Committed Runners

Clearly this is not me running!

I have several friends who love to run. My sister ran on our school’s cross country team. I had a close friend who ran the Boston Marathon. I even had a friend run across the continental United States!  With so many friends sharing their incredible stories about running, I decided I would start training for a 5K. It was hard!! I got tired, frustrated, and angry. Every muscle in my body hurt. I decided it was a terrible idea and quit after two weeks. A few months later, I was sharing this with my friend who ran the Boston Marathon. She started talking about the infamous “runner’s high” and how great running feels after you push through the hard parts. I told her I hated running and would never experience the good, because I didn’t want to deal with the hard stuff.

Unfortunately, this is how many of us treat our faith journeys and the call to discipleship. Paul and the author of Hebrews both use the analogy of running a race to describe our call to live as disciples of Jesus. Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scoring its shame, and sat down at the right had of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

As a church, we made a decision that because we are disciples of Jesus, we would commit to being the Church. For the last two months we have expanded on this commitment by studying what it looks like to be the Church. As a church family we have committed ourselves to these things.

•     Committed to loving the Church
•     Committed to making the Lord’s Supper a priority each week
•     Committed to embracing the diversity of the Kingdom
•     Committed to the Scriptures
•     Committed to prayer
•     Committed to being good stewards
•     Committed to rest
•     Committed to Kingdom work
•     Committed to making disciples

Like running a race, being a disciple and living out these commitments is not always easy. There are days and seasons in our life where it is very difficult to follow Jesus. I may decide to throw in the towel or allow myself to get easily distracted when it comes to running a 5K, but I never want to be accused of these things when it comes to my pursuit of Jesus. The church of Galatia was accused of this. Paul wrote to them saying, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7)

The commitment we have made as a church family will not always be easy, but it is always the race worth running. When it is hard, we carry each other. When it isn’t so hard, we run side by side. We invite others to run with us. Perhaps you have already forgotten about our new year’s resolution. So let me invite you to run with me, church family. Run with me!

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run is such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Serving

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of other, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:4-8

We have been taking a look at different aspects of discipleship over the last several months. We reminded ourselves of the need to be committed to the Text and community. We’ve reminded ourselves we cannot allow ourselves to only live on milk, but to push ourselves to grow in our faith. Another part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be involved in Kingdom work.

Jesus steps into our world as a servant. As his disciples, we also must live our lives as servants. All throughout Christ’s ministry he seeks out the oppressed and marginalized heals them, speaking truth into their lives and meeting their needs. We are surrounded by opportunities to meet the needs of others every day.

God has given each of us gifts, talents, skills, and passions that he is asking us to use to further his Kingdom. When each of us chooses in obedience to exercise these gifts and use them for God’s glory people experience God and his love. The Body of Christ thrives when each part plays its role and we thrive when we allow ourselves to be an active part of the Body.  When we chose not to be an active part of the body, not only do we miss out on the things God has in store for us, we put extra stress on other parts of the Body.

This month we’ve highlighted several areas in the church where you can serve (see the front page of the Carillon HERE). And these aren’t the only areas. There are ways everyone can serve. We want to do all that we can to help you be an active disciple of Jesus. If you aren’t sure what your gifts are, let’s discover them together. If you don’t know how to use your gifts for the Kingdom, let’s seek God together and see what he may be calling you to do. Let’s keep following Christ in our service.

Growing Up

Our Sunday School Class was recently discussing how the Church today faces some cultural challenges that are different from what the Church faced in the first century. One of the big differences we discussed was our highly individualistic culture. We view everything in the world through the eyes of “ME” instead of the eyes of “community” like I shared with you last month. We adopt the perspective from a very early age that everything is about ME.

This is natural for infants. When they want something, they cry. I’m hungry…cry until I’m fed. I need a new diaper…cry until I’m changed. I need attention…cry until someone holds me. I’m tired…cry until you rock me to sleep. This progresses as the infant grows. A child sees a toy or something they want yells, “MINE!” But as a child grows they reach a stage in their development in which they have to wrestle with the fact that there are others in the world and they have to learn to think about others too. Children learn to share and they continue to grow.

But while we may learn to share, we don’t always learn to move beyond ourselves. Our culture is constantly feeding our need for instant gratification. Our culture has trained us to look for the easy and convenient way to have our desires fulfilled. What can you do for me? How are you going to make me feel good? How will you fulfill my desires and meet what I perceive as my needs?

Unfortunately, this very worldly perspective is carried into the Church all the time. What can this local church do for me? How is your congregation going to make me feel good every Sunday? How is your worship service and programing going to fulfill my desires? How are you going to meet my needs. This is the wrong perspective as a disciple of Christ, but we are all guilty of it from time to time. We allow ourselves to become a bunch of babies refusing to grow up in Christ. It is time to grow up, church!

Evidently the church in Corinth struggled with this as well. Paul writes to them in 1 Corinthians 3 saying that even after hearing his teaching he still needed to give them milk because they were still like spiritual babies, not growing. The writer of Hebrews warned about this struggle as well. In chapters five and six we find the original readers of Hebrews had been taught long enough that they ought to be able to teach others, but they weren’t doing so. The author seems to be pretty upset about it as well: “Therefore, let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…”

Do not fall prey to the world’s teaching to satisfy every desire above all other things. We don’t see Jesus living this way and we can’t live that way. Sunday morning is not about us! It is about bringing glory and honor to God our Savior. We must stop looking for worship services and church programs to make us feel good; instead we must start bringing everything we have, whether great or small, to the throne of God in worship. We must stop looking for people who look like us or are the same as us; instead we must start looking for and celebrating the image of God in those around us. We must stop looking for the local church to do the programs we want, sing the songs we want, or to do things the way we prefer; instead we must start listening to the Holy Spirit and follow His prompting to go deeper, serve well, and reach out to others.

Church, I’m begging you. We must stop being babies! This year seems like a good year for us to move past the childish things, to stop drinking only milk, and to start eating solid food. Growing up is not always easy, but we must take the next step towards becoming more like Jesus. As the author of Hebrews says later in chapter six. “And God permitting, we will do so.” May 2016 be a year of growing for us as a church family of disciples.

Community

I love people! Enjoying a cup of coffee and talking about life with someone is one of my favorite things to do. I have been known to spend hours visiting with someone I’m just meeting for the first time. This is one reason why I loved doing campus ministry. Great ministry happens with college students while you are hanging out at the campus coffee house. I love to do my office work at a coffeehouse because there are people there, and you can talk to them. People are awesome!

People annoy me! I go grocery shopping and Cranky Carla is yelling at the sweet lady in front of her with two crying kids to move faster through the check out line. I watch Speedy Sam cut someone off on the highway and then honk and flash his favorite finger out the window. We have become a culture that worships instant gratification and demands things to be done our way in our time frame. Everything else is an inconvenience…including other people.

I confess that I love and hate people. How can that be? It’s simple. Community is hard, very hard. We were created to be in community with God and with others. Our souls, our body, our minds crave it. (This includes introverts!!) Numerous studies have proved this. However, for some reason very few of us are willing to put in the hard work that is required to experience genuine community. Real community doesn’t run away when it gets hard. It sticks together and fights to stay together. Real community doesn’t sit on the sidelines. It runs to the field working and playing hard. Real community doesn’t take the wide, paved road. It takes the narrow, rocky path and makes sure everyone survives the journey. NO MATTER WHAT!

When Jesus calls his disciples, he calls them to live in community. It is part of the call. For three years these guys did everything together. You can’t tell me that they always got along perfectly. But they were committed to Jesus, which meant being committed to each other. If we are going to be disciples of Jesus we have to practice community. It isn’t an option. It isn’t up for debate. But it doesn’t happen magically on its own. You have to do some work and be intentional about building relationships.

I want to offer this challenge: to intentionally seek community this month. Last month I talked about disciples being committed to the Text. Jump into a one of the new Adult Bible Classes starting and practice community while studying together. If you are already attending a class, find time to share a meal with a family in the church. Let’s not be a church family that picks and chooses what parts of discipleship we are going to obey. Let’s be a church family that is following in the steps of our rabbi. Who’s with me?

Lessons from Pomegranates

While I was serving as a campus minister in California, I would walk and pray around campus several times a week, hiking the hills on the back side of campus. The route lead me past the school’s garden, which included a handful of pomegranate trees. I know people who refuse to eat pomegranates. It is just too much work because they have so many seeds and very little fruit. They miss out on the sweet taste of the fruit and the many health benefits that pomegranates hold. I, however, love pomegranates!  Even though it takes a lot of hard work, the goodness of the sweet fruit is worth it.

Last month I shared a little bit of what it meant to be a disciple following and learning from a rabbi. It was hard work. Disciples were expected to know the Hebrew Text, what our Bibles call the Old Testament, and know it very well. Starting at age five, children would go to school and start studying and memorizing Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Students who were really bright would go on to study and memorize the entire rest of the Hebrew Text. Yes. Memorize. By the time you were 12, you most likely had the entire scripture memorized. I struggle to memorize a few verses, but the word of God is so sweet and good and so important that these students memorized every word.

“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.” Psalm 19:9-10

In Torah, there are 613 commandments that the early disciples committed to memory and devoted their lives to following. Science has shown that there are approximately 613 seeds in a pomegranate. What an incredible picture for us! Disciples are a people of the text. For the apostles it was the Hebrew Text. For us disciples today it is the Hebrew Text AND the New Testament. We must be a people of the Text, the Bible. We have to be a people who are getting the text in us. Even though it is hard work to dive into the Text and allow it to get into our hearts, it is absolutely worth it.

When you break open a pomegranate, all of these seeds fall out. If I was to be broken open, what would fall out. Would it be the words of Jesus? Would it be the Text? Or would it be my words, because I didn’t want to put in the hard work to get to the goodness of God’s word. I want to be a person of the Text. I want the words of God to be in me, a part of who I am. Would you join me in being a disciple of Jesus and a student of the Word of God?

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103