Engaging the Arts and Music scene through Church Planting

I just got back from Richmond, IN where I attended the Church of the Brethren Church Planting conference held at Bethany Seminary. I did a mustard seed presentation (a quick 30 minute presentation) on engaging the arts and music scene through church planting. Below are the notes from this presentation. I. Introduction of Self Ryan Braught- Husband, Father, Missional Church Planter of Veritas, a missional community in Lancaster, PA.

Scripture- exodus 31

II. Our Story (with pictures)

For the past 3 years we have been engaging the arts and music scene in Lancaster city in a number of ways.

For 2 1/2 of those years we had a space called The Community Room on Prince on the 3rd Floor of a building. While the space wasn’t designed to be an art gallery and a music venue we used the space in such a way.

Since October of this past year we have a new space called The Community Room on King which is set up more like an Art Gallery, a Music Venue, and a performance arts space. (Show pictures)

We have used both spaces in a number of ways to engage the arts and music scene in Lancaster, PA.

1. Each 1st Friday of the month is First Friday and is an arts related event in downtown Lancaster. We use our space to feature a local emerging artist. They hang their work for a month and can sell their art.

2. 3rd Friday of the month is called Music Friday and is a night dedicated to music in downtown Lancaster. We use our space to feature local emerging musicians. We do a coffeehouse and open mic night.

3. For the past 3 years we have been a venue for the Launch Music Conference and Festival. Launch is a 2 day conference for musicians to learn more about the industry, as well as play out in a dozen venues around the city.

4. We are also a stop on Art Walk, a two day event held two times a year (Spring and Fall) which promotes the art scene in Lancaster. This past Art Walk (May 3-4) we featured local High School students from one of the schools in the area as well as the interactive art installation called Before I Die.

5. Every so often we have what we call an Open Studio night where we open our space to artist to come and work at their craft in community, as well as get input, ideas, and suggestions from other artists.

III. What we have learned about engaging the arts and music scene through church planting.

1. It will take a very long time to build trust with the art and music scene. Longer than you probably expect. Artists and musicians haven’t always had positive interactions with church. 2. Drop your agenda. Just bless them. They will smell an agenda a mile away…and want nothing to do with it. 3. (In the church)- use their gifts in worship and discipleship. 4. (in the church)- give them some direction but not too much. No direction isn’t good, but too much direction stifles artistic creativity. 5. Engaging the arts and music scene may or may not grow the “Sunday morning experience” numerically but it will grow the community’s missional engagement and heart. 6. Look for good art and good music no matter the religious orientation of the person. Art, truth, and beauty is pleasing to God and is God’s creation. If you truly want to engage the art and music scene try to stay away from overtly “Christian” art and music. We have had artists and musicians who were followers of Jesus and their music and art reflected that but not in a “propaganda” way 7. It adds value to the local scene by allowing visual arts and musicians a place to showcase their art. 8. Art is cross cultural, a non-threatening invitation to conversation & community. 9. Being a venue for art/music has offered us local news coverage & interest (free marketing). 10. It has served as a bridge for us to invite people into the space who would probably never set foot there on a regular Sunday morning.

IV. Ideas around engaging artists and musicians.

1. Ideas for musicians within the church: What if you released a CD of original music from musicians within your congregation. And give the CD’s (download cards) out to people in your community. (hand out download cards) 2. Ideas for artist within the church: take a space within your “building” and use it as an art gallery, and feature a member of the churches art each month. 3. Idea: What if you worked with local musicians to release a CD of original music and sell the CD with proceeds going to a local non-profit? Then throw a CD release party with the bands, and the local non-profit. 4. Turn your space into an art gallery and use it to engage local artists. 5. Many schools are having to cut their music and arts programs due to lack of funding. What if the church (or churches) in an area decided to get together and provide music and art education by using the gifts and talents of local musicians and artists? 6. Contact your local school and see if the art department would be interested in having their students do an art show. Promote the show, provide food, etc…Great way to bless emerging artists, make relationships and connections in the community, and engage the arts. 7. Connect with your town and see if they have the idea of doing a Friday night event like 1st Friday that will get people “downtown” and visiting shops, restaurants, businesses, galleries, etc… Consider pulling together a group of leaders in your town to talk about the idea. 8. Open Studio: Hold a night where you open your space for artists to come and create art, meet other artists, and develop their craft all in community. 9. Local Mural: Connect artists and the community by creating murals on walls in public places like parks,walls, etc… And work side by side with the artists as they create the murals. Seek permission as well as where murals could be created by contacting your local governmental officials. 10. Battle of the Bands: Hold a battle of the bands where local musicians that you have developed relationships are the judges and the winner of the battle gets some recording time in a studio.

V. Q & A Time VI. Prayer

Flesh Week 4

Well today we come to the end of the 4 week series called Flesh as well as the 21 Days of Flesh devotional that I have been sending out via e-mail, blog, and facebook. And so we end our time together talking about living like Jesus an incarnational life and his call to live incarnationally. And we end the conversation on Flesh this week, the prayer is that this conversation never really ends, it just moves from here out into your neighborhood, work place, within this community as we seek to be a blessing to our wider community, etc…

The last 3 weeks we have been walking through this 5 step process of incarnating and enfleshing Jesus into the world and we will wrap up the 5th Step today. Three weeks ago we look at the first step in the process, that being incarnation. We looked at the fact that Jesus came to earth, took on flesh and blood and moved into our neighborhood. Became human. And that if we really want to walk as Jesus walked, we actually become more human not less. The more we begin to look and act and enflesh Jesus we become more human, the kind of human that Jesus was.

Two weeks ago we contrasted the difference in the street cred/reputation of Christians in our world today and the reputation/street cred of Jesus, even today. We talked about the 4 things that gave Jesus great street cred: being human, working a job, fighting for things that matter, and being a friend of sinners. And how if Christians today are to recover some of Jesus street cred we have to be: more human (ie normal), work a job/redeem the work that you do, fight for things that actually matter (unlike all the stupid things Christians get so riled up about), and take seriously the label that Jesus was a friend of sinners, and that we should be too….

Last week we covered the 3rd and 4th Step of the incarnational grid, that of conversation and confrontation. We looked at the woman caught in adultery and how Jesus didn’t condemn her, how he loved her, and that she knew he wanted her best. And through that relationship/conversation he was able to “confront” her in her sin and help her move beyond it.

But we aren’t done yet with this story. Today we talk about where we go from here. Which if you remember the 5 step grid, the last step on the grid following incarnation, street cred/reputation, conversation, confrontation is incarnational transformation. We will be talking about the transformation that happens when Jesus is enfleshed in the world. But possibly looking at the idea of incarnational transformation in a different way.

I don’t know about you but as we have been going through this 4 week series Flesh, I have been challenged and convicted that I need to incarnate Jesus better into the world. I have been convicted that I need to be better known like Jesus was known, especially in the area of friend of sinners. I feel like my world is a church bubble and I definitely need to pop it. And I need to learn better how to live a life that enfleshes Jesus out in the world. But let’s take time today to go in a different direction that we have been going these past 3 weeks. I know our flesh focus has oftentimes been about other people, the world, and a handful of friends, but really the transformation has mostly been about me and my family—and I hope you’ve sensed that something has come alive in your spirit.

So we are ending Flesh focusing on this, the fact that the incarnation ends up reforming all of our lives toward the way of Jesus. I actually think people are ultimately motivated internally by the desire to grow. I could encourage us toward those who have yet to come to know Jesus, tell you all sorts of things we ought to be doing, and even guilt us by exposing everything we’re not doing, but that simply doesn’t work. The reality of change happens because we want to grow ourselves, and that we begin to see people with a heart of love. And our heart begins to be transformed. And then, we like Jesus, begin to weep for our zip code.

And so our prayer is also the prayer of Paul in Galatians 4:19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Ultimately that is what Flesh is all about, that we become more and more formed in the ways and life of Jesus. And when Jesus is formed in you, you move from being a First-decision Christian to a second-decision follower of Jesus. And there’s a big difference. First-decision Christians primarily follow Jesus for what Jesus gives to them. They make the first decision to show up to church and be blessed. But second-decision Christ followers are those who have already made the first-decision and out of a heartfelt sense of thankfulness for all Jesus gave us, they make the second decision to live His life, even to the point of sacrifice.

But second decisions to have Jesus enfleshed through you can only happen as you are transformed from the inside out, from having Jesus formed in you, and also from having transforming experiences in the world. This as a call to let the actual physical/human life of Jesus be formed in us. It isn’t just about the knowledge of Christ or the inner working of Christ in our character, but Paul wanted the way Jesus lived to be lived out in every area of our lives.

I’ve often thought about what it really means to be a disciple, and I now believe disciples are people who watch what Jesus did, follow Him where He leads, and try to align every aspect of their lives to the life of Jesus as revealed in Scripture. As 1 John 2:6 says so succinctly, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

I once heard, “Being a disciple is growing from unbelief to belief in every area of our lives.” I love that because it shows that none of us are ever totally conformed to the image of God. We are all trying to trust God with every part of us.

Some of us trust God with dying for our sins, but we can’t trust Him with our money, or we can’t trust Him to help us find a lifemate, or we struggle to believe He can heal us, guide us, and protect us. And this is the power of the incarnation. Jesus didn’t just come and drop sermons on us. He came and lived in the neighborhood. I suppose if you had lived around Jesus in Nazareth, His home would have been open and you would have gone over often just to bounce thoughts off Him, ask questions, get some good ol’ fashioned mentoring, etc. He would have been your “go to” friend for everything.

But Jesus did eventually leave, didn’t He. He wasn’t with His disciples in human form anymore. And they struggled—just like we struggle to believe He is still with us, guiding us. But here’s what Jesus taught, and it is going to be the reason we don’t end this campaign at 21 days. There was a 22nd day and a 255th day and 3001st day.

Jesus left us two things that keep the story going:
1. He left us the Holy Spirit. (Share any scripture on the Holy Spirit you like, but also include “he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Jesus told His closest followers—and he now reminds us—that it’s good that he was leaving in human form because the Holy Spirit can guide us minute by minute into His mission and into His transformative way of life.
 2. He also left us His community, His family, His church. I know we all struggle at times with the idea of church, but all church is, is the people of God living on mission and enjoying fellowship with one another and the Holy Spirit. Yes, if we just do the once-a-week church service thing, we miss a lot, but this church isn’t just about the Sunday service. We are about developing incarnational, second- decision Christ followers and transforming lives through incarnational communities around our city. And we are continuing to work to develop them. If you would be interested in at least learning more about where we want to go with missional communities, let me know.

And here is one of the main points of our Flesh series..You were never designed to be an incarnational person all by yourself. Incarnation is always about community and doing this together with others. And when you are a part of a family of followers of Jesus, all pulling the same direction, then slowly and surely you change, you transform, and you more and more look, act, talk, and walk like Jesus. You can’t be transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus by yourself. You need others (both followers of Jesus and those who aren’t) to rub up against you, reveal your idols, challenge you directly or indirectly, and to share life together with.

And so my prayer is that not only will each of us enflesh Jesus in the world, and in our own individual lives. But even more so that this community called Veritas will enflesh Jesus as a community into the world. That John 13:35, “they will know we are disciples if we love one another” will become a huge reality for us, a missional reality and people will be drawn to the community, so they will be transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus. And that by our missional interaction with people we will be transformed into the image of Jesus as well.

And so let’s talk about how Flesh has transformed you into the character and likeness of Jesus. Let’s talk about how this community called Veritas can be transformed together. Let’s talk about where we go from here in making this Flesh series a reality beyond the four weeks. And let’s share what God might be saying to each of us, and our community.

1. How has this series "Flesh" challenged you, convicted you, encouraged you, formed you, etc.... 2. What steps do you need to take personally to be better formed into the likeness of Jesus? What steps do we need to take corporately to be better formed into the likeness of Jesus? 3. Where do we go from here? How can we "enflesh" Jesus in the world as individuals and as a community? 4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Day 21 of 21 Days of Flesh

Being Sent All the Time “Go and make disciples” Matthew 28:11

Do you ever have daydreams about taking a rest? Maybe a short vacation; maybe a three- month sabbatical or even a furlough with a complete change of scenery. God does grant all these. He loves it when we get a breather and he models a life where we don’t have to toil endlessly. But God never lies to us about a balanced life, for that is just a myth. He is a God of natural rhythms. We sow and we reap, we toil and we rest and we come and we go. Here’s the kicker though. Our God is always at work. Every moment of every second He is up and moving. Like a huge cruise ship that silently cuts through the water while delighted sleepers slumber in peace, something is always moving forward. Jesus called it the kingdom of God. Yes, we do get to wake up rhythmically every day, put our clothes, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy the activity on the deck, and then return below the bow to rest again, but for sure, something keeps moving forward.

We wake and then we’re in a new port, a new home, or a new missionary post. It’s an incredible mystery of God’s work ethic, His economy, His humor, and his passion for His life to move ahead.

So consider changing your posture with God about what he’s called you to. Stop looking around the corner to see when you can clock out. Instead, head to your cabin more often and sleep every night, knowing that while you do, God is still moving your life, your ministry, and your hopes forward.

God works from the stability of rest.

Day 20 of 21 Days of Flesh

You have to get away “And Jesus went to the other side of the lake” Luke 8:22

It’s an amazing thing that Jesus spent 30 of 33 years of his life just living as a normal man without any formal “ministry” going on. And then with only three years left actually took many moments away from ministry to recharge with the Father.

On this occasion, Jesus had a multitude of people following him, hanging on every word, and even more checking him out from a distance. They were crowded around him and you would think he would have stayed for weeks at the same spot, leveraging the momentum of the moment.

But he doesn’t.

He leaves the crowd and heads to the other side so that he could get away.

We know Jesus had a second by second sense of obedience to only do what he saw the Father doing, and we justify our torrid activity by saying, “we aren’t Jesus.” We think to ourselves, “The Father isn’t as clear with us, so we should work as hard, as fast, and as long as we can, and hope that God brings his kingdom out of our tireless work.

But he won’t.

He gives us the life of Jesus to teach us that kingdom influence doesn’t happen in rush, or hurry, or leveraged time. It happens when we are rightly related and rightly rested. Incarnational living is the most energy sapping existence simply because it’s so relational. Nothing costs more than when it requires you to listen, care, carry burdens, open up your home, and then do it again the next day...all while you still work a normal job, or raise children.

Today, consider how often you get to the other side of the lake? Is Sabbath a reality for you? If not, drop to your knees and ask God to teach you how to quiet down, slow down, and trust him.

Day 19 of 21 Days of Flesh

Where is your Heart? “For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

Jesus made simple statements that held the keys to the universe. These next nine words are the most important.

“For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

The most honest of followers admit to God that they don’t have a heart for what He does. “God, I’m exhausted, distracted, and I can barely wedge in a few moments for myself, let alone give my time to others I barely know.” Is this you? If so and you know your heart simply isn’t in it, that is, into what you know you should be into on behalf of Jesus, how do you find a new heart?

Well, it’s going to be wherever you find the rest of your stuff. God has designed us so that we love what we see in front of us and although that has a beautiful upside, it also means that we are susceptible to develop a heart for the low end of life. If you get on a plane and spend a week in an impoverished township, you’ll find that you leave with a heart for those people. If you spend time with people of other ethnicities, income levels, and story, you’ll begin to love their story. It’s just built in. But if you keep looking only at what you’re life is about now, your heart will remain with all your stuff.

The key to sustaining a sacrificial life to the least of these or at least the lost is simply to see them all the time. At first you’ll have to wedge in people and acts of service but in very short order, you’ll find it hard to wedge in the old stuff, the selfish stuff. You’ll find a new heart, the heart of Jesus begins to grow as your treasures get exchanged for His. Start right now, make an appointment with new treasure.

Day 18 of 21 Days of Flesh

The Greatest Command “Love God and love neighbors. For this fulfills all the law and prophets” Luke 10:27

Life is always more fruitful when we settle on simple ways of living. Jesus didn’t overwhelm us with to do’s or constraining demands that push us beyond our capacity or past lines that make us unhealthy humans. He made things as simple as possible and if we live by just a few patterns, our lives will be full of beautiful kingdom fruit.

As religious people were asking him ‘what was the greatest commandment?’ he said, love God with all you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus always combines love with him (vertical relationship) with love of others (horizontal relationship) because they really can’t be separated. Just like I will someday tell the young man that marries my daughter that the best way for him to love me as his father in law is to love my daughter, so God asks us to love him by loving those around us.

Interestingly, there’s a hidden third love in this equation. There is love God. There is love our neighbor, and there is also love of ourselves. Why would Jesus say this? All three loves are based on being created in God’s image. We should love ourselves because God created us in his image. We should love Him, because he loved us by creating us, and we should love every human being around us because they too are made in his image.

It’s that simple. How good would life be if every Christ follower loved everyone simply because they are made in God’s image?

Don’t overthink what things will make you great or make your life great. What makes all things meaningful is the love God has for us, the love we give him back by loving those in our homes or across the street.

Day 17 of 21 Days of Flesh

The Blessing of Constraint “Wait on the Lord” Psalm 27:14

For most people, the biggest spiritual struggle is that of waiting on God. Because we cannot see what’s around the corner, we strive and struggle to make things happen in the temporal world even though we know that God works on another time table called eternity.

The apostle Paul was held back and constrained all the time. Sometimes, he said Satan was holding him back, and sometimes he acknowledged that the Spirit of God was holding him back. Other times, he was held back by his Jewish countrymen, sometimes by the Roman powers. There was also sickness and a thorn in his flesh, and months and years staring at a wall in a prison.

Paul, however, learned to stop beating the air with faithless prayers, and finally penned these words, “I’ve learned to be content...”

It is a rare man or woman who trusts the legacy of their lives to God. As John the Baptist prayed that he would become less so that God would become more, we should only strive toward this one goal. That is to be used of God in his timing and in his way. We won’t get to see very much of God’s legacy in our lives, but we do get to see some and that is worth everything.

Take time today to give him the very rest of your days. Keep your head down, stop questioning everything and simply be with Jesus today.

Day 16 of 21 Days of Flesh

Slow Life Gets their Faster But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

Momentum is something we always seek. We believe that one thing leads to another and so on, and therefore we get ourselves all worked up to try to maximize moments for any advantage we can. Another way to name this belief is “ambition.”

It is usually a good thing to be ambitious, or so we think. Ambitious people are hard working, shrewd, intentional, and get up early. For sure, ambitious people use momentum in their favor as they build their own kingdoms.

Jesus, however was not ambitious or concerned with momentum. He was concerned about strategic moments of power, where true influence happened to a specific person in the opportune moment. Because he didn’t get flustered trying to reach the world, he did reach the world. Because he moved slow with just a few, the world was changed in just a few hundred years after his death.

Kingdom people don’t worry about momentum or manipulating growth or fruit. They are people who wake up with peace and who seek the Father’s leading and slowly plod along in obedience. They are people who sensibly prune and care for the vines of potential fruit but leave the harvest to the head wine master. They view life in seasons and are patient enough in the Father’s processes with people to work alongside him instead of frantically trying to make wine before it’s time.

Always remember the pace of Jesus when you consider your own pace. This way, prayer becomes the work instead of praying so that your work will work.

Flesh Week 3

Over the last 2 weeks we have been focusing our conversation on Sunday mornings around the idea of Flesh. (BTW..if you have a chance make sure to pick up a copy of the book Flesh by Hugh Halter…well worth the read).

Two weeks ago we looked at the overall concept of the incarnation, that being of Jesus taking on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood as John 1:14 in the Message puts it. In other words becoming fully human. The incarnation being the first step on the 5 step grid of incarnational/missional life and enfleshing Jesus in the world around us.

Last week we talked about the street cred/reputation of Christians vs. the street cred/reputation of Jesus. That Jesus got people talking and we get to do the same thing. That Jesus developed a great street cred by 1. Being human. 2. Having a job. 3. Picking fights. and 4. Being a friend of sinners. And that for us to develop a better street cred in our world we need to live out the same four. 1. Be human or normal. 2. Redeem work. 3. pick fights about things that matter. 4. Be a friend of sinners. The main point is that if we follow Jesus we cannot be judgmental. After all doesn’t Scripture say that Jesus came not to condemn but to save?

So today we are looking at the next two steps within the 5 step grid of enfleshing Jesus in the world, that of conversation and confrontation. If we follow the incarnational way of Jesus, we will get to speak about Him and have some great and natural conversations about Him with our friends.

If you’ll notice that after conversation, we finally get to the world confrontation. It seems like Christians vacillate between the two. Either we develop a relationship and are really good at conversation and never really get to bringing Jesus into the conversation. Or we are really good at confrontation and having not relationship with people, which then comes off as judgmental.

We should want to have conversations and loving confrontations. We should want to know that people have to come to a point in their lives where they honestly admit their sin and their need for Jesus to save, redeem, restore, and renew them. The Scriptures speak often about spiritual rebirth, being born again, confessing sin, and finding hope and forgiveness in Jesus.

So we constantly sway between conversation and confrontation and never really seem to get the right balance, the incarnational balance that Jesus had. In fact Jesus doesn’t want us to confront or condemn at all. He wants us instead to learn to walk with people as He did. And then confrontation happens naturally as we converse as friends.

Let’s look at a Biblical story where Jesus does this conversation/confrontation beautifully. It is the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:2-11.

“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said.” “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

A couple things that we need to note while looking at this Scripture text.

First of all we notice that this woman clearly had sinned. She was caught in the act of adultery. Now we realize however that adultery isn’t a sin that you can do alone. After all, the saying goes, it takes two to tango. And so I’ve long wondered where the guy was. I truly believe this woman was set up from the beginning. That the whole thing was put together in order to trap Jesus and there was no care for the woman at all from the Pharisees. She was a casualty of their “war” with Jesus. She was a pawn in their chess game in order to bring down Jesus.

Secondly, her sin definitely had some affect on her and on the various relationships that she brought into that adulterous encounter. No doubt it affected her relationship with the guy, maybe the guy’s wife, her husband, etc… But ultimately her sin was against Jesus, the man who they brought her before, in order to hear what he thought they should do with her.

They thought they had Jesus trapped. They brought this woman before Jesus in order to hear what Jesus thought they should do with her. There were only two options or so they thought that Jesus could answer. First, the one they mention is that the law of Moses commanded that they stone the woman. They are referring to Leviticus 20:10 which actually says, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife- with the wife of his neighbor- both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” If he said don’t stone her, he would be accused of not following the Law of Moses. And so while they tried to trap Jesus with the Scriptures, they weren’t following the law “either”. The second option, they thought about, was that Jesus was going to say “Sure, stone her” and then he would be accused of not loving this woman. So it looked like a no win situation for Jesus. (Jews didn't have the power to execute someone..bringing the Roman Empire down on his head)

And so Jesus does this amazing thing. While the Pharisee’s are there confronting Jesus (notice no conversation and no relationship with the woman.), he stoops down and writes in the sand. It doesn’t matter what he writes in the sand. But one thought that I had, that I can’t totally prove, but is an interesting idea to consider, is that he drew a line in the sand and sided with the woman and not with the Pharisee’s. But the stooping down also had an affect of protecting the woman who no doubt was on the ground covering herself waiting for the hail of rocks to come her way. He showed his protection and care by stooping down and being beside, being with and being for this woman, when the Pharisees were against this woman.

Jesus expertly then got rid of the confronters. Her condemners. They dropped their rocks. He disarmed them by saying, “Let anyone of you who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus exposed that sin is sin. Jesus advocated for the life of the sinner. He had her at hello. Her heart was won. After Jesus won her heart, after he removed condemnation, he had a private conversation where confrontation was natural and welcomed. Because she knew that she was loved and not condemned.

This is the beauty of Jesus. Remember that Jesus came to help people see who God is and that he came chock full of both grace and truth. You can be full of grace, full of love, full of acceptance AND the full truth of your life will eventually be accepted by those who need to change. The key to this is the friend part. Remember Jesus was called a true friend of sinners.

You see he didn’t just have a conversation with the woman. He didn’t just say, “Hey your cool. No problem about the adultery. Whatever. It’s all good.” And he didn’t just confront her and tell her she was wrong, evil, going to hell, etc… No he loved her, showed her no condemnation, showed her an amazing amount of love and grace. And also when she knew that she wasn't condemned, he did confront her and called her to leave her life of sin.

So if Christians could seek to live out this incarnational Jesus like way of developing relationships/conversations, then things like talking about Jesus and having loving confrontation would come naturally. So let’s wrap this message up by looking at what it might look like when we have friendships where speaking about Jesus might come naturally. Here are a 3 things that we can learn about Jesus and living an incarnational/missional life.

1. We get to keep a running conversation instead of running from a conversation. We’re used to trying to get a Jesus word in edgewise or aggressively forcing a conversation, but since conversation is between friends, we don’t have to do the dump truck thing and hit them over the head with doctrine, Bible verses, religious philosophy, etc…. We can actually be human and just talk about what they want to talk about in the timing they are open to.

2. Keep the conversation focused on the Kingdom of God not on religion, Christianity, or Christians. Take a note from Jesus who spoke mostly about the Kingdom of God. The other things are always the topics other people bring up, but defer to Jesus and the discussion about the Kingdom.

Take some time this week to read Luke 4 and Isaiah 61. Remember that almost every person would love for God’s Kingdom to show up. And when you get confronted with lousy Christian stories, it’s better to admit that we as Christians miss the Kingdom a lot. We are more like the Pharisee’s than we like to admit.

3. Talk about the King. Again, every lousy thing that has happened to people through religion or in the name of Jesus was not Jesus himself. Try to help people see the difference between Jesus and everything else that has happened under His umbrella. Point people towards Him and not towards the church, Christians, etc…. Bring the conversation back to Jesus.

In closing I want us to imagine how much different everything would be if we are full of grace and truth. When I think about this, I immediately feel less pressure- but at the same time more excited to speak about Jesus. Who might God be calling you to continue having the conversation with this week?

So let’s unpack a little bit more of the story of the woman caught in adultery. What stands out to you in the story? What don’t you understand? What challenges you in the story? How can we better live this kind of incarnational life out in the world? Who is God calling each of us to have conversation with this week (and share lovingly about Jesus)? Let’s converse about those things.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc… do you have regarding the passage of Scripture and/or the message?

2. Share a story when you felt condemned like the women caught in adultery. How did that make you feel? Share a story when you condemned someone else. How did that make you feel?

3 Who might be God laying on your heart to have a conversation with and continue to develop a relationship with? What next step do you need to take in the next week in order for this to happen? How can Veritas pray for you in this regard?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Day 15 of 21 Days of Flesh

Share a mind with Jesus “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5-7

The apostle Paul had a unique saying, “I am out of my mind for Christ.” He was sharing a secret that allows us to have the right posture with people. We always talk about living incarnationally, but it really doesn’t happen unless you think about people differently.

We tend to assess people based on our categories. We pick and chose who we will spend time with based on our level of enjoyment of them, or our surface level observations.

Jesus spent time with people because he assessed their hearts. He saw people from a point of view without concern for their outward behavior. He viewed them in light of his plan and possibility of redemption. No person, regardless of sin, was beyond a total life transformation. And because he saw them differently, they saw him differently.

When you take on the mind of Christ for every person you come in contact with, they will sense your love for them. As you eat with them, ask questions, offer encouragement and practical help, they will not only sense your acceptance, but they will start to see God differently.

With every person you meet, let your first thought be, “God, what do you think of this person?” This question is the most important one you will ask as God pulls you along in his mission.

Day 14 of 21 Days of Flesh

Pure Religion vs. Devotional life “This is pure religion that God your father considers...” James 1:27

The life of a Christian always veers toward solemn, solitary moments of private reflection. If we go beyond that, we say, “we’ll go to church, give money, be in a small group, or find a place of service in the church. As we grow, we expect to be involved in leadership: Leading a bible study, preaching a sermon, or going on a mission trip.

But what about all these things? How does God view them? Is this what he wants? According to James, if you add up all these spiritual activities and add a few more, you may miss the real deal. Religious activity that God gives a thumbs up to is actually to care for people in need.

Amazing isn’t how we can be so busy with everything that isn’t the main thing to the God we want to serve and please. I wonder at times if we use these things to make ourselves feel good when the whole time, we miss what would truly feed our souls and grow us into the type of people that Jesus would ask the world to emulate.

When God says, that “this is what I consider pure and blameless” we should look up and listen. Wow, to look after orphans and widows. No mention of church attendance or bible studies.

So if you have only 20 minutes today or tomorrow either to wedge in another devotion time or lend a hand to a neighbor, I think we may find, truly find God in the latter.

Day 13 of 21 Days of Flesh

Our heart follows our eyes “The eyes are the lamp of the body” Matthew 6:22-23

Most days, we go through our routine without much real emotion. We have the days work, the interruptive tensions of living, and a host of self focused thoughts. We know we should care for others and be deeply concerned with their spiritual state, but we make no change to our lives and then wait for the next moment of guilt over what we’re not doing for others.

How do we really become people that have compassion on the souls of others? It only comes when we look at people. The eyes are the lamp of our heart. What we see determines what we ultimately will believe or do and most of us only see ourselves. Look up!

Jesus, rounded the corner, ducked under a branch of a tree and as his eyes focused, he saw people like sheep without a shepherd. Immediately his heart felt compassion which is a deep emotion that moved him to speak and act toward them...eventually dying for them. Yesterday I saw people and it helped me to talk to them, to ask questions about their lives. As I see the furrowed brows of a business man while he yells at his wife on his cell phone, or the anxious teary eyes of a single mom trying to get her unruly children through the airport, or the blank stare of a homeless father holding a sign on the corner asking for help, it changes my heart and I move toward them.

Today, open your eyes. See people for who they are and you won’t need to ask God for compassion. It will just come.

Day 12 of 21 Days of Flesh

Getting Applause from God Alone How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? John 5:44

In daily life, I don’t think most of ever stop to realize how much we do to please other people. If we take into account the pressure we feel around family members, co-workers, professional peers, neighbors, in-laws, or parishioners, and then add up the hours we spend working and worrying to gain their approval, it is a staggering percentage of our time. Added to that the time we spend pleasing ourselves, trying to get our own minds right, and get what we want, and it only adds to the mountain-sized garbage heap we build our lives around.

Jesus, asks a simple question. In regards to our true belief, why don’t we at least work that hard to gain praise from God? You might say, “Well, we don’t need to gain his approval, we already are approved through Christ.” Yes, we are accepted fully through Christ as we are. But this scripture is about living in such a way that we get God to wink at us, to smile over us, or to get a thumbs up, as it will. God doesn’t just see an ocean of souls he has accepted. He sees you and me all by ourselves and we can live in such a way that He knows that all we care about is pleasing Him.

Today, how can Jesus get the first appointment with you? What can you say “no” to on his account? What can you now say “Yes” to because you’ve made him first?

Day 11 of 21 Days of Flesh

Come to the depths In Luke 5, Jesus is making a separation between true disciples and the “multitude.” I wonder which one we identify with? As Dave Matthews says, there’s a ‘space between’ that is that uncomfortable tension between what we know the call of Jesus is, and what we presently live out and experience. What is sure from this scripture is that Jesus loves the multitude. He taught them, fed them, healed them, and eventually died for them. But he also called a few others to go deeper; beyond just being a part of the masses of people that go to Jesus for what they can get from him. The disciples become a smaller group of people who let Jesus take them somewhere different. Somewhere harder, and into a life of service and sacrifice for his purposes. It sounds attractive but we know it costs and so we hang back, hold back, and keep Jesus at a safe distance.

If Jesus loves the multitude, why shouldn’t we stay a part of the big group? Why should any smart person slowly move from the fray of consumer Christians and raise a hand asking Jesus to pour our lives out for others? Only one reason. That is that we want to be with Jesus wherever he goes. True apprentices don’t mind the cost if the cost allows them to be with their master, their trainer, their coach, or their father.

You don’t have to leave the crowd or the church pews. Grace is grace and God lets you sit there your entire life if you want. But some hear the clarion call of the depths and take on his mission to others.

Day 10 of 21 Days of Flesh

Street Cred “He grew in respect with God and man” Luke 2:52

In our day, the common man or woman feels completely unable to connect or identify with those who have taken a more formal or professional role for God. If we are one of the “pros” we tend toward lives of extraction from the real world, believing that our time on Mt. Sinai with God will useful to those who must live in the valley.

With Jesus, we see a picture of God in the lowlands, who watches his son live as a normal man and we see normal men being drawn to God. God favors his son as his son finds favor with people. What a farce it is to think that our “calling” sets us apart to do things others aren’t called to do. What a misconception that we can do more for God from the pulpit than from the porch on the front of our home.

How can we live a life where the lines become blurry between what is truly sacred, secular, religious or real.

Jesus showed us the way of integrated living where the way we work, the way we interact as human beings on the soccer field, the coffee shop, or cathedral all speak of him. If we become more like Jesus, we will become more favored by our friends. In fact, we will have friends and that is proof that God is pleased with how we live.

If you find that in all your spiritual activity, you are alone and the world does not want to be with you, quite possibly we are not growing at all.

Favor with God comes simply through our faith in Jesus, but favor with men comes only as we live like Jesus.