anything more profound than a question? Maybe thoughtful silence is more profound than a question.

I wondered this morning if I have ever heard an answer that was nearly as profound as the question to which it responds.

As a child, life revolves around you. In your mind it is not the sun or the earth at the center of the universe, it is you. Paul the Apostle says, "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." (I Cor. 13:11) There must come a point when you stop behaving as the center of your own universe.

It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I began to be interested in what other people think. I always acted like I wanted to have a good conversation or discussion with someone but what I really wanted was to be right, to be impressive, to win the day. Amazing how easy narcissism can be!

So I began to ask people questions. I asked questions about their work, their hobbies, their interests, their passions and often asked how they feel about church. First lesson learned: people are interesting! Second lesson learned: you can learn something from anyone.

More recently, I've become very interested in the rare jewel that is a good and true conversation.

Emily Post is quoted as saying: "Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory."

Katsumoto, in The Last Samurai, says: "I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation."

With whom do you enjoy talking? Is there someone in your life with whom it is enough to just sit and talk?

What makes a good conversation? I have an idea that if you could teach someone to carry on good conversations it would help every one of that person's relationships.

Here's the instant gratification version of how to be good at conversation: "...let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger" (James 1:19)

For those who want a little more, here's a list of tips to help you become a good conversationalist (these are not original, I got them here):

A good conversationalist is patient and kind.

A good conversationalist does not envy or boast.

A good conversationalist is not arrogant or rude.

A good conversationalist does not insist on his own way.

A good conversationalist is not irritable or resentful.

A good conversationalist does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

A good conversationalist bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

I'll let you be the judge. If someone treated you as described in these seven statements, wouldn't that make for a very good conversation?

This year, ask more questions than you attempt to answer. Along the way you may learn much and improve a little.

Here's a starter. What do you want to talk about?

Truth in Common: Computers

I am the manager of an IT support group at a university. Connecting God's truth with computers will be a great daily reminder for me. For you, well...I guess you're on a computer if you're reading this so it applies.

Computers

Computers remind me of what God's Word tells us about our minds.

The Bible says, in Matthew 12:34b, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." One of the basic principles of computing is input/output. You give the computer input (often by keyboard and mouse), and by certain rules that computer gives you output (usually displayed on a screen). In our lives, aren't we constantly given input? We receive input from everything around us. The question is, by what rules are we responding to the input? Does the output of our lives show that we are receiving input from our Creator? Do we use rules that He has coded into our hearts to process what we take in so that what comes out of us gives Him the glory?

This is a nice segue to another point. All computers function because of programming. Our brains are correctly compared with computers in that they must be programmed to function in a meaningful way. As a parent I try to encode many things in my children - respect for others, love for God and all people, integrity. Even more, I am programmed by what I take in. Many people call this the "garbage in, garbage out" concept. The Bible says it another way, "...for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap."

In computers, you program correctly and the computer does exactly what you program it to do. A word processor and a virus are both programs that are working the way the programmer meant for them to work. You don't get evil from bad programming, you get evil from evil programming. So the two considerations with programming are "is it working correctly?" and "what did the programmer design it to do?" By now, you have probably already guessed my point. As beings designed by God, we out to be filling up with His programming so that we can do what we are designed to do. However, we allow ourselves to be programmed by messages from other sources - other people, ourselves, worldly thinking, or our great enemy. Like a virus, though, any message not coming from God will lead to our destruction. A virus is not just an "alternative" or "another way to look at it" or "what works for me." A virus is designed to destroy and prevent what the computer was intended to do.

We act and think based on what is imprinted in our heart and mind - what we are programmed to think and to do. Are you being programmed by God's Truth. Before you turn on the TV or boot up the computer and begin to program yourself with viruses, have you programmed yourself with the message of Jesus Christ? He is the only anti-virus.

Maybe as you use your computer and watch your AV program scan your hard drive for malicious threats, you will think about how we must be programmed by God if we have any hope of doing or being what He designed.

Truth in Common: Trees

This is the first entry in what I hope will be a series called "Truth in Common." The idea of this series is that I'm beginning to see the truth of God in almost everything I see. The Bible says "...let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." If I can use common everyday things to point you and me to God, we will perhaps have a better shot at "love and good deeds." Call it my own version of a WWJD bracelet - I'm going to try it.

Trees

Trees make me think of worship.

A tree points up to its source of life. A tree looks like it is reaching up toward the sun. Its arms stretch toward the sky as if to say, "Sun, thank you for warmth and light." Trees that are alive and full of leaves are vibrant, beautiful things. They almost seem to whisper, like they have something in their heart that they can't put into words so they just whisper, "thank you, thank you, thank you."

A tree sinks its roots into the ground so it can be fed. When I sink roots into God's word, worship springs up spontaneously. When a tree's roots are too shallow, the tree can be blown over by harsh winds. By contrast, I've seen trees that are deeply rooted bent over by hurricanes only to stand up tall again when the storm passes. Sometimes our worship is at its best when we find ourselves standing up tall after a storm.

Jesus hung on a cross that was made from a tree. In fact, in some of our songs we sing of Him "hanging on a tree." His death and resurrection are the focal point of human history and so are easily at the center of our worship. And really worship is worth-ship and Revelation 5:11 says, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

So maybe when you see a tree, especially one that is full of leaves and seems to stretch out to embrace the warmth of the sun, you will think of worship and the One who is worthy.

Does a tree make you think of worship? Does it make you think of other bits of truth? I'm interested in your comments. Also, feel free to give me some ideas of items to explore in the future in Truth in Common.

What is Easter all about anyway?

If you don't consider yourself a Christian, or you've visited a Christian church a few times and wonder what the big deal is about Easter, let me try to give you some information on this.

As Christians, we hold to what the Bible tells us about being created by God. It tells us that He made us and gave us instructions on how to live. Then we disobeyed Him and rejected His authority in our lives. This made us enemies of God. We were lost.

Then for a very long time, God worked with people to show us that no amount of our effort would be enough to "earn" a place in heaven with God (or even a restored relationship with Him in this lifetime). He gave us laws again so that we could submit to His authority and live His way. We repeatedly broke his laws. It became clear that we were just too selfish to make God most important in our lives. In light of this, it became clear that if God didn't do something, we would have no hope. We were lost.

So Go did something. He came down to us. He set aside His own self and became a human person. He was born, grew up, learned the teachings we had been trying to follow, and then began to show us another way to live. This made some of us very angry. We wanted to do things our own way and He began telling us that He is the only way to God. We began to see that He wanted us to believe in Him and to trust Him with our lives. This made us afraid and even more angry. So we killed Him. The Bible tells us that it was all of our sin that sent Jesus to the cross to die. Every one of us was in on that. We heard Jesus' message, He showed us the way back to God, and we killed Him. We were lost.

But God is greater than we are. We didn't know that our disobedience to Him was so great that there was no way we could pay for it. We also didn't realize that Jesus had managed to live a sinless life and that God was willing to accept His death as payment for our sins. So when we killed Jesus, we didn't even know that He was actually giving up His life for us! See how lost we were?

The Bible tells us that God accepted Jesus' payment for our sin. Even more, Jesus' went down to death and faced our real enemy, Satan, and broke the power of death. Then, because death didn't have power over Jesus anymore, He came back to life by the power of God! A dead man actually came back to life! That's what we're all talking about when we talk about resurrection.
There were many people who saw Him after He came back to life. They were witnesses that He had won this great victory over death and our sin. They began to teach what He had been walking around telling people. We can come back to God! We are not lost anymore. There is a way!

So, every year we have this great party. It doesn't look like other parties because it celebrates something far more meaningful than anything else we could party about. We were lost. Jesus came to find us and show us the way to God. Now we are found. Do you realize what this means?
A bunch of us realize this is the most important thing that has ever happened to us. We get together often and talk about what Jesus did and how would should live afterwards. When Easter comes, we set aside some time to remember what Jesus went through when we were killing Him. That's why you might see people crying. They realize that Jesus never did anything wrong. The worst thing He did was love us more than He loved His own life. They realize that He actually was tortured and killed and that it was extremely painful and that He didn't deserve it, we did. So we cry, especially on Good Friday, which is the day we connect with the day Jesus died.

But it doesn't end there. You probably wouldn't be interested in coming to a party where a bunch of people sit around and cry together. That's why you should come on Sunday! Easter Sunday we get together and remember the day that Jesus came back to life and came out of his own grave. We well up with so much hope and joy in our hearts because we realize that He did it! He defeated sin and death! He made a way back to God! And, further, He said to tell everyone that anyone who wants to come back to God that they can now do that! So we party, but in a strange way. We celebrate by drinking from a cup and eating a piece of bread or cracker that Jesus said would continue to tell us what He did for us. We celebrate by thanking God for not leaving us on our own to die in our sin. We celebrate with singing, and praying, and hugging, and crying. Usually someone stands up and talks to us about why we are celebrating, and gives you a chance to pray and thank Jesus and give Him your life and ask Him to come down to your heart and teach you how to live. We basically are just celebrating the best thing any of us have ever heard! We call it Good News and we use the old word Gospel when we talk about that.

Don't be afraid if you aren't familiar with all this or if you haven't caught on to the party atmosphere. People all over the world join in this party and they would love to talk to you about Jesus and try to get you to join the party too. We love you and want you to not have to walk around in darkness thinking we are all still lost. God found us! Jesus tracked us down and said, "Turn around, look where I'm heading, and follow me. Trust me, I'll get you there."

If you want to be a part of this, we'll be happy to have you. If you are already a part of this, I'll see some of you on Friday and Sunday and we'll remember together. I can't wait. It'll be great this year! God is with us! We are not lost! Jesus lives!

If you comment here that you would like to talk more about this, I will reply so we can start a conversation. Don't be surprised if I get a little excited about it all. It's just too much for me to keep bottled up inside. By the way, if you wonder about the things I've said here, read it for yourself in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible. There are many more details in there and all of them are worth reading.

Radical

Forgive me...I'm a word nerd. Here's a link to "radical" at dictionary.com. I'm particularly interested in the first five definitions of the word as an adjective and the first two definitions of the word as a noun.

Here they all are:

Noun def. 9: "a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist"

Noun def. 10: "a person who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods."

Adjective def. 1: "of or going to the root or origin; fundamental"

Adjective def. 2: "thoroughgoing or extreme, esp. as regards change from accepted or traditional forms"

Adjective def. 3: "favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms"

Adjective def. 4: "forming a basis or foundation"

Adjective def. 5: "existing inherently in a thing or person"

As I read the Bible, how can anyone consider Christianity anything other than radical? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

As we go through this week between Palm Sunday and Easter, I can't help but think about how radical God's love for us really is.

If you don't go regularly or haven't go in a while, think about spending Easter at a church near you. The retelling of the story of our Savior's sacrifice and the celebration of His great and enduring victory is really the climax and conclusion of the story that opens with Christmas. Do some reading in the Bible and you'll discover that this story goes back a great deal farther. We have some ancient Jewish spiritual relatives that would consider our part of this story (the church age) a rather short and magnificent chapter in the greater book of what in the world God is doing. Perhaps if you stop in for a visit this coming weekend you'll find what your heart has been looking for. God bless you.