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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Following Jesus is about Surrender

Often when I talk to people about following Jesus, the conversation comes around to the question of DOING. How often do I have to attend church? Do I have to read the Bible? Do I have to believe all that Adam and Eve stuff? Do I have to stop doing this? Do I have to start doing that? Can I still do this? Can I still do that? What about these friends?

The idea of following Jesus gets confusing when it is thought of in terms of DOING. When that is the trail of thought a person goes down, following Jesus becomes something it was never intended to be. Following Jesus was never meant to be an exercise in DOING. There are things that a follower of Jesus does. There are things that a follower of Jesus doesn’t do. DOING and NOT DOING is not the point though.

People start asking about DOING because it gets to the heart of the matter for each of us. The question of DOING is often really a question about ‘Who gets to be in control?’ The thought is ‘I will not allow anyone else to control ME. I will be large and in charge, thank you! Following ME is ME in control.’

Following Jesus is definitely about ‘who is in control.’ Following Jesus is about surrendering ‘control’ of my life to Him. Following Jesus is Him in control. It doesn’t work to follow Jesus and ME be in control. Won’t work! Can’t work!

The dilemma of ME in control is multifaceted. When ME is in control, I think that I’m becoming ME and being true to ME. This is not true. When ME is in control, ME bends towards selfish decisions and a self-centered life. ME in control ends in lots of dings, nicks and crashes. ME in control always has lots of repair work that has to be done. ‘Bondo’ and paint will only cover so much. Dings, nicks and crashes always come with a cost.

When a person surrenders control to Jesus, He begins to bend them away from ME and selfish self-centered living, to God and others centered living. There are still dings, nicks and crashes, but when surrender has occurred, repair is up to Him and not ME.

On top of that, when a person surrenders, they begin to become the ME that Jesus intended all along for them to become and they begin to do what Jesus all along intended for them to do.

Surrender leads towards the life ME was meant to live.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Culture of Character vs. Culture of Personality

Barbara and I recently watched a TED talk by author Susan Cain; her talk The Power of Introverts. (If you are not familiar with TED talks you should Google it. There are some amazing things to learn on this free website. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. The talks range from “How Flies Fly” to “3D Printing”.)

In Cain’s talk, she referred to two ideas that caught my attention. The ideas from her study, as well as the study of others, are a ‘culture of character’ and a ‘culture of personality.’ These are not terms that I was familiar with, but are widely used by sociologists and students of culture. The implications of these two ideas are very interesting.

In her talk, she described how for hundreds of years the highest value in Western Society was placed on character. People lived mostly in rural agricultural settings. In those settings, people worked together, lived together, worshipped together and celebrated life and death together. Since people lived in such close quarters, character was highly valued and was hard to fake.

As the Industrial Revolution ensued and vast numbers of people began moving to the urban areas, personality began to be valued over character. People in urban settings no longer lived with, worshipped with, and celebrated life and death with the people they worked with. As time went on, the separations became even greater. People lived with one group, worshipped (if they continued to do so) with another group, worked with yet another group and celebrated life and death with yet another group. Sometimes these groups overlapped and sometimes they didn’t. As the century progressed and urban sprawl began to occur, the circles of life became even more removed.

In these settings, personality became the important factor for a person and not necessarily character. A book that was important in the late 19th century was Character, the Grandest Thing in the World. In the 20th century, one of the widely read books was How to Win Friends, and Influence People.

Now a few decades later, it seems that life rises and falls on personality. Movie stars, superstar models, superstar athletes and superstar entertainers of every sort fill the landscape. When teens are surveyed about what they would like to ‘be’ in life, the number one answer is famous. The ‘culture of personality’ has even morphed more with the advent of social media. Character plays almost no part on social media. Personality becomes the most important thing. At least my ‘avatar’ personality becomes vital.

What are the implications in your life from the idea of ‘culture of character’ verses ‘culture of personality’? Which of the two cultures are most important in your world?

Friday, February 15, 2013

Live and Love and Lead

I’ve been thinking about what my roles in life are. In some ways I have some very specific roles. I am a husband to only one woman. I am a father to only 5 kids. I am a grandfather to 2 ½ grandchildren. (Number 3 will be here in May!) I pastor only one church in one community. I have some specific roles in life.

I have some other more general roles. I’m part of a group of men and women who meet to ride bikes together. I’m a homeowner, a taxpayer, a runner, a Gonzaga Basketball fan. I’m one of six sons to my parents. I’m one of nine children to my parents. I am one of a number of sons-in-law. I have some general roles in life.

I am also a follower of Jesus. In some ways this role is very general. I’m just one of countless millions of followers on the planet today and countless billions down through history. I’m just like some of you. I’m just an everyday, bread and butter follower of Jesus. There really aren’t a lot of ‘special role’ followers of Jesus. In 2000 years of history there have only been about 260 popes. On any given day there is only one guy referred to as the Pope. Most of us are just everyday followers of Jesus.

My role as a follower of Jesus does have a specific aspect to it though. I’m a follower of Jesus in 2013. I’m a follower of Jesus in the USA. I’m a follower of Jesus on Whidbey Island. I’m a follower of Jesus on South Whidbey which is different then North Whidbey. I’m a follower of Jesus that has the honor of serving a local group of people and an awesome community. This role carries with it some unique challenges and opportunities.

The mission of every follower of Jesus is to live in such a way that the people in their specific sphere of life will get a glimpse of what Jesus is like. This is done by how they live and how they serve. For me, the challenges and opportunities are found in living in such a way that people in 2013, in USA, on the South End of Whidbey Island, will see some of what Jesus is like by how I live and serve. I want people to see Jesus in my life. I want to help people see who Jesus is and what Jesus was like. My specific role is to live and to lead and to love and to teach in such a way that people will see Jesus.

What is your specific role as a follower of Jesus?

Friday, February 8, 2013

King of the Mountain or Kingdom of God? - You Choose!

In Matthew, Mark and Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry they each tell the story of little children being brought to Jesus for Him to bless or for Him to use as a part of a life lesson that He was teaching. In each of these accounts, Jesus tells the audience that ‘unless they become like little children they will not enter the Kingdom of God.’ When teachers come to these passages, they often refer to how children are innocent, naive and trusting. These characteristics might be true. (As a parent I have experienced the exact opposite from my children at times!)

These accounts are actually part of a bigger discussion that is occurring about ‘who will be the greatest?’ Matthew records it this way: About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (Matthew 18:1 NLT) One of the characteristics of the human heart is the battle to be King of the Mountain. Everyone wants to be the ‘Big Dog’ in some area of life, so we shove and elbow and throw our weight around so that at least in some arena we can be at the top of the ‘food chain’ and not the bottom.

The interesting characteristic of children in Jesus day is that they were totally powerless. Children had no status, no rights, they could not impose their will on someone else or demand something from others and they did not receive preferential treatment. Children were to be seen and not heard. Children were not seen as the ‘future’ because there was no guarantee that any child would make it beyond infancy. In Jesus’ day, a woman of childbearing age had to give birth to five children - that lived - just to keep a stable population. Women of childbearing age had to give birth to more than five if the world’s population was going to increase.

I think that the characteristics of children that Jesus was referring to when He said: ‘unless you turn from your sins and become like little children’ is not trust, innocence and naiveté. I think the characteristic Jesus was talking about is powerlessness, zero status, no rights, no ability to impose their will on others or receive preferential treatment. Jesus was telling His followers that unless you quit trying to be the King of the Mountain and become like a powerless child, who has no status to stand on, no rights, and no ability to impose your will on others and not expect or demand some sort of preferential treatment, then you can’t enter the Kingdom of God.

That idea won’t fly in the American culture! I’m the Big Dog. I’m the King of the Mountain. If I don’t have power, if I don’t demand my rights and get preferential treatment life is not worth living!

Which will it be – Kingdom of God or King of the Mountain? You choose.