In the classic tale of Snow White, the wicked Queen would consult her magic mirror on the wall to learn the most important question on her heart – who is the fairest, prettiest one of all in her kingdom? The mirror simply told the truth as it was – it was up to the Queen what to do with that truth.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a magic mirror on the wall to answer our questions? We could ask even more important questions than check-out-isle magazines – who’s the sexiest, the cutest, the most plastic, etc. We could ask stuff like, “Why am I here?” Or, “Why are we here?” And certainly, “What can I (and we) do to make the most of our experience while we’re here?”
Good news. There is a mirror. And it tells the truth. The question for you is, how are you going to respond to this truth once you’ve heard it?
The mirror we have is the Word of God. Most people immediately think of the Bible, which is often called by that name. But the Bible is more of a record of accounts of the Word of God, which is an important (even if subtle) distinction because if it becomes the Word, we tend to put it on a pedestal and treat it in ways it wasn’t supposed to be treated. The Word is that which God speaks. It is the power and presence of God. The Word brought about creation. The Word made nations rise and fall. The Word brought redemption to the slaves of Egypt. The Word brought life to dead, dry bones. The Word brought hope in times of calamity, because people knew they could trust the Word – it told the truth. If they aligned themselves with the Word, as painful as that may have been at times, the Word’s truth would shine through.
Of course, the Word is a name for Jesus Christ as well. He was the Word made flesh – God’s gift to humanity. In Jesus Christ, we can see the Word, hear the Word, touch the Word, interact with the Word.
The Word is the mirror. The Word, according to James 1:21, has the power to save your souls. Soul is another word that has been minimized in recent times to simply mean that part of ourselves that lives beyond the grave. The Word defines it differently: your soul is your very life. James is saying that this mirror, this Word, has the power to save your life. This is completely congruent with many other accounts in the Bible where the Word of God told the people that in God life is found. Jesus said that he came to bring the best of life. And he even told us how to get it.
One of the last commands Jesus, the Word, gave to his disciples was to go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus. A disciples is one who learns about and follows in the footsteps of the one they are following. The connection is clear, then: if life is to be had at its best for you, me, and all of humanity, it will come through learning about and following in the footsteps of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus.
This is the goal of life, if the best of life is truly what you desire. This is also the goal of the Church, and is the focus of our attention here at CrossWalk. If we’re not about helping you and others develop in your discipleship, we’re failing.
The Word offers some guidance as to how to pull this off. The good news is, it’s not complicated. But it is countercultural, which means it is, at times, difficult.
If we really want to be the church we’re supposed to be, and if you really want the life you’re supposed to have, and if you really want to see serious improvement in the broken places in our world, there are three basic things that we need to always be about: Walk with God, Walk with Others, and Go Be Jesus.
Walk with God. This is worship. Certainly, personal devotional time and developing an attitude of worship-as-a-lifestyle is to be sought, but I’m talking about corporate worship. This gathering we’re at right now. Something happens here that cannot happen while watching a service on TV or the internet, or in listening to the podcast. The Word is spoken. Not my teaching, but something quite beyond it. Not just songs sung, but something seemingly intangible that can be felt. The Presence of God. The Word alive. Jesus himself said that God’s presence would be more potently present in community than it would be alone. So show up, regularly, for worship, because not doing so keeps you away from the mirror. And when you show up, really show up – come looking for God’s Word, come listening, come seeking, and you will find it.
Walk with Others. We don’t always see ourselves accurately. We need community to help us see what we cannot, to lovingly support us as we hear the Word and try to live it out. We easily forget, like James says, what we’re really capable of according to the mirror, and we will settle for less. Getting together regularly in order to grow together is critical for our life, and yet it is highly undervalued. If the mirror says its true, do you believe it? What will you do about it?
Go Be Jesus. There’s a lot of need, and we can meet it. There are many opportunities to be Jesus right in our own community, just beyond our borders, and on the other side of the planet. We can’t do it all, but we must do our part.
When we do, the Word becomes real in a way that it simply cannot otherwise. That’s why James said that faith without works is dead. Doesn’t exist. Useless. If you haven’t applied all of your knowledge of the Word, its high time you do so.
If we get these things right, and focus our energy around these three simple movements, our lives are going to change. And the lives of others we touch are going to change as well. The mirror says this will bring God great joy, and that blessing will follow.
Good news. There is a mirror. And it tells the truth. The question for you is, how are you going to respond to this truth once you’ve heard it?
Think…
1. If a reliable magic mirror existed, would you use it? What would you use it for?
2. How is the Word like a magic mirror? How can it be used like a mirror?
3. What do you sense the mirror saying to you? What keeps you from doing it?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
090816 Self-Medicated
We all self-medicate in one way or another. We all have our own ways of trying to address the difficulties of life, to cope with pain. These meds come in all shapes and sizes, and some are surprising.
Some people… Drink excessively. Take illegal drugs. Take legal drugs beyond what was prescribed. Eat too much. Smoke. Watch too much TV. Shop impulsively. Lose themselves in on-line chat rooms. Get into porn. Exercise too much. Focus too much on physical health. Surf the net. Text until their thumbs go numb. Sexting. Gamble. Over sleep. Over socialize. Choose isolation. I’ve even known some people who read the Bible for their self-medication in ways that are not healthy. The list can go on indefinitely, really.
While some of the things on the list are obviously illegal or immoral, many of the things on the list don’t register as particularly bad. What’s wrong with an extra (fifth) trip to the buffet? What’s the big deal with going out for yet another workout? Who gets hurt there?
Things become a problem when we choose coping mechanisms (disciplines) to numb the pain instead of doing what we need to do to address the actual cause of pain. We self-medicate in a wide variety of ways when we want to feel secure and whole – at peace – right now with what appears to be less effort than pursuing actual resolution.
The problem is that it works. Sort of. We stumble onto these disciplines because, at least for a moment, we feel a little better. Sometimes we can feel better for entire seasons of life. But eventually, the prescription fails, and we find out that we have become more toxic than before. More pain, not less. Instead of wholeness, we find ourselves more broken.
The excessive drinking catches up with work, with DUI’s, in relationships. Lot got so drunk he slept with both of his own daughters – fathering children with each (Genesis 19:30-38). Over-eating leads to obesity which leads to increased health risks all the way around. The people of Israel were so fat and sassy that they could not see the doom that was just around the corner (Amos 4:1). We spend ourselves into financial nightmares becoming slaves to debt or into a love of stuff that leads to great peril (Ecclesiastes 5:10). We wear ourselves out achieving the highest scores on video games in an imaginary world, while we find ourselves failing in the game of life in the real world.
The author of Ephesians noted the problem and offered a solution: Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:18-20 NLT). Earlier in that same letter to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:28 NLT), he addressed those who were stealing other people’s stuff, telling them to focus their hands on good hard work instead of destruction.
Jesus was fully aware of our self-medicating tendencies, of or propensity to engaging disciplines that wear us out. His call to all people everywhere who self-medicate: Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT).
Our deepest longings, our greatest pain, and our highest hopes all find their solution in relationship with God. Jesus found the way to that relationship, and offers you the opportunity to be there with him, with God, with others, whole and complete, healthy in every sense of the word.
Some people… Drink excessively. Take illegal drugs. Take legal drugs beyond what was prescribed. Eat too much. Smoke. Watch too much TV. Shop impulsively. Lose themselves in on-line chat rooms. Get into porn. Exercise too much. Focus too much on physical health. Surf the net. Text until their thumbs go numb. Sexting. Gamble. Over sleep. Over socialize. Choose isolation. I’ve even known some people who read the Bible for their self-medication in ways that are not healthy. The list can go on indefinitely, really.
While some of the things on the list are obviously illegal or immoral, many of the things on the list don’t register as particularly bad. What’s wrong with an extra (fifth) trip to the buffet? What’s the big deal with going out for yet another workout? Who gets hurt there?
Things become a problem when we choose coping mechanisms (disciplines) to numb the pain instead of doing what we need to do to address the actual cause of pain. We self-medicate in a wide variety of ways when we want to feel secure and whole – at peace – right now with what appears to be less effort than pursuing actual resolution.
The problem is that it works. Sort of. We stumble onto these disciplines because, at least for a moment, we feel a little better. Sometimes we can feel better for entire seasons of life. But eventually, the prescription fails, and we find out that we have become more toxic than before. More pain, not less. Instead of wholeness, we find ourselves more broken.
The excessive drinking catches up with work, with DUI’s, in relationships. Lot got so drunk he slept with both of his own daughters – fathering children with each (Genesis 19:30-38). Over-eating leads to obesity which leads to increased health risks all the way around. The people of Israel were so fat and sassy that they could not see the doom that was just around the corner (Amos 4:1). We spend ourselves into financial nightmares becoming slaves to debt or into a love of stuff that leads to great peril (Ecclesiastes 5:10). We wear ourselves out achieving the highest scores on video games in an imaginary world, while we find ourselves failing in the game of life in the real world.
The author of Ephesians noted the problem and offered a solution: Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:18-20 NLT). Earlier in that same letter to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:28 NLT), he addressed those who were stealing other people’s stuff, telling them to focus their hands on good hard work instead of destruction.
Jesus was fully aware of our self-medicating tendencies, of or propensity to engaging disciplines that wear us out. His call to all people everywhere who self-medicate: Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT).
Our deepest longings, our greatest pain, and our highest hopes all find their solution in relationship with God. Jesus found the way to that relationship, and offers you the opportunity to be there with him, with God, with others, whole and complete, healthy in every sense of the word.
May you have ears to hear.
May you give up your self-medication disciplines
in favor of the much easier, much more effective path of Jesus.
May you then live the life you were meant to live.
Group Questions…- What sorts of prescriptions have you made for yourself to deal with your ailments? How have they worked for you? How have they not worked for you?
- Where did you learn to self-medicate in your particular ways?
- What are the top triggers that seem to push you toward your personal prescription? What pain are you trying to avoid?
- What are the prescriptions offered in the Ephesians verses noted earlier?
- What does it mean to take on Jesus’ yoke? How is that different than the yoke you’re wearing now?
- How will life look and feel different if you trade your current prescription for Jesus’? What things will change?
- What keeps you from trusting Jesus’ prescription enough to get it filled?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
090802 Bread
How is your relationship with bread? Dr. Atkins is famous for changing our country’s relationship with carbohydrates. I became aware of his approach to dietary health about fifteen years ago, when a few people in my congregation started telling me about eating all the bacon, eggs, steak, and pork rinds they could handle. And they were losing weight. The secret to the Atkins Diet? Limiting carbs forces the human body to find that energy elsewhere – namely fat cells. Keep your carbs low, and your body will eat the fat, while maintaining muscle because you’re loading it with protein. Millions of people shunned all things bread. Low-carb everything hit the shelves: bread, beer, chips, soft drinks, and even ice-cream. The Atkins Diet, and then the South Beach and certainly others, have changed our relationship with bread.
Jewish people thought a lot about their bread. In Jesus’ day, the majority of Jewish people were poor. They lived in the Promised Land, but under Roman occupation. When they thought about bread, they thought about the difference between living and dying. But beyond literal grains, yeast, and sugars, when they considered bread, their thoughts also turned to their faith. In their history, God instituted some feasts they were mandated to observe: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, for instance. Food was central to each of these feasts, and bread was a natural part of the celebration. They remembered special bread made without yeast – central to every Passover meal, recalling the night of their redemption from Egyptian slavery. They remembered manna – the weird bread from heaven the whole nation of people received every morning as dew as they journeyed to the Promised Land – it was tasty and nutritious.
So, when Jesus started doing his ministry, and began suggesting that he was more than your average rabbi or prophet, people naturally asked:
Think…
Jewish people thought a lot about their bread. In Jesus’ day, the majority of Jewish people were poor. They lived in the Promised Land, but under Roman occupation. When they thought about bread, they thought about the difference between living and dying. But beyond literal grains, yeast, and sugars, when they considered bread, their thoughts also turned to their faith. In their history, God instituted some feasts they were mandated to observe: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, for instance. Food was central to each of these feasts, and bread was a natural part of the celebration. They remembered special bread made without yeast – central to every Passover meal, recalling the night of their redemption from Egyptian slavery. They remembered manna – the weird bread from heaven the whole nation of people received every morning as dew as they journeyed to the Promised Land – it was tasty and nutritious.
So, when Jesus started doing his ministry, and began suggesting that he was more than your average rabbi or prophet, people naturally asked:
“Hey Jesus – what’s your relationship with bread?”
In the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus gives his answer: “I am the bread of life… I am the living bread of heaven… I am the true bread that came down from heaven… And for those who eat it, they will receive eternal life and be raised on the last day and live forever.” Statements like this is what led C. S. Lewis to proclaim that Jesus was either everything he said he was, or an absolute lunatic. Not a great teacher or prophet if he says this kind of stuff and can’t back it up.
Volumes of interpretive work have been written about this, but let me simply sum it up with this… The people raising the question were looking for the “what” to do to keep God on their side – a question that religion seeks to answer. Jesus wasn’t a big fan of religion, however. He gave his life to helping people know what it meant to have a relationship with God that works personally, for relationships, for families, communities, and for the whole world. That relationship would change our very sense of being, making us whole, reshaping our worldview, reprioritizing our values, refocusing our passions. To eat this bread was simply to believe in Jesus. But believing wasn’t just mental.
For Jesus, believing meant your whole life found its center in the Way he was modeling and teaching. For Jesus, believing meant lifelong learning, growing intellectually regarding who God is and who we are through personal study, teaching, and group dialogue. For Jesus, believing meant growing closer to God emotionally – finding spiritual intimacy privately and through community. And for Jesus, believing meant behavioral change – being like Jesus with the way we use our passions, gifts, skill-sets, and other resources. Eating this bread – believing in Jesus, would lead us to the best of life here on earth, and a growing confidence in life past the grave.
The communion bread was the Passover bread – made without yeast because God was going to redeem them quickly – no time to allow the bread to rise. Good choice on Jesus’ part, because when we really look to Jesus for our very sustenance (instead of mere religion), we find our lives being saved. Saved from whatever limited and limiting definitions of life, to the source of endless, everlasting, abundant life.
There are many accounts in the Bible of people who chose to eat this bread. Guess what? It worked! We are here today because it works. The question of the hour, though: is it working for you?
Think…
- How’s your relationship to the Bread of Life? Are you full or hungry?
- Do you treat Jesus like a religion – something to do to keep God on your side? Or do you treat Jesus as the author, teacher, modeler, and provider of the Way that leads to relationship with God?
- How does your life validate or repudiate your answers above?
- How is your influence affecting those under your care?
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