I'm reminded again this week that we are not thinking or doing church outside of the box.
THERE IS NO BOX!!!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Our Beautiful Mess.
Again, a great night at KAMP's. Thanks to my friend Ryan Gikas for jumping into the Mars Hill community with such wide-eyed wonder. Check out Ryan's stuff and support at www.myspace.com/gikasmusic.
A bit of a confession on my part...
I felt a bit scattered, which brings about a choice in me. Hang my head because I didn't deliver my A game OR remember that the church and kingdom of God is not contingent upon my stage performance. I choose the latter.
This Beautiful Mess #6 – July 29th, 2007
A working definition for the kingdom - How things really are & how things should really be.
Welcome The Child
Matthew 18:2-3 says, “Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.
What is it about kids anyway? They’re innocent and selfish, sweet and annoying, mysterious and simple. Back when you were a preschooler, you knew stuff that you’ve forgotten now. But how exactly did you see and experience the world then? And if you could recapture it now, could it help you see and experience the kingdom Jesus preached?
Jesus thought so. In fact, on 3 separate occasions in Matthew’s account, children take center stage. I think you’ll discover that children provide us with something like a portal into important truths about the kingdom experience.
Scene #1
The disciples come to Jesus with very adult question: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
We might be tempted to say, “Obviously the guys were just being competitive and immature again,” and dismiss the question. But we might also hear their concern as a step of faith – because they were thinking seriously about the kingdom, they cared about how Jesus measured success.
We want to be a community that is guided by the RIGHT kinds of questions. Not puffed up, arrogant, cynical types.
Jesus answers one of the key question Mars Hill has been asking from the beginning, “How do we measure success? For us to BE the church, success looks different than DOING church.”
In reply to their question, Jesus calls a little child to stand among them. “I tell you the truth,” he told his followers, “unless you CHANGE and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The word change here actually means to be converted – to become a different kind of person with a different worldview OR to repent - to turn around and walk the new way.
Matthew 18:4-14 says, “4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
10"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.[a] 12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
Jesus answers the disciple's question. There is a greatest...it just looks different than we thought it might...the last are first...the least are most...the weak are strong.
Go after the little ones, the kids and the "little ones" that our societies in an earthly kingdom say do not matter. The broken, marginalized and forgotten.
I’m reminded of the many other times when the “religious” are on the verge of really blowing this thing and taking it in all the wrong directions.
Want to really take in My Kingdom? Jesus says to His followers. “Become like this child standing in front of you.”
Don’t try to grow up so fast AND don’t let these “little ones” around you grow up so fast either. Let them remain and exist, BE.
Change. Humble yourself. Become like you were those summer evenings you played on and on in the shadows.
Become like Joseph, my neighbor. Joseph is 18 months old, and one of his favorite things to do, as far and Jeanne and I can tell, is to go flying down the driveway naked after a bath. He holds himself inappropriately and giggles and grins from ear to ear. Joseph – fat, freshly scrubbed, and gleeful. Joseph galloping naked across his own personal planet. You oughta see it. ‘Course if I saw Jeff, his dad, behaving that way, I’d think he needed help. But with Joseph it’s different. The kid is innocent. He’s the prince of bathlings, the great khan of his own driveway, and he knows it. Plus he knows that mom is watching out for him, joyfully watching. Why not take a butt-naked risk? No wonder he wears a perma-grin. I’ve noticed that beautiful look on Jeff and Shanti at times, but only in their best moments. They’re grown ups, after all, like you and me, not toddlers. Life usually isn’t cute for grown ups.
So what could Jesus mean? We wonder. We don’t quite get it and the disciples didn’t either because after Jesus’ teachings about such adult topics as forgiveness, divorce, and remarriage, the toddlers show up again to provide another learning opportunity.
SCENE #2
Matthew 19:13-15 says,” 13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Notice that the disciples see the children as intruders. But Jesus says, “Don’t hinder the children. Forget your schedule and everybody else’s expectations. Just let them rush inappropriately right into the middle of things and stare rudely up into My face.”
I think of all the ways I hinder my kids. I hinder them by thinking I need to teach them, and teach them now, all the things they don’t know about, including God. This passage suggests a bigger picture than most of us parents have most of the time. This passage is saying that kids already understand something about the kingdom that I don’t get. I need to humbly learn from them.
What do you need to learn from the kids around you?
This is why kids worship with us at KAMP’s. They are messy and noisy and wonderful and inspiring. And we have something to learn from them in their worship.
If I threw my son Bryce into an algae-ridden pond, he wouldn’t want to leave. He could be there for eight hours capturing pollywogs, poking insects, collecting sticks, happily carried along on the pulse of creation. Afterward if I asked him, “Bryce, what did you learn about God?” he’d probably say the obvious: “God is big” OR “God likes bugs.” But maybe I should play with him and then ask, “What did I learn about God?” Because Bryce isn’t missing God. I am the one who should be a careful student in this moment.
We need to quit DOING church FOR kids and start BEING church with kids.
I am beginning to dream about our children here and the children of OKC each having a family or mentor to walk with, learn from, teach and share the ups and downs of life of many years. Don’t you think that each family or person has room for one?
The Boys & Girls Clubs of OKC really have my attention these days and I'm wondering and exploring what it might look like to jump into where God is already at work there.
According to a recent community needs assessment, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County serves an inner-city area that is home to more than 32,000 children and youth, a large number of whom spend hours alone or on the streets with little or no adult supervision. This assessment indicated area growth would continue for the foreseeable future. Our membership demographics reflect the great need for our services and programs. Eighty two percent of our members are from single parent homes; eight-five percent are minority ethnicity.
There are 3 clubs and 32,000 kids and youth represented within 3 miles of where we Gather on Sunday evenings at KAMP's. I'm reminded of why God has led us to Becoming A New Kind of Church IN THE CITY.
Memorial Park Club @ 36th & Western / McKinley Park Club @ 13th & McKinley / Taft Teen Club @ 23rd & May – ALL WITHIN 3 MILES OF WHERE WE SIT TONITE.
Interestingly, right after Jesus calls children to Him and blesses them, He meets a candidate for Mr. Perfect Disciple. He’s a poster adult for adultness. This guy has it all – he’s rich, educated, unfailingly ethical, and extremely devout. He wants to know how to live forever in the kingdom of heaven. “What good thing must I do?” he asks.
But Jesus tells him that to find treasure in heaven, the man must first put down all his accomplishments and all his possessions. Strip down to just him. “Then come, follow me,” Jesus says.
At that, Mr. Perfect turns away sad. It’s not what he was prepared to hear.
Do you see the contrast? To the little ones who bring nothing, Jesus says, “Come to Me just as you are.” To the adult arriving with everything, Jesus says, “First drop all that. Then come.”
If you had been a disciple that day, watching the kids playing happily in Christ’s presence and watching a man who had everything leaving disappointed, how would you have responded?
The disciples that day were confused, they asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?”
Two kingdoms collide with Mr. Perfect Disciple and the children that day.
Scene #3
Jesus is just days away from His death on the Cross. Jerusalem is swept up in the celebration of Passover, and Jesus is making a scene in the temple courtyard. He has just kicked out all the money changers and peddlers. Everybody’s yelling, running around. Tables upside down, papers blowing, coins rolling everywhere. Escaped doves all over the place. Security guards in a huff.
And Jesus is standing there with a message. “My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:13-16 says, “14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. 16"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'[g]?"
I love that scene. Upset capitalists. Upset clergy. Upset tables and birds. In the middle of it all, I can hear shuffling. It’s the marginalized people of the city getting closer to Jesus for His healing touch.
Turn the church upside down and the marginalized, broken and forgotten are given space to come.
And we hear another sound rising above the noise. The voices of children worshipping God. They are the only ones who get it. We need to follow children into worship.
What point of pride is keeping you and me from seeing a kingdom that is already here, right next to our skin? What invulnerability?
What silly fear is keeping us from rushing into His inner circle OR doing cartwheels for His pleasure?
What religious pose is passing for authentic spiritual connectedness?
Let us more carefully consider the children who stand among us.
Let us more thoughtfully listen.
These little ones are mysterious beings who, in important ways, are already living what you and I long for. When we want so much for God to come and connect with us that we make sure to leave the kids in the pink room downstairs. That way we can pay attention.
But Jesus flips the whole thing upside down, like He did with those tables in the courtyard. “My kingdom is already here,” He says. “Check out the pink room.”
What qualities best describe some of the kids you know?
What kinds of attributes or values will you need to lay aside before you can learn from a child?
How could you create an intentional connection with a child or children so you can learn with them?
Where can you give your time in your community that could allow that kind of connection to happen?
How could the kingdom break into your community where kids are in the most need?
A bit of a confession on my part...
I felt a bit scattered, which brings about a choice in me. Hang my head because I didn't deliver my A game OR remember that the church and kingdom of God is not contingent upon my stage performance. I choose the latter.
This Beautiful Mess #6 – July 29th, 2007
A working definition for the kingdom - How things really are & how things should really be.
Welcome The Child
Matthew 18:2-3 says, “Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.
What is it about kids anyway? They’re innocent and selfish, sweet and annoying, mysterious and simple. Back when you were a preschooler, you knew stuff that you’ve forgotten now. But how exactly did you see and experience the world then? And if you could recapture it now, could it help you see and experience the kingdom Jesus preached?
Jesus thought so. In fact, on 3 separate occasions in Matthew’s account, children take center stage. I think you’ll discover that children provide us with something like a portal into important truths about the kingdom experience.
Scene #1
The disciples come to Jesus with very adult question: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
We might be tempted to say, “Obviously the guys were just being competitive and immature again,” and dismiss the question. But we might also hear their concern as a step of faith – because they were thinking seriously about the kingdom, they cared about how Jesus measured success.
We want to be a community that is guided by the RIGHT kinds of questions. Not puffed up, arrogant, cynical types.
Jesus answers one of the key question Mars Hill has been asking from the beginning, “How do we measure success? For us to BE the church, success looks different than DOING church.”
In reply to their question, Jesus calls a little child to stand among them. “I tell you the truth,” he told his followers, “unless you CHANGE and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The word change here actually means to be converted – to become a different kind of person with a different worldview OR to repent - to turn around and walk the new way.
Matthew 18:4-14 says, “4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
10"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.[a] 12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
Jesus answers the disciple's question. There is a greatest...it just looks different than we thought it might...the last are first...the least are most...the weak are strong.
Go after the little ones, the kids and the "little ones" that our societies in an earthly kingdom say do not matter. The broken, marginalized and forgotten.
I’m reminded of the many other times when the “religious” are on the verge of really blowing this thing and taking it in all the wrong directions.
Want to really take in My Kingdom? Jesus says to His followers. “Become like this child standing in front of you.”
Don’t try to grow up so fast AND don’t let these “little ones” around you grow up so fast either. Let them remain and exist, BE.
Change. Humble yourself. Become like you were those summer evenings you played on and on in the shadows.
Become like Joseph, my neighbor. Joseph is 18 months old, and one of his favorite things to do, as far and Jeanne and I can tell, is to go flying down the driveway naked after a bath. He holds himself inappropriately and giggles and grins from ear to ear. Joseph – fat, freshly scrubbed, and gleeful. Joseph galloping naked across his own personal planet. You oughta see it. ‘Course if I saw Jeff, his dad, behaving that way, I’d think he needed help. But with Joseph it’s different. The kid is innocent. He’s the prince of bathlings, the great khan of his own driveway, and he knows it. Plus he knows that mom is watching out for him, joyfully watching. Why not take a butt-naked risk? No wonder he wears a perma-grin. I’ve noticed that beautiful look on Jeff and Shanti at times, but only in their best moments. They’re grown ups, after all, like you and me, not toddlers. Life usually isn’t cute for grown ups.
So what could Jesus mean? We wonder. We don’t quite get it and the disciples didn’t either because after Jesus’ teachings about such adult topics as forgiveness, divorce, and remarriage, the toddlers show up again to provide another learning opportunity.
SCENE #2
Matthew 19:13-15 says,” 13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Notice that the disciples see the children as intruders. But Jesus says, “Don’t hinder the children. Forget your schedule and everybody else’s expectations. Just let them rush inappropriately right into the middle of things and stare rudely up into My face.”
I think of all the ways I hinder my kids. I hinder them by thinking I need to teach them, and teach them now, all the things they don’t know about, including God. This passage suggests a bigger picture than most of us parents have most of the time. This passage is saying that kids already understand something about the kingdom that I don’t get. I need to humbly learn from them.
What do you need to learn from the kids around you?
This is why kids worship with us at KAMP’s. They are messy and noisy and wonderful and inspiring. And we have something to learn from them in their worship.
If I threw my son Bryce into an algae-ridden pond, he wouldn’t want to leave. He could be there for eight hours capturing pollywogs, poking insects, collecting sticks, happily carried along on the pulse of creation. Afterward if I asked him, “Bryce, what did you learn about God?” he’d probably say the obvious: “God is big” OR “God likes bugs.” But maybe I should play with him and then ask, “What did I learn about God?” Because Bryce isn’t missing God. I am the one who should be a careful student in this moment.
We need to quit DOING church FOR kids and start BEING church with kids.
I am beginning to dream about our children here and the children of OKC each having a family or mentor to walk with, learn from, teach and share the ups and downs of life of many years. Don’t you think that each family or person has room for one?
The Boys & Girls Clubs of OKC really have my attention these days and I'm wondering and exploring what it might look like to jump into where God is already at work there.
According to a recent community needs assessment, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County serves an inner-city area that is home to more than 32,000 children and youth, a large number of whom spend hours alone or on the streets with little or no adult supervision. This assessment indicated area growth would continue for the foreseeable future. Our membership demographics reflect the great need for our services and programs. Eighty two percent of our members are from single parent homes; eight-five percent are minority ethnicity.
There are 3 clubs and 32,000 kids and youth represented within 3 miles of where we Gather on Sunday evenings at KAMP's. I'm reminded of why God has led us to Becoming A New Kind of Church IN THE CITY.
Memorial Park Club @ 36th & Western / McKinley Park Club @ 13th & McKinley / Taft Teen Club @ 23rd & May – ALL WITHIN 3 MILES OF WHERE WE SIT TONITE.
Interestingly, right after Jesus calls children to Him and blesses them, He meets a candidate for Mr. Perfect Disciple. He’s a poster adult for adultness. This guy has it all – he’s rich, educated, unfailingly ethical, and extremely devout. He wants to know how to live forever in the kingdom of heaven. “What good thing must I do?” he asks.
But Jesus tells him that to find treasure in heaven, the man must first put down all his accomplishments and all his possessions. Strip down to just him. “Then come, follow me,” Jesus says.
At that, Mr. Perfect turns away sad. It’s not what he was prepared to hear.
Do you see the contrast? To the little ones who bring nothing, Jesus says, “Come to Me just as you are.” To the adult arriving with everything, Jesus says, “First drop all that. Then come.”
If you had been a disciple that day, watching the kids playing happily in Christ’s presence and watching a man who had everything leaving disappointed, how would you have responded?
The disciples that day were confused, they asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?”
Two kingdoms collide with Mr. Perfect Disciple and the children that day.
Scene #3
Jesus is just days away from His death on the Cross. Jerusalem is swept up in the celebration of Passover, and Jesus is making a scene in the temple courtyard. He has just kicked out all the money changers and peddlers. Everybody’s yelling, running around. Tables upside down, papers blowing, coins rolling everywhere. Escaped doves all over the place. Security guards in a huff.
And Jesus is standing there with a message. “My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:13-16 says, “14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. 16"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'[g]?"
I love that scene. Upset capitalists. Upset clergy. Upset tables and birds. In the middle of it all, I can hear shuffling. It’s the marginalized people of the city getting closer to Jesus for His healing touch.
Turn the church upside down and the marginalized, broken and forgotten are given space to come.
And we hear another sound rising above the noise. The voices of children worshipping God. They are the only ones who get it. We need to follow children into worship.
What point of pride is keeping you and me from seeing a kingdom that is already here, right next to our skin? What invulnerability?
What silly fear is keeping us from rushing into His inner circle OR doing cartwheels for His pleasure?
What religious pose is passing for authentic spiritual connectedness?
Let us more carefully consider the children who stand among us.
Let us more thoughtfully listen.
These little ones are mysterious beings who, in important ways, are already living what you and I long for. When we want so much for God to come and connect with us that we make sure to leave the kids in the pink room downstairs. That way we can pay attention.
But Jesus flips the whole thing upside down, like He did with those tables in the courtyard. “My kingdom is already here,” He says. “Check out the pink room.”
What qualities best describe some of the kids you know?
What kinds of attributes or values will you need to lay aside before you can learn from a child?
How could you create an intentional connection with a child or children so you can learn with them?
Where can you give your time in your community that could allow that kind of connection to happen?
How could the kingdom break into your community where kids are in the most need?
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The Story Continues.
The story continues...
"We both had an amazing time Sunday evening. Sunday made me aware of how spiritually dry I really am. I’m sure you understand how easy it is to just “do” ministry, instead of actually “being”. For the last six months or so, I really feel like I have been just “doing” and have forgotten about my own heartaches/desires in the process. It’s so easy to be consumed with the work of the church. We have made it clear that we have to be more specific and purposeful about nurturing our own spiritual life, which for us really includes “being” the church, not just playing it or working it. We really experienced a breath of fresh air Sunday night, one that we want to continue to experience. We will see you quite regularly I’m sure."
Mars Hill is committed to measuring success by stories of transformation.
Story is the universal measure of life.
"We both had an amazing time Sunday evening. Sunday made me aware of how spiritually dry I really am. I’m sure you understand how easy it is to just “do” ministry, instead of actually “being”. For the last six months or so, I really feel like I have been just “doing” and have forgotten about my own heartaches/desires in the process. It’s so easy to be consumed with the work of the church. We have made it clear that we have to be more specific and purposeful about nurturing our own spiritual life, which for us really includes “being” the church, not just playing it or working it. We really experienced a breath of fresh air Sunday night, one that we want to continue to experience. We will see you quite regularly I’m sure."
Mars Hill is committed to measuring success by stories of transformation.
Story is the universal measure of life.
Kingdom of Kids.
Next Sunday at KAMP's we will be continuing our series on the Kingdom of God. As I was reading some scripture yesterday, it really began to hit home. We'll look at some of those passages in the NT where Jesus interacts with children. Kids give us a portal into the kingdom.
Yesterday I was at my parent's house hanging with them a bit and helping my dad re-sod his lawn (i never knew dog urine could kill fescue). My mom bought a slip-n-slide for my little girl and niece & nephew. They seemed to think it functioned as a fun, wet sidewalk. They walked back and forth, back and forth.
My mom was attempting to verbally explain how to properly use a slip-n-slide. And they just didn't get it. It demanded an exhibition. So, fully clothed...I went running across the lawn letting it all out diving onto the hot wet plastic portal into the kingdom. For about 45 minutes, I was 7 again, sliding around in my parent's front lawn and pushing my daughter and her cousins down the same portal.
We all have a King. He is our Father. We are his Kids.
Yesterday I was at my parent's house hanging with them a bit and helping my dad re-sod his lawn (i never knew dog urine could kill fescue). My mom bought a slip-n-slide for my little girl and niece & nephew. They seemed to think it functioned as a fun, wet sidewalk. They walked back and forth, back and forth.
My mom was attempting to verbally explain how to properly use a slip-n-slide. And they just didn't get it. It demanded an exhibition. So, fully clothed...I went running across the lawn letting it all out diving onto the hot wet plastic portal into the kingdom. For about 45 minutes, I was 7 again, sliding around in my parent's front lawn and pushing my daughter and her cousins down the same portal.
We all have a King. He is our Father. We are his Kids.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
What People Are Saying.
I thought I would post what people are saying about Mars Hill from time to time. Here are few thoughts that I received yesterday. Let this not merely provoke praise for Mars Hill. Allow it to help us see where and how the Kingdom (how thing really are and how things should really be) is breaking in.
Please make sure to add to the story. And be thinking of people you are investing in, influencing and inviting into the kingdom reality (and Mars Hill). Let's tell one big story, together.
"Yesterday was very powerful, thanks for the great word. I really pray that more and more people begin to carry the burden that you sense for the community. I know that it is exactly how our Father feels for our community. I appreciate you carrying His word so alive in you. Your passion to reach people is, again, very powerful."
"It was a really neat experience, worshipping with all of Mars Hill. We really enjoyed it and had lots of conversation afterward about many of the questions we had written down. We really appreciate the talk that you gave to us to inspire us to really be Christ to those around us in our community and our neighborhood. You are a blessing."
"I love being a part of Mars Hill...thanks for starting something people needed."
I love it too.
Ben.
Please make sure to add to the story. And be thinking of people you are investing in, influencing and inviting into the kingdom reality (and Mars Hill). Let's tell one big story, together.
"Yesterday was very powerful, thanks for the great word. I really pray that more and more people begin to carry the burden that you sense for the community. I know that it is exactly how our Father feels for our community. I appreciate you carrying His word so alive in you. Your passion to reach people is, again, very powerful."
"It was a really neat experience, worshipping with all of Mars Hill. We really enjoyed it and had lots of conversation afterward about many of the questions we had written down. We really appreciate the talk that you gave to us to inspire us to really be Christ to those around us in our community and our neighborhood. You are a blessing."
"I love being a part of Mars Hill...thanks for starting something people needed."
I love it too.
Ben.
Monday, July 23, 2007
This Beautiful Mess #5.
We had a wonderful evening at KAMP's. It was a delight to continue to meet so many new people. My hope and prayer is that together we would enter into the Kingdom of God - reality at its fullest...how things really are...and how things should really be. Thanks again to my good buddy Cole McCord for sensitively and sincerely leading us in prayer and song.
Here goes...
What are you supposed to do in a waiting room except try to kill time? We do a lot of that. Kill a lot of time doing “churchy” things. We need to realize that the walls of the waiting room are actually paper-thin. Behind the veil exists an untamed, revolutionary reality…the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is NOT a kingdom of words & waiting BUT a kingdom of Action!
When Mother Teresa was asked about her work in Calcutta among the world’s poor; how it was going, what it was like, she would say, “COME AND SEE”. You see the Kingdom of God cannot be easily defined with words nor concretely measured by nickels and noses. May it be said of Mars Hill, "Come and See".
Matthew 10: 7 As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, [b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
After Jesus went to heaven, some friends of mine Dan & Lynn, decided to start showing what heaven’s response to homelessness might look like. Every night during cold weather, they would load up their car with blankets and socks and roam Portland looking for people sleeping on the streets. If they didn’t look warm enough, they’d pull out an armload of comfort and tuck them in.
These days they have mobilized a team of like minded agents. They call themselves Blanket Coverage. They’ve gotten some media attention, but they still mostly operate off the radar and out of sight, and they like it that way. “What we hope is that when homeless people wake up to find that they have a new blanket and new socks, they’ll think about God taking care of them, not us.”
Just before Jesus went to heaven He said, Matthew 5 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
After Jesus went back to heaven, two college students I know, Kindra and Heather, decided to adopt. What they had in mind to adopt, actually, was a whole apartment building – a low income complex if possible. They wanted to show heaven’s response to a particular group in a particular place. So they went on a prayer walk asking God to show them the place He wanted them to adopt, and He did. The place where they ended up turned out to be a rehab center for single moms. Kindra and Heather walked in and asked, “What can we do to help around here?”
The girls started out just holding babies. Week after week, they showed up to help the moms and listen to their stories of grief. Through it all, their message to the residents never wavered: Even if you reject us, we’ll come back. We’re not better; we’re just here.
Before long the girls got permission to take families out for the day – to the zoo or to the park and Dairy Queen. Anything to feel normal. At Christmas, Kindra and Heather asked their church to help the moms buy presents for their kids. A year passed before any mom from rehab came to church. Even later, when one of the moms was baptized, she told the church that it was the tricycle for her son that did it. “That’s when I felt in my heart that you cared.”
READ MARK 16:15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
The invitation of Jesus was to go and spread has been complicated into programs best left to missionaries and pastors. We’ve reduced “all the world” and “all creation” to just the folks who walk through the doors at church.
The word sent occurs 650 times in the Bible and in a majority of its uses, God is doing the sending. God is attentive to needs, and so He sends.
John 20: 21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
The father sends the son, the son sends the spirit and the father, son and spirit send us, the church. This is not unique to Mars Hill, this is the heartbeat of God.
When God sends us, we don’t have to go. It is our choice to remain within the paper-thin walls waiting and killing time doing "church" things. For a while the early church kept the Good News in Jerusalem. I can understand why they didn’t want to leave. People were responding, lives were being changed. Why leave the program that was breaking all the records? But God wanted them to GO into all the world and to all creation with the Good News.
We have spent so much time and energy trying to reimagine what it looks like for us to DO church in a “relevant” way. A lot of people say the church is not reaching America because she’s not relevant. It’s as if the church doesn’t look sexy enough and if we could give her an extreme makeover, the culture around us would fall in love with her. Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? But we do it; we try so hard to be cool.
Relevance is a consequence of kingdom living. Authentic relationships make us relevant.
When my friend Laura started volunteering at a local AIDS hospice, I remember how emotional the experience got for her at times. She decided that doing tasks around the hospice wasn’t enough. She would love her patients – and keep on loving them until they could feel it. Since she’s a musician, she’d play music for them. Over time, the people she met became her friends, not simply projects. When a patient died, she wept and mourned. The people at the hospice knew she loved them. She didn’t have to work at being relevant because love given without any other agenda is always relevant. Relevance comes from relationship – it means we matter to someone, he or she matters to us, and we both know it.
Answering the call of Jesus to GO actually requires so little of me, it’s un-American really. All we need to say is YES. We are a church that says YES. Mars Hill does not exist for me. It is not about people helping me fulfill the vision that is in my heart. I am here to serve you. So, what's your passion? What's in your heart? Go after it. Chase it. Let it come alive. And let us serve one another, empower one another, resource one another.
What does it look like for us to say YES and GO?
1. People come first – all people matter to God, but at Mars Hill we continue to see that the people in the margins are the first ones we should go to. Jesus was born into the margins. He could have entered into a higher class, more influential segment of society. But he entered into the margins to show us where the kingdom of God was meant to break in and be lived out.
2. Community is an indispensable strength – There are no lone rangers in the kingdom of God. Jesus sent the disciples out in groups of two. Our community groups are not the magic formula for community. They are simply an on ramp into the lives of each other. They are simply an attempt to get us Being the church in 2's and 3's.
3. The genius of the kingdom is almost always in simplicity – We keep asking, what’s the need? And how can we meet it simply? We are looking at a one square mile area around KAMP's asking, "What's the need? And how can we meet it simply?" I think about the boys and girls club at 36th & Classen, I think about the Paseo Arts District, I think about broken neighborhoods that need beauty, Classen SAS High School, Cross & Crown, etc.
Let’s start the dialogue for a few moments here:
What would you say are the top three places of need in our community (as defined by where you live, work, go to school)?
What do you imagine the kingdom might look like if it broke in there?
What are some creative simple ways that you, your family and your friends could represent the kingdom in those areas?
Here goes...
If the kingdom of God is the upside down, inside out, backwards, paradoxical reality…why do most of Jesus’ followers live pretty much like everybody else, only hoping for heaven? The Christian life looks like one long waiting game of bible studies and boring parties. We have entered CS Lewis’ wardrobe, full of anticipation, but instead of standing in a magical place with fawns and witches and every kind of possibility, I had somehow managed to walk through the wardrobe and into a dentist office.
What are you supposed to do in a waiting room except try to kill time? We do a lot of that. Kill a lot of time doing “churchy” things. We need to realize that the walls of the waiting room are actually paper-thin. Behind the veil exists an untamed, revolutionary reality…the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is NOT a kingdom of words & waiting BUT a kingdom of Action!
When Mother Teresa was asked about her work in Calcutta among the world’s poor; how it was going, what it was like, she would say, “COME AND SEE”. You see the Kingdom of God cannot be easily defined with words nor concretely measured by nickels and noses. May it be said of Mars Hill, "Come and See".
Matthew 10: 7 As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, [b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Notice "As you go". The church is a community on the move. And because we have gone we can now say to those in need of the Kingdom to break in, "The kingdom of heaven has come near". As long as you are there, the kingdom is there. As long as you are there, there is no church-forsaken place.
Now from the Message translation: "Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.
Not sure about you, but I have not healed anyone, raised anyone, or kicked out a demon recently.
Jesus says in John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
So, while I haven't done anything "miraculous" recently, Jesus is telling me that I and we will do greater things. But what if the miracles that Jesus did were expressions of love, not merely power? What if the real miracle was that Jesus touched a leper, not healed a leper?
I have always hope that this community, Mars Hill, would be a community marked by love. And not the expected measure of love, but that we would love more than others think is necessary.
After Jesus went to heaven, some friends of mine Dan & Lynn, decided to start showing what heaven’s response to homelessness might look like. Every night during cold weather, they would load up their car with blankets and socks and roam Portland looking for people sleeping on the streets. If they didn’t look warm enough, they’d pull out an armload of comfort and tuck them in.
These days they have mobilized a team of like minded agents. They call themselves Blanket Coverage. They’ve gotten some media attention, but they still mostly operate off the radar and out of sight, and they like it that way. “What we hope is that when homeless people wake up to find that they have a new blanket and new socks, they’ll think about God taking care of them, not us.”
To the cold homeless person, this is a miracle. Because they went to bed cold without a blanket and awoke to find themselves tucked in, cozy and cared for.
Just before Jesus went to heaven He said, Matthew 5 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
After Jesus went back to heaven, two college students I know, Kindra and Heather, decided to adopt. What they had in mind to adopt, actually, was a whole apartment building – a low income complex if possible. They wanted to show heaven’s response to a particular group in a particular place. So they went on a prayer walk asking God to show them the place He wanted them to adopt, and He did. The place where they ended up turned out to be a rehab center for single moms. Kindra and Heather walked in and asked, “What can we do to help around here?”
The girls started out just holding babies. Week after week, they showed up to help the moms and listen to their stories of grief. Through it all, their message to the residents never wavered: Even if you reject us, we’ll come back. We’re not better; we’re just here.
Before long the girls got permission to take families out for the day – to the zoo or to the park and Dairy Queen. Anything to feel normal. At Christmas, Kindra and Heather asked their church to help the moms buy presents for their kids. A year passed before any mom from rehab came to church. Even later, when one of the moms was baptized, she told the church that it was the tricycle for her son that did it. “That’s when I felt in my heart that you cared.”
READ MARK 16:15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
The invitation of Jesus was to go and spread has been complicated into programs best left to missionaries and pastors. We’ve reduced “all the world” and “all creation” to just the folks who walk through the doors at church.
The word sent occurs 650 times in the Bible and in a majority of its uses, God is doing the sending. God is attentive to needs, and so He sends.
John 20: 21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
The father sends the son, the son sends the spirit and the father, son and spirit send us, the church. This is not unique to Mars Hill, this is the heartbeat of God.
When God sends us, we don’t have to go. It is our choice to remain within the paper-thin walls waiting and killing time doing "church" things. For a while the early church kept the Good News in Jerusalem. I can understand why they didn’t want to leave. People were responding, lives were being changed. Why leave the program that was breaking all the records? But God wanted them to GO into all the world and to all creation with the Good News.
Before returning to OKC to be a part of the beginning of Mars Hill I was on staff at a large church. This church was 14,000 members strong. Had a youth ministry bursting at the seems with over 1400 students participating weekly. A college ministry that grew from 30 to over 1000 in a handful of years. A worship band that was crankin' out great cd's. A Pastor that was leading an organization representing 30 million evangelicals nationwide. This place was on the rise with opportunity and influence galore. And I was leaving to plant a new church. On my final Sunday (packed house, band jammin', lights swirling), one of the Sr. leaders asked me, "Are you really leaving? You're really leaving all of this?" To this I said, "Yes". His reply, "You're crazy". It was my choice. And for me to receive the invitation of Jesus to Go, I had to make the choice to break through the paper-thin walls of this mega church into a new land of mystery and adventure.
We have spent so much time and energy trying to reimagine what it looks like for us to DO church in a “relevant” way. A lot of people say the church is not reaching America because she’s not relevant. It’s as if the church doesn’t look sexy enough and if we could give her an extreme makeover, the culture around us would fall in love with her. Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? But we do it; we try so hard to be cool.
I am not willing to waste any more time trying to figure church out. I'm ready to BE it, to be a part of the Kingdom of God here and now.
Relevance is a consequence of kingdom living. Authentic relationships make us relevant.
When my friend Laura started volunteering at a local AIDS hospice, I remember how emotional the experience got for her at times. She decided that doing tasks around the hospice wasn’t enough. She would love her patients – and keep on loving them until they could feel it. Since she’s a musician, she’d play music for them. Over time, the people she met became her friends, not simply projects. When a patient died, she wept and mourned. The people at the hospice knew she loved them. She didn’t have to work at being relevant because love given without any other agenda is always relevant. Relevance comes from relationship – it means we matter to someone, he or she matters to us, and we both know it.
Answering the call of Jesus to GO actually requires so little of me, it’s un-American really. All we need to say is YES. We are a church that says YES. Mars Hill does not exist for me. It is not about people helping me fulfill the vision that is in my heart. I am here to serve you. So, what's your passion? What's in your heart? Go after it. Chase it. Let it come alive. And let us serve one another, empower one another, resource one another.
What does it look like for us to say YES and GO?
1. People come first – all people matter to God, but at Mars Hill we continue to see that the people in the margins are the first ones we should go to. Jesus was born into the margins. He could have entered into a higher class, more influential segment of society. But he entered into the margins to show us where the kingdom of God was meant to break in and be lived out.
2. Community is an indispensable strength – There are no lone rangers in the kingdom of God. Jesus sent the disciples out in groups of two. Our community groups are not the magic formula for community. They are simply an on ramp into the lives of each other. They are simply an attempt to get us Being the church in 2's and 3's.
3. The genius of the kingdom is almost always in simplicity – We keep asking, what’s the need? And how can we meet it simply? We are looking at a one square mile area around KAMP's asking, "What's the need? And how can we meet it simply?" I think about the boys and girls club at 36th & Classen, I think about the Paseo Arts District, I think about broken neighborhoods that need beauty, Classen SAS High School, Cross & Crown, etc.
Let’s start the dialogue for a few moments here:
What would you say are the top three places of need in our community (as defined by where you live, work, go to school)?
What do you imagine the kingdom might look like if it broke in there?
What are some creative simple ways that you, your family and your friends could represent the kingdom in those areas?
What keeps you and those you know from being signposts of heaven in your community? How could you remove those obstacles?
Check out Tim Hughes' latest album "Holding Nothing Back". And make sure to listen to "God of Justice". We ended the Gathering listening to this together as a benediction of sorts. Below are the lyrics.
God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served
Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God
You have show us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Beautiful Mess.
Great to be with everyone at KAMP's tonight. Wonderful to meet so many first timers. Look forward to connecting with you more in the future. Thanks Cole McCord for leading us beautifully in worship tonight.
I'm headed to Colorado Springs this week to assist at New Life Church's (www.NewLifeChurch.org) Desperation Youth Conference (www.DesperationOnline.org). I'll be blogging a bit while I'm away...so let's get those comments rollin'.
This marks week number four in "This Beautiful Mess".
The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 13)
Mark 4:30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."
Many seem to be hoping that the kingdom of God will come in triumphal greatness, expanding God’s territory and taking over the world with glory and power – shock and awing the masses if you will. But that’s the very temptation Jesus faced in the desert, the temptation to do spectacular things like fling himself from the temple or turn stones into bread, to shock the masses with his miracles or awe them with his power. And yet he resists.
The church has faced the same temptation. You and I have faced the same temptation. To pursue the American dream version of the kingdom of God. We like big. God seems to be into small. We like spectacular. God likes humble. We focus on what can be seen. God cares about what is unseen.
Mother Teresa offers us that brilliant glimpse of hope that lies in little things. “We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it.”
It is easy to fall in love with great things. Bigger is better in this earthly kingdom. We live in a world that wants things larger and larger. We want to super size our fries, sodas, SUV’s, and church buildings. I think the kingdom of God as bubbling up from the bottom rather than trickling down from the top.
The pervasive myth is that as we grow larger we can do more good. As congregations grow in terms of staff and property, their giving to causes outside of operating expenses decreases dramatically, especially money given directly to the poor. I just read a recent study that showed that rich are significantly less generous (proportionately) than poor people, and that large congregations give proportionately far less to people in poverty than do small ones.
You may have heard plenty of cute sermons about the mustard seed parable, talking how God takes little seeds and makes big trees out of them, but I think there’s much more than that going on here.
MUSTARD SEED REVOLUTION
Jesus tells his listeners that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which grows like a wild bush - a wild vine that takes over an area. Rather unassumingly, it can blanket entire mountainsides, smother trees, and crack cement. It’s like those wild weeds that grow out of abandoned places.
The mustard seed’s growth would have been familiar to 1st century Jews and its symbolic meaning unmistakably clear. It may have even been growing in the wild around them as Jesus spoke.
Jews valued order and had very strict rules about how to keep a tidy garden, and one of the secrets was to keep out mustard. It was notorious for invading the well-trimmed veggies and other plants and for quickly taking over the entire garden. Jewish law forbade planting mustard in the garden.
When those 1st century peasants heard Jesus’ images, they would have giggle, or maybe they would have told him to hush before he got killed. Here he is using this infamous plant to describe God’s kingdom subtly taking over the world.
Plenty of people had lofty expectations of the kingdom coming in spectacular triumph and were familiar with the well-known “cedars of Lebanon” imagery from the prophets, who described the kingdom as the greatest of all the trees, not unlike a giant redwood. The cedars of Lebanon imagery would have brought some enthusiastic amens from the crowd.
Jesus ridiculed this triumphal expectation. After all, even mature mustard plants stand only a few feet high.
The Jesus revolution is not a frontal attack on the empires of this world. It is a subtle contagion, spreading one little life, one little house at a time.
Mustard Seed – in the days of the Roman empire (330 BC) it was a sign of power. Darius, King of the Persians, invaded Europe and was met by Alexander the Great. Darius sent Alexander a bag of sesame seeds as a taunt, indicating the multitudes of soldiers he had. Alexander sent back a bag of mustard seed with the message, “You may be many, but we are powerful. We can handle you.”
So there goes Jesus turning power on its head again. His power was not in crushing but in being crushed, triumphing over the empire’s sword with his cross. Mustard must be crushed, ground, broken in order for its power to be released.
John 12:24 says, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Mustard was also known for healing; it was rubbed on the chest to help with breathing, sort of like Vicks vapor rub.
Verse 32 says, “the birds come and perch in its branches.” These birds that he speaks of are fowls – not a reference to the mighty eagles that dwelt in the cedars but the detestable birds. Farmers did not want fowls in their gardens. That’s why they put up scarecrows.
The kingdom of God is a Mustard Seed Revolution. The evidence is small, but it’s everywhere.
At first we see it only in glimpses; a mustard seed revolution is a kind gesture, giving to others in need, saying no to personal gain because it may cost us our soul, pursuing a relationship with people that Jesus wants to love.
Are we there yet? Don’t miss the kingdom. The evidence may be small, but it’s everywhere. You may be looking for a Christian empire, but Jesus says his Kingdom looks an awful lot like a seed.
We push the kingdom away because we’re not sure we like the small packaging. We don’t have a few neighbors over for dinner because it seems like no big deal. Or what about a few college students taking a camp stove taken down to a park to feed some homeless people every week and three years later it's still going.
We want to see God at work, but often times we don’t want to go to the places he is at work.
Growth does not happen in a sterile environment.
We hang out in the dentist office wondering where god is, god’s teeth are fine.
“What’s your calling?” – we have lived in churches and Christian circles fixated and obsessed with the future…These things that we will one day do. We sit around talking about dreams and destinies.
Many people want to start a revolution. But not very many want to be a part of a revolution.
Because a revolution is already underway. And the leader of the revolution is not you, it’s Jesus.
The world is already being changed.
3 POINTS OF ACTION (the book I mentioned is Butterfly In Brazil by Glenn Packiam http://www.glennpackiam.com/)
1. Learn to do small things well – See Nehemiah Chapter 2
We are fixated on the fantastic. How you spend a dollar is how you’ll spend a thousand dollars. How you treat one person is how you’ll treat a thousand dollars. How you spend one hours is how you’ll spend ten.
We don’t do small things well because we don’t see the big picture – we see churches not THE CHURCH
2. Act where you are – See Nehemiah Chapter 3
Mark 5:18As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis[c]how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Where you are is where I want you to act. We don’t even consider that lasting change begins right where we stand. We assume that the place of significance is someplace else. Around the bend. When I turn. God is not in the spectacular. He is in the ordinary. He is in the margins.
3. Stay on the scene - See Nehemiah Chapter 6
As long as you are there, there is no church-forsaken or forgotten place.
A supernova can briefly outshine the galaxy that it’s in…it would take a sun 10billion years to outshine and put off more energy than a supernova…a supernova burns out in weeks or months…the supernova does not sustain any life…has plenty of power and sizzle…what it doesn’t have is stay…plenty of radiance…not enough permanence…the sun sustains life…mark time by the sun…life finds it’s cadence it’s rhythm of the sun, not the supernova.
The secret to stay is to believe that what your hands have found to do is a great work. Great must be redefined.
We believe the Church is God’s chosen vehicle for creating change. Change happens locally. It happens when people act where they are with what they have. Change happens gradually. It occurs when people do a series of little things well over a long period of time.
I'm headed to Colorado Springs this week to assist at New Life Church's (www.NewLifeChurch.org) Desperation Youth Conference (www.DesperationOnline.org). I'll be blogging a bit while I'm away...so let's get those comments rollin'.
This marks week number four in "This Beautiful Mess".
The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 13)
Mark 4:30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."
Many seem to be hoping that the kingdom of God will come in triumphal greatness, expanding God’s territory and taking over the world with glory and power – shock and awing the masses if you will. But that’s the very temptation Jesus faced in the desert, the temptation to do spectacular things like fling himself from the temple or turn stones into bread, to shock the masses with his miracles or awe them with his power. And yet he resists.
The church has faced the same temptation. You and I have faced the same temptation. To pursue the American dream version of the kingdom of God. We like big. God seems to be into small. We like spectacular. God likes humble. We focus on what can be seen. God cares about what is unseen.
Mother Teresa offers us that brilliant glimpse of hope that lies in little things. “We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it.”
It is easy to fall in love with great things. Bigger is better in this earthly kingdom. We live in a world that wants things larger and larger. We want to super size our fries, sodas, SUV’s, and church buildings. I think the kingdom of God as bubbling up from the bottom rather than trickling down from the top.
The pervasive myth is that as we grow larger we can do more good. As congregations grow in terms of staff and property, their giving to causes outside of operating expenses decreases dramatically, especially money given directly to the poor. I just read a recent study that showed that rich are significantly less generous (proportionately) than poor people, and that large congregations give proportionately far less to people in poverty than do small ones.
You may have heard plenty of cute sermons about the mustard seed parable, talking how God takes little seeds and makes big trees out of them, but I think there’s much more than that going on here.
MUSTARD SEED REVOLUTION
Jesus tells his listeners that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which grows like a wild bush - a wild vine that takes over an area. Rather unassumingly, it can blanket entire mountainsides, smother trees, and crack cement. It’s like those wild weeds that grow out of abandoned places.
The mustard seed’s growth would have been familiar to 1st century Jews and its symbolic meaning unmistakably clear. It may have even been growing in the wild around them as Jesus spoke.
Jews valued order and had very strict rules about how to keep a tidy garden, and one of the secrets was to keep out mustard. It was notorious for invading the well-trimmed veggies and other plants and for quickly taking over the entire garden. Jewish law forbade planting mustard in the garden.
When those 1st century peasants heard Jesus’ images, they would have giggle, or maybe they would have told him to hush before he got killed. Here he is using this infamous plant to describe God’s kingdom subtly taking over the world.
Plenty of people had lofty expectations of the kingdom coming in spectacular triumph and were familiar with the well-known “cedars of Lebanon” imagery from the prophets, who described the kingdom as the greatest of all the trees, not unlike a giant redwood. The cedars of Lebanon imagery would have brought some enthusiastic amens from the crowd.
Jesus ridiculed this triumphal expectation. After all, even mature mustard plants stand only a few feet high.
The Jesus revolution is not a frontal attack on the empires of this world. It is a subtle contagion, spreading one little life, one little house at a time.
Mustard Seed – in the days of the Roman empire (330 BC) it was a sign of power. Darius, King of the Persians, invaded Europe and was met by Alexander the Great. Darius sent Alexander a bag of sesame seeds as a taunt, indicating the multitudes of soldiers he had. Alexander sent back a bag of mustard seed with the message, “You may be many, but we are powerful. We can handle you.”
So there goes Jesus turning power on its head again. His power was not in crushing but in being crushed, triumphing over the empire’s sword with his cross. Mustard must be crushed, ground, broken in order for its power to be released.
John 12:24 says, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Mustard was also known for healing; it was rubbed on the chest to help with breathing, sort of like Vicks vapor rub.
Verse 32 says, “the birds come and perch in its branches.” These birds that he speaks of are fowls – not a reference to the mighty eagles that dwelt in the cedars but the detestable birds. Farmers did not want fowls in their gardens. That’s why they put up scarecrows.
The kingdom of God is a Mustard Seed Revolution. The evidence is small, but it’s everywhere.
At first we see it only in glimpses; a mustard seed revolution is a kind gesture, giving to others in need, saying no to personal gain because it may cost us our soul, pursuing a relationship with people that Jesus wants to love.
Are we there yet? Don’t miss the kingdom. The evidence may be small, but it’s everywhere. You may be looking for a Christian empire, but Jesus says his Kingdom looks an awful lot like a seed.
We push the kingdom away because we’re not sure we like the small packaging. We don’t have a few neighbors over for dinner because it seems like no big deal. Or what about a few college students taking a camp stove taken down to a park to feed some homeless people every week and three years later it's still going.
We want to see God at work, but often times we don’t want to go to the places he is at work.
Growth does not happen in a sterile environment.
We hang out in the dentist office wondering where god is, god’s teeth are fine.
“What’s your calling?” – we have lived in churches and Christian circles fixated and obsessed with the future…These things that we will one day do. We sit around talking about dreams and destinies.
Many people want to start a revolution. But not very many want to be a part of a revolution.
Because a revolution is already underway. And the leader of the revolution is not you, it’s Jesus.
The world is already being changed.
3 POINTS OF ACTION (the book I mentioned is Butterfly In Brazil by Glenn Packiam http://www.glennpackiam.com/)
1. Learn to do small things well – See Nehemiah Chapter 2
We are fixated on the fantastic. How you spend a dollar is how you’ll spend a thousand dollars. How you treat one person is how you’ll treat a thousand dollars. How you spend one hours is how you’ll spend ten.
We don’t do small things well because we don’t see the big picture – we see churches not THE CHURCH
2. Act where you are – See Nehemiah Chapter 3
Mark 5:18As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis[c]how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Where you are is where I want you to act. We don’t even consider that lasting change begins right where we stand. We assume that the place of significance is someplace else. Around the bend. When I turn. God is not in the spectacular. He is in the ordinary. He is in the margins.
3. Stay on the scene - See Nehemiah Chapter 6
As long as you are there, there is no church-forsaken or forgotten place.
A supernova can briefly outshine the galaxy that it’s in…it would take a sun 10billion years to outshine and put off more energy than a supernova…a supernova burns out in weeks or months…the supernova does not sustain any life…has plenty of power and sizzle…what it doesn’t have is stay…plenty of radiance…not enough permanence…the sun sustains life…mark time by the sun…life finds it’s cadence it’s rhythm of the sun, not the supernova.
The secret to stay is to believe that what your hands have found to do is a great work. Great must be redefined.
We believe the Church is God’s chosen vehicle for creating change. Change happens locally. It happens when people act where they are with what they have. Change happens gradually. It occurs when people do a series of little things well over a long period of time.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
See The Morning.
Enjoyed an evening of dinner and late night conversation with friends last night. And enjoyed the start of a new day at breakfast with a couple of my buddies.
I love breakfast places because they're like a blast from the past where everybody is equally referred to as baby and honey and sweety. And when there is scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and black coffee involved, you know it not a come on or a pick up line. It's good ole' middle America comin' at you.
First of all, they have this ridiculously expensive OJ (orange juice). It's fresh squeezed and makes you pucker. But while chugging it down, I just knew it was doing good stuff for me. Oh yeah, it was $4.89. More than the cost of my ham and cheese omelet.
As we sat around Classen Grill (where northwest expressway end at classen) we discussed the beauty of getting up in the morning on a bright and sunny Saturday. Why stay in bed or lounge around when you could step into a day like today OR any other day for that matter? My lifelong friend John Wayne (yes, the duke) talked about the newness of each day. The brightness. Light. The energy. Hope. The awakening. Brand new. The energy. Mercy. The life. Activity. The fresh start.
A subtly significant moment. Our lives are full of them. And I got to see cheese grits for the first time compliments to my roughest toughest tenderest friend Cole.
See the morning...receive the mercy...start again.
I love breakfast places because they're like a blast from the past where everybody is equally referred to as baby and honey and sweety. And when there is scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and black coffee involved, you know it not a come on or a pick up line. It's good ole' middle America comin' at you.
First of all, they have this ridiculously expensive OJ (orange juice). It's fresh squeezed and makes you pucker. But while chugging it down, I just knew it was doing good stuff for me. Oh yeah, it was $4.89. More than the cost of my ham and cheese omelet.
As we sat around Classen Grill (where northwest expressway end at classen) we discussed the beauty of getting up in the morning on a bright and sunny Saturday. Why stay in bed or lounge around when you could step into a day like today OR any other day for that matter? My lifelong friend John Wayne (yes, the duke) talked about the newness of each day. The brightness. Light. The energy. Hope. The awakening. Brand new. The energy. Mercy. The life. Activity. The fresh start.
A subtly significant moment. Our lives are full of them. And I got to see cheese grits for the first time compliments to my roughest toughest tenderest friend Cole.
See the morning...receive the mercy...start again.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Sauced.
Great to be with some friends out on the Paseo last night. It was a beautiful evening buzzing with great people. A good pizza slice and some live music provided by Dan Vaillancourt added to the enjoyment.
As we sat around talking about everything from organic church, to stupid reality shows, to job satisfaction, educational benefits, trips to california and kansas, outreach impulses, etc...we thought about our entertainment for the evening.
Dan (check out http://www.danvaillancourt.com/ & www.myspace.com/danvaillancourt) was on a bit of a summer tour. He will be hitting some 30 venues in 60 days or so across 14 states. Aaron Stimpson brought up the risk and sense of adventure there must be in leaving home with your guitar to hit the road for a summer of travel and music. A summer to pursue your dreams and follow the beat of your own heart.
Now this guy is not big time but he's good. He's traveling from city to city playing for food and gas money. He's playing for love. He's well educated, gifted, articulate, social. He has everything in his arsenal to conquer the "American Dream". But what about his dream? It looks different. But it's his. Nobody else's. Just his. And he's going for it.
In those hours together last night, I kept thinking about some of the great adventures of my life. A time stranded on a boat as a young kid. I was convinced it was my own Giligan's Island. A month in Nepal as a teenager. Taking a bunch of teenagers to Romania. What were there parents thinking? Through the night road trips with friends. Marriage. Capsizing canoes on the Illinois river in the black of night, only later to find out the river was closed. Kids. Thailand, post-tsunami. Israel. Oklahoma again. Church-planting. On an On I could go.
I am thankful for the adventures thus far. And I pray my own heart will be free enough to follow its own beat. I want to live free (I almost made a Die Hard reference) and full.
So what are you dreaming about?
What adventure is awaiting you?
Where will your heart lead you?
Take your own "Dan Vaillancourt Summer Tour 2007".
It's your life...live it...now!
As we sat around talking about everything from organic church, to stupid reality shows, to job satisfaction, educational benefits, trips to california and kansas, outreach impulses, etc...we thought about our entertainment for the evening.
Dan (check out http://www.danvaillancourt.com/ & www.myspace.com/danvaillancourt) was on a bit of a summer tour. He will be hitting some 30 venues in 60 days or so across 14 states. Aaron Stimpson brought up the risk and sense of adventure there must be in leaving home with your guitar to hit the road for a summer of travel and music. A summer to pursue your dreams and follow the beat of your own heart.
Now this guy is not big time but he's good. He's traveling from city to city playing for food and gas money. He's playing for love. He's well educated, gifted, articulate, social. He has everything in his arsenal to conquer the "American Dream". But what about his dream? It looks different. But it's his. Nobody else's. Just his. And he's going for it.
In those hours together last night, I kept thinking about some of the great adventures of my life. A time stranded on a boat as a young kid. I was convinced it was my own Giligan's Island. A month in Nepal as a teenager. Taking a bunch of teenagers to Romania. What were there parents thinking? Through the night road trips with friends. Marriage. Capsizing canoes on the Illinois river in the black of night, only later to find out the river was closed. Kids. Thailand, post-tsunami. Israel. Oklahoma again. Church-planting. On an On I could go.
I am thankful for the adventures thus far. And I pray my own heart will be free enough to follow its own beat. I want to live free (I almost made a Die Hard reference) and full.
So what are you dreaming about?
What adventure is awaiting you?
Where will your heart lead you?
Take your own "Dan Vaillancourt Summer Tour 2007".
It's your life...live it...now!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Keep Hoping.
Several months a couple of college-age guys showed up at KAMP's for the Gathering. These young men were on mission. Their hearts were full. Their eyes wide open.
While having dinner with my new friends Jordy & Tim (check them out at www.LoveIsAnAction.com) I met a homeless friend of theirs named Keith. Keith has a tale to tell. His life turned upside down in a moment. Now homeless and wandering OKC.
Keith joined us for dinner that night and has continued to be a part of our life off and on over the last several months. He would drop in and out. Weeks would go by and no sign of him only for him to reappear rather randomly downtown OR receive a call. I was always pleased to run into OR hear from Keith. I think we all worried about him during the times of little or no contact.
Jordy & Tim have been really faithful to Keith. And while I have had some role in all of this, it has been Jordy and Tim's heart for Keith that has allowed me to keep hoping. And Keith's perseverance that has kept him humbly fighting for his life.
In all of this, I see more of my AND our role come into focus. I am not a hero, nor do I aim to become one. Our church is not a success story. nor do we aim to become one. I love serving Keith directly. I love encouraging and empowering others as well. Too many churches exist for themselves. And some churches even exist for the pastor. And some of us have a difficult time celebrating the stories of others action. I want our church to exist for all three people mentioned: Keith, the marginalize homeless man AND Jordy & Tim, the wild-eyed college students ready to lay down their life for a homeless friend.
If the ministry of the church is going to be put back in the hands of the people. It will not be Ben did this or Mars Hill did that, but rather...You know those college kids we met awhile back...they are loving that homeless like crazy. And you know that family...they are loving their neighbors like crazy. On and On and On...the stories will go. More numerous than we can count.
So my role...put the ministry of the church back in the hands of the people and the church back out on the streets where it belongs.
Will you receive the gift of the church AND go and be?
And please tell us your story along the way.
Oh yeah, Keith the homeless man is moving to Weatherford with Jordy & Tim. They found him a job and a place to live.
How can we worship a homeless man on Sundays and ignore one on Monday?
While having dinner with my new friends Jordy & Tim (check them out at www.LoveIsAnAction.com) I met a homeless friend of theirs named Keith. Keith has a tale to tell. His life turned upside down in a moment. Now homeless and wandering OKC.
Keith joined us for dinner that night and has continued to be a part of our life off and on over the last several months. He would drop in and out. Weeks would go by and no sign of him only for him to reappear rather randomly downtown OR receive a call. I was always pleased to run into OR hear from Keith. I think we all worried about him during the times of little or no contact.
Jordy & Tim have been really faithful to Keith. And while I have had some role in all of this, it has been Jordy and Tim's heart for Keith that has allowed me to keep hoping. And Keith's perseverance that has kept him humbly fighting for his life.
In all of this, I see more of my AND our role come into focus. I am not a hero, nor do I aim to become one. Our church is not a success story. nor do we aim to become one. I love serving Keith directly. I love encouraging and empowering others as well. Too many churches exist for themselves. And some churches even exist for the pastor. And some of us have a difficult time celebrating the stories of others action. I want our church to exist for all three people mentioned: Keith, the marginalize homeless man AND Jordy & Tim, the wild-eyed college students ready to lay down their life for a homeless friend.
If the ministry of the church is going to be put back in the hands of the people. It will not be Ben did this or Mars Hill did that, but rather...You know those college kids we met awhile back...they are loving that homeless like crazy. And you know that family...they are loving their neighbors like crazy. On and On and On...the stories will go. More numerous than we can count.
So my role...put the ministry of the church back in the hands of the people and the church back out on the streets where it belongs.
Will you receive the gift of the church AND go and be?
And please tell us your story along the way.
Oh yeah, Keith the homeless man is moving to Weatherford with Jordy & Tim. They found him a job and a place to live.
How can we worship a homeless man on Sundays and ignore one on Monday?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Think. Feel. Pray.
Recently some of my closest friends were dealt a blow that ripped normalcy and innocence from them. Further evidence of this Beautiful Mess we live in. Today, they will face this crisis all over again, head on. And I'm thinking about them. And I'm Wondering what it must be like. And I'm Wishing I could somehow share the load. And my heart hurts for them. And my heart moves toward God, in prayer.
Who are you thinking of today?
What load are you carrying for another?
Who are you hurting for?
What are you praying about?
Think. Feel. Pray.
Who are you thinking of today?
What load are you carrying for another?
Who are you hurting for?
What are you praying about?
Think. Feel. Pray.
Monday, July 9, 2007
This Beautiful Mess #3.
Hey Friends - great time at KAMP's on Sunday evening. Thanks Andy Malone for leading and journeying with us in worship. And great to meet several people from the community for the first time. It is our sincere pleasure for you story to join our story AND our story join your story. And together, for our story to find its place in God's story.
Here are the highlights from the talk...
In Mark 4:26-29, Jesus gives us another parable to explain to us the Kingdom of God that is near, the Kingdom of God that is within us.
Cruise over to the library OR rummage through your child's bookshelf to read “Frog & Toad Together: Garden”. It is a wonderful rendering of the parable in Mark 4.
Many of us are like toad. We spend our lives singing, dancing and telling stories to dirt, trying to make the seeds grow. In the end we conclude that making seeds grow is hard work. But is it?
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Jesus described the work as casting out seed, going to bed at night and rising in the day. The soil produces the growth “all by itself”. The word translated “all by itself” is automate – which is obviously the root word from which we get our word automatic. The man who sows the seed doesn’t even know how it happens.
In this parable, the man who sows the seed does not know how the seed grows. I feel qualified for that role: clueless and sleeping on the job. Too many of us experts think we know all about how the work of ministry is supposed to grow.
The consequence is that the mysterious and miraculous element of the Kingdom is replaced with strategic plans, demographic studies and brightly colored flow charts. We sacrifice pure, organic power for hard work and little results. Professing to be wise, we become fools.
Many of us are like Toad. We can jump and shout, sing songs, and read stories, but it will not cause any greater growth. The Bible tells us throughout that only God can cause growth.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:6-7 said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.”
Trying to cause growth is not possible for us and only confuses people. Worse than that, when we try to cause growth we take upon our shoulder’s God’s work. GOD IS HEAVY. God’s glory, kavod, the full weight and significance.
Matthew 11:28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus is giving an invitation to walk away from human religion AND enter into his Kingdom, a better way.
Acts 15:9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Maybe you are walking around with heavy load. Perhaps you are buckling under the way of religion that your family, friends, or church experience has put on you. The invitation is to let it go. Take it off. Receive and embrace a kingdom that is not burdensome or wearisome.
Perhaps you and I need to repent from human religion. Perhaps you and I need healing from human religion. Perhaps you and I need to enter into our world and take off the heavy religious burden that is crushing so many in our society.
Matthew 23 - WOES AGAINST HUMAN RELIGION
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries [a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them 'Rabbi.'
11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
13-14 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are.
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Mark 1:15 says 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
There is a better way. There is a Kingdom that shows us how things really are.
All of us long deeply to be a part of a spontaneously growing and multiplying movement where God is doing the work. The reality is that as long as we invest in human-driven efforts, we will never see what we all really want to see.
This important parable speaks to our heart’s desire. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is to grow spontaneously, “all by itself”.
There is risk involved in seeking a spontaneous movement. We must trust God to do His part. We must be willing to place ourselves in a position where, if He does not show up, we will be seen as complete fools. Most have not been willing to take that risk.
The kingdom is. We are witnesses (Acts 1:8).
So if we are not GROWING by DOING…
We are RECEIVING by BEING…
I have spent my life trying to get to the next level. You work hard and you save money so you can get through school, buy a better car, buy a house, or have kids. But every level requires that you try to get to the next level. Your new job requires a better car. Your new children require a bigger house. Your bigger house requires a better job and longer hours. And so the cycle goes.
Spiritually, we tend to think in levels too. Everything depends on what we do.
Churches love to talk about advancing the kingdom and building the kingdom. It’s as if Jesus said, “My kingdom is a pile of lumber on the truck in heaven, and I need you boys and girls to get a hammer and help me nail this thing together. Could ya?”
But he didn’t. When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he never talked about us building it OR advancing it. Never. He said, “The kingdom is…” He simply invited his followers to see it, embrace it, believe in the unfading reality of it, and join in what His Father was already doing in the world.
Being kingdom people – I love that and I hate it.
I love it because it implies some sort of discovery that I am going to have to make to truly understand what Jesus is talking about.
But being before doing is not in my makeup. Doing, for one thing, requires more of me. Therefore, doing ads immediately to my sense of self-importance. And I think that is why I hate being.
Doing is a much easier objective to rally the troops around than being. How many messages have you heard telling you that God is calling us to simply be in His Kingdom? Nothing to do, buy, sign up for, build. Nowhere to prove yourself.
Kind of throws me off. I like thinking in terms of levels of achievement because it gives me a sense of power and control. I mean, if I work hard and do the right things, I can move to the next level. There’s not so much ambiguity or mystery to the process of making God work for me. All I need to know is: What’s the next level and what do I need to do to get there?
The other reason I like levels is because it requires less of me relationally. Levels of spirituality are perfect for a culture that deifies individuality. Our world is all about the individual. The kingdom is always about the other. It demands that I notice others, love others, pray for them and serve them. Levels spirituality does not. It allows me to do it myself, by myself.
Jesus hates levels spirituality. All it does is reinforce the lie that started way back in the beginning – the one that says I can be like God. How screwed up have we gotten that we cling to a Christianity that can be lived out without God? Pretty screwed up.
We’re so inclined to try to make things happen for God. Every week we’re tempted to get out a measuring stick. Did we get higher? Are we sliding down? And we figure that God is measuring too. He is simply inviting us to be part of what he is already doing.
Choosing to live in the kingdom dimension creates some major shifts in our thinking. One of those is the shift from advancing to embracing. I don’t see my life now as one in which I advance the kingdom of God. It is advancing all by itself. Jesus explained it this way:
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Following Jesus isn’t about us; it’s about him. I can’t embrace the kingdom when my arms are full of me. I have to let go. Then Jesus can give me a new way of being.
Embracing is hard, but it’s also freeing.
The kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. But the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work. It is the life of God springing up around us.
The kingdom is. We are witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Here are the highlights from the talk...
In Mark 4:26-29, Jesus gives us another parable to explain to us the Kingdom of God that is near, the Kingdom of God that is within us.
Cruise over to the library OR rummage through your child's bookshelf to read “Frog & Toad Together: Garden”. It is a wonderful rendering of the parable in Mark 4.
Many of us are like toad. We spend our lives singing, dancing and telling stories to dirt, trying to make the seeds grow. In the end we conclude that making seeds grow is hard work. But is it?
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Jesus described the work as casting out seed, going to bed at night and rising in the day. The soil produces the growth “all by itself”. The word translated “all by itself” is automate – which is obviously the root word from which we get our word automatic. The man who sows the seed doesn’t even know how it happens.
In this parable, the man who sows the seed does not know how the seed grows. I feel qualified for that role: clueless and sleeping on the job. Too many of us experts think we know all about how the work of ministry is supposed to grow.
The consequence is that the mysterious and miraculous element of the Kingdom is replaced with strategic plans, demographic studies and brightly colored flow charts. We sacrifice pure, organic power for hard work and little results. Professing to be wise, we become fools.
Many of us are like Toad. We can jump and shout, sing songs, and read stories, but it will not cause any greater growth. The Bible tells us throughout that only God can cause growth.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:6-7 said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.”
Trying to cause growth is not possible for us and only confuses people. Worse than that, when we try to cause growth we take upon our shoulder’s God’s work. GOD IS HEAVY. God’s glory, kavod, the full weight and significance.
Matthew 11:28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus is giving an invitation to walk away from human religion AND enter into his Kingdom, a better way.
Acts 15:9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Maybe you are walking around with heavy load. Perhaps you are buckling under the way of religion that your family, friends, or church experience has put on you. The invitation is to let it go. Take it off. Receive and embrace a kingdom that is not burdensome or wearisome.
Perhaps you and I need to repent from human religion. Perhaps you and I need healing from human religion. Perhaps you and I need to enter into our world and take off the heavy religious burden that is crushing so many in our society.
Matthew 23 - WOES AGAINST HUMAN RELIGION
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries [a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them 'Rabbi.'
11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
13-14 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are.
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Mark 1:15 says 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
There is a better way. There is a Kingdom that shows us how things really are.
All of us long deeply to be a part of a spontaneously growing and multiplying movement where God is doing the work. The reality is that as long as we invest in human-driven efforts, we will never see what we all really want to see.
This important parable speaks to our heart’s desire. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is to grow spontaneously, “all by itself”.
There is risk involved in seeking a spontaneous movement. We must trust God to do His part. We must be willing to place ourselves in a position where, if He does not show up, we will be seen as complete fools. Most have not been willing to take that risk.
The kingdom is. We are witnesses (Acts 1:8).
So if we are not GROWING by DOING…
We are RECEIVING by BEING…
I have spent my life trying to get to the next level. You work hard and you save money so you can get through school, buy a better car, buy a house, or have kids. But every level requires that you try to get to the next level. Your new job requires a better car. Your new children require a bigger house. Your bigger house requires a better job and longer hours. And so the cycle goes.
Spiritually, we tend to think in levels too. Everything depends on what we do.
Churches love to talk about advancing the kingdom and building the kingdom. It’s as if Jesus said, “My kingdom is a pile of lumber on the truck in heaven, and I need you boys and girls to get a hammer and help me nail this thing together. Could ya?”
But he didn’t. When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he never talked about us building it OR advancing it. Never. He said, “The kingdom is…” He simply invited his followers to see it, embrace it, believe in the unfading reality of it, and join in what His Father was already doing in the world.
Being kingdom people – I love that and I hate it.
I love it because it implies some sort of discovery that I am going to have to make to truly understand what Jesus is talking about.
But being before doing is not in my makeup. Doing, for one thing, requires more of me. Therefore, doing ads immediately to my sense of self-importance. And I think that is why I hate being.
Doing is a much easier objective to rally the troops around than being. How many messages have you heard telling you that God is calling us to simply be in His Kingdom? Nothing to do, buy, sign up for, build. Nowhere to prove yourself.
Kind of throws me off. I like thinking in terms of levels of achievement because it gives me a sense of power and control. I mean, if I work hard and do the right things, I can move to the next level. There’s not so much ambiguity or mystery to the process of making God work for me. All I need to know is: What’s the next level and what do I need to do to get there?
The other reason I like levels is because it requires less of me relationally. Levels of spirituality are perfect for a culture that deifies individuality. Our world is all about the individual. The kingdom is always about the other. It demands that I notice others, love others, pray for them and serve them. Levels spirituality does not. It allows me to do it myself, by myself.
Jesus hates levels spirituality. All it does is reinforce the lie that started way back in the beginning – the one that says I can be like God. How screwed up have we gotten that we cling to a Christianity that can be lived out without God? Pretty screwed up.
We’re so inclined to try to make things happen for God. Every week we’re tempted to get out a measuring stick. Did we get higher? Are we sliding down? And we figure that God is measuring too. He is simply inviting us to be part of what he is already doing.
Choosing to live in the kingdom dimension creates some major shifts in our thinking. One of those is the shift from advancing to embracing. I don’t see my life now as one in which I advance the kingdom of God. It is advancing all by itself. Jesus explained it this way:
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Following Jesus isn’t about us; it’s about him. I can’t embrace the kingdom when my arms are full of me. I have to let go. Then Jesus can give me a new way of being.
Embracing is hard, but it’s also freeing.
The kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. But the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work. It is the life of God springing up around us.
The kingdom is. We are witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Thursday, July 5, 2007
OKC Church.
This week I had the wonderful privilege and opportunity to hang with my new pal Robert Davis. Robert is one of the Internet Campus pastors for LifeChurch.tv...yes, an Internet campus. Brings a whole dimension to the question, "What does it look like for us to BE the church here and now?" Check out what Robert is up to at www.LifeChurch.tv and click the Go To Church Online tab. You can also find Robert hanging out with us at KAMP's on Sunday evening from time to time.
Robert showed me all around the Edmond Campus and more importantly introduced me to a dozen or so people serving on staff there. It was great to connect with Danny Vaughn, the Pastor of Missions. He was very interested, intrigued and encouraged by Mars Hill. It was fun to tell him about YOU, the church.
I am thankful for Life Church and glad to BE the church right alongside of them in OKC.
Also hung out with Chuck Newkirk, Teaching Pastor at Henderson Hills Church in Edmond. Chuck is a 30-year old husband, dad of one with another coming soon. Great community of people being church in the Edmond area. This is a 40 year old church that has a wonderful history of caring for people all over the world. It was encouraging to hear Chuck tell me about the 500 - 600 people that have traveled overseas this year to extend the love and mercy of Christ. You can learn more about Henderson Hill at www.HendersonHills.com.
I am thankful for Henderson Hills and glad to BE the church right alongside of them in OKC.
So, let's find be connoisseurs and dispensers of good.
Robert showed me all around the Edmond Campus and more importantly introduced me to a dozen or so people serving on staff there. It was great to connect with Danny Vaughn, the Pastor of Missions. He was very interested, intrigued and encouraged by Mars Hill. It was fun to tell him about YOU, the church.
I am thankful for Life Church and glad to BE the church right alongside of them in OKC.
Also hung out with Chuck Newkirk, Teaching Pastor at Henderson Hills Church in Edmond. Chuck is a 30-year old husband, dad of one with another coming soon. Great community of people being church in the Edmond area. This is a 40 year old church that has a wonderful history of caring for people all over the world. It was encouraging to hear Chuck tell me about the 500 - 600 people that have traveled overseas this year to extend the love and mercy of Christ. You can learn more about Henderson Hill at www.HendersonHills.com.
I am thankful for Henderson Hills and glad to BE the church right alongside of them in OKC.
So, let's find be connoisseurs and dispensers of good.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Beautiful Mess Part 2.
Here are the highlights from This Beautiful Mess week two.
Jesus wants to make bring a beautiful order to our normal messes AND a beautiful mess to our normal order.
Let the shocking nature of the gospel message SHOCK us. Not like Howard Stern. But the teaching of Jesus is intended to jar us, shift us, mess up our mind. Let him confront our categories, mess up our assumptions. There is a beauty in the mess he makes if we will let him make the mess. We don’t like messes. Incongruity. Tension. We have trouble thinking logically about something we disagree with.
A test was run on people who had strong political positions. Strapped all the brain mechanism to the brain and presented them with facts that contradicted their passionate political convictions. The frontal lobe cortex, the smart, logical part of you began to shut down and the amigdala, the stupid, animal part of you was stimulated. This is why it is so hard to talk calmly and rationally about what we are passionate about. That’s why discussions in this world involve guns. It’s easier to kill than understand.
We get security from hearing what we’ve been taught. When we hear things that are shocking in the gospel we tune it out OR reinterpret, tame it down, sanitize. And we find a Jesus that is saying everything we would want him to say. Great minds think alike, right? It’s easier to hear what I want to hear.
We have to let Jesus mess with our assumptions, categories, conventional wisdom, normalcy. Let him rearrange our normal. There is nothing normal about the Kingdom of God. Aslan is an untamed lion.
You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature. – Mohandas Gandhi
Read Matthew 13.
The parable of the sower…the parable of the soils…the parable of where it all starts…because it is the parable Jesus says is foundational to understanding all other parables (Mark 4:13).
The seed sown is the word of God (JOHN 1). We want people to show up here (KAMP's) to receive the seed, not a message about the seed. So much talking about the seed can be dangerous to the life of God’s Kingdom, by making the scriptures appear too challenging for ordinary Christians to read or interpret.
As long as we read books about the Bible and not the Bible itself, the enemy has succeeded in keeping the Kingdom sterile, unhealthy, and weak. He has snatched the seed away before it can ever penetrate our hearts and grow to life and fruitfulness (VERSE 19).
There is no substitute for God’s word; it alone is the seed of His Kingdom. And not in a verse a day keeps the devil away.
What about reading the New Testament in 30 days. You would need to read about 6 chapters each day. Or what about reading the New Testament in the next 90 days. You would only need to read about 3 chapters each day.
There is an ancient practice and tradition of reading and praying the scriptures called the Lectio Divina. Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_divina.
Understand that it is not religious reading of the Bible that is important, but hearing God’s voice. The scriptures are alive with God’s voice, and the Holy Spirit in us is a special anointing that gives each of us direct access to God’s heart every time we open the Word.
God’s message, truth of God, this truth became flesh and dwelt among us. This is what changes life. At the heart of the kingdom is the message and reality of a King that has come. At the heart of our faith is a God who comes. But Jesus is not the Messiah anybody expected. And we are encourage to be a peculiar people (1 Peter 2). Swim upstream a little bit. That will beautiful.
The seed is sown by us, the church. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. The Kingdom of God (How Things Really Are) is conceived with the planting of the seed. Planting seed is organic in nature. If we are deceived into thinking that simply getting people to sit in an auditorium one day a week for an hour is what it takes to start a church, we have completely missed the significance of this parable, and God’s Kingdom is not being planted.
The 4 soils…
The first soil, Jesus tells us, is hard and unreceptive. The seed never penetrates the soil’s hard exterior. It reminds of the person walking through life proudly boasting that he or she is agnostic, which comes from the Greek word agnostos which means without knowledge.
The second soil is shallow. Life begins but is not sustained.
The third soil that Jesus mentions is thorn infested. This person is more interested in the riches of the world and the worries that accompany such pursuits.
Blessed are the poor and woe to the rich (LUKE 6:20,24). So you’re saying…
We think blessing equal wealth and wealth equals blessing. We have to let Jesus confront our cultural presuppositions. What Jesus says should call our mantra into question. That we are blessed because we are so rich.
The wealthier we get the more we keep for ourselves. We give a fraction of what we gave in the 1960’s and the gulf between us and third world countries has enlarged 4times.
Riches have not made us happier. Published study by world health org. & Harvard medical school. 9.6 million Americans were clinically depressed. Second highest was Lebanon at 6.6 million. Japan 3.1 million. And the least depressed people, the happiest people on the planet are the Nigerians (most populous country in Africa at 140Million) 0.8% - 1.1Million. Secular study indicated that Americans tend to chase wealth (the blessing) and shortchange relationships
The fourth soil is the good soil. The soil that receives the seed and bears fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. One might find this parable discouraging, as only one out of four soils actually bears fruit. This should give us hope. Why? Because I no longer feel responsible for the fruit, or lack thereof, in the lives of disciples. The Kingdom that this parable helps to describe is not something that we advance, but something we receive and embrace.
Often times the good soil are broken people.
Luke 5:32 - Jesus did not come for the healthy but for the sick.
James 2:5- Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
Matthew 18:3 - "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7:7- Desperate - 7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
1 Cor. 1:26-29 – 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Luke 5:31-32 – "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Luke 18:24-24 - 24Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Jesus had an interesting conversation with his disciples in John 4:27-38.
He had just opened the spiritual eyes of a Samaritan woman with a bad reputation to understand who He truly was. She went back to her village to tell everyone that she had met the Messiah. The entire village poured out to meet Jesus as He was discussing the harvest of souls with His disciples. He said, “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white with harvest.”
Of course, the Jews of His day would never have imagined that Samaritans would be a good place for the Gospel, Jesus did. He pointed to the multitude of Samaritans flooding out of the village to find the Messiah, ALL DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL WHILE SAMARITAN GARMENTS, and said, “Look, the fields are white for harvest, if you would only begin to look in places you least expect.”
We must begin to look in places where traditionally the church would never go. Finding good soil is not difficult once you get over the fear factor.
What distinguished the good ground was fruitfulness. Christ does not say that this good ground has no stones in it, or no thorns; but none that could hinder its fruitfulness.
Let us look to ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are. What kind of soil are we?
Jesus wants to make bring a beautiful order to our normal messes AND a beautiful mess to our normal order.
Let the shocking nature of the gospel message SHOCK us. Not like Howard Stern. But the teaching of Jesus is intended to jar us, shift us, mess up our mind. Let him confront our categories, mess up our assumptions. There is a beauty in the mess he makes if we will let him make the mess. We don’t like messes. Incongruity. Tension. We have trouble thinking logically about something we disagree with.
A test was run on people who had strong political positions. Strapped all the brain mechanism to the brain and presented them with facts that contradicted their passionate political convictions. The frontal lobe cortex, the smart, logical part of you began to shut down and the amigdala, the stupid, animal part of you was stimulated. This is why it is so hard to talk calmly and rationally about what we are passionate about. That’s why discussions in this world involve guns. It’s easier to kill than understand.
We get security from hearing what we’ve been taught. When we hear things that are shocking in the gospel we tune it out OR reinterpret, tame it down, sanitize. And we find a Jesus that is saying everything we would want him to say. Great minds think alike, right? It’s easier to hear what I want to hear.
We have to let Jesus mess with our assumptions, categories, conventional wisdom, normalcy. Let him rearrange our normal. There is nothing normal about the Kingdom of God. Aslan is an untamed lion.
You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature. – Mohandas Gandhi
Read Matthew 13.
The parable of the sower…the parable of the soils…the parable of where it all starts…because it is the parable Jesus says is foundational to understanding all other parables (Mark 4:13).
The seed sown is the word of God (JOHN 1). We want people to show up here (KAMP's) to receive the seed, not a message about the seed. So much talking about the seed can be dangerous to the life of God’s Kingdom, by making the scriptures appear too challenging for ordinary Christians to read or interpret.
As long as we read books about the Bible and not the Bible itself, the enemy has succeeded in keeping the Kingdom sterile, unhealthy, and weak. He has snatched the seed away before it can ever penetrate our hearts and grow to life and fruitfulness (VERSE 19).
There is no substitute for God’s word; it alone is the seed of His Kingdom. And not in a verse a day keeps the devil away.
What about reading the New Testament in 30 days. You would need to read about 6 chapters each day. Or what about reading the New Testament in the next 90 days. You would only need to read about 3 chapters each day.
There is an ancient practice and tradition of reading and praying the scriptures called the Lectio Divina. Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_divina.
Understand that it is not religious reading of the Bible that is important, but hearing God’s voice. The scriptures are alive with God’s voice, and the Holy Spirit in us is a special anointing that gives each of us direct access to God’s heart every time we open the Word.
God’s message, truth of God, this truth became flesh and dwelt among us. This is what changes life. At the heart of the kingdom is the message and reality of a King that has come. At the heart of our faith is a God who comes. But Jesus is not the Messiah anybody expected. And we are encourage to be a peculiar people (1 Peter 2). Swim upstream a little bit. That will beautiful.
The seed is sown by us, the church. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. The Kingdom of God (How Things Really Are) is conceived with the planting of the seed. Planting seed is organic in nature. If we are deceived into thinking that simply getting people to sit in an auditorium one day a week for an hour is what it takes to start a church, we have completely missed the significance of this parable, and God’s Kingdom is not being planted.
The 4 soils…
The first soil, Jesus tells us, is hard and unreceptive. The seed never penetrates the soil’s hard exterior. It reminds of the person walking through life proudly boasting that he or she is agnostic, which comes from the Greek word agnostos which means without knowledge.
The second soil is shallow. Life begins but is not sustained.
The third soil that Jesus mentions is thorn infested. This person is more interested in the riches of the world and the worries that accompany such pursuits.
Blessed are the poor and woe to the rich (LUKE 6:20,24). So you’re saying…
We think blessing equal wealth and wealth equals blessing. We have to let Jesus confront our cultural presuppositions. What Jesus says should call our mantra into question. That we are blessed because we are so rich.
The wealthier we get the more we keep for ourselves. We give a fraction of what we gave in the 1960’s and the gulf between us and third world countries has enlarged 4times.
Riches have not made us happier. Published study by world health org. & Harvard medical school. 9.6 million Americans were clinically depressed. Second highest was Lebanon at 6.6 million. Japan 3.1 million. And the least depressed people, the happiest people on the planet are the Nigerians (most populous country in Africa at 140Million) 0.8% - 1.1Million. Secular study indicated that Americans tend to chase wealth (the blessing) and shortchange relationships
The fourth soil is the good soil. The soil that receives the seed and bears fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. One might find this parable discouraging, as only one out of four soils actually bears fruit. This should give us hope. Why? Because I no longer feel responsible for the fruit, or lack thereof, in the lives of disciples. The Kingdom that this parable helps to describe is not something that we advance, but something we receive and embrace.
Often times the good soil are broken people.
Luke 5:32 - Jesus did not come for the healthy but for the sick.
James 2:5- Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
Matthew 18:3 - "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7:7- Desperate - 7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
1 Cor. 1:26-29 – 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Luke 5:31-32 – "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Luke 18:24-24 - 24Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Jesus had an interesting conversation with his disciples in John 4:27-38.
He had just opened the spiritual eyes of a Samaritan woman with a bad reputation to understand who He truly was. She went back to her village to tell everyone that she had met the Messiah. The entire village poured out to meet Jesus as He was discussing the harvest of souls with His disciples. He said, “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white with harvest.”
Of course, the Jews of His day would never have imagined that Samaritans would be a good place for the Gospel, Jesus did. He pointed to the multitude of Samaritans flooding out of the village to find the Messiah, ALL DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL WHILE SAMARITAN GARMENTS, and said, “Look, the fields are white for harvest, if you would only begin to look in places you least expect.”
We must begin to look in places where traditionally the church would never go. Finding good soil is not difficult once you get over the fear factor.
What distinguished the good ground was fruitfulness. Christ does not say that this good ground has no stones in it, or no thorns; but none that could hinder its fruitfulness.
Let us look to ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are. What kind of soil are we?
Up Thinking About.
We had a great evening at KAMP's tonight.
It was week #2 in the This Beautiful Mess series. I'll post the highlights from the talk on Monday.
Jenna Davis led us beautifully in worship. You should all (all 3 of you that read this that is) check out her stuff at www.JennaDavisMusic.com. I look forward to having her back at Mars Hill sometime soon.
My friends Ryan & Catherine Gikas just moved to mid-town OKC...welcome Gikas clan.
Enjoyed some post-Gathering Hideaway Pizza with the Mars Hill family.
Looking forward to a great week full of relational opportunities.
So here are a handful of things that I'm up thinking about. Actually, I've been thinking and rethinking on this for a couple of weeks now...so here goes.
These are a few things handed down twice removed that I'm sure could be traced back to Kevin Bacon's thought on church leadership. Kidding. They come from Granger Community Church (www.GccWired.com) via www.mattkeller.wordpress.com, a fellow ARC church-plant on what it it looks like to lead a church community.
1. Cast Vision for the Organization (in our case the church, not organizational BUT the church, you and me).
2. Communicate the Word of God effectively (growing into this).
3. Love his wife and kids like they need to be loved (love loving my family).
4. Take care of himself (starting some exercise this week, it's been a while).
5. Drink deeply from the well of God on behalf of the church (not content to know about God).
So, what are you up late OR early thinking about these days?
It was week #2 in the This Beautiful Mess series. I'll post the highlights from the talk on Monday.
Jenna Davis led us beautifully in worship. You should all (all 3 of you that read this that is) check out her stuff at www.JennaDavisMusic.com. I look forward to having her back at Mars Hill sometime soon.
My friends Ryan & Catherine Gikas just moved to mid-town OKC...welcome Gikas clan.
Enjoyed some post-Gathering Hideaway Pizza with the Mars Hill family.
Looking forward to a great week full of relational opportunities.
So here are a handful of things that I'm up thinking about. Actually, I've been thinking and rethinking on this for a couple of weeks now...so here goes.
These are a few things handed down twice removed that I'm sure could be traced back to Kevin Bacon's thought on church leadership. Kidding. They come from Granger Community Church (www.GccWired.com) via www.mattkeller.wordpress.com, a fellow ARC church-plant on what it it looks like to lead a church community.
1. Cast Vision for the Organization (in our case the church, not organizational BUT the church, you and me).
2. Communicate the Word of God effectively (growing into this).
3. Love his wife and kids like they need to be loved (love loving my family).
4. Take care of himself (starting some exercise this week, it's been a while).
5. Drink deeply from the well of God on behalf of the church (not content to know about God).
So, what are you up late OR early thinking about these days?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)