In Luke 1:46-55 Mary says, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the HUMBLE STATE of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. His mercy extends to THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those WHO ARE PROUD in their inmost thoughts. He has BROUGHT DOWN RULERS from their thrones but has LIFTED UP THE HUMBLE. He has FILLED THE HUNGRY with good things but has SENT THE RICH AWAY EMPTY. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendant forever, even as he said to our fathers."
I love watching how advertisers can take a normal, dull product and sell it by turning it into a celebrity product. I mean how many celebrities actually drive a Buick? Supposedly Tiger Woods does! Does Paris Hilton really eat at Carl's Jr.? Now her fans do! What do Jessica Simpson and cheesy bites from Pizza Hut have in common? Male customers are now trying to find out. There is power in association!
Have you ever noticed how many Christians do the same thing with Jesus? We try to make Jesus appealing by associating him with worldly fame and glamour. If we can just associate Jesus with a famous Christian football player then more people will want to associate themselves with him. If we can just tell people that Warren Buffet became rich because of his commitment to Jesus then we can get people to make church and giving a higher priority (so they can become rich too). But Jesus isn't a celebrity and he is not going to make us celebrities by following him!
The story of Jesus' life as told by Luke makes it clear that God favors the humble and that he calls us to a life of humility. This means that following Jesus requires a willingness to put others above ourselves! Following Jesus requires denying ourselves so that we can love God and other people more passionately. Following Jesus means abandoning our pursuit of success!
In the first chapter of Luke this fact is brought out through a comparison between Zechariah and Mary. In comparison to Zechariah, "Mary holds no official position among the people, she is not described as righteous in terms of observing the Torah, and her experience does not take place in a cultic setting. She is among the most powerless people in society: She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy." Despite this she finds "favor with God" and is viewed as "highly gifted" by God while Zechariah is initially found to be unbelieving and is made mute and deaf as a result. This tells us two things about how God functions: First, God uses humble people (Mary). Second, God humbles people so that he can use them (Zechariah).
The fact that God favors humble people is further established in the birth of Jesus. Luke 2:11-12 presents a seeming paradox: A Messiah King is born not in a palace but in a dirty manger. And we see in Luke 2:8-20 that rather than royalty welcoming Jesus into this world, he is greeted by a bunch of lower class shepherds who are at the lowest rung of seniority in their humble profession (we know this because they were working the night shift). God came into this world in a state of humility!
If God came to this earth in humility what posture do you think He wants us to take as we follow Jesus? Well, since we are called to follow a humble Messiah, we too must live with that same humility. This means putting others and God above ourselves, and being willing to associate and love every type of person no matter their position in society.
This brings me to a sad reality...I know more proud people who call themselves Christians than humble people who call themselves Christian. So many professing Christians are selective with whom they associate (they avoid sinners and people who are not like themselves), they cause divisions because they want their preferences to be honored above those of others, they try to stay at the top of the social strata at school and in the community by tearing others down and lifting themselves up, they are quick to consume but slow to serve (that is, they are inward focused rather than outward focused), they are obsessed with worldly success just like everyone else in society...
My question to you is are you proud? Do you think that you can pursue success and Jesus at the same time? Jesus doesn't want his followers to pursue SUCCESS, he wants them to pursue GODLY INFLUENCE. You heard me right, God doesn't want you to be successful, he wants you to be influential. If you are pursuing success my guess is that you're a proud person. If that is true, God will first humble you before he ever uses you in a meaningful way. But if you are pursuing godly influence in your community (above success) then God will use you in a BIG time way! And that's the most exciting place to be! Humility is what opens the door for adventure in the Christian life!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The X-factor
Matthew 8:18-22
A teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Another disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
These verses make it clear that following Jesus is quite the adventure! But this adventure is not for the faint of heart. Just read Luke 14:28-34. Following Jesus requires a willingness to embrace a life of discomfort. But living an adventurous life (in general) will always involve risk and discomfort. Any thrill seeker will tell you this. Just take Kevin Pearce, the X-Games, snowboarding superstar, for example. He sustained a head injury that sent shock waves through the snowboarding community. Here's an excerpt I recently read about him:
As 2009 came to a close, on December 30th, one of snowboardings' best half pipe riders, Kevin Pearce, took a catastrophic fall in the Park City Half Pipe, while training for upcoming competition and the Olympic Qualifying Series that is currently underway.
The answers to these questions can be found in how you are living your life. So let me ask you, are you active in helping connect people to Christ? Are you building into those who are already connected to Christ? Are you moment by moment looking for opportunities to impact the world around you for Jesus? Are you living for more than yourself? Are you giving your time and resources to those in need in our world?
My prayer is that God would form in you a passionate love for Jesus so that you will enthusiastically leave your comforts behind to embrace the adventure of the Christian life!
A teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Another disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
These verses make it clear that following Jesus is quite the adventure! But this adventure is not for the faint of heart. Just read Luke 14:28-34. Following Jesus requires a willingness to embrace a life of discomfort. But living an adventurous life (in general) will always involve risk and discomfort. Any thrill seeker will tell you this. Just take Kevin Pearce, the X-Games, snowboarding superstar, for example. He sustained a head injury that sent shock waves through the snowboarding community. Here's an excerpt I recently read about him:
As 2009 came to a close, on December 30th, one of snowboardings' best half pipe riders, Kevin Pearce, took a catastrophic fall in the Park City Half Pipe, while training for upcoming competition and the Olympic Qualifying Series that is currently underway.
He was attempting a double cork trick when he came down just a little off balance and caught an edge that sent him straight to his face against the firm wall of the pipe. He sustained damage to his eye socket and a concussion with serious head trauma. He is currently in critical care after effort to repair his eye and get the head injury under control.
His crash sent shock waves through the field of competitors and fans that have watched him rise to stardom in the world of snowboarding. Over the past couple seasons the athletic level of the riders has been rising at an amazing rate with the introduction of 22 foot half pipes and the more and more common double flips that the best riders are sticking on a regular basis.
Among the field of riders and the support groups involved including team managers, coaches, parents, sponsors and event organizers, Kevin's crash is a sad and untimely reminder of the dangers of the sport. It calls attention to the fact that every competitor out there pushing hard for a bigger trick or a better result, runs the risk of serious bodily injury. Of course the riders know it is dangerous as well as we all do.
It is often difficult for coaches, the riders parents, friends and support to continue to encourage a rider to do things that we all know are very dangerous.
However, how is it different than other dangerous sports? Sports like car racing, bull riding, ski racing, airplane racing, motocross, even football and rugby, and the list goes on. In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate, because they love it.
I love that last line, "In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate because they love it." Adventure comes with a cost! But a person's pursuit of an adventure is driven by a passionate love! Love is the X-factor in our willingness to take on the risk of living the Christian life! So my questions to you are...Do you love Jesus? Do you love the mission, priorities, and purpose that Jesus is calling you to embrace? Do you love the adventure of the Christian life?The answers to these questions can be found in how you are living your life. So let me ask you, are you active in helping connect people to Christ? Are you building into those who are already connected to Christ? Are you moment by moment looking for opportunities to impact the world around you for Jesus? Are you living for more than yourself? Are you giving your time and resources to those in need in our world?
My prayer is that God would form in you a passionate love for Jesus so that you will enthusiastically leave your comforts behind to embrace the adventure of the Christian life!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Jesus would have bungee jumped!
So I finally decided to give this blogging thing a try! My wife's blog has intimidated me a little because it's so good. But I was thinking that I'll just have her edit mine if I get too self-conscious and people begin to correct my grammar! So here we go...
My passion is to see people live two six (hence the name of this blog). This comes from 1 John 2:6 where John writes, "Whoever claims to live in Him (Jesus) must walk as Jesus walked." I'll be honest it saddens me as I look around because so many churchgoers have totally watered-down the life of Jesus and what it means to follow Him. In many cases following Jesus has become nothing more than a checklist. Read your Bible, pray, fast, go to church...and honestly if that's the extent of a what it means to follow Jesus I could see boredom setting in pretty quickly (especially if you're not a very disciplined person or if you're more of a hands-on person). In fact, the huge number of teens who use the word BORING to describe the Christian life bothers me:-<
So what is a good picture of the Christian life? How about bungee jumping?! Before my first bungee jump, I took an inventory of what this whole bungee thing was about before I made any commitments. I saw that everyone was required to put on a harness and a helmet. I wasn't sure how the helmet was going to be of any help but the harness I thought was a good idea (as opposed to tying the bungee cord around my waste or through my belt loop!). People would then get into this orange, cage-like elevator that slowly lifted them insanely high into the sky. After an abrupt stop, the elevator door would open and the person was asked to NOT look down! But if they were to look down there was a padded splat mat that read 'Got Jesus?' that I guess was meant to make the person's death more comfortable (because I couldn't imagine anyone surviving the fall!). The attendant then attached the bungee cord to the harness using two little metal latches called carabiners (how on earth were such little pieces of metal going to hold my weight, I thought to myself?). The attendant then made all the final checks using a checklist (he checked the helmet, the harness, the cord, the carabiners etc.). After he had gone through the checklist he told the jumper to step forward to the very edge of the elevator door opening and take the plunge when ready. Some people would take forever to jump as they mustered up their courage while others would simply retreat back into the elevator and call it quits. But those who jumped experienced the time of their lives as a surge of adrenaline pulsated through their bodies during the free fall (I know because I actually jumped when my time came). What a rush!
So many churchgoers spend all of their time preparing for the jump (going through their checklists to make sure everything will be safe!) but never actually take the scary plunge into the Christian life. And over time the spiritual disciplines (fasting, praying, reading our Bibles...) become the goal and definition of the Christian life. But as important as these disciplines are, they are just the means to the end, the training camp before the season starts, the stretches before the run, the appetizer before the Kung Pao Chicken, the engagement before the marriage...(you get the picture). It bothers me that people like Simon the Stylite have been championed by Christians throughout history because he lived on top of a pole for 42 years to show his devotion to God (and don't ask me if he had a toilette up there)! Or that people who retreated into the forest to devote their lives to prayer are canonized by the church. Is this what Jesus was envisioning when He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?" I think that's a stretch!
My question is this: Is the Christian life an adventure to you or is it more like a boring chick flick? Don't settle for a 'checklist Christianity', take the plunge of faith and experience the real deal. If you think the safest place to be is in the center of God's will then you haven't been reading your Bible! The Christian life was meant to be an exciting (and sometimes dangerous) journey. So what does an adventurous Christianity look like? How can you experience the real deal? Stay tuned!
My passion is to see people live two six (hence the name of this blog). This comes from 1 John 2:6 where John writes, "Whoever claims to live in Him (Jesus) must walk as Jesus walked." I'll be honest it saddens me as I look around because so many churchgoers have totally watered-down the life of Jesus and what it means to follow Him. In many cases following Jesus has become nothing more than a checklist. Read your Bible, pray, fast, go to church...and honestly if that's the extent of a what it means to follow Jesus I could see boredom setting in pretty quickly (especially if you're not a very disciplined person or if you're more of a hands-on person). In fact, the huge number of teens who use the word BORING to describe the Christian life bothers me:-<
So what is a good picture of the Christian life? How about bungee jumping?! Before my first bungee jump, I took an inventory of what this whole bungee thing was about before I made any commitments. I saw that everyone was required to put on a harness and a helmet. I wasn't sure how the helmet was going to be of any help but the harness I thought was a good idea (as opposed to tying the bungee cord around my waste or through my belt loop!). People would then get into this orange, cage-like elevator that slowly lifted them insanely high into the sky. After an abrupt stop, the elevator door would open and the person was asked to NOT look down! But if they were to look down there was a padded splat mat that read 'Got Jesus?' that I guess was meant to make the person's death more comfortable (because I couldn't imagine anyone surviving the fall!). The attendant then attached the bungee cord to the harness using two little metal latches called carabiners (how on earth were such little pieces of metal going to hold my weight, I thought to myself?). The attendant then made all the final checks using a checklist (he checked the helmet, the harness, the cord, the carabiners etc.). After he had gone through the checklist he told the jumper to step forward to the very edge of the elevator door opening and take the plunge when ready. Some people would take forever to jump as they mustered up their courage while others would simply retreat back into the elevator and call it quits. But those who jumped experienced the time of their lives as a surge of adrenaline pulsated through their bodies during the free fall (I know because I actually jumped when my time came). What a rush!
So many churchgoers spend all of their time preparing for the jump (going through their checklists to make sure everything will be safe!) but never actually take the scary plunge into the Christian life. And over time the spiritual disciplines (fasting, praying, reading our Bibles...) become the goal and definition of the Christian life. But as important as these disciplines are, they are just the means to the end, the training camp before the season starts, the stretches before the run, the appetizer before the Kung Pao Chicken, the engagement before the marriage...(you get the picture). It bothers me that people like Simon the Stylite have been championed by Christians throughout history because he lived on top of a pole for 42 years to show his devotion to God (and don't ask me if he had a toilette up there)! Or that people who retreated into the forest to devote their lives to prayer are canonized by the church. Is this what Jesus was envisioning when He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?" I think that's a stretch!
My question is this: Is the Christian life an adventure to you or is it more like a boring chick flick? Don't settle for a 'checklist Christianity', take the plunge of faith and experience the real deal. If you think the safest place to be is in the center of God's will then you haven't been reading your Bible! The Christian life was meant to be an exciting (and sometimes dangerous) journey. So what does an adventurous Christianity look like? How can you experience the real deal? Stay tuned!
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