Category Archives: Discipleship/Spiritual Formation

Matthew 10 — Take up your cross

I read Matt. 10:38 and think back to my first class at Luther Seminary a few years ago. Jim Boyce was teaching the Gospel of Mark. The line was this: “When you follow Jesus you don’t have to go looking for a cross. One is readily provided.”

We sometimes like crosses of our own creation. We like our own version of “martyrdom.” But in the Kingdom of God, the Master is the One making the call. What he says to take up, we take up. What he says to lay down, we lay down. When we lay down our lives for his sake, we find true life in abundance.

 

Matthew 10 — The Separation Factor

Jesus pulls no punches. It’s almost like he says to people in his day, “Here is what the Kingdom of God is ALL about. Measure this out. Count the cost. It is WORTH it. BUT… if you think you have a better offer somewhere else, take it.”

How else do you explain it? Jesus never sugar coats the deal.

“You want to follow me? Then your love for me better look so amazing that love for your father and mother looks like hatred.”

“You want to follow me? Don’t think I came to bring peace. I came with a sword. There is a separation factor that is critical in my Kingdom.”

Yes, he explains the POWER of the Kingdom as well. But he puts it ALL out there in a way that says, “This is an incredible life I am offering. But if you’re not on board, go your way.” He doesn’t drag people into his Kingdom.

Do we truly know THIS Jesus that shows up in Matthew 10? Are we paying attention to what he is saying about separation? I know we can talk all day long about how the Church has done such a bad job and it’s no wonder people don’t follow Christ… but the fact of the matter is that people didn’t follow Christ when he was on the earth! He himself separates.

“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

Where did all the warm fuzzies go?

Jesus IS beautiful. He IS the Master Teacher. His way DOES have separating effects. Are we ALL IN?

 

Matthew 10 — The Cost of Discipleship

We, as Pentecostals, talk about the power of the Spirit. We usually mean in the miraculous or power for witnessing, etc.

The reliance on the Spirit is not just for what we might call “the good stuff.” It’s also for the “tough stuff.”

One of Dallas Willard’s sayings is this: “There is a cost to following Jesus, but there is a cost to NOT following Jesus. We need to be honest about both things.”

This is what I love about Jesus. He doesn’t hold back. If you follow him, you will find opposition. Not because of you, but because of him. This is the part I find hard to explain away if I would put myself in the universalism camp. Jesus doesn’t hold back: “Everyone will hate you because of me, but those who stand firm to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 10:22, NIV)

Apprenticeship is a high calling. It is worth the call because of the Master. He alone has the words of life, as the disciples would say in the Gospel of John. But there is a cost. Following Jesus causes some separation from others in this world who simply oppose Christ.

So the power of the Spirit isn’t just for the “good stuff.” It’s for the “tough stuff,” like standing before those who oppose the gospel as they demand you quit proclaiming good news in his name. When it is time to give an answer for the hope that is within you, the Spirit will be there.

In a nation where we have been afforded freedoms it is not easy to imagine the tough side of discipleship. That will shift. And when those shifts occur there is a question to be asked: Is Christ worth it? There is a cost. Is he worth that cost?

 

Matthew 10 — Freely You Have Received

I am extending the conversation from my Sunday morning message on Matthew 10. There is so much to discuss on “The Marks of Discipleship” that to do justice to this passage would take several weeks of examination on Sunday morning. Instead, I am inviting people to join me through the week as I reflect on some of the things we began to unpack on Sunday morning.

Two things Jesus has his disciples do: Proclaim the message of the Kingdom and demonstrate the power of the Kingdom.

The disciples are not going out ignorant. They have heard Jesus teach and they have watched him perform powerful miracles. He has demonstrated the Kingdom to them.

Apprenticeship is not about knowledge alone. It is also about doing. We see, take it in, and then lay it back out. That is the call of the 12. It is our call as well.

We are to proclaim that which we have heard and learned. We proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are also called to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom. We get a little more hesitant on that one.

Here are some questions:

1. What is “proclamation” for us as believers?

2. What is “demonstration” today?

3. Does the lack of seeing the miraculous or other activities demonstrating the power of the Kingdom make you hesitate on that second part of Jesus’ command to the disciples?

Join the conversation.

Thoughts on the Power of Blessing

I am working my way through Matthew 10. As part of my Sunday message this week I am inviting my church to extend the conversation to my blog.

To start off, I want to focus on the power of blessing. Jesus told his disciples when they entered a place that received them to give it their blessing (or greeting). Without trying to sound “name it, claim it” I believe in the power of words to BUILD UP or TEAR DOWN.

What have you experienced in the way of “blessing”? What words were given to you that LIFTED UP and you knew it brought LIFE into you?

 

The Promise of the Spirit

This weekend I am beginning a short series on the Holy Spirit. As Pentecostals, we are sometimes better demonstrating than teaching on this subject. It needs to be both.

There is more that is stirring. What the Spirit is stirring will need to be spoken more “in house” (meaning more TO the Body of Christ) than “out here” (meaning broadcasting it all over the web and take tremendous chances of being violently misunderstood). Of course, misunderstanding within the Body is always a high possibility as well!

I want to leave this challenge, though. The power of the Spirit is not just about the miraculous. (But I want to be clear: it IS about the miraculous). It’s just beyond that as well. It is living out the principles of the Kingdom of God in a increasingly hostile world. It will be something that will call us, as American Christians, to tougher choices in the days ahead. That is the stirring that is going on in my heart.

How to Be Holy in Ten Easy Steps

The text I will preaching this Sunday (and yes, it is without regard to the Hallmark Holiday and I apologize) is 1 Peter 1:13-25. Staring us in the face is that horrific verse: “BE HOLY FOR GOD IS HOLY.”

Holiness in my life growing up was all about how we dressed.

Quite honestly, I would say there are some ideas from that twisted theology that just aren’t BAD ideas today.

To be honest, boys, they call it UNDERwear for a reason! Keep it there, would you?

There really are some things about “dress code” that wouldn’t be bad to bring back…

Aside from that, there are some things that really need adjusting in our minds with regards to “being holy.”

The title is false advertising. No easy steps. But here is the prayer I have: We need a holiness that doesn’t just change our wardrobe. We need a holiness that changes our lives!

The Weariness and the Whining

Numbers 11

The parallels to our own attitudes is astounding. We just can’t be happy.

Israel was being delivered from Egypt and were standing at the edge of the Promised Land. So, they go to complaining. They can’t take the hardship anymore. They dream of the great food back in Egypt! (Culture shock has set in. When we’re out of our own country, we miss things we never missed before!)

God is angry. Moses is angry. It’s a tough day.

The people aren’t the only ones griping. Moses really lets a tirade loose as well. The weariness of leadership has beat him down to this point.

“Do me a favor and spare me this misery!” (Num. 11:15, NLT)

It is at this point that God promises help. Not just someone to take notes or organization the file drawer. Seventy men who would lead. Seventy men would would have the same Spirit Moses had from God.

There are times of refreshing we need as spiritual leaders. The day gets long. Things just get tough because we are tired. The Lord sends amazing people along to help with the load. But in all of it, we still need HIS touch, HIS Spirit.

He is mighty to save. He is mighty to deliver. He will carry us through.

“Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!” (Num. 11:23, NLT)

The Elder Brother

We are going through Tim Keller’s excellent book The Prodigal God in our Wednesday night adult group at church. Keller is incredibly challenging. I love his style.

Our views on the parable of the prodigal tend to focus on the younger son. Who can’t get into that? We write songs about it. (“When God Ran.” I LOVE that song!)

But the point of the parable, of course, is the elder brother. Jesus is telling this series of stories to trap the Pharisees. The response of the elder brother is the climax of these little episodes.

Keller points out that both sons are lost. The younger brother is all about “self-discovery.” That’s an obvious screw up. Go off and “find yourself” and you end up in the pig trough. No brainer.

But the elder son? His sin? Moral conformity. He had kept all the rules. He was therefore entitled to the father’s blessing.

To the point: Both sons are lost, but both sons are loved. Both sons used their father to get his stuff. They didn’t care about the father himself. Yet, at the end, it’s the younger brother who is “saved.” The elder brother, at least where Jesus leaves it, stays lost.

Ouch.

I am the elder brother. I’ve been the moral conformist doing everything right pretty much all my life. I am owed. I do it right, God ponies up. It’s how the game is played.

But it’s not. I’m trying to “own” God. I’m trying to control him. I am trying to save myself in this scenario.

I don’t have to keep the elder brother’s attitude. I can come into the house. I have come into the house. But there is still the tendency to drift back into that elder brother attitude. I’m doing what’s right and why isn’t God paying any attention to it?

The elder brother syndrome was in my blood. I am thankful for the “blood transfusion.” I was wrong. But I am loved.

Book Review — The Next Christians

There is more old “new” news. It seems that we have reached the end of Christian America. It’s “new” because it is still selling books. It’s “old” because I remember this being said by Chuck Colson over 20 years ago. I’m sure it was stated before that as well.

Here’s the thing: they are ALL right. Colson, Greg Boyd, and now Gabe Lyons in his new book The Next Christians. I received this book as a review copy from the publisher. I am under no obligation to give it a positive review.

Lyons takes on the doom and gloom of “post-Christian” America and gives us what I would say is VERY good news. Really.

It has been my contention for quite some time that our cultural Christianity has become so diluted it would do us good as believers to serve in the minority again… you know, like most of the world’s Christians do already.

Lyons sets up the gloom by discussing two types of Christians in America: Those who try to seclude themselves from the tainted culture and those who try to be “relevant.” Both are wrong. I was thrilled to see Lyons go after churches that tend to make their children’s ministries look like Disney World and their adult services like a Starbucks.

The answer Lyons sees in the new Christians is really an old answer as well. He is probably reaching out to the twenty and thirty-somethings (which I oppose if this is how this book will be taken), but the answers lie within the ancient faith.

The third type of Christian Lyons sees are called “Restorers.” They want to engage the culture, but they are firmly rooted in the ancient faith. Lyons speaks to the need for spiritual discipline and church community and the centrality of the gospel. But in that rootedness, there are those engaging the culture in “new” ways. (Again, it’s NOT new. Try reading Luther and the call of vocation.) Lyons gives us nice refreshers, so it’s good. Just, PLEASE, do not treat Lyons work as “cutting edge” or something “new.” He’s just reminding us how to live in the minority but doing so with power.

He describes the Restorers as “Provoked, not offended. Creators, not critics. Called, not employed. Grounded, not distracted. In community, not alone. Countercultural, not ‘relevant.’” (And if I haven’t stated it clearly enough, I REALLY like that last point!)

Again, Lyons is a refresher. I would encourage you to read more deeply from those who have gone before. There are some prophetic voices who have cried out in the wilderness for a lot longer than Lyons. Names like Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Chuck Colson, Tim Keller… (And Lyons recognizes this in his book.)

Let this book with its fine illustrations give you a catalyst for thought.