from the chapter 'faking and forgetting'..
188 the same way that we proclaim Jesus and His kingdom,
we deny Him-through our word and work.
real following, as peter found out,
cowsts you your life.
it costs you your understanding of word and work.
\if you refuse to trade your understanding of word and work for God's,
He lets you keep yours
and then you find out you've understood nothing and worked for nothing.
one of the strage upside down things about the life of following Jesus
is that you really want it to cost your life.
if it doesn't,
you've yet to step into the SWtory with intentionality.
that's dangerous.
its the danger of dishonesty,
of saying, 'yes, you are Messiah'
and then going about your life as if He isn't.
this is the lesson peter learned,
the one that coused him to weep bitterly.
..after what the story calls pentecost,
all genuine followers were and still are without excuse.
once peter had no idea and then he knew.
from that point forward he gave up his life for the way, the truth and the life-Jesus, the King.
the King's business became his business,
and there was no other life apart from it.
this is still the way to be human today.
it is the way to be single.
it is the way to be married.
if we live differently than this while professing Messiah,
then something is wrong, right?
the king of twists lures us into a kind of twistedness
where dishonesty gets mistaken for maturity.
this happens when a person or a married couple excels at faking and forgetting
for so long that people actuallyh think the person or couple
is mature in Jesus (simply because they appear to have it together).
when i say faking,
oi mean pretending that nothing's wrong and everything's fine.
when i say fogetting,
i mean living by some other agenda than God's.
forgetting is thinking that success, well being, safety and peace
can be found in something or someone other than God.
student followers of Jeus cannot afford to appear to have it all together
by the world's standards.
better to be weak and following the way
than to have youyr false glory be your shame.
...this is how dishonesty can e mistaken for maturity.
when we settle down with halfr truths and organized delusions,
we forget to build God's house and to be His people
(pea has just quoted haggai 1.1-9 where the prophet reproves the people
for living to and for themselves while allowing the Temple to lie in ruins.)
we busy ourselves WITH OURSELVES
and put off building a people for the purpose and pleasure of God.
calmly and coolly, many of us go about making a beautiful so called christian life
where blessing and the american dream are synonymous.
we become seduced by stories that promise freedom
and then enslave us.
'busy, busy, busy-and for what? the prophet asks.
so we can trade the gift of God for a life with holes in it?
'give careful thought to your ways, God says,
give careful thought to your ways. '
if you're like me, you're haunted by the feeling that
SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG WITH GOD'S HOUSE.
you know something and so do i.
guess what?
the only way to make it go away is to do something about it
or cover it over with faking and forgetting.
i ask myself, what am i PREPARED TO DO?
this brings to mind a conversation between morpheus and neo in the fim the matrix.
morph: 'let me tell yho why you're here.
you're here because you know something.
what you know, you can't explain,
but you feel it.
you've felt it your entire life-
that there's something wrong with the world.
you don't know what it is,
but it's there like a plinter in your mind,
driving you mad.
it is this feeling that has brough you to me.
do you know what i'm talking about?
neo: the matrix?
morph: do you want to know what it is?
the matrix is everywhere.
it is all around us.
even now in this very room.
;you can see it when you look ou your window
or when you turn on your TV.
you vsn grrl iy ehrn you ho yop eotk,
ehrn you ho yo vhutvh,
ehrn you psy yout ysxes.
it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to
blind you from the truth.
neo: what truth?
morph: that you are a slve, neo.
like everyone else
you were born into bondage,
born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch-
a prison for your mind.
unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is-
you have to see it for yoursle.
as long as the matrix exists,
the human race will never be free.
something invisible enslave the people of God.
you can call it worldlimess, sin or the matrix.
whatever name you give it,
you have to see it for yourself.
this is the first step toward the kind of freedom
that allows individuals and couples to be the Art of God in the world.
it's okay that it's like a splinter in our minds,
that it's driving us mad
and we can't fake the fact that it's there.
this is good.
it's puttiong an end to the faking and forgetting.
as we read in haggai, people are always saying (through word and work)
that the time is not right for them to move or to act more faithfully.
mothing is different in our time.
it's not that people don't believe that good should be done.
they do.
the problem is that there is never a right time for it.
our excuses reveal that our prioritites are elsewhere.
we are all faithful to something though, aren't we?
our own personal lives and circumstances capture our attention
far more than the agenda of God in this world.
jesus knows this.
into a world that lives by the mantr
'the time has not yet come',
Jesus comes announcing that
THE TIME HAS COME and that
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR.
this message stands as is for everyone in every generation.
now is the time to give careful thought to our ways.
we can't afford to become indifferent,
to forfeit our integrityh,
to become fakers and forgetters,
coasting through life as if our ways define it.
the worst thing that could possibly happen is for us to get our way.
(note: see matthew 13.18-23 and hebrews 6.4-6)
followers of Jesus tell the world through word and work
that we've come to believe there is one Story,
one way of viewing God, humanity, nature, earth and sky
that makes the meaning of life more clear than all otherss.
we believe it to be the Story of everyone everywhere at all times.
in other words, not private religion, but public reality.
such a story leaves little room ffor indifference,
apathy
faking
forgetting
or dreaming uniquely american dreams.
douglas coupland, in his book Life after God, wrote:
sometimes i think the people to feel the saddest for
are people who are unable to connect with the profound-
people such as my boring brother in law,
a hearty type so concedrned with normality
and FITTING IN
that he eliminates any possiblity of uniqueness for himself and his own personality.
i wonder if some day, when he is older,
he will wake up
and the deeper part of him will reliae
that he has never allowed himself to truly exist,
and he will cry with regret and shame and grief.
and then sometimes i think the people to feel saddest for
are people who once knew what profoundness was,
but who lost or became nujmb to the sensation of wonder-
the people who closed the doors that lead us into the secret world-
or who had the doors closed for them by
time and neglect and decisions made in times of weakness.
the message coldn';t be clearer.
GIVE CAREFUL THOUGH TO YOUR WAYS.
don't trade the profound for a life of regret and shame.
don't let the organized delusions of the world
close the doors that lead to
a new and better world.
my friend doug mckelvey wrote an insightful lyric
that arrests me every time i sing it:
oh it always amazed me
how someone could come
to the edge of the world
drop a stone down the side
and turn and return to the very same life.
one of the things i really love about some of my non christian artist friends is
that they're not as obsessed with the culture's organized delusions,
its understanding of normality and fitting in.
(Note: social mores are very strong chains to break..
exact a great price on any one who dares...)
the following is taken from the final chapter 'the kingdom way'..
207 some time ago in my won study, i put together what i believe are
ten essential 'first things' in the new way.
i hold on to these pretty tightly.
they're my foundation, my starting place.
when i get lost in a fog of unbelief,
I PREACH THEM TO MYSELF.
i offer themn for your consideration:
1. THERE IS ONLY ONE CREATOR GOD AND NOT MANYgods.
this God, the one God, is a tri personal being:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
He created living beings, man and woman,
to be His direct representatives on earth.
His controlling Story is God-people-and-place,
as defined by His relational word...starting with genesis 1..
2.DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE, YOUR HOPE, YOUR BELIEF,
IN THE VERACITY OF THE SON, JESUS, AND HIS TEACHING.
besure of the certain word, Jesu.
no matter how far you are in time from the first century gathering,
you are still a recipient of eyewitness testimony.
it was passed on to you by the people of long memory.
now you keep it and pass it on too.
hang tight with the story that Jeus is indeed the embodiment of God
coming to the rescue of that which He loves.
He is the Jesus of history,k
Messich,
the Atonement,
the Ressurrection,
the Liofe.
His rescue is a gift, a grace and not something to be earned.
learn what these historical facts mean
and let them shape you and your world.
3.CHRISTIANITY, OR THE ONGOING GATHERING OF MESSIAH PEOPLE
(or whatever you want to call what Jesus came inviting people to),
WAS NEVER RELIGION.
and it wasn't about starting a new religion as a substitute for judaism.
what Jesus offered then and now
is a NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR LIFE-a new way to be human-
one inescapably coinnected to Himself, His life, death resurrection
and the future re creation of everything.
this is what you hld out in word and work as an invitation to communityh.
4.THE NEW WAY TO BE HUMAN BEGINS WITH FAITH AND REPENTANCE.
thses, along with LOVE, define the new way throughout.
faith and repentance are the only good responses to
hearing the good newss of God's rescue initiative.
God tells a person: 'this is what I have planned.
this is what I will accomplish.
the man or woman repleis: 'good plan, i beieve You.
i repent of my own plan.
i was headed in the wrong direction.
by faith, i'll walk with You instead.
5. BE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE STORY.
remember, you can't vbe passionate about something you don't know.
STEP INTO the Story with intentionality and intensity.
live as a passionate person,
alive to God's ways.
if not, why not?
ask yourself, what's squelching my passion?
what is stealing or polluting my interest?
being passionate doesn't mean clichAd. (trite, steriotyped)
if you need models for passion and intentionality (and everybody does),
look beyond the clichAd behavior that passes for spiritual enthusiasm most of the time.
(note: pray unceasingly for the many things Jesus commands and you totally lack.
lay hold of God in prayer, wearing Him out with unceasing ask-seek-knock prayer
..until He begins to form His life in your heart...keep beseeching until it is continually
bubbling over! (john 7.27-9; luke 11.13)
if sin quiets it, don't stop until the Lord has showed you what it is..confess...forsake totally.
keep short accounts with God. labor until everything amiss is admitted to Him and gone
from your heart.)
6. CHARACTER AND LIFESTYLE CHANGES HAVE ALWAYS COME WITH FOLLOWING JESUS.
the very first step of the first follower was life altering.
following Jesus still is
and the Spirit on earth in you ensures it.
cooperate with the Spirit.
(note: as He points the way to live out the relational/creational word of God.)
there's freedom in following,
freedom from all forms of enslavement and addiction
(those that come from within and from without).
followers walk the road of reconciliation in the world
with God and with one another.
God is reconciling people and place toward a good future.
7. INVOLVE YOURSELF IN DIVERSE COMMUNITY
WHENEVER IT'S IN YOUR POWER TO DO SO.
better yet,
SEEK IT OUT and
SPONSOR IT.
ESCHEW STATUS.
ALL PEOPLE are welcome in the kingdom.
make choices that yay you believe this is true.
diverse table fellowship is a great place to start.
this is what Jesus did.
then the love of Jesus is embodied in the new way by His people,
love is conspicuous and peculiar.
it stands out from the crowd.
this is what israel was meant to be and do
and still is, through the new israel of the church.
BE SEPARATE BY THE CONSPICUOUSNESS OF YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER,
EVEN STRANGERS AND STRAGGLERS.
BE HOSPITIBLE AND OUTWARD BOUD with you care and affection.
THERE IS NO COMMUNITY WITHOUT DEMONSTRABLE LOVE.
put yourself in the way of it
bump into it
get some on you
BE IT.
8. EMPHASIZE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
quantity is about power.
it's hard to be in relationship with quantity.
quantity comes in whith its chest puffed up,
makes its initial impact
and then vanishes into a fog of
busyness and superiority.
quality on the other hand hangs out
and invites critique, meditation and communication.
QUALITY IS NOT IN A HURRY.
it gives no mind to the dow or S&P 500,
if God is concedrned with quality
and takes the necessary time to achieve it, so should we.
He hasn't hurried in the calling of a people who
would be His, in His place, under His rule.
9. LET THE STORY AND THE NEW WAY OF JESUS REINVENT
YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WEALTH.
whatever you have,
BE RICH TOWARD GOD.
invest in what He's interested in.
use your provision to continue
the word of caring for His creativity.
BE RICH IN FAITH, MERCY, GENEROSITY AND GOOD DEEDS in general.
tell a good story with the time and resources entrusted to you.
they aren't yours anyway.
they're on loan from God.
whatever resources you have, KEEP YOU HOPE IN GOD.
don't trustmoney or power ofr status.
there is no certainty in any of it.
avoid excessive luxuries.
don't create a home you'd be ashamed to invite Jesus to.
whatever you do, don't exploit the ignorant or the poor
to create more welath.
AS FAR AS TITHING GOES, FORGET IT.
in the new way, sudent followers GIVE 100%.
you pray, 'God, everything i have is from you.
how do You want me to use it in making the kingdome visible
and declaring your rightness and excellence?
10. FORGIVE AS GOD FORGAVE YOU.
have a reputation as someone who lives a lifestyle of forgiveness.
show mercy toward people. (note: refrain from giving them what they deserve.)
look at them as if they were all dressed up in the rightness of Jesu.
imagine what they'll look like when God gets done with them.
be quick to say you are wrong and first to make amends. love the unlovable.
do for others what God has done for you.
these are my ten 'first things' as i understand the new way to be human.
they inspire and support my individual role in the Story of God's people in the world.
they help me live out who and what i am,
to have human integrity and true identity.
true identity is about authenticity.
if i profess to be a follower of Jesu,
then i should have the same interests He has.
if i don't, my integrity is questionable.
Jesus wa and is interested in love-motivated word and work.
He explained the Story,
announced the kingdom,
removed glaring obstacles to health
and essentially made the rule and reeign of God the King visible in the world.
in as much as God has equipped us and allowed us,
we're supposed to be about this very same business as we await the new creation.
our life is to embody God's rule and reign in the day to day,
to restore rightness, do justice, sho mercy
and care for everything tha God loves.
we are to be storytellers,
telling such good stories with our lives
that they declare we belong to Jesus,
the One who tells the spinless, perfect Story.
our acceptable worship is to give up our agendas
and live the certain realities of the kingdom rule and reign.
like Jesu, we invite people to follow along.
we explain the Story,
announce the kingdom
and sometimes, as saint francis said, when necessary we use words.
the story goes that a great artist was wandering the mountains of switzerland
when some officials came upon him and demanded a passport.
'i do not have it with me, the artist replied. but my name is dore.
prove it, emanded the officials, kknowing who dore was,
but not being certain that the wandering man was truthful.
the artist took some paper and pencil from his backpack
and began to skillfully and beutifully sketch a group of peasnts standing nearby.
'enough, said the official. no question, you are dore.
it is far less important for the watching world to hear you say you are following Jesuss
than to actually see you follow him with authenticity...
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