Motivated; but why?

I did it!  I was able to get my garage clean enough so that both our car and our van can fit, now I will not be scraping windows this winter.  Actually this has been a goal of mine each and every winter and I am pleased to inform you that I have achieved this goal with regularity.  You could say that I am motivated.  Why?  Because my logic says that if I have a two car garage then I need to be able to fit two cars in the garage, especially during the Chicago winters.  Why scrape windows if I don't have to, right?

This morning as I backed out of the garage in my frost free van, I had a thought and I am sorry to say I tried to ignore it.  I tend to do that when I know God wants me to think a bit more deeply.  The thought was this: What else motivates me to the point that I would spend several hours of free time to see it accomplished?  Ugh.  The answers weren't great from any spiritual, following Jesus angle; granted none of them are necessarily wrong or sinful per se but just not great.  I can work hard to clear my schedule so I can watch a football game.  I re-arrange things so I can sneak out to the golf course for a "quick" round.  I make time to surf the net and chat on Facebook.  But hey, I am not horrible.  I get real stuff done.  I read.  I write sermons.  I plan lessons.  I help people.  I am a pretty decent pastor.  Don't I deserve some pleasure?  Can't I enjoy a frost free van on a cold morning?

For me, the point that I think God wants to make in my life is that I be very careful to not make these simple pleasures of life a demand.  God does not owe me anything.  He does not have to give me a two car garage or even any garage for that matter.  Playing golf or watching a football game are not rights to which I am entitled.  When I am motivated to focus on creature comforts and making sure I get my share of them, then my focus is not on following Jesus but on working to meet my desires and protesting to God when life doesn't work out the way I had mapped things out.  Note the first person emphases in that last sentence.  When I am motivated by the first person, by me, I am motivated to pursue even good things for the wrong reasons.

Three statements come to mind as I think about making demands of God.  First of all in Matthew 6:25-34 we are reminded that our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and promises to provide.  Our task is not to "run after all these things" but to "seek first the kingdom of God" and trust God to make sure our needs are met.  The words translated "run" and "seek" have the same root, in other words both are seeking.  But the ones who "run" are demanding that they get the things they think they need.  They are motivated to obtain stuff.  The ones who "seek" have a different priority.  They are motivated to know God first and to submit to him first and restructure their lives according to relationship with him. 

Secondly, Jesus' words about what it really means to follow him from Luke 9:23 come to mind.  That I must "deny myself."  Wow, I have to not focus on me but on him and that is a daily process.

Finally a statement made by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer: "When I am in the presence of God, it becomes uniquely unbecoming to demand anything."  He died of cancer one month later.  I have that statement written in my Bible at the end of Job. 

The bottom line for me as a follower of Jesus is this:  Do the things that really motivate me and move me to action drive me to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus?  Or do they move me to think I can demand something from God?

Change

I was planning to post this a few weeks ago after all the furor over yet another change that was instituted by Facebook.  But then we went through some changes in our ministry as we said good bye to our Associate Pastor of 14 years and there were many holes to fill and for a time I had to set some things like this blog aside until I adjusted.  So I am still thinking about change. 

Change happens.  There is nothing we can do about it.  Sometimes it is foisted on us from sources like Facebook in which we feel we have no choice.  And we complain for a while and then we get used to it an go on.  Just like most Facebook users have done.   Change happens.  We have no choice but to grow older, we can't stop the process, it happens.  We complain about it; we work hard to slow down the process; but it still happens.

I have been in conversations with people who  tell me that they literally hate change and want everything to always be the same.  Then they excuse themselves and take a call on their cell phone.  A change that they have accepted and taken advantage of.  I am writing this blog on my laptop, wirelessly connected to the internet; a change that I have gladly accepted and taken advantage of.  Our family has changed as our two daughters have married and our son is in college.  Change that we celebrated and change that has expanded our family, enriched our lives and given us to date three grandchildren. 

Change happens.  Originally I was going to write about the fact that Jesus told us that unless we change and become like little children we cannot follow him (Matthew 18:3).  Those of us who don't like change need to take to heart those words that even God expects us to change.  In fact only God does not change (James 1:17).  If we are to follow Jesus we must change.  So why do we tend to resist change?  Why do we complain about change in life?  What is it about change that sets many of us on edge? 

Let me just toss out one idea that comes to my mind as I have thought about this topic.  Maybe our resistance to change says more about our faith in God than it does anything else.  Could it be that the key to dealing with change in life comes back to that age old idea of contentment?  Consider this:  in Philippians 4:12-13 after describing the variety of circumstances in which he found himself, Paul states that the secret of contentment is depending on God who gives him strength.  His circumstances changed drastically, but his God did not and the reality of that faith relationship was his anchor.  I can be content in changing circumstances when I put my faith in God and believe that he is fully aware of all I face now and in the future,and  fully capable of meeting all my needs.  You see contentment is really based on faith and faith in God is what will help me navigate change.  Change happens.

Faithfulness

This week I have been thinking a lot about faithfulness.  This past Wednesday, August 24, would have been my parent’s 55^th wedding anniversary.  My parents fulfilled their vow “to death do us part.”  For 52 years until my mother’s death Mom and Dad had eyes only for each other.  It was not always easy, it was not always fun, but in the end it was not just rewarding to them, but an example to us all.  They will not know, this side of heaven, the full impact that their faithfulness to each other had in the lives of so many us who watched them.

It seems sometimes that faithfulness is a rare commodity.  We live in a culture that seems to reward getting ahead, getting noticed and getting results. Ambition is often rewarded more than faithfulness.   But for those who follow Jesus faithfulness is to be a key characteristic of our daily lives.  Since our God is a faithful God (Deut. 7:9; Psalm 145:13; 1 Thess. 5:24; 1 John 1:9) we are to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:17; Col. 1:7).

To be faithful means one is reliable, trusted, believable, stable, and dependable.  A faithful person will perform whatever task is before them to the best of their ability and will see it through to the end.  Sometimes the person who is faithful, does not always get to see the results of their faithfulness.  For that one, the reward is that they know in the core of their being that they were faithful to what God had asked them to do and that is enough.

In a culture that is very results oriented faithfulness can be a foreign concept.  Faithfulness is not about wins or losses, profit margin, numeric growth, graded, publications or media recognition.  Faithfulness is about being true to one’s word, or one’s calling no matter the results.  As we follow Jesus; keep in mind that as he talked about the end of the age in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, he repeatedly emphasized faithfulness.  When we are faithful to do our best with the talents, abilities and resources that God has given us, He is pleased and we find a depth of satisfaction in our soul that while hard to describe is truly its own reward.  God notices faithfulness.

I follow Jesus best when I am faithful to serve him and others with all he has given me.

Lessons from Kidney Stones

Today as I write this installment of Following Jesus, I have three kidney stones lurking in my body.  Monday was not a good day, but the pain eventually subsided and I am scheduled to have the stones blasted away on Friday.  But today is Wednesday and one thing I know, is that until Friday, excruciating pain is imminent, a word that means “likely to occur at any moment.”  When you know something could happen at any moment that could leave you at best in agony and at worst land you in the hospital, you adjust your behavior accordingly.

I am pressing today to get the basics done which include Sunday’s sermon, my part of the weekly bulletin and this column.  I don’t know if or when the kidney stones may begin to move again and I want to be ready, just in case.  So today I am thinking about the concept of imminence and how in my circles it usually pertains to the return of Jesus Christ.

As I survey the teaching of Jesus concerning the end of this world, I find two emphases.  First of all, he never told us when he was coming and in fact he was very explicit that the day and the hour were unknown (Matthew 24:36-44).  His instructions were that his followers should always be ready and that the best way to be ready was actively serving God and others until Jesus returned.

Secondly, however, he promised that he would definitely return. For instance, as Jesus sought to give comfort to his disciples as he was preparing to go the cross, he reminded them of the fact that he would return (John 14:1-4).  He used the first century imagery of a groom preparing his house and them coming to take his bride home, the bride knew that the groom’s coming was imminent and she spent that year in constant readiness.  Moreover as Jesus ascended to heaven the angels reminded the disciples that he would return in the same way as they had watched him ascend (Acts 1:9-11).  The thrust of the New Testament writers is not a question of when Jesus is returning, it is that he is returning and it could be at any moment.

Jesus return is imminent and I am instructed to be ready every day for that event.  What the reality doesn’t mean is that I quit living and just sit on my haunches and wait.  What it does mean is that if I have put my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for my sins then I live every day to the full.  Not by indulging myself, but by doing my best to faithfully serve God and others by the power of the Holy Spirit in me.  I go to work each day and give my employer my best energy and attention.  I go to school each day and show respect to my teachers and do my best in my assignments.  I love my neighbor as myself and actively seek to connect and serve them and engage in spiritual conversations so that one day they too can trust Christ and follow him.  I make corporate worship and service at church a priority in my life, using my God given gifts and talents to make my church a safe place where God’s love and his truth are available to all.  I pray, plan, prepare and live my life with the express understanding that today Jesus could come back.

The hard part is when today ends and it has been very hard, and I am discouraged and I wonder if it is worth it.  It is easy to lose our excitement over a promise that seems to never come.  But this is where as a Follower of Jesus I rediscover faith.  True faith is trusting Jesus at his word even when I don’t see clear evidence.  I trust him because he is God and he gave me his promise and that alone needs to be enough.

  

God's Unseen Work

It has happened to all of us.  We have moments in our lives where someone has made a statement, or offered a word of instruction that unbeknownst to them has stuck with us for years.  Two instances stand out in my mind.

When I was about 16 we took our annual trip from Kansas to West Virginia.  But this trip was different.  We would be leaving my older sister there in West Virginia as she would be attending a small Bible College.  I recall being with a good friend of my parents, Kenneth.  He was a retired school administrator and had known my parents for many years.  My father was lamenting the fact that his daughter was growing up and would not be returning to Kansas with us when Kenneth, in a friendly but serious matter corrected my Dad.  He reminded him that for the past 18 years he had been training and preparing his daughter for just the moment of release, that this was not a time to lament but a time to celebrate.  I was not the direct recipient of those words, but they had profound impact on my life; to the point that when I released both of my daughters in marriage, I was reminded that I was to celebrate the culmination of the training and preparation, and so I did.  Kenneth had a major impact on me without knowing it.

Paul and Nancy are dear friends.  We only lived next to them for about two years, in Winona Lake, IN but in those two years a wonderful friendship was developed.  Paul is an individual, who in my opinion has a real grasp on the reality of what it means to live in the Kingdom of God.  Whenever they were back in town Paul and Nancy would stop by for a visit, even if it was only for an hour or so.  On one of those visits Paul asked me the standard question about how ministry was going.  I shared with him how that I was frustrated at times by the many interruptions that would come my way.  He listened and smiled and let me finish and then in a very kind and gentle way he said, “Scott, those interruptions are kingdom work.  If you believe that God is in control of your life, then you have to believe that he is allowing those interruptions.  How exciting that God would give you such wonderful opportunities to minister!”

That brief statement affected me to the degree that I quit telling my secretary to hold my calls unless I was in a meeting or counseling appointment with someone.  I decided on that day to seek to learn how to give God control of my schedule and strive to understand that if he allowed an interruption that I should trust him to grant me time to accomplish my to-do list.  It is still a work in progress.

Here is the point.  Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground and that seed grows.  The farmer does not fully know how but seed germinates and grows to maturity and eventually the mature grain is harvested (Mark 4:26-29).  One of the applications that you and I can take from this parable is the fact that much of God’s work in our lives and in the lives of those with whom we have contact is quiet, unnoticed, and behind the scenes.  Neither Kenneth nor Paul knew how much God would use their words to make a difference in my life. 

As I seek to follow Jesus, I am learning that my job is to be like that farmer, scattering seed and letting God do the work to grow and produce a harvest.  Scattering seed may look different for each one of us.  One may teach and preach, and another may encourage, yet another may be one who has a vital prayer life.  No matter our role be it parents, neighbors, vocational Christian workers, friends, classmates, etc. we who follow Jesus are all used by God to scatter the seed of his truth.  Most of the time we will not see or hear how God has used us, we simply need to trust that he will work through us and sometimes in spite of us.

I have had the opportunity to tell both Kenneth and Paul how God used them in my life.  They were both a little surprised.  They had just scattered some truth seed and moved on believing that God would do his work in his way.  But sometimes in his grace God lets you and me see a glimpse of the harvest.  Just enough, mind you, to encourage us to keep scattering some seed as we walk the path of this life believing that God is always at work.

Thoughts on Being Childlike

In the Gospel of Mark we have the brief account of the disciples turning away parents who wanted to bring their children to Jesus to be blessed.  The Bible says Jesus was indignant when he saw this.  One thing that literally ticks Jesus off is when we get in the way of people coming to him.  But I digress.  Jesus words about children are the point here.  He said that, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child, will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15).

I have been thinking a lot about being childlike this week.  I spent an entire day helping our daughter with our two grandchildren this past week and this passage was on my mind as I was going to be preaching it on Sunday.  So I observed and learned from a three year old and a one year old and here are a few things that struck me in regards to following Jesus.

Childlike is not the same as childish

Whining, being selfish, demanding my own way, pouting, etc are all childish behaviors that in essence are sinful behaviors.  Jesus did not ever stipulate childishness as the standard for entering the kingdom, rather his focus was that we are to be like a child.  

Dependency is vital

Children are completely dependent upon their parents.  As any of us who are parents know how we go through a process to teach our children to become independent and true relational health is seen in interdependence.  To be childlike, therefore means that we understand our sense of dependency.    I see dependency in my granddaughter when she looks at me and says:  “Grampa will you help me?”

Trust is inextricably linked with Dependency

You do not depend on someone you do not trust.  However, children have a built in trust of those who care for them.  I noticed this with my one year old grandson who loves to have me pick him up and twirl him around and hold him upside down.  He laughs and squeals and will literally flop backwards in my arms with complete abandon.

To enter into the kingdom of God or in other words to follow Jesus means that as an adult I need to embrace the two greatest qualities of childlikeness; dependence and trust.  Sadly, I find that all too often I embrace the qualities of childishness.  I tend to whine and complain and demand and pout. 

I want to learn to, as it were, flop into God’s arms with abandon.  To daily choose to believe that God has my best interests in mind and that he is fully trustworthy.  To know that he is there to help me when I have a need and that he works in me to teach me and correct me so that I learn dependence upon him and interdependence in my human relationships. 

I am convinced that as I learn to trust God with abandon, I will find greater joy and satisfaction in the depth of my soul.

Storing Up Treasures

In researching my sermon for this past Sunday on Kingdom Priorities (Matthew 6:19-34), I discovered an article that was written for the New York Times Magazine in September of 2009.  The article was entitled, "The Self Storage Self" by Jon Mooallem.  It was a pretty amazing article that you may want to read yourself at the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html

Here are some things I gleaned from the article.  According to the president of a storage consulting group, "Human laziness has always been a big friend of self-storage operators."  This conclusion is based on the fact that people will store their stuff and leave it there not wanting to move it again.  Often times they will forget what they have put in their storage facility.

According to the Self Storage Association the United States now has about 2.3 billion square feet of storage space.  They indicate that this would be like building a giant canopy and having every person in America covered with seven square feet of space per person.  Being from the Chicago area I did some calculations based on the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.  That monstrous building is the world's largest commercial building boasting of 4.2 million square feet of gross space.  If my math is correct it would take over 500 Merchandise Marts to equal the square feet of storage space in the United States!

According to the article the original use of storage facilities was temporary.  People would rent space temporarily when between houses, or in difficult situations such as a divorce or death in the family.  But since the 1990's storage facilities have been places to accumulate our stuff.  The article quotes one sociologist who stated that the average consumer purchases one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.

Consider how you have personally accumulated stuff.  I remember as an incoming college freshman all my earthly belongings fit on one flatbed cart.  But even as a poor college student it took a pick up truck to move me out.  Now having been married 30 years and having three kids and a couple of grand kids, we have more and more stuff.  My guess is that I am not alone.  We seem to be natural accumulators of stuff.

So what is the point of all this?  For me it comes down to the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21.  Jesus told us to not store up, or more literally hoard, treasures on earth but to store up treasures in heaven.  The point is not necessarily to get rid of all our material possessions but to make sure that our material possessions are not controlling our lives.  At the risk of sounding contradictory, I suggest that we give serious thought to what possessions we have that we really need and use and which ones are we holding on to because they give us a sense of security or some emotional attachment.

How can you tell the difference? I would suggest that you use the six month rule.  If I have not used something in the last six months then it may be possible that I no longer need it.  I understand, antiques and collections and hobbies, but the fact is that we will take none of those things with us.  Moreover, if we are refusing to hold them up to God in an open hand then they have become more than just collectibles they are becoming idols. 

This is not a call to move out of your house and live under a tree in the woods.  But it is a call to consider what value are you placing on your accumulated stuff?  Is it of such value that you have not given God permission to take it away?  If so then it is not an investment in eternity but an earthly investment and it has captured part of your heart that should belong to God.

Join me in asking God to teach us to travel light on our earthly journey.

Some Thoughts on Following Jesus

“If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  Luke 9:23

This passage is in my opinion the vision statement of discipleship.  It focuses on putting me second and Jesus first.  I am to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is to be my daily drive and motivation.  Following Jesus is to be what I do every day, not just on Sunday.  It is a daily choice.

But if I am going to make that choice it helps to know what I am choosing to do.  For too many of us, we leave the real following Jesus part of our lives to the super saints and spiritual giants.  It is easy to buy into the myth that pastors and missionaries follow Jesus and the rest of us just live our lives.  But Jesus does not give us the option to believe that myth.  We are all called to follow him.

The word translated “follow” means to attend, to go with or to accompany a person, typically a teacher so as to learn.  So to follow Jesus means we need to go with Jesus.  But one will not go with someone they do not trust.  One will not learn from someone in whom they have no confidence.  So to follow Jesus will mean that we put our confidence, or better our trust in him.  That means we believe that he is who he said he was; that we believe that he is the answer for the emptiness in our soul and that we put our complete trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins.

But it does not stop there.  Jesus called that first step of belief being “born again” (John 3:3).  In all of life and nature there is the foregone conclusion that growth will follow birth.  While it seems as though many Christians have set that conclusion aside when it comes to spiritual birth; God does not.  He expects that we will “follow” or as the Apostle Paul says “imitate” (1 Corinthians 11:1) the example of Jesus.  We should desire to grow in our relationship with Jesus, which will take time, sacrifice, effort and communication.  We will want to do the things Jesus does in being kind and living a pure life and being free from materialism.  We will want to let others know of our relationship with Jesus and how he frees us from our burden of sin and calls us to serve him.

When we deny ourselves and then go so far as to die to self, we find that we are free to follow Christ and completely lose our lives in him (Luke 9:24).  This does not mean that life will be easy; it does not mean that we won’t have struggles; it does not mean that we won’t be able to think for ourselves.  What it does mean is that we will find a freedom and a sense of purpose that is beyond what we could imagine.  We will see our relationships in light of how we can move others closer to Jesus.  We will see our employment as a gift from God that gives us the means to provide for ourselves and be charitable to others.  We will see our times of worship as offering our gift of praise to God.  We will be less inclined to complain and more inclined to look for solutions. 

It begins with taking God at his Word; trusting Jesus; and letting him have control of one’s life one area at a time.

Take Up Your Cross Daily

Many of us have been successful at self denial to one degree or another.  Some have lost weight and then maintained the weight loss.  That takes self denial.  Look at the parking lot of the local gym and the cars in the lot are evidence of individuals who are working out or taking a class when they could be doing something else.  That is self denial.  Athletes at all levels give up time when they could be doing other things to practice.  Musicians spend hours in rehearsal.  Good parents will put their personal desires aside so that their children can have their needs met.  All of the above are examples of self denial.

When Jesus said we must deny ourselves to follow him, we have the tendency to say, “I got this one.”  And we would be accurate to a degree.  But our creator knows us better than we know ourselves (Psalm 139) and so Jesus adds a second element to self denial that ups the ante when he says “…and take up his cross daily…”  (Luke 9:23).  The image here is quite shocking when we look at it through 1^st Century eyes.

In our culture we use the phrase to mean a burden that we bear and it more or less is designed to glorify the one using the phrase.  That is not even close to the image one of those listening to Jesus would have had in mind.  It was not uncommon in that time to see a condemned criminal carrying his cross beam to his execution.  Everyone knew that he was going out to die. It was a one way trip.  This is the mental image Jesus is burning into the conscious of his hearers.  To follow him means that one must daily carry his own “cross beam” out and die to self.  This takes self denial to a new level.  There is no turning back.

These are not easy words to digest for any of us.  Our human nature rails against these words.  Our culture is like a raging river flowing against these words.  But Christ calls for us to live radically different than the siren call of culture.  Following Jesus means that every day, we each make the choice to put Jesus first in all that we do.  I would suggest that the only way that this can happen with any measure of success is to invite the Holy Spirit to fill us, or more clearly, to control us each day (Ephesians 4:15-18).

What does it look to live a life of putting Christ first?  On the surface some things will be the same.  One will still need to go to work or school and do their best.  One will still need to obey authority figures from parents to teachers to employers to law enforcement.  One will still need to care for the basic necessities of life.  One will still need corporate worship and service and one will still need to enjoy leisure time.

However a person who is dying to herself will be respectful of those around her because that is what Jesus would do.  The person who is dying to himself will not spend time worrying about his retirement fund.  The person who is dying to herself will find ways to be generous to others.  The person who is dying to himself will understand that any skill, ability, knowledge or talent he has is from God and God alone, there are no self-made people in the kingdom of God.  It bears repeating: dying to one’s self means striving to put Jesus Christ first in every endeavor, every thought, and every action.  Know this, not a single person does it perfectly, it is a journey.  Following Christ is a radical choice to live in the culture and yet differently from the culture every single day.