Accept One Another

Here is my message from this past Sunday. The last Sunday covering the Biblical one anothers. So over the last several weeks we have been looking at what it means to do life together as the body of Christ, or what we have termed the gathered nature of the church. We have done this by looking at what is known as the biblical one anothers. We spent time talking about meeting with one another, encouraging one another, loving one another, and last week we talked about the idea of forgiving one another and how to go about resolving conflict in a biblical way.

Today we will be looking at two passages of Scripture found in Romans that play off our discussion 2 weeks ago revolving around love. We will be looking at the ideas of accepting one another, being devoted to one another, and honoring one another. All three are rooted in loving one another based on realizing the love, grace and acceptance shown to us through Jesus. And all three are seriously an upside down Kingdom of God value that goes so contrary to what the Kingdom of the world tells us to do and be about.

So let’s take a look at these two Scriptures and see what we might learn about how to do life together as a community of Jesus followers.

The first passage we will look at in the book of Romans is found in Romans 12:10 and says this, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” What does it mean to be devoted to one another in love and to honor others above yourself? Let’s unpack it together.

The first thing we need to know regarding this verse is where it falls in relation to all the verses around it. This verse falls in a section of Scripture that deals with how to relate to those within the Christian family. So first of all, we are talking about the body of Christ and how we are to relate to one another, not saying that we aren’t to treat those outside the family of Christ the same way, but that these commands are for followers of Jesus and how we are to treat one another.

Secondly we realize that all these commands that the Apostle Paul is giving to the body of Christ, as I said before, are rooted in the command to love one another. In 12:10 Paul calls us to be devoted to one another in love. This Scripture is sometimes translated to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. The word love there is phileo, which means brotherly love. Love of a family. What Paul is getting at here is that we should love each other with the affection of a natural brother or sister. That the body of Christ is a real and true family and should rival that of our biological family. We should truly be brothers and sisters in the family of Christ, and live in such a way that our lives bear out that fact.

Now for some that might sound great, if you grew up in a loving, idyllic, intact family. You can grab a hold of the idea that the body of Christ should look and act like a real family. Calling each other brother and sister and doing life in such a way that reflects the love that you have for each other, and living out the Kingdom. For others, when you hear the word family, you cringe inside, because your picture of family is of broken relationships, grudges, fighting, and not what Paul is calling us to, being devoted to one another and putting others ahead of yourself. Family doesn’t bring to mind the words love, honor, devotion, etc…

Just like God redeems us to be what he calls us to be and to live out the Kingdom, God can redeem our view and our practice of “family” by showing us how the family of God should live, treat each other, and do life together. But while he can redeem it, it takes work and our putting the Kingdom of God above our own kingdom. Because this lifestyle, the Kingdom of God life, isn’t natural, goes against our fleshly nature, and we continually fight against it. We want to be devoted to each other and love each other as long as it doesn’t cost us too much. As long as we can put our needs and desires first. As long as we get loved back. We put all these conditions on being devoted to one another in love, but Christ calls us to a love not dependent on the response of others. If Christ only loved us if we loved him back, where would we be? But thank God that isn’t the case. Jesus loved us, as the Scriptures say in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Apostle Paul then lays it out even further when he says, “Honor one another above yourself.” This is really difficult. This can only be done when we put ourselves, our desires, our needs, etc.. on the cross and die to ourselves. We need to get up on the cross, die to wanting people to honor us, love us, respect us, etc…then get off the cross and begin to honor, love, respect and put others before us. This can only be done by living a crucified, Kingdom of God life, and only through the power of the Holy Spirit because it goes so counter to all that we know, experience, and see in the world. You see the world tells us to look after number one, that you deserve a break today, that it is all about you. If you do put others first it is only so that you can manipulate them and use them for what you can get out of it and them. To some in the world, this honoring others before yourself seems weak, passive, and waiting for someone to step on you. But if you really true stop and think about it, to honor someone above yourself, to put their well being before your own, and to wish for their well being is probably the strongest thing that can be done. Anyone can put themselves first. It takes a strong person, infused by the power of the Holy Spirit, seeking to live out the Kingdom of God in the midst of this world, to put others first.

We also have to realize that this life that the Apostle Paul is talking about is rooted in Jesus. As in many of our discussions over the last few weeks, we have come to the conclusion that Jesus went first in all these one anothers. That he is telling us to do something that he has done first and more fully. Which leads me to our next Scripture that we’ll be looking at together. This one found also in Romans a few chapters later, Romans 15:7.

Romans 15:7 says this, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” If we look at the context of this passage we realize something really profound and super relevant to today. Romans 14 and 15 deal with the idea of the weak and the strong, and whether it was okay for Christians to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. Some thought it was okay to eat the meat since idols weren’t really anything, but some thought they couldn’t eat because it was sacrificed to idols. The Apostle Paul then says the words in Romans 15:7 about accepting each other. What he is getting at is that no matter which side of the issue (eating meat sacrificed to idols) you came down on, you were to accept each other and not condemn your brother or sister because they came down on the issue on the other side.

Instead of letting this issue (or a host of other issues that seek to divide us now) about disputable things divide the body of Christ, we should accept one another just as Christ accepts us- in the term of pure grace, knowing yet, bearing with our faults. Think about all the disputable things that seek to divide us as the body of Christ in the world today, and when you do, do you see us accepting one another as Christ has accepted us, so that we can bring praise to God? Sometimes we do, but so often we let non-essentials divide us and we show the world that we can’t accept one another, so who would want to join us? We don’t bring praise to God because of our lack of accepting each other, in spite of our differing opinions on various issues. Issues like politics, the end times, the beginning/Genesis, can a Christian drink, homosexuality, and a host of other issues serve as great testing ground to see if we can disagree on the issue and still accept one another.

The other week I downloaded a great free album from a church in Seattle called Church of the Beloved (you should get a copy) and on the album was one song called Peace which speaks to this issue of accepting one another. The Lyrics go like this,

Broken conversations, broken people, we’re broken Lord. Terrified illusions, seeking comfort, we’re seeking more. We need each other more than we need to agree. Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love, with your grace and peace. Peace. Let there be peace. Let there be peace. Let there be peace. Let us see and not destroy. Let us listen. Let us listen. Let us suspend judgement for the sake of love, for the sake of love. We need each other more than we need to agree. Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love, with your grace and peace. Love. Let there be love. (among us) Let there be love. (among us) Let there be love.

I love the line that says, “we need each other more than we need to agree.” I believe this is exactly what the Apostle Paul was getting at in Romans 15:7. That in spite of coming down on opposite sides of an issue, that we need to accept each other (positions, weakness, and all) just as Christ has accepted us. Since Christ has accepted us all as Christians, the least that we can do is to accept each other at the same time being willing to overlook the mistakes, errors, and differences of each other. Such a toleration of mistakes, errors and differences, in relation to things unessential and secondary will inhibit strife and division in the church and result in great glory to God. Or put in another way, as someone once said, “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”

So let’s talk about what it looks like to be devoted to one another in brotherly love, to honor others above yourself, and accept one another as Christ has accepted us. What does it look like, why does God call us to this, and how does living these things out in the world further the Kingdom of God?

Discussion Questions:

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the message and the Scriptures?

2. Have you ever thought about the community of faith as being a family? How might we live, what might we do, etc...to live out this reality (that we are really a family) day in and day out?

3. What issues (theological, social, etc..) does the church face that stops the church from loving and accepting each other? How can we as a community of faith disagree with each other about these issues and still love, accept and see each other as brothers and sisters in Jesus?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? 5. What is God saying to us as a community of faith and what should we do about it?

Forgive one another

Here is the message from yesterdays worship gathering. This morning we are continuing our series Scattered and Gathered looking at the two natures of the church. Scattered into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus bringing blessing to the world. Gathered to worship, pray, do life together, and build community with each other.

Today we continue looking at the various one anothers in the Scriptures. We have looked at continuing to meet with one another, encourage one another, and last week we covered the every crucial love one another.

Today we are building on last week and our discussion of loving of one another, with probably the most challenging, and difficult one after loving one another which is to forgive one another as well as a biblical way of handing conflict.

Scripture all over the place talks about this very very important ideal of forgiveness and conflict resolution between believers. This morning I’m going to share one Scripture briefly as a springboard into the main Scripture for the morning. The main Scripture is one that the Church of the Brethren, the denomination that Veritas is officially a part of, has considered as hugely important in the life of the faith community.

So let’s turn to Colossians 3:13 and read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” The section that this Scripture is a part of revolves around what it means to live a holy life. Paul talks about things like the old nature including things like rage, malice, slander, lying, impurity, and filthy language. He lays out a list of things that a follower of Jesus should put to death, but then he also lays out a list of what a follower of Jesus should seek to embody in their life. One such ideal is the ideal to forgive one another.

I love that Paul roots this command not in our feelings, our will, our desire, or our strength. Paul, just like we talked about last week when it comes to love, roots the command to forgive in Jesus/God. Just as Jesus went first in loving us, so that we should love one another, the Apostle Paul says we should forgive each other because God has forgiven us. In fact in some places within Scripture it actually says that if we don’t forgive a brother or sister that the Lord won’t forgive us. That is how serious this ideal of forgiveness really is.

The Lord has graciously forgiven us of much greater crimes that we have committed against him, then what others have committed against us. I’m not making whatever you might have gone through, or whatever you might have against someone, the unforgiveness that you are carrying around with you. Some of us probably have been seriously wronged or hurt from someone who professes the name of Jesus. I truly get that. But if you haven’t forgiven that person, you are the one who is living in jail not the other person. To forgive them doesn’t mean that it was okay what they did to you; it means that you realize that you have been forgiven much by Jesus, so you in turn need to forgive others. That doesn’t mean that it is easy to do. It is probably one of the hardest things this side of heaven.

Let me tell you a story of someone who forgave because they realized that they were forgiven much. Corrie Ten Boom, who was in a German concentration camp in World War II tells the her own story of forgiveness and how it set her free, many years after being released from that camp. “It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s painblanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fräulein”, he said “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

Now today if you are dealing with some unforgiveness in your life, in regards to another brother or sister in Christ, by what they might have done to you or against you, or a sin they have committed against you, there is a way of handling this issue in a biblical way. Matthew writes about what I like to call Biblical Conflict resolution in Matthew 18:15-17 which says this, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Now there is a lot of tough stuff in this passage, and there is no way we can get to it all, but let’s unpack as much as we can in this short powerful 3 verses.

So this morning if you have been sinned against by another brother or sister, maybe even in this very room, here is what you do. You go to a good friend, and then you talk about that person behind their back, you slander them, and you refuse to go to the person who can actually make it right. That is what Paul is saying right? Of course not, but probably this is what truly happens so much of the time in the life of congregations all over this world. All too often we make use of my favorite shape, a triangle. What I mean by that is there is this concept in relational dynamics called triangulation. Here is what it is. Triangulation is most commonly used to express a situation in which one family member will not communicate directly with another family member, but will communicate with a third family member, which can lead to the third family member becoming part of the triangle. Triangulation can also be used as a label for a form of "splitting" in which one person plays the third family member against one that he or she is upset about. This is playing the two people against each other, but usually the person doing the splitting, will also engage in character assassination, only with both parties. We all too often live this out in the life of our biological families but we also way too often live this out in the family of Christ.

This passage of Scripture is easy to understand but extremely difficult to live out and embody. But if we are followers of Jesus here this morning, than Jesus calls us to follow this way of conflict resolution. So this morning, if you are aware that a brother or sister has sinned against you, go to them and seek to make it right. Prayerfully go in love, speaking the truth in love. Not going to win an argument, be exonerated, or to heap condemnation on that person. No, the purpose of going to them is to restore the relationship to the way that it was, or should be.

If they don’t listen to you, lovingly take 2-3 other people with you. Not as a way of ganging up on that person but as a way of again restoring that relationship in a loving way. Make sure that these 2-3 people are as unbiased as they can be, because if they seem biased, it might not go well.

As the last resort, take it to the entire body. Sometimes we skip all the steps and get right to this point. We slander someone while we call it sharing, or a prayer request. Then if they don’t listen even to the entire body, treat them like a pagan or tax collector.

I love this ending, but all too often I believe in the church we have gotten it wrong. It’s like we think we then push the person out from the church, we “shun” them, and hope that this shunning will bring about repentance. Now I am not saying that there isn’t a way of biblical church discipline, but I think the point that Jesus is making with the end statement can best be summed up by looking at the way he dealt with the “pagans and tax collectors”. He didn’t shun them, hardly. He loved them, had mercy on them and was full of grace for and towards them. His dealings with the outcast and the sinner shows us the way forward when we deal with a brother or sister that has sinned against us, and we are dealing with unforgiveness in our heart and in the situation. The way forward through this process has to have love all over it for it to fully work, to bring redemption and forgiveness in the relationships. Without love it won’t ever work. Jesus shows us that in the end of this passage, that even if the person refuses to acknowledge their sin, their part of the issue, love them, care for them, forgive them (even if they don’t ask for it), and have mercy for them.

So let’s spend some time unpacking what this might look like in reality, and when the rubber hits the road. Let’s spend some time discussing forgiveness, unforgiveness, and life within the body of Christ.

Discussion Questions: 1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the message and the Scriptures 2. What do you sense God saying to you? What do you sense God saying to us? 3. What are you going to do about it? What should we do about it?

Love One Another

This post is the message that I gave on Sunday June 24 (I wasn't able to post it last week because I was traveling all week and away from my computer) Over the last 2 months or so we have been looking at the two natures of the church. We spent time looking at the scattered nature of the church in May. The Scattered nature where we are scattered into the world, into our neighborhoods, work, relational circles, etc… to be a blessing and the hands and feet of Christ living out the Kingdom of God. A few weeks ago we had a chance to put this scattered nature into practice (even though we did it together) by having a booth at Rock the Block.

The last few weeks we have been looking at the gathered nature of the church, and in particular what it looks like to be community with each other. In fact we have been looking at the biblical one anothers that are all throughout the Bible. So we looked at the call for us not to neglect meeting together and doing life we each other. Last week a few of us talked about the idea that we are to encourage one another, and believe me, we can all us some more encouragement.

Today we are going to talk about, what I believe, lies at the core of our life together as followers of Jesus, the idea and practice of love. We are going to talk about the biblical one another of loving one another, which I believe not only builds up the Christian community, but can show the entire world that we practice what we preach. I mean didn’t Jesus even say, “They will know you are my disciples if you love one another”? So as we look at the church around the world, how would you say we are doing at loving one another, within the family of God, the body of Christ? I believe we have a very long way to go. So let’s look together at 1 John 4:7-21 which is all about the idea of loving one another and giving us some grounding where our love is supposed to flow from. The Apostle John writes, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” This passage is so packed with some amazing things, that there is no way in 10 minutes we’ll be able to cover. But let’s jump into it and see what we might learn about loving one another and why we, as followers of Jesus, should be loving one another.

But before we jump into it, I want to share about how important loving one another truly is, and why John wrote about it. In fact, I would say it defined him. You see there is a church tradition, which says, that when John was evidently an old man in Ephesus, he had to be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples. At these meetings, he was accustomed to say no more than, "Little children, love one another!" After a time, the disciples wearied at always hearing the same words, asked, "Master, why do you always say this?" "It is the Lord's command," was his reply. "And if this alone be done, it is enough!" Just think what would happen if the church of Jesus Christ truly lived out this calling to really love one another. I believe not only would it change the church but it would flow out from us into the world, and I believe literally change the world. The beginning of our text this morning centers John’s hearers on the fact that love doesn’t come from our will, our desire, or our human efforts. Love comes from God because God is, in fact love. The old saying if you looked up love in the dictionary, God’s picture would be there. The Greek in this sentence actually says “those who are loved, let us love.” We are not commanded to love one another to earn or become worthy of God’s love. We love one another because we are loved by God and have received that love and seek to live in light of it. Think of it this way, if love is of God, then we who claim to be born of God and claim to know God, must be able to love one another in the body of Christ.

At the end of the text John puts it this way, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” If we claim to know God, than it should be shown in our relationships with each other. In fact the word know in the text is a specific word which means a knowledge based on experience. John is saying that when we really experience God it will show in our love for one another. You can’t grow in your experience and knowledge of God without also growing in love for one another. To put it bluntly, if there isn’t real love for God’s people in your life then your claim to know God and experience God, simply isn’t true. If you look at a lot of the church today, I would say that our claim to know God, isn’t true. I don’t mean to judge, but a lot of the problems that we are having is that we don’t love like Jesus loved, a self-giving, self-sacrificing, kind of love that led Jesus to the cross, as John states in 1 John. What would happen if we lived this cross/crucified life and how it would flow out from us, into our faith communities, and then into the world around us. Lesslie Newbigin, a missionary in India, and a man ahead of his time, put it this way, “The greatest hermeneutic of the gospel is a community that seeks to live by it.” People can see God through the life of the community of Christ followers if we truly love one another.

But how can we, as a community, actually live out this kind of gospel love for one another, following in the footsteps of Jesus? We can’t do it by our own will, our own strength, or our own sheer determinism. We need to realize, as John did, that love is of God. That this kind of love, which is the Greek word Agape, come into our life through our relationship with Him. If we want to love one another more, we need to draw closer to God, the source of all love.

Think of it like this, using an illustration that should be familiar to us at Veritas. Every human relationship is like a triangle. The two people in the relationship are on the base of the triangle and God is at the top. As the 2 people draw closer to the top of the triangle, closer to God, they will also draw closer to one another. John knew it and let us in on the secret that love starts with God, and our acceptance of that love, and then our living into God’s love for us. You see, John was right, God went first, he loved us, and then he calls us to follow in his footsteps and love one another. But what does it look like on the street? When the rubber hits the road? What does it mean to truly love one another, as God has loved us? For the next few weeks we are going to unpack these questions together.

Discussion Questions: 1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the message and the Scripture? 2. What is God saying to you? What is God saying to us as a community? 3. What are you going to do about it? What should we do about it?

We all need a little encouragement

Here is the text of my message from last week and some discussion questions pertaining to the message. Over the last month and a half we have been doing a series entitled the Scattered and Gathered Church, looking at the two natures of the church. We spent most of May looking at the Scattered nature of the church, scattering into mission in our neighborhoods, work, etc… Then we spent the other week together seeking to apply what we have explored by having a booth at Rock the Block.

Last week we started to unpack the Gathered nature of the church in relation to Community. What does it look like to be in relationship and community with the “church”? What does it look like to be gathered? Is it more than just gathering once a week or is it more than that? And what kinds of things should a gathered church be all about?

Last week, Ryan walked us through the New Testament book of Hebrews 10:24-25 and encouraged us that community was more than just meeting together once a week at a certain place and time. That is what doing life together is really all about. It means being involved in each other’s weeks, meeting together for dinner, to hang out together, to pray together, to serve together, and to be there for each other.

In fact the words each other is what we are going to be talking a lot about the next few weeks. We will be seeking to apply what is known as the biblical one anothers to our life together as a gathered community and a scattered community. Today we’ll be looking at another one another, and also looking at someone in the Scriptures who lived this one another out in profound ways.

Let’s look at 2 different Scriptures that reference this biblical one another. Let’s first look at 1 Thessalonians 5:11 and then follow that up with Hebrews 3:13.

1 Thessalonians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica (which is in modern day Greece) and was written to encourage new believers in the midst of trials. In Chapter 5 verse 11 we read, “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Paul is using the language of building houses and flipping it to talk about building the body of Christ. He was telling them to encourage each other, to not give in in the midst of trials, persecution, and struggle. To stand together, support each other, and be there for each other. In fact the word encourage means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. And the followers of Jesus in Thessalonica could certainly use the encouragement. In fact the idea of encouragement runs throughout the entire book of 1 and 2 Thesslonians. There are 7 references to encouraging, encouragement, or to be encouraged in both books. But why? Why is Paul encouraging them, telling them to encourage each other, and focusing on that? I think our answer is in 2 places earlier in 1 Thessalonians. In 2:2 we see these words, “We had previously suffered in Philippi as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.” And in 2:14 these words, “You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews…”

So you see, much of the New Testament was written to this very same fact, that the church of Jesus Christ, in the midst of the imperial empire was persecuted heavily because they were living out an alternate reality, another kingdom besides the Holy Roman Empire. They weren’t calling out the name of Caesar but the name of Jesus. And doing that in the midst of a powerful empire will definitely bring the wrath of that empire down on your head. In the midst of all that persecution it would be easy to go along with the flow, without others standing side by side, walking along the same journey with you, encouraging you to keep following Jesus and not give in to the powers that be. And that was what Paul was writing to them for, to encourage them, to put steel in their spine so to speak, and not give up following after Jesus.

The writer of the New Testament book Hebrews also was helping the followers of Jesus stay true to their calling as followers of Jesus and not revert back to their old lives, as Ryan unpacked for us last week. The author knew that encouragement was needed to continue to fight the good fight, to finish the race. He puts the call to encouragement this way, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” The author not only calls the recipients to encourage each other, but he encourages them to do it daily. To encourage each other daily, in that day and age, meant you needed to be in each other’s lives, face to face, life on life, truly understanding and knowing what the other is going through. Honestly, how much easier should it be for us, with all the technology at our fingertips. How much easier can it be to encourage someone just by picking up a phone and calling them, texting them, e-mailing them or putting something on their facebook wall?

One of my favorite authors talks about one of the missional rhythms that their congregation lives out. They center their lives corporately around the idea of BELLS which each letter stands for something and the B stands for Bless. They are supposed to bless 3 people a week, one being a follower of Jesus, one being someone who isn’t a follower of Jesus, and the third is free one. I believe that when you get right down to it, that to bless someone means encouraging them. Who doesn’t want someone to bless and encourage them? What would it be like if we took this idea seriously and determined that we would take on the challenge this week of blessing 3 people and see what God does? I think it would change us, change the people we bless, and probably also change our Veritas community.

Encouragement has a powerful influence in the direction and purpose of people’s lives. Encouragement, I believe changed the New Testament church, the New Testament, and by definition our Christian heritage. Without encouragement I am not sure where our Christian History would be right now. Let me tell you of someone in the NT who didn’t have the Bible, didn’t have the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:11 or Hebrews 3:13 (in fact the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:11 might have never appeared without the encouragement of this one man).

This man is found in the New Testament book of Acts, lived out this call to encourage, and in fact his name literally meant “Son of Encouragement”. I am talking about Barnabas.

Here is what we know about Barnabas according to Scripture. In Acts 4:36 we find these words, “Joseph, a levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet.” We don’t see or hear of Barnabas again until he shows up in Acts 9:26-27 and this I believe is his biggest contribution to the church, his gift of encouragement and coming alongside someone. “When he (the apostle Paul) came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.” Because of Barnabas we have the next line, “So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem.”

Barnabas came alongside Paul/Saul in a time when he needed someone by his side, someone to believe in him, his story and that he was in fact now a disciple of Jesus and not a persecutor of disciples of Jesus. The best measure of his work and his encouragment may be seen in the lives of individuals he had a personal impact upon. He took Saul, who was completely disconnected with the other apostles, and persuaded them to recognize him. He later found Saul in Tarsus and personally recruited him for the work in Antioch, where he could develop his teaching and leadership skills. Lastly, while on the missionary journey from Antioch, Barnabas had the wisdom to know when Paul's gifts and abilities had exceeded his own in certain areas, and he allowed Paul to shine to the glory of God instead of keeping him down to maintain his own prominence. While we easily recall what Paul has meant to the church, we rarely recognize that Barnabas was instrumental in three major circumstances in his rise to prominence.

Barnabas came alongside people, encouraged them, and then stepped back and let them lead, grow, and encourage others. He definitely lived out the meaning of his name, and I am sure as Paul was writing the letter to the church at Thessalonica and got to the part that we call 5:11, that he wrote it to the believers there, but all the while thinking about his encourager and where he might have been without him.

So we looked at the Scriptures, we looked at someone who lived out the meaning of the Scriptures, and what effect he had on not only leaders in the church in the NT but I would say the effect that he has on us. But let’s spend some time talking about encouragement where the rubber hits the road, and what it might look like in our lives, as individuals and as a community.

Discussion Questions: 1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, pushback, etc.. do you have regarding the Scriptures and message?

2. Where do you personally need encouragement and how can we as a community come alongside of you and give it to you?

3. How can our community better bless and encourage each other?

4. Who can you encourage this week? And how can you do it? What are your thoughts about committing to blessing/encouraging 3 people each week?

Viral: How Social Networking is poised to ignite revival

Several weeks (or probably more like months) ago I received the book "Viral: How Social Networking is poised to ignite revival" by Leonard Sweet as part of the Blogging for Books program that I am a part of through WaterBrook and Multnomah. So I'm finally getting around to reviewing this book.

I have to say this is probably the 15 or so book that I have read by Sweet. He is a machine when it comes to writing books, and probably puts out maybe 4-6 books a year. I have enjoyed reading his stuff before and figured I would enjoy Viral.

2 Things that I have to say before getting to the book is that:

1. Sweet does his research (or has a great team to do it for him). Almost every book that I have ever read comes with a ton of quotes, citations, and notes. Highly footnoted, studied, and researched.

2. Sweet loves his acronyms. (I believe that is the right word). First there was EPIC (Experiential, Participatory, Image Based, and Connected). Then there was MRI (Missional, Relational, Incarnational) and now in Viral it is TGIF (Twitter, Google, iPhones/iPads/iPods, and Facebook).

Sweet breaks down his book by the acronym TGIF. So the book is broken down into 6 sections looking at social networking in relation to Twitter, Google, iPhone, and Facebook. The first section is on Social Media as a whole and the last is wrapping up the book, the 4 in the middle are focused on one type of social media/networking. Sweet does a great job of connecting current technology and the possibility of both good and evil coming from our usage of the technology. He also advocates for the usage of the technology to further the Kingdom, the church, and to spread the good news of Jesus.

He also puts humans into two camps (though he also says that it is possible that your age doesn't truly define what camp you are in). Those two camps are Gutenbergs and Googlers. (Several places in the book he gives "tests" to see which camp you fall into).

Overall I enjoyed the book, though I didn't really gain anything new regrading social media, just helpful reminders. I try to spend time using Twitter, Facebook, my iPhone, and our website to further the Kingdom and share about Jesus and Veritas. I was again reminded just how important an on-line presence is these days, and am thankful that we have one (though I am sure we could do alot better by developing a social media strategy)

Here are some quotes that I found helpful in the book:

"They (meaning Googlers) believe there is more truth in relationships than in propositions."

"if you have the right theology but aren't reaching people and aren't in relationship with your culture, what does it profit a pastor or a church?"

"Christianity is and always has been a religion of incarnation. It puts on flesh and blood."

"New media creates new problems along with new opportunities. Shane Hipps riffed on Marshall McLuhan like this, 'No technology is neutral. Every technology has an innate bias, and it will use you. Once you become aware of its bias, you can use it."

I believe social media and networking can be helpful in the spreading of the Kingdom but it can also hinder it in many different ways. I guess my hope for Veritas and my own use of social media can best be spelled out by this quote from St. Teresa of Avila: "Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out on the world, yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

Guest Blog Post

The other week I was asked to be a guest blogger for my friend Lisa Colon Delay, who I went to Kutztown University with. I thought I would repost what I wrote for her blog on my blog. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Identity

For the last two and half years I’ve been planting Veritas, a missional community in Lancaster, PA. There are various challenges in this.

There’s the challenge of developing a Core Group for Veritas. There’s the struggle of seeking to do church in a whole new way in an area that has a fairly traditional view of what church is. There’s the challenge of balancing 4 part time jobs between my wife and me, a free lance job, two kids and keeping up with everything that comes with running a household. But the biggest challenge that I have been faced with revolves around the issue of identity.

All too often, whether in planting a new faith community, or just in life, we define ourselves by what we do. And we define our self worth from what we do, and whether we are “successful” or not. Maybe men do this more.

If I’m honest with myself, my self worth all too often is tied into how I perceive things are going. If we have a good Sunday, as far as numbers (even though we seek to define success by other metrics) I feel good about myself. If we have a bad Sunday, as far as numbers go, I feel horrible about myself and want to throw in the towel and give up. The biggest challenge I believe, at least for me, in this planting journey has been to remember this phrase, “It’s not what I do, it is about whose I am.”

Scripture says this about me, “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:5), and “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”(Romans 8:15). Too often I say to myself (or Satan says) the very opposite of these words. I forget that I am a child of the King and that I am loved, not for anything that I can do, have done, or will do. I am loved period.

One thing that stuck from my years at seminary that has helped me confront this problem of identity is this simple statement, “There is nothing you can do to make God love you any less. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more.” My identity is not in being a church planter, a father, a husband, or anything else that I try to define my worth in. My struggle is to remember that, and place my identity in the fact that I am a child of the Heavenly Father.

Elephant in the Room

What is one tough question you've always wanted to ask a Christian... and they wouldn't get offended for you asking?" Why are Christians so angry/intolerant? Do you have to be a Republican to be Christian? Why are there so many churches, don't Christians like each other?"

If you always wanted to ask these or other tough questions, than join us on Sunday June 10 at the Community Rom on Prince (19 North Prince Street, 3rd Floor above Prince Street Cafe) from 5:30-7:30 PM for Elephant in the Room.

We'll start at 5:30 with Free Pizza (though donations to cover the Pizza would be appreciated by not required) and drinks. Then from 6:00-7:30 PM we'll talk about the Elephants in the Room that you struggle with and we'll create a safe place to talk about them, wrestle with them, question them, and share them.

Bring some friends along who have their own Elephants in the Room.

New Veritas Postcards

We just designed some new postcards for Veritas to be handed out at various events and gatherings that we are either a part of or throw ourselves. Thought I'd show what they look like on the blog. Would love to hear your thoughts on them.

Peace

The other week I was attending the Church of the Brethren Church Planting conference at Bethany Seminary in Richmond, IN. I got the pleasure of hanging out with some friends who I don't get to see very often. One of these friends lives and ministers in Seattle, WA. Turns out he was doing a workshop the same time that I was doing mine, so unfortunately I wasn't able to be at his. But he gave me the handout, which was a tour of the churches and ministries happening in Seattle. One of the ministry he highlighted was Church of the Beloved and he mentioned that they had some free music on their site, so I went and downloaded the music. (You can do that here...http://belovedschurch.org/hope

One song is called Peace and as I listened to it, I realized just how much our world, our families, our denominations, and our churches need this type of peace. Read the lyrics and pray that PEACE may start with you (through your relationship with Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit)

Broken conversations, broken people, we're broken Lord. Terrified illusions, seeking comfort, we're seeking more. We need each other more than we need to agree. Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love, with your grace and peace.

Peace. Let there be peace. Let there be peace. Let there be peace.

Let us see and not destroy. Let us listen. Let us listen. Let us suspend judgement for the sake of love, for the sake of love. We need each other more than we need to agree. Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love, with your grace and peace.

Love. Let there be love. (among us) Let there be love. (among us) Let there be love.

Throw a Party

Here is the message and discussion questions from our Veritas gathering yesterday. So this morning we continue looking at our series called Scattered and Gathered, looking at the Scattered Nature of the church, (when we go out into the world. When we go to work, school, hang out in our neighborhood, etc… we are still church). And also looking at the Gathered nature of the church (when we are together for worship, prayer, service, community, etc..). We are looking at these two natures through the 3 relationships that each and every follower of Jesus should have. The OUT Relationship (living a missional kingdom life), the IN Relationship (living in relationship with other followers of Jesus or community in Veritas language), and the UP Relationship (living in relationship with Jesus through prayer, worship, meditation, etc… or truth in our language)

Two weeks ago when we started this series we looked at Mark 6:6b-13 where Jesus calls his disciples to himself, then sends them out two by two. And in that text, we see the 3 relationships played out. The UP..calling them to himself. The OUT…sending them out. The IN…two by two.

Last week we talked about the encounter that Jesus had with a Leper found in Mark 1:40-45. We talked about what leprosy was, and how radical an act it was for Jesus to touch him, and how we as follows of Jesus need to “get our hands dirty” so to speak and realize that in one way we all have spiritual leprosy.

Today we are looking at a passage in Mark 2:13-17 about an encounter that Jesus had with another person who many consider to be unclean, repulsive, and unredeemable. The passage in Mark 2:13-17 recounts the story of Jesus meeting and calling Levi (Matthew) the tax collector, and the response that Matthew had to that call, and the response of both the Pharisee’s and Jesus.

Let’s look at the text, “Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” What does this say to us this morning, gathered together 2,000 years after this story took place? Why is this story so radical in nature and what kind of radical life does it call each one of us too? This is what we’ll look at together. The first thing we see in this text is that Jesus went out to a lake, where a large crowd gathered around him, and since the large crowd was there, Jesus began to teach them. Mark doesn’t give us any clue exactly what that teaching might have been, but we can probably infer the teaching matter, due to the fact that most of Jesus teaching dealt with the Kingdom of God, where God’s rule and reign was a lived out reality, both now and in the future. So either after teaching or in the midst of his teaching, Jesus walked along the beach. As he walked he saw Levi (or Matthew which is his apostolic name) as his tax collectors booth and called out to him, “Follow Me” and Levi got up, left his tax collectors booth, and followed Jesus.

Now it was remarkable, that Levi got up and left his booth and followed Jesus, but it is also very remarkable that Jesus called Levi in the first place. You see Levi was a tax collector, which was almost the worst thing a person could be in Jesus day, in 1st century Israel. You see Tax collectors were despised as traitors and extortionists. They were the most visible collaborators with Rome, the enemy who were occupying their land, so they were traitors. And extortionists because they kept what they over-collected.

Let’s dig a little deeper into those two accusations, being a traitor and an extortionist. When a Jew entered the customs service he was regarded as an outcast from society. He was disqualified as a judge or witness in a court session, was excommunicated from the synagogue, and in the eyes of the community, his disgrace extended even to his family. So Levi and his family, would have been pretty much cut off from relationships with others in his community, due to the fact that he worked for Rome. So the only people he could hang around with was his family, and other “sinners” like himself. Also, a person could be a tax collector in a community by having the highest bid for the responsibility of collecting the taxes. The tax collector with the highest bid, would have to make up all that amount of money to pay the Romans, but to make any for himself, he would then extract from people as much as possible. This of course led to abuse and people ripping off the neighbors, and others within their own community. No wonder they were often hated and called sinners. Not only were they traitors to their country by working for Rome, the evil occupiers, but they also extorted their own flesh and blood to make a living. So there is something that each of us can pull from this part of the text. Maybe you feel like a Tax Collector this morning. Like you can’t be a disciple of Jesus, because you are a “sinner” and that you are broken. But I’m here to tell you today, that if Jesus called Levi, a sinful tax collector, to follow him, to be a disciple who makes other disciples, than each of us are being called as well. Jesus uses flawed, broken vessels to bring about his Kingdom. Whether it is a tax collector or a teacher or a church planter or you name it. We are all sinful, broken people who God is calling, so that we would follow him, devote our life to him, be a disciple, and then go and make disciples who make disciples.

I find it so awesome what Levi did next. Most of the time in modern Christianity, when someone begins to follow Jesus the church tells them, explicitly or implicitly to stop hanging around their old community and let the church become their new community. It seems like within 2 years most new Christians are barely connected with their old friends.

Levi, after having decided to leave the life of a tax collector, and follow Jesus, threw a party at his house. And because he was an outcast, the only people Levi could invite to the party were his family, Jesus, the disciples, and the many “sinners” that he did life with. And so Levi, invited Jesus to this party/dinner, and of course Jesus accepts the invitation. (As an aside, if anyone invites you to something, you need to say yes. All too often we invite people to our Christian things, but when we are invited to things we tend to say no. Say Yes next time you are invited.) So Jesus shows up and begins to eat with Levi and the “sinners” gathered around the table. Now you see in the culture of 1st Century Israel, eating with someone was a serious matter. To eat at the same table with people was a sign of friendship and relationship. Jesus was truly saying, by this eating at this party, that he was a friend of sinners. He gets attacked by the religious leaders because of the very fact that he was sent to call not the righteous but the sinners (which is a funny comment because it means all of us, but the religious leaders didn’t see it that way.) Jesus understood the power of eating with someone and what hospitality could mean in the life of someone. He understood that by eating with these tax collectors, and sinners, that he saying that I accept you, love you, and want to be your friend. I want to do life with you, and be in relationship with you. Jesus again realized the power of relationship. Do we? Jesus was known to be a friend of sinners? Are we? To live a Scattered Church life (a missional Kingdom life) we need to be known as friends of sinners. Let me close with a quote from a book called Untamed by Alan and Deb Hirsch about the power of hospitality and eating in living a missional kingdom life. “One of the most significant ways we can start changing our world is by practicing simple kindness and hospitality. We remember clearly when our friend Nick Wight suggested that if every Christian household regularly invited a stranger, or a poor person, or a work colleague into their home for a meal with the family once a week, we would literally change the world by eating. At first we thought that this was an overstatement, but upon reflection we actually believe it is true.” What would happen if we made a commitment to practice regular hospitality? What would happen if we made a commitment to table fellowship beyond the nuclear family three times a week? One time with people inside the community of faith, one time with people outside the church, and one spare? Just a thought…. So let’s unpack this in a deeper way in our time of conversation and dialogue.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc... do you have regarding the Scripture text and the message?

2. What do you think God is saying to you? What do you think he is saying to us as a community?

3. What are you going to do about it? What do you think our community should do about it?

Jesus and the Leper

Here is the my text from yesterday's worship gathering including the discussion questions that we talked about following the message.

So today we continue our series entitled “Scattered and Gathered” looking at the two natures of the church, the Scattered nature, when the church goes out into the world to be his hands and feet, living as a missionary in every phase of life, whether as a teacher, student, social worker, business person, pastor, etc…. And the gathered nature of the church, when we gather together in community to pray, worship, service, build relationships, etc. We are seeking to look at the Scattered and Gathered natures of the church through the lens of the OUT, UP, IN triangle.

Last week we looked at the passage in Mark where Jesus calls the twelve to himself, and then sends them out two by two. We talked about the idea that in that verse (chapter 6 verse 7) we see all three of the relationships that a follower of Jesus should be living out. We see the UP when Jesus calls his followers to himself. We see the OUT when he sends them out, and we see the IN when he sends them out, not alone but two by two. So we see last week the foundation of where we are headed for the next several weeks.

This week and for the next several we are going to focus on the scattered nature of the church, or in our Core Values/Vision terms, the missional kingdom life that followers of Jesus should be living out. In fact, during this part of the series we will be looking at stories, teachings, and instances where Jesus is living out this missional kingdom life all found in the book of Mark.

So turn to the second book in the New Testament, which is about 2/3 of the way through the Bible, and right after Matthew. We are going to look at Mark 1:40-45 and see what it might say to us today gathered together 2,000 years later. Mark 1:40-45 says, “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the Law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.”

So let’s unpack this radical, subversive text together from two perspectives. The perspective of Jesus and the perspective of the Leper. And we’ll see this text has to say a great deal to us know matter where we are on our journey.

First, let’s look at the text from the perspective of the leper. In the ancient world, leprosy was one of the most horrific diseases known to humankind. Not only was it damaging to the body, but also to the whole person. Leprosy, also called Hansen's disease, is an infectious disease that is characterized by disfiguring skin sores and progressive nerve damage. Skin lesions are the primary external sign. Left untreated, leprosy can be progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Contrary to folklore, leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off, although they can become numb or diseased as a result of secondary infections; these occur as a result of the body's defenses being compromised by the primary disease. Secondary infections, in turn, can result in tissue loss causing fingers and toes to become shortened and deformed, as cartilage is absorbed into the body.

Probably the worst part of Leprosy wasn’t what happened to the body, but what happened to the soul. The way people treated lepers, in Jesus day, was problematic. In the OT, God said that when there are lepers among people of Israel, the should be quarantined and examined. Lepers had to dress like people in mourning for the dead, because they were considered the living dead. They had to warn people around them by crying out “Unclean. Unclean” whenever people were near them.

Not only was that bad enough but the prevailing attitude and thought towards Lepers were 1. You are the walking dead and unclean. And 2. You deserve this because this is your punishment of God against you. Jewish custom also said that you should not even greet a leper, let alone touch one and you shouldn’t get to within 6 feet of a leper. One Rabbi bragged that he threw rocks at Lepers to keep them far from him.

So put yourself in the shoes of the Leper. You have been touched in a very long time. You haven’t been looked out with compassion in a very long time, just disdain and disgust. And you haven’t been near anyone for a very long time. Just think of the courage needed to approach Jesus and speak with him. To approach the son of God, knowing that you are considered unclean, unworthy, and a throw away.

So what Jesus does next surprised not only the Leper, but I’m sure everyone around him. He was filled with compassion or pity for the Leper and then he reached out and touched him. Could Jesus have just said, “Be healed” and not touch the Leper? I’m sure of it. But he realized that the Leper needed not only physical healing from the disease but also emotional and spiritual healing and one of the best ways for that was to touch the leper.

So maybe this morning you feel like that Leper. Like you have been treated like the early lepers were. That you think you are unclean and you are condemned by God and man. That the religious leaders of our day want nothing to do with you. And that you feel that you are so unclean and sinful that Jesus would and could never touch you and heal you of your brokenness. If that is you this morning, look at the story again and see Jesus, moved with compassion for you, reaching his hands down to you, and cleansing you from sin, and healing you. That there is no sin, no level of brokenness, no way of being outside the grace (shown by his touch) of Jesus. He loves you just the way you are, “leprosy” and all. And he wants to heal and cleanse you from sin, and brokenness. He wants to restore you as well to wholeness, forgiveness, and to a new community.

Now let’s turn the picture and look at this story through the lens of Jesus. Jesus had been probably told all his life about the laws surrounding lepers and what you did and did not do. And so that fateful day, with the religious leaders looking on, Jesus is approached by a Leper asking him for healing and wholeness. So Jesus, filled with pity reached out and touched him. Some texts say that Jesus was filled with compassion, some say anger, some say he was indigent. But whatever it was, Jesus saw a human being caught up in the brokenness of the world. A human being who was bound up by sins effect on the world.

He wasn’t put off by the “unclean” leper. He wasn’t repulsed by the man’s condition. He didn’t throw rocks at the leper to keep him back 6 feet. He reached out his hand, laid it on the leper, and with that touch cleansed him from years of pain, separation, and brokenness. Jesus then told him to show himself to the Priest, so that he could be declared clean. Jesus not only knew that he had to heal him from the leprosy but also heal with relationally, communally, and emotionally. Only when a Priest declared someone clean could the leper rejoin society, rejoin his family, and his community. Jesus cared not just about his physical healing, but he also cared about the man’s emotional, spiritual, and relational healing.

Jesus entered into the brokenness of the world. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands “dirty” with the real issues of the world. He didn’t create a holy huddle or bubble around himself and all the “righteous” ones and keep all the riffraff, and sinners out. There wasn’t an in and out with him. He literally reached out and touched the brokenness and sin of the world.

So just a question…why is it that the tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and other “sinners” loved hanging out with Jesus but the “tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and other sinners” of our day probably don’t feel that way about Christians? All too often we have created an in and out, us vs. them world. We have been too content to stay in our holy huddle and Christian subculture and not enter into the mess and brokenness of the world. We have been afraid to the reach out our hand and touch the “unclean” of our world.

To live out the scattered nature of the church, we as followers of Jesus need to take our cue from Jesus, and enter into the brokenness of our world. If we are truly to live out a missional, Kingdom life, we need to take light into dark places, and not just be content to take light into light places. We need to reach out our hand, pop that Christian bubble, and touch people that others have condemned, marginalized, or brushed aside. We have to reach out to people who consider themselves unworthy of God’s love, who consider themselves too far gone to be redeemed, and too unclean for anyone to care about them.

So now that we have looked at this text from both the perspective of the Leper and the perspective of Jesus, let’s look at the text through our own perspective. Let’s unpack what this text might be saying to you and I and what it looks like when the rubber of the text, hits the road of applying it into our daily lives, both as individuals and as a community.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the text and the message? 2. Who are the "unclean" in our world? Who have we tended to marginalize? 3. What is God speaking to you about and what are you going to do about it?

Scattered and Gathered

Here is the text from today's message dealing with the Scattered and Gathered church as well as the discussion questions that we talked through. Would love to hear your thoughts on the questions as well. Since January we were in a series called STORY, looking at the stories that Jesus told that literally changed the world. We finished that on Easter Sunday we the story of the resurrection of Jesus, and how through the resurrection, Jesus has started the process of recreating all things, to set them to right again.

So today we will be transitioning into a new series that will last until the end of the summer, as we spend the time delving deeper into our Core Values and why we do what we do, and why we gather in the way we gather. We’ll be taking the time to focus on the why and then following that we’ll be again most likely returning to our monthly rhythm.

Today we start the series “Scattered and Gathered” looking at the two natures of the church, through the lens of the OUT, UP, IN Triangle. The two natures of the church are the Scattered Church- that when we scatter into our various life situations (jobs, neighborhoods, school, etc..) believe it or not we are still church. We are just scattered church. The other nature of the church is the gathered church, when we come together as a community to worship, serve, build community, and all that we do when we are together.

So for the next several weeks we are going to look at the Scattered church through the lens of the OUT part of the triangle as well as really push us in both our individual and corporate OUT lives (Launch festival, 1st Friday/Art Walk, Final Survival Kits, etc…) But before we dive to deep into that, I want to unpack the biblical basis for the scattered and gathered church and the OUT, UP, IN of a follower of Jesus’ life.

Let’s look together at the second book in the New Testament called Mark. Mark 6:6b-13 says this, “ Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. “

Now what does this say about the two natures of the church and the OUT, UP, IN life of a disciple? Let’s look at this passage, in particular one verse that, to me, summarizes what each follower of Jesus should be about, as well as what each community of followers of Jesus should be about as well.

In Mark 6 we see Jesus going from town to town preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. In the passage preceding the one we just read we see Jesus going back to his hometown of Nazareth where he entered the synagogue and began to teach the people gathered there. Unfortunately it didn’t go very well there, as they wonder who he was to teach them about the Kingdom, as he had grown up there, and they all knew his mother, brothers, and sisters. But Jesus didn’t stop there, he continue to go from town to town preaching. In the second half of verse 6 we find that he is becoming an itinerant preacher going from town to town preaching. And while it doesn’t say exactly what he was preaching, we can make an inference by the other gospels and other instances where he taught and preached. The inference we can make is that he was teaching about the reality of the Kingdom of God that was breaking in all around them. (What Jesus taught about the most was the Kingdom of God)

So Jesus, while going from town to town teaching about the Kingdom of God, is training, discipling, and teaching his own 12 disciples what it means to live out the Kingdom of God reality in the midst of their present reality, where it doesn’t seem like the Kingdom is breaking through. They are watching him day in and day out. They see him preach. They see him heal people. They see him interact with religious leaders as well as those who the religious leaders wouldn’t be caught dead with.

So in the midst of all this we bump into verse 7 which says, “Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.” I think it is in this verse we see the 3 parts or 3 relationships (if you will) of a disciples’ life.

The first thing we see in verse 7 is this phrase, “Calling the Twelve to him.” We see this as the first part in the sequence of verse 7. Jesus calls the 12 to him, and, I believe, imparts some learning on them. I believe he took that time to unpack some additional information that they would need when they were sent out to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God themselves. The disciples sat at the feet of Jesus before they got up and sought to do what Jesus was doing. In calling and training them, Jesus was preparing them for the day when he would commission them as his representatives in the world. The disciples were living out the UPWARD dimension of their lives as they spent time listening to, learning and being trained by Jesus.

What about you and I? Have we spent the time at Jesus feet before being sent into the world to “preach” the good news of the Kingdom of God, and the gospel of Jesus? Our UP relationship with Jesus is how we abide in him. As his disciples, we are to model our lives after our Master. We (the branches) must abide in him (the Vine) if we are to produce fruit (John 15). Our efforts are worthless if we do not have the UP in our lives. We will be fruitless with out it.

So after being called to Jesus side, and spending time in the UPWARD part of their relationship with Jesus, we see the next statement, “and began to send them out” This is the OUTWARD dimension of a disciple of Jesus. In the gospel of John, Jesus said, “As the father has sent me, I also send you.” Here Jesus is sending his disciples to do the same things that Jesus did: preaching, healing the sick, and freeing people from demonic possession. In fact, some people call the twelve, the twelve apostles which points at the fact that Jesus had sent them out. In fact the word apostle means one who is sent.” So Jesus sends them out into the world.

You see Jesus never lost sight of his Father’s vision- to reach out to a dark and dying world. He came to seek and save what was lost. He came to love a world that didn’t know what love was. He came to live a life of forgiveness in a world were forgiveness wasn’t practiced. He came to sacrifice self in a world that was all about the self. He lived an outward focused life which was about the other, when every one else around him was only inward focused.

He was calling the disciples to live a sent life, making a difference in the world around them. He is calling us to the same OUTWARD life. To care about the world around us, more than we care about ourselves. To bring light to a dark place, love to a place where there is no love, hope to a place without hope, and joy to a place with no joy. To be individuals and a community that bring so much blessing to the community, that the community would grieve if you (or I) or our community suddenly left the community. That’s what it means to be sent out, to live an OUTWARD life.

Lastly, we see this phrase in verse 7, “two by two”. Jesus knew that they couldn’t do it alone. They needed each other for encouragement, strength, and friendship to be about the mission of the Kingdom of God. Also Jesus was probably referencing the Old Testament law of having two witnesses to collaborate a report. Deuteronomy 19:15 says, “One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” The smallest indivisible unit in the Kingdom of God is two. Jesus practiced this principle in his own life, and he taught it to his disciples. He did not send the disciples out alone to do the work he taught them. We see it in verse 7 but we also see it through the life and ministry of Jesus including when Jesus sent for a donkey, two disciples were dispatched to lead the animal back. Jesus’ followers were not meant to be Lone Rangers. We were designed to have an INWARD life as well.

We see in this passage, and many others within the Bible, the fact that we find ourselves and true fulfillment not in isolation, not even as we engage with one another, but rather when we relate to God through one another. The challenge for the church is to emphasize the communal nature of the Christian faith and to commit to authentic expressions of that nature.

Jesus, in this passage, promotes the understanding that church is both scattered (scattered into the world to make a difference and be a blessing), and gathered (gathered to worship, work, pray, fellowship, share, etc..). That we aren’t just church right here and right now. We are church on Monday morning at 9 AM, or Wednesday afternoon at 2 PM, just as much as we are church on Sunday at 10:30 AM. And we see it, as I have been unpacking, best in verse 7 which spells out the 3 Dimensional Life that we as individuals and as a community should be living out (UP, OUT, IN).

But what does that mean on the ground, in the everyday that we live. What does it look like when the rubber hits the road? These are the questions that we are going to unpack together in our time of conversation and discussion.

Discussion Questions: 1. What are your thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, on the message and the Scriptures that we just looked at? 2. Which one of the 3 Dimensions do you struggle the most with (OUT, UP, IN)? Why? Which one comes most naturally to you? Why? 3. As you look at our community, which one do we struggle with? Which one do we "excel" in? 4. Share some concrete ways of growing in all 3 areas both individually and corporately.

Jesus the Gardener

About a year and a half ago, we moved from Marietta to my house to meet as a Core Group. When we did that we stopped recording messages, and since we have moved to Lancaster and the Community Room we have yet to record the messages. This is definitely something that I want to get back to. But until then I thought I would post the Easter message that I preached and the discussion questions that we talked about after the message. The message is called Jesus the Gardener.

Since January our community has been walking through a series called STORY where we have been looking at the various stories that Jesus told that literally changed the world. Today we again look at a story, not necessarily a story that Jesus told, but a story that Jesus lived. And when I mean story, I don’t mean a fictional story. I mean a real story that really happened that really changed the world and in fact continues to change the world, day by day, person by person, faith community by faith community. This story is obviously the reason that we are gathered together on this Resurrection Sunday (or Easter if you like). The story of the resurrection of Jesus is more than just a great bedtime story, it is a story that provides meaning, hope, purpose, redemption, wholeness and healing to those who seek to live out a resurrection life 2,000 years after it happened.

So today we are going to explore that story, what it means, how you can be a participant in it, and in changing the world.

Now we have a few different choices for which part of the story we are going to explore, and which story out of the 4 gospels (the story of the life of Jesus). I have chosen one I believe that when we unpack it, we’ll see the gospel in a whole new light, we’ll see the resurrection in a whole new light, and we’ll see our roles as followers of Jesus in a whole new light. So let’s turn to Luke 20:11-18 and begin to unpack this resurrection story and find out how it has changed the world, and how it invites us into the story, and into helping to change the world.

“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

So we know from the first verse in chapter 20 that this happened on the first day of the week, and we also know from the previous chapter that the tomb that Jesus was laid in was in a garden. Now that we know them, it might strike you as having heard something about the first day of the week, and a garden somewhere before. Where in the Scriptures does the first day and garden show up? At the very beginning in Genesis 1. These things show up not only in Genesis but also in the story which we read, and also at the end of the story in Revelation. But why does John refer us back to the Creation account, why was Jesus raised on the first day, and why was the tomb in a garden (which harkens back to the Garden of Eden)? John’s gospel has something to communicate about humanity and the whole cosmos. This is a story about creation (or should I say recreation) just as much as Genesis 1-2 is a story about Creation. John wants us to understand that Jesus was with God before the creation of the world and then chose to become part of God’s earth as a human being. Jesus’ life not only enters into cosmic history, but somehow affects all of creation itself. It is very important to keep that in mind when we return to this story.

So in John 20:11 we see Mary Magdalene standing outside the tomb weeping when the “gardener” shows up. This seems familiar and so back to the original creation story we go. Back to Adam, who was place in the garden as its overseeing gardener and is given a green thumb to nurture it, to make creation flourish. And somehow in these two stories we see the connection between the first gardener, Adam and the second gardener, Jesus. Mary doesn’t realize it at first, but this gardener is everything Adam and humanity failed to be: God’s untainted image-bearer. We also see this connection between Adam in Jesus in other places in the New Testament. In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth we read these words which connect Adam and Jesus, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” And also a few verses later we find these words, “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” Jesus is the beginning of a new humanity or another way to put that is that Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of the process of God recreating the world. Jesus is re-created first and then someday the rest of humanity who are in relationship to God will be re-created along with the rest of the created order. When Jesus walks out of the tomb on that first Easter morning, hope for something more invades reality. God in Christ begins a whole new creation in the midst of this world’s brokenness. So Jesus comes out of the tomb that first Easter morning and the first person to see him is Mary Magdalene. At least she doesn’t initially see him because she is weeping. She doesn’t know what has happened. Now just the fact that Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to first appear to post-resurrection says so much about the upside down kingdom that has started with his resurrection.

You see the law courts of that day would not recognize the testimony of a woman, but Jesus did. If this story was made up or fabricated, would they have made their first witnesses to the resurrection, women, who were commonly, if unfairly, regarded as unreliable witnesses? I don’t believe so.

So through her tears she sees an angel and then she hears a voice and turns and sees someone. She thinks he’s the gardener. It’s a great mistake to make, because as I’ve said before, when Jesus is mistaken for a gardener we go right back to the creation story in Genesis 1-3 and begin to see the resurrection as the re-creation story. And it’s a way of saying, this is the garden and here is the Gardener and he has actually put the garden back to right. And will fully put it back to right at the end of all time, as described in the end of Revelation which also happens to end in a garden, the Garden of Eden restored, the way the world was supposed to be from the start.

So Mary sees Jesus and he speaks her name, not the name that we’ve had up till now in the Gospel-Maria, the Greek name, the name a Roman Soldier would have called her- but the name Miriam. Our English translations don’t pick this up, but that is what is in the Greek, Miriam. Miriam, the name she was always really called. Jesus calls her, through her tears, calls her by her true name, calls her to a new identity, which she’d never imagined before but being the one who is going to be the first witness of the resurrection.

Now Jesus calling to Mary (or Miriam) and giving her a new identity should also take us back to the first Creation account. The first Adam named the creatures. The second Adam renames his creation, gives them a new identity, a new purposes, a new life, a new hope, and a new creation. In fact new creation happens first in Jesus, through his resurrection, than happens to those who come and meet Jesus, and then those who have met Jesus and who have become new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) are given something to do, to become agents of New Creation, working with the gardener Jesus to set the world right again. To help restore, redeem, renew, reconfigure, and recreate the world how it was always meant to be. Jesus started it with himself, continues it with us, and then will totally complete it at the end of the age.

But what does this all mean to you and I sitting here 2,000 years after the resurrection, in a day and age in which it doesn’t seem like the resurrection and the recreation isn’t moving forward, but going back.

Let me throw out some thoughts, and then we’ll unpack the idea of being a gardener and this act of new creation together.

If John 20:11-18 is a true story (and I believe it is) than this is the scene of the new Garden of Eden, one where God and humanity are reconnected, where reconciliation is forever woven back into the fabric of the world. Since Jesus truly is re-embodied, resurrected, then he is the tender, the keeper, the cultivator not just of the garden but of a whole new creation. He is the new Adam for a new community of people who live and act and worship in light of the resurrection. There are many ways this new creation is lived out. In the new creation both men and women announce the good news, that we have returned from exile, that God is present among us, and that the powers and principalities in our society do not have the final say. Like Mary, it doesn’t matter who you are or whether you had a role in the story up to now. This is why we also talk about the new creation in terms of new associations. There is an Easter way of relating to one another that doesn’t spread across families or ethnicities, but allegiance to Jesus and his way. From this point on, Jesus’ disciples become a social force, people who announce peace and who are for all people. They are a resurrection movement, a movement of people living within the reality of the new creation.

Discussion Questions: 1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc... do you have about the passage or the message? 2. What is the significance of Jesus being confused as the gardener? What is the role of a gardener and how does that tie in ultimately with Jesus, and also then by definition with those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus? 3. What does new creation look like in our world? Share a story or two of examples of new creation/resurrection happening in your life, a life of a friend, or in the world at large. How can we participate in new creation? 4. So how should you and I live as individuals and as a community of faith that seeks to live out resurrection/new creation? Give us some concrete ideas and thoughts.

A Prayer For Today's Church

The other day while I was outside watching my kids playing in this beautiful weather I was re-reading a chapter in a book called "Story, Signs, and Sacred Rhythms" by Chris Folmsbee, which is a Youth Ministry book. I was rereading the chapter for a meeting that I was to have later that night for the Youth Ministry that I work for part time. It was then that I found this amazing prayer that resonated strongly with me when I first read it, but when I read it the other day I was struck again how profound the prayer was but also how applicable to our lives in the midst of planting this missional community in Lancaster.

The prayer was written by Arthur A. Rouner Jr. and is a book called "Someone's Praying Lord." Here is the excerpt for the prayer that Chris Folmsbee highlights.

Dear God, this is Your Church. We don't own it. You own us. You called us to live Your life, to do Your work. to see Your vision and dream Your dream.

If what we've talked about today is not Your will, if it's not Divine but of the Devil- destroy it, Lord, before we take one step. Show us by some sign that it is wrong, all wrong!

But if it's right- God, help us move! Help us move out and claim that future, help us take our stand, and be the church You put us here to be.

Oh, Jesus Christ, who gave Your life away to show Your Church how it might live: Don't let us be afraid of the adventure. Don't let us pale at the thought of giving away more than we ever had before. And don't let us have faint hearts when we are faced with the chance to do something big, something dangerous, something difficult.

May this prayer encourage you, challenge you, convict you, and inspire you, as it has encouraged, challenged, convicted and inspired me.

Elephant in the Room

This coming Sunday our community will be hosting our first ever Elephant in the Room (our take on the idea that our good friends at the Renew Community- http://renewcommunity.org/ and J.R. Briggs- http://www.jrbriggs.com/ hold every so often called Doubt Night) from 5:30-7:30 at the Community Room on Prince and will include FREE Pizza and Drinks. The bulk of the night will be focused on those Elephants in the Room that we all have. You know the doubts, questions, struggles, etc.. we have with our faith, with church, with God, with Christianity, etc... that all too often we hide because "Good Christians don't doubt." But I believe that doubt is an essential component to faith. Many others, including many writers and theologians have written about the role of doubt within faith. Here are but a few of them:

“Doubt is but another element of faith.” (St. Augustine)

“Don’t expect faith to clear things up for you. It is trust, not certainty.” (Flannery O’Connor)

“It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.” (G. K.Chesterton)

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” (Rene Descartes)

“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.” (Pierre Abelard)

I could go on with many other quotes but I think these make the point that faith and doubt aren't on opposite ends of the spectrum, like we so often think, but that doubt can help us into a deeper faith. We don't necessarily want to put the seed of doubt there, but we realize that if we are all honest we all have those elephant in the room questions. This is just our attempt with this event to ask questions together in a safe environment with no preaching, no judging, no pat answers, but sharing our struggles together as a community.

So if you want a place to share your elephant in the room questions and doubts, if you love a good theological discussion (not debate) and/or you need a safe community to help you wrestle with your questions and doubts, then please come out on Sunday night March 4 from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Community Room on Prince (19 North Prince Street, 3rd Floor above Prince Street Cafe in downtown Lancaster) for Elephant in the Room. And please bring your Elephant, we want to have them in the room that night.