When Jesus Disappoints Us

I have the opportunity to speak at Four Corners Church on Sunday August 31. There will be two services one at 9 am and the other at 10:45 am. I will be speaking on "When Jesus Disappoints Us."

"1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was."

Why did Jesus delay? Did Jesus heal Lazarus when he heard that he was sick? Why did Mary & Martha have to go through this painful event? Hopefully we will be able to answer these questions and more. I hope to see you there.

Seek the kingdom,

Jon

The Need for Speed

I once heard Dallas Willard say, "You must relentlessly remove hurry from your life." He went on to say this is one of the hidden hazards to our spiritual formation into Christlikeness. Hurry it seems, is certainly not as overtly evil as sexual lust or greed, but it lies at the surface of our lives and devours any kind of meaningful time with Jesus. We are always in a hurry. I am always in a hurry. Therefore being meaningfully present with Jesus is difficult. I am trying to squeeze one more page of my book before I get ready to go to work, or just fifteen more minutes of sleep before church. We squeeze and we squish, and now to make it anywhere on time we have to hurry because we were hurrying. It is a vicious cycle!

Why is a lifestyle of hurry so hazardous to our discipleship? Because it bleeds over into our time with Jesus and it rips us out of God's kingdom, thus we cannot fully seek it.

So a couple of years ago I began to get serious about thinking of ways I could practically take steps toward eliminating hurry from my life. The first I employed was driving the speed limit. One of the hard lessons I had to learn was, my car is not a time machine. It's funny, but how we drive our cars can be a reflection of what's going on in our minds. Are we angry, calm, worried, distracted, or in a hurry? If we are in a hurry our speedometer will be a good indicator. Have you ever noticed though, that you are not in any particular time-crunch but you are still driving fast? You may be cutting in and out of traffic, trying to beat a yellow light, rolling slowly through a stop sign or cutting someone off so you can advance further on the highway. We are so used to being in a hurry that now it is just what we do. Getting from point A to point B in the quickest possible time is the sole objective.

So driving the speed limit for a lot of us will be a crucifixion of our old nature that loves to hurry. I have found that a quiet car traveling the speed limit can be one of the greatest opportunities for prayer, silence and meditation.

So our experiment this week is to drive the speed limit one day this week.

Experiment 007: Crucifying Hurry

Now think about it, once you drive the speed limit you don't have to worry about getting ahead of the next car in front of you, making a red light, looking intently for cops on the horizon as you speed, or ride the bumper of the car in front of you to make a point. This will cut down on hurry and worry, which are big killers in discipleship. Perhaps you will feel a calming peace as you drive and enjoy it so thoroughly that you decide to drive the speed limit everyday.

I hope you enjoy this week's experiment and feel Jesus riding shot gun with you as he molds and shapes you into His image. Let go of hurry. Crucify yourself by driving the speed limit. It should hurt and that's a good thing!

Seek the Kingdom at all Cost,
Jon

Finding Fellowship: Preparing, Cooking & Cleaning

John 21:12-14
"12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. 14 This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead."

We have lost something in our technology-driven culture. Time is moving fast (so it appears). We must find a way to slow it down. One thing that I believe is central to the Jesus Way is building times of fellowship into our heavily-scheduled lives. This is what I think we have lost: fellowship with our spouses, friends, neighbors, and yes even the one we call Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus was really into fellowship, think of all the parties, meals, festivals, long walks and my personal favorite is when He cooks breakfast for His disciples on the Sea of Galilee after an early morning of fishing. If Jesus was doing it; we should be doing it. Right? This is what we now have to construct into our daily, weekly and monthly schedules. This may mean that we miss out on some must see TV, but who cares "TIVO" it! The main thing to understand about fellowship, is that It does not happen automatically anymore. This is something we have to fight for.

It is extremely easy to come home after a long day of work, watching the kids, school, etc and plop down on the couch and throw in an oven pizza and checkout for the rest of the evening. There's no fellowship between you and your spouse or roommate. As a substitute fellowship is replaced with information. We exchange the days information and then we are done (much like a text message). This is something that I do on a regular basis and I am trying to break myself out of this way of life. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it is good to "veg-out" and eat a quick bite to eat. I have no beef with this. However, if this becomes a nightly routine and the TV is constantly zapping your brain then you may want to take action! One discipline that Kori and I are trying to keep in our weekly routine is Cooking a meal together. I got this idea from Eugene Peterson's book "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places."

So our experiment this week is for you and your spouse, or roommate to prepare, cook and clean a homemade meal.

Experiment 005: Preparing, Cooking & Cleaning - Finding Fellowship in our Busy Lives.

I would suggest that you both sit down at the computer and go to foodnetwork.com. They have hundreds of great recipes that you can download right to your computer. Once you have both picked one out you both should journey to your local grocer and gather the ingredients. Remember it is important that you complete all three stages of the process together. You don't want to "sub-out" any of the stages to each other; do them together. It could end up taking you 1-2 hours so plan accordingly. I promise that you will not be disappointed when you are finished. You will have enjoyed the meal and especially the time just talking and laughing with each other. You will have done much more than exchanged information, you will have had a beautiful time of fellowship. And for about 2 hours, time will have come to slow walk and you will have been able to savor every minute of life.

Please share your recipes if you have some good ones! I love you all!

Seek the Kingdom,
Jon

Walking with Jesus

Mark 1:35
"35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there."

Can you picture this? Jesus wakes up after a long and taxing day of healing bodies and teaching minds. He is physically tired but gets up early ('still dark' early). I would not be surprised if this was a regular practice for Him. Anyway, He slips on an outer garment and sandals and tries to escape unnoticed. As He slips out the front, the door gives Him away with a squeak and a creak. Peter hears and knows that Jesus is out for another early morning stroll and prayer session. For a split second Peter thinks about joining Him, but his body wins out and the bed welcomes him back with open arms. It's dark. There is definitely a chill in the air. It's just Jesus and Abba now. Finally in the quietness and solitude of the journey He can fix His mind on things above.

I am sure I took some liberties with the story. There is really little evidence the story unfolded like I described, but I wanted to give a life-like scenario of Jesus and His disciplines. I really believe our disciplines are a lot like Jesus' disciplines. I am sure He encountered the same challenges and difficulties we do. It's important that we study Jesus in the gospels and mimic Him. If we are going to follow Him and be His disciples, the least we can do is practice what He did. Right?

So our experiment this week is to pull our bodies out of bed and take a walk with Jesus & Abba.

Experiment 004: Walking with Jesus

It is pretty simple this week. It usually is. Sometime this week while it is still dark drag your butt out of bed, throw on some clothes and flip-flops and go for walk. When your annoying alarm goes off and you cannot believe 'sleepy' time went by so fast, just remember, it is at that precise point you decide to crucify your body. That is when we put flesh and blood on the statement, "Take up your cross and follow me." As your walking, you may want to think about the scripture verse quoted above, meditate on portions of the Sermon on the Mount, or offer prayers for your family and friends. One of the most important things we can do in the morning is set our minds on Jesus. This is how we do it. I hope that you enjoy the walk this week. I hope that you will envision Jesus walking right there with you. Don't be a lazy bum like Peter and miss out on walking with Jesus. Wake up and do it! And always remember Jesus' words, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt 28:20)."

Seek the Kingdom,
Jon

PS. Perhaps the girls may not want to walk alone in the dark at night, so perhaps the husbands or friends could walk at the same time but separately. That way both parties could be comfortable as they walk. Just a thought. Don't let fear scare you though, Jesus will be with you!

One Chapter & One Cup

Romans 10:17
"17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

One of the most important spiritual disciplines that we can practice is to read the words of Jesus in the gospels. Perhaps more than any other practice, this fuels our growth and transformation into Christlikeness. Paul teaches in his letter to the Roman disciples that faith is birthed by hearing the words of Jesus. Fortunately for us we have Jesus' teachings and stories captured for us in the gospel narratives. So, this is how we grow. We read what Jesus says, and what we discover is, that He always teaches us to act on what He says (Matt 7:24).

Faith is built much like a brick wall. You need the brick (teaching) and the mortar (practicing). It would'nt do much good to stack a bunch of bricks with no mortar, much like it doesn't do a whole lot of good to just read Jesus' teachings and never put anything to practice. I think for most Christians we got a lot of bricks stacked on top of each other, but nothing is really holding them together. If a little rain or wind comes our way, our wall begins to fall apart. In the same way, if you just put a bunch of mortar together you don't have much form. It's just a big blob. So, the bricks give us direction and form, and the practice makes it stick. Now we can start building.

So our experiment this week is to read Luke 14 and enjoy a cup of coffee while doing it.

Experiment 003: Reading Jesus and being Jesus.

There are few things I enjoy more than sitting down in my big chair with a steaming cup of coffee and reading through the gospels. It is one of my favorite disciplines. So, I propose this week that we sit down and read Luke 14 with a big ole steaming cup of coffee! Make time this week so that you can read the entire chapter in one sitting several times. The main question you want to ask yourself is, "How am I going to put this into practice this week?" This could be your prayer as you read. Ask Jesus to help you act on this teaching in Luke 14. Just by sitting down and reading the chapter means that you are already practicing the discipline of study, but we never study for study sake. We study to learn more about Jesus and how to be Jesus to the world. As you read the chapter this week, it would be great if anyone had questions or comments to post them for everyone to read so we could all benefit from it. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoy Luke 14, it's beautiful passage!

Seek the Kingdom,
Jon

Welcome & Introduction

This blog is all about taking Jesus seriously.  It's so easy to go to church and tip the preacher and be done. It seems there is (at least from where i am from) a lot of frustration with Christianity and church.  My goal is just to provide practical applications for Christians who really want to become like Jesus.  We are tired of quick fixes, 7 steps to whatever and church hopping. We need a place to really learn and live with Jesus. And i believe that turns out to be right where we are.  So, hopefully this blog can at least help us move in the right direction. 

You can expect a new experiment every week (probably Monday or Tuesday.) I will call them experiments but my hope is they will become disciplines.  The goal is to try an experiment every week, and if it really fits your station of life, then make it a discipline.  Disciplines help us follow Jesus. Disciplines are not righteousness, but wisdom (Dallas Willard). Jesus said, "take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart" (Matt 11:28-30).  So this is how we learn from Jesus by actually putting into practice what He teaches in the gospels.  

It would be great to get feedback going from people and see how the experiments are going.  Tell about your experience in the comments section.  You may want to say, 'that was really great", or 'that sucked!' Either way, lets just talk about it and create some community and help each other on the Jesus Way.  

A disciple is someone who is learning to be, not so much know. We want to be like Jesus, not just know stuff about Him. A disciple of Jesus is someone who has  decided that the most important thing in life is to be with Him learning to be like HIm.

I hope you will journey with us as we journey with Jesus.

Seek the Kingdom,

Jon

P.S. If you would like to be notified by email when the new post is up just let me know and I will add your email address to the automatic blog send list.