The Great Ommission - Part 1

No product that is marketed today can turn you into Jesus. It is not the shoes that make someone like Christ. It isn’t what they drink. And it isn’t what they wear. It isn’t all the Jesus junk you can buy at stores. We often think that the very act of becoming a Christian makes us like Christ. To some extent this is true but not completely.

We throw around that title, “Christian” with some authority. But the word “Christian” is used only 3 times in the NT. Let me introduce you to another word. That word is “Disciple”. Disciple occurs 269 times in the NT and it isn’t just about the 12 we normally think of. The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, for disciples. A disciple is someone who is devoted to becoming exactly like Jesus Christ. A disciple stands on a road with the fulfillment of the kingdom of God in sight, struggling down the path to make it there. Being a Christian is the end result of a lifetime of discipleship. Acts records that the first people to be called Christians were not new converts, but disciples. These were people who were devoted to growing in Christ. They were willing to give up their lifestyle for Christ. They were willing to give up their selfishness for Christ. They were willing to suffer persecution for Christ. They were willing to die for Christ. They were worthy to be called followers of Christ. They were worthy to be called Christians.

It isn’t easy to be a disciple of Christ. When Jesus was around, people would come up to him and tell him that they wanted to follow him. Basically, he told them to drop all their concerns, drop their ambitions, drop their comfort, and drop their enjoyable lifestyle and then follow him. The disciples knew what it meant to follow Christ – they would go with him, learn from Him, obey him, and imitate him. They knew what they would have to do and what it would cost them. They knew that being a disciple meant that they must lay their lives down, and take up a cross instead. That they would have to take up a lifestyle that would be tough, that would be costly, and that would be painful. Why did they bother? Why should we bother? Why even consider discipleship if it hurts so much? Won’t it ruin our life on this earth? Is it worth it?

Most of the time, we answer, “No, it is not worth it. It is not worth leaving the comfort of the life I am enjoying.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship where he attacked easy Christianity and cheap grace. But I want to turn that around and attack the problem from the other end. What are the costs of nondiscipleship? What happens when we do not seek to be like Christ and settle for easy Christianity? What are those costs? There is a quote I have posted by my workspace as a constant reminder. It is by Dallas Willard. He says,

“Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated by love, faith that sees everything in light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life that Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10).”

The amazing thing about these blessings of discipleship is that they are engrained in our very being. We cry out for these, yet we often fail to grasp them because we seek them from the world, from ourselves, and from other people. But their true fulfillment cannot be found there. They are found only when we become like Christ.

Solidariedade - Part 2

Probably you have heard numerous lessons and sermons from this passage. Probably you have heard numerous lessons and sermons telling you to serve other people. Many of you have gone on mission trips to help people. Many of you have served at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Many of you have felt the need to help those less fortunate than you and be nice to the strangers and wierdos and freaks. And in our churches these sorts of actions are praised as sacrificial servanthood. But are these sorts of actions a real application of these verses? After all, don’t we just return to our comfortable homes and lifestyles when our time of service ends? Is this Christ’s example? Is this truly emptying ourselves?

What are you really giving up when you go on mission trips, or when you gather food for the boy scouts can drive, or when you donate clothes and coats, or when you buy toys for tots, or when you serve food at the local homeless shelter? These are all good programs and important to our society, but when you stop and think about it, what is the cost? Old cans of nasty beans that we weren’t going to eat? An old coat that is out of style and has been stuffed into the back of our closets for years? Some time that we probably would have spent playing a Wii or checking our Myspaces and facebooks? This isn’t sacrifice. This isn’t counting the cost.

Don’t get me wrong. While our acts of service are good and well intentioned I don’t think they get at what Paul is talking about in Philippians.

That is what separates Solidariedade from our notions of service. Considering others’ needs with no regard to your own flies in the face of what society expects from us. Entire businesses are built upon you getting what you want when you want it. It seems to me that we are willing to help people as long as it doesn’t really lower our own position. We will give people a hand out to put them on our level but we will not lift them up above ourselves. If we truly want to follow Christ’s example our actions do not stop with accepting one another as equal. Following Christ revolves around elevating others above your own position which may well mean lowering yourself. Giving up your rights. Sacrificing what you want.

Most of the time, when we truly count the cost, I am afraid that we decide it is too expensive and go for a cheaper version. For example, when the clothing drive comes my way, I could give away my best name brand shirt, but I look so good in it and I love the way it fits and feels. Wouldn’t it just be easier to give an old t-shirt that I never wear. What’s the difference? Shirtless people are still getting shirts, right? If you can’t see the difference in these two acts then you have missed the point for the day. You’ve missed what Solidariedade is all about. You’ve missed following the example of your Savior.

But this is a hard message to preach and even harder to live out. I struggle with it regularly. What is the balance between enjoying God’s blessings and elevating others above ourselves? Am I supposed take literally the command that Jesus gave to the rich man when Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give it to the poor and then follow? Should I cease buying anything new and just for enjoyment because other people are going without basic needs? Should I be plagued with guilt because I have contributed to the oppression and poverty in the world by creating the very demand that has caused such things?

I don’t know. I just don’t know. I go round and round with these thoughts all the time. I don’t have all the answers, but I know this – if we neglect the needs that are right in front of us and continue to live a life of luxury while others live in poverty we cannot be in the place God wants us to be. We cannot be following the example of Christ. We aren’t regarding others better than ourselves.

God is calling you to empty yourself so that others can be raised up. It may be dirty. It may be nasty. It may be uncomfortable. It may go against every instinct of self-preservation you have. But it is the essence of the life of a disciple.

In Latin America they call it Solidariedade. We just call it living the Christian life. May you embrace the life to which God has called you – a life of emptying yourself in the same way that your Savior emptied himself for you.

Solidariedade - Part 1

There are some dirty jobs out there. There are some things we would never do – never think of doing. Each of us has our boundaries that we will just refuse to go outside of. And so we come to our word for the day – Solidariedade. This concept is one of the most cherished values of Latin American culture. This concept focuses on helping others with no regard for one’s own wealth or poverty. If someone has a need, you help whether you have the resources or not. And if that need requires doing something that makes you uncomfortable, even repulses you, you do it. Why? Because you have placed the welfare of others above your own. This idea mirrors one found in Scripture:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:3-8 (NRSV)

Really think about the impact of what Jesus did. Imagine the President of the United States becoming a bed pan changer in a retirement home. Imagine the King of some nation going around and picking up trash after his subjects. These images are only scratching the surface of what Jesus did. Why would God become a slave? Because he had the fate of all humanity in mind when he gave up his Deity.

Consider the implications of following Christ’s example. When we serve we are not just aiding someone in need. When we serve as Christ serves, we are participating in the divine nature. We are living out the very purpose for which God created us.

Love is Suicide

I was listening to “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” album by Smashing Pumpkins the other day and there is a song called “Bodies”. It includes a very startling phrase – “Love is suicide.” The juxtaposition of these words makes little sense. Love – which carries the ideal of society – equated with suicide - considered a coward's way out and often the product of mental instability. But as I think about discipleship, these combined words can make sense.

Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Or, as the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die.”

Following Christ means dying to self. It means killing off many of the selfish expectations one might have for one’s life. If we desire to rise to the heights of politics, social standings, or career advancement, our hands are not fit for the plow. At the same time, to take seriously Christ’s call to follow Him leaves little room for the things the world holds dear. A life of discipleship will not endear or engender us to the world.

Lets face it, having standards is political suicide. Extending the hand of fellowship to the freaks and losers is social suicide and probably will cause us to end up in such a group. Considering others better than ourselves and putting them first is career suicide and will not advance us up the corporate ladder.

True discipleship that is based on love for God and others is suicide. And yet, that is the message of the gospel. But proclaiming this aspect of the gospel has become less and less popular as time goes on. Why? Because sacrifice and death are not marketable. How can we expect to make converts if the cost could mean our very lives? That concept is not easy to spin and market.

Yes, love and discipleship are costly. But as usual, our selfish mindset causes us to focus on what we are missing out on instead of what we gain. In addition, we see Christianity as just a blessing for the next life and miss out on the blessings of discipleship in this life. Richard Foster looks at this issue in the following way:

“Nondiscipleship costs: abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout buy love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundant life that Jesus said He came to bring.”

Yes, love is suicide. But living a mediocre spiritual life causes us to miss out on some of the greatest blessings that God is dolling out. Giving one’s life up to gain a better one – seems crazy. But maybe there is something to this whole discipleship thing.