Normally, there is a difference between the sermon of the week and the blog posted for the week. This week, this was not possible due to Thanksgiving and the fact that I was at Advent @ Arlington, where there was a guest speaker, Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary the mother of Jesus. I tried to take good notes, and here is approximately what was said:

Good morning! Let me introduce myself. My name is “Zachariah.” Many of you have never heard of me, for I am primarily known as the father of John the Baptist. I’ve come here this morning to help you understand a little bit more about my walk as a disciple of God, which I hope will help you in your discipleship walk.

Your pastor told me that you have the custom of reading scripture before the sermon, and so I am going to read you my story before I tell it to you. Here is how the Gospel of Luke tells the first part of my story:

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time” (Luke 1:5-20).

Prayer: God of Miracles: Come to us today and open our hearts as we hear the story of the birth of John the Baptist. Convict us. Convert us. Make is wholly your people. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Zechariah: A Committed Disciple

On the surface, you may not think that we have much in common. I lived long time ago during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea (Luke 1:5). I was a priest and a descendent of Aaron (v. 5) As a priest, my job was partially to serve in the temple courts. I offered sacrifices and performed Jewish ceremonies. We priests maintained the Temple as the center of the Jewish religion.

My wife and I lived a few miles out of Jerusalem in a small place, where I had a plot of land and also worked growing food for our family. My wife’s name was Elizabeth. Elizabeth and I were both raised as devout Jews. We tried as best we could to obey the laws of Moses (v. 6), which is why we are referred to as “righteous” in your Bible. We were not perfect, but we tried to obey the instructions of Moses. Unfortunately, we were childless (v. 7). As was common in our society, our friends and neighbors considered us to be cursed by God.

Encountering an Angel

One day, when my team of priests was on duty at the temple, I went in to burn incense on the altar of God (vv. 9-10). [1] Outside, there were a number of worshipers praying (v. 10). As I began to burn the incense, an angel from God appeared to me, standing right beside the altar upon which I was burning incense (v. 11). When I saw this magnificent being, unlike anything on earth, I was filled with fear (v. 12). The angel, recognize my fear and said, “Do not be afraid Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give you a son and you are to name him John” (v. 13). The angel went on to tell me that this son of mine was going to be a joy not just to me, but all the people of our country (14-15)

By the time the angel finished, it was obvious to me that he was talking about a mighty prophet, because he said that my son was to never drink wine or any fermented drink and would be filled with the Holy Spirit of God (v. 15). My son was to go before the Lord God in the spirit and power of our Prophet Elijah, and turn, the hearts of children to their fathers and the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of righteousness (v. 17). [2] My son was to prepare the way of the Lord, which I took to mean that he would be the one to announce the Messiah in the Spirit of Elijah as foretold by our prophets.

Human Unbelief

This is where you and I may have more in common than you suppose. As a Jew, I knew all about the miraculous birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age (Gen. 16:1, 17: 1-21; 18:9-15; 21:1-8). I also knew about the birth of the Prophet Samuel, despite the infertility of his mother, Hannah (I Samuel 1:1-20). Therefore, you would think that I would understand the power of God to open a barren womb. Nevertheless, I replied to the angel indicating that this was not possible, since I was an old man and Elizabeth was beyond the childbearing years (v. 18).

The angel must have realized my wavering faith. He announced to me that his name was “Gabriel,” which means “one who stands in the presence of God” (v. 19). He told me that he had been sent specifically to me, and since I did not accept the promise of God as it had been given to me, I would be silent until the day my child was born (v. 20). Then, the angel disappeared.

Outside the temple, the crowd was amazed. They realized that something had happened in the temple, because I kept trying to tell them about the angel by making signs but I couldn’t speak (vv. 21-22). When I returned home I stayed there for a time, since my time of service in the Temple was completed that very day. Elizabeth became pregnant just as the angel had foretold, and she was very happy (23-24). For five months after she became pregnant, Elizabeth remained in the house (v. 24). Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited her during the time of her pregnancy (vv. 39-56). Since I could not speak, we learned to communicate through signs and writing. Eventually, I was able to let her know that our son should be named John.

God is Faithful to His Promise

When the day came for our child to be born, sure enough, we had a son (v. 57)! Everyone in the community was glad for us, because they realized that God had opened up Elizabeth’s barren womb and showed mercy to us, removing the curse that left us childless (v. 58). It was a miracle and everyone knew it.

On the eighth day, as is customary among my people, friends and family gathered to circumcise our child. All of our friends and relatives wanted to name him “Zechariah” after me and over thirteen important people in our nation’s history, including the prophet Zechariah, who wrote one of the most important books in your Bible (v. 59). [3] However, Elizabeth spoke up and said, “No, he is to be called John’” (v. 60). No one in our family had ever been named John before. After arguing for a while, they came to me and asked what I wanted to name the child. I wrote down “His name is John” (v. 63). At that very moment, I was able to speak and began to praise God. Our neighbors and family were filled with awe (vv. 64-5) and people talked for days about what happened in our household. It was obvious to everyone that this was going to be a special child (v. 66).

Song of Zechariah

As I began to speak, I was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy (v. 67). This surprised everyone. I was not a prophet; I was a priest. I was never gifted with the ability to foresee the future or speak inspired words. I sacrificed animals and performed religious rites. Yet, in that moment I was able to speak the very words of God to those around me. I began to praise God and thank Him, because I knew that in my son, John, was someone special. I knew that John, being a Levite like his parents, would not be the Messiah. But I did believe that John was to announce that God had provided for the salvation of our people in the birth of a son of David, someone from the house and linage of King David. I eventually came to believe that Messiah was Jesus, who was the son of Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary.

I had no way to speak about the coming of the Messiah except that for me it meant my people would be saved from all of our enemies and God’s kingdom would be established, a kingdom of holiness and righteousness. As I looked down my son, I began to praise and prophesy about him. Here are the exact words that I said:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us  in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies  and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:68-79).

These words of mine have become famous as “The Song of Zechariah.” Priests, monks, nuns, and others repeat these words every day all over the world. Although I did not believe Gabriel when he first appeared to me, God was gracious and showed mercy to me and, through Elizabeth and me, to all of my people—and even to you.

My Closing Words

As I said in the beginning, I am more like you than you might imagine. Although I was a religious leader and trained to serve God in his temple, I still had to learn what it really means to have faith. Like many of you, I thought faith was an idea or some belief I accepted as true. Like some of you, my faith was something I believed I had inherited from my parents and their parents. It was not until the angel appeared to me, not to Abraham or to someone else who would have to have faith, but to me, did I come to understand what faith is.

During those long months of silence, I had plenty of time to ponder what it means to have faith. I realize that faith was not about what we know but about trusting in God, so that what we believe in becomes present to us in our hearts even though we may not yet have received what faith promises (Hebrews 11:1-2). I can’t tell you how many times during the nine months Elizabeth was pregnant I could hardly believe that the promises of God were true. However, in my silence, and in my thinking, I came to trust God.

There was a second thing I realized as a result of what happened to me. I was a priest. Naturally, as a priest I spent a lot of time at the Temple. In addition, I knew all of the liturgies, the customs, the sacrifices, and the holidays of my people. When the Bible describes me as a “righteous person” part of what they mean is that I was able to live as Moses had asked that priests live. However, in my moment of testing, when an angel of the Lord appeared to me personally, all of that did not help me believe. I have come to understand that rites and rituals, as important as they are, are no substitute for faith. It’s important that we bring our children to church, or in my day the Temple, but Temple or church attendance is no substitute for faith. It’s important that we try to do the right thing in life, but moral behavior is no substitute for faith. Faith is a living relationship with the living God. It changes everything. It certainly changed my life.

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] After many generations of descendants of Aaron, there were too many priests to have all of them working in the temple at the same time. Therefore, there were twenty-four “divisions” or teams of priests who took turns serving in the temple. It was a great honor to burn incense during this service, so this was a day of honor for Zechariah. See, William Barclay, “Luke” in The Daily Bible Study Series Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1975), 9-10.

[2] The phrase “wisdom of righteousness” is important, for it is one of the places in Scripture were it can be seen that the ancient Jews did not see the teaching of Moses as something different (religious truth) and separate from the kind of wisdom that brings success in life. True wisdom is found in the “Torah,” or “instruction,” “teachings,” or “law” of God.

[3] See, Harper’s Bible Dictionary Revised and Updated (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 2011), among other sources.

A great quality we can develop as Christians is thankfulness. In one of his earliest letters to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote, “We always give thanks to God for you and pray to God for you” (I Thessalonians 1:3). In his last letter, he writes to Timothy, “How I thank God for you, Timothy” (2 Timothy 1:3). In between, Paul often—almost always—gives thanks to God. In Ephesians, he says, “Always give thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Paul learned to be thankful in all situations and conditions of life (Philippians 4:11-12). We live in a land of unbelievable prosperity; but few are thankful, truly thankful, to the One who made it all possible. This is too bad because thankfulness is a virtue and a gift of the Spirit of God.

Thankfulness in All Circumstances

Our text for this blog is from Second Timothy. Second Timothy is not a book many of us read; however, it is a surprisingly important letter. While researching this passage, I came upon the following quote from John Calvin:

“This book has been more profitable to me than any other book of Scripture—and it is more profitable to me every day. If anyone examines this book carefully, there can be no doubt they will experience the same effect.”  [1]

 

Second Timothy is very likely Paul’s last letter.  He was in prison, probably in Rome, where he would soon be martyred. [2]  Almost alone and nearing the end of his life, he wrote this letter to Timothy. Timothy was an important person in the New Testament Church. He is listed as the co-writer with Paul of Second Corinthians, Philippians, First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, and Philemon. In addition, two letters, First and Second Timothy are addressed to Timothy. These two pastoral letters contain Paul’s most intimate conversation about the church and its leadership.

Many Christians believe Paul converted Timothy’s family.  At least be discipled Timothy. Timothy joined Paul during his Second Missionary Journey (Acts 16:1-3) and was a partner of Paul’s from that time foreword. During the Third Missionary Journey, Timothy was active in helping the Macedonian church (Acts 17:14). When Paul went on to Athens, Timothy later joined him there (18:5). Timothy was with Paul at least a part of the time he was imprisoned in Rome (Col.1: 1; Phil. 1:1; Phile. 1). At the end of Second Timothy, Paul gives his most touching personal invitation for Timothy to come quickly before winter (4:21). Paul seems to foresee that his death is immanent, and most scholars believe Second Timothy to be his last letter. Timothy was like a son to Paul, a son in Jesus Christ.

Here is how Paul begins the letter:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God (2 Timothy 1:1-8, NIV).

Paul: An Apostle of Thankfulness

Second Timothy really is a wonderful book. Throughout the book, it is obvious that Paul is suffering. He is a prisoner in Rome, and many people he knew and loved have deserted him (4:9), betrayed and harmed him (4:14), and are ashamed of him (1:8). He is so beaten down that he believes that his life is being poured out like a drink offering  (4:6). He knows that he will soon die (4:17). Nevertheless, Paul is thankful for Timothy, for Christ, for the church, and for what he has been given to do by Christ.

This thankfulness of Paul is not a new thing. Paul is almost always thankful. I read the beginning of First Thessalonians at the beginning of this sermon. Most scholars believe that First Thessalonians is the earliest of Paul’s letters. In between First Thessalonians and Second Timothy, we have thirteen or so letters of Paul. Of those letters, Paul expresses thanksgiving in some way in all but three. [3] Most often, Paul ties thanksgiving with his prayers for the people of the church, as if Paul’s thankfulness derives from his prayer life—something we might emulate. [4] Prayer almost always results in thankfulness.

Paul is thankful in prison, in times of stress, when he is abandoned, when the Gospel has been betrayed, and because he has developed this quality he can say, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12). We need to develop this kind of thankfulness.

Real Blessings

There are things that may appear to be blessings that are not really blessings at all. So much time in our culture is spent on thinking that blessings are things or accomplishments, or pleasurable experiences. It is a blessing to have some things, but there are things that are not blessings at all—food is a blessing, but too much food is not, wine is a blessing, but too much wine is not, physical health and the ability to exercise is a blessing, but too much exercise is not. Money, possessions, pleasure—all the things that our society worships—are not necessarily blessings. In fact they can be the reverse.

In connection with Salt & Light, I’ve been doing a study of blessings and what constitutes the blessed life. I think almost everyone wants to live the blessed life, but few people in our day and time have any idea what it means to be blessed or to live the blessed life. Blessings and the blessed life have their root in God. Over and over again in the Old Testament fellowship with God, following God, and imitating God are connected to blessing and the blessed life. Listen to how Psalms begins:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (Psalm 1:1-3, ESV).

 

God is the source of blessings, which is why we have a hymn entitled, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” [5] God is the author not just of some of our blessings, or of our spiritual blessings, God is the fount of every blessing. It is God who created the world, gave us the gift of life, sustained us until today, sent his Son to show us the way to fellowship with the Father, and gave himself for us on the Cross.

We live the blessed life when we live out the life of a disciples and are thankful for God, for the Good News that God loves all human beings and wants them to live with him forever, for the gift of life, for our families and loved ones, for our faith, for the fellowship we have in our church and in the Christian community, for the sense of purpose in life, for the hope we have because of the cross of Christ and for the promise of the resurrection. The blessed life is a thankful life!

Consequences of Losing our Thankfulness

One of the saddest things about our nation is the loss of thankfulness for our ancestors, for the faith that sustained them, and for the blessings we have even though we do not have everything we could each imagine having. Recent disregard for our Constitution and for the sacrifices others made for our freedoms because of perceived flaws in their beliefs or behavior are symptoms of this lack of thankfulness for the past achievements of our ancestors, as we have the capacity to do better, which it is likely we do not!

As we have become increasingly secular, increasingly materialistic, increasingly hedonistic, and increasing therapeutic as a society, we have become obsessively self-centered and increasingly unbalanced. During a conversation this week the pastors were talking about our increasingly narcissistic society—a society in which everyone is focused on themselves and they desires. A narcissistic, self-centered society cannot possibly be a happy, blessed, our even stable society. [6]

You might ask what would a narcissistic society look like? The answer is, “It would look a lot like our society.” The consequence of losing our humility and our sense that our blessings come from God results in a culture of self-centeredness, in which people seek their own happiness at the expense of others. A narcissistic society is a society alienated from God and from others. A narcissistic society is one in which there are many broken relationships as people focus on themselves. A narcissistic society is a society in which there is discord caused by various class and social conflicts as each part of society feels “entitled” to more. A narcissistic society is a society in which there is violence, both domestic and social, caused by the anger at not having others recognize our “right” to money, power, and pleasure. A narcissistic society is a society very much like the one we are creating and have been busy creating for many years.

Conclusion: Salt & Light

When I was writing this month’s church newsletter I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I have unusually fond memories of Thanksgivings as a child, a youth, and an adult. It so happens that my most vivid memory is of Thanksgiving 2000, my father’s last Thanksgiving. It was not a perfect day, but we had a nice meal, talking, and played our traditional hard fought game of World Domination. My brother, as usual, won.

I mentioned another memory in the newsletter. This is a memory of a picture I saw at a family reunion many years ago of my Shepherd uncles and part of my Mother’s family celebrating Thanksgiving 1945. The picture was taken of my mother and her cousins. It is an old black and white photo. The men are still in their uniforms. It was a cloudy day. The farmland is cold, dark, and bleak. However, the smiles on their faces say it all—they are just so thankful that the war is over and the family is together again.

My mother was born in 1921. She grew up in a home in which she was abused by her mother. By the time she was eight, our nation was in the midst of the Great Depression. By the time she turned twenty-one, America was in World War II. When the boys got home, that is by Thanksgiving 1945, it was pretty obvious that the world was not going back to the way it once was. Of the six young people in the picture, exactly one would be able to survive on the family farms. The rest would leave and start over.

The suffering was not over: there would be Korea, health issues, accidents, Vietnam, several recessions, the drug culture, and children who fell into bad habits. Nevertheless, I cannot remember a Thanksgiving in which both my parents were not thankful. At the end of Mom’s life, she was still thankful despite all the bad things she endured.

My mother and father were not overtly religious most of the time, but inside they had a deep and abiding faith that kept them thankful and going on. We need to develop these same qualities in our day. Like Paul, we need to develop a thankfulness that is not dependent upon current circumstances. We need to remember that true blessings may take a generation or more, even many generations, to fully emerge. We need to remember that we are only tenants of this good earth, not its permanent owners. We need to remember that our hope is with God, who we will enjoy forever. In remembering our blessings, we will become a truly thankful people.

Copyright, 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

I’ve mentioned before in this blog that this summer we returned home only to find that lightning had struck our house! In the end, we replaced a number of appliances. However, before we replaced the appliances we tried to have them fixed. In order to have them fixed, we called repairmen. My father was pretty handy around the house, and fixed almost everything that was broken. Unfortunately, I did not inherit his talent. Therefore, whenever anything breaks we have to call the repairman. Whenever we call the repairman, he or she will say something like, “He’ll be there sometime between 8 AM and Noon Monday or Tuesday of next week.” Most of the time, this doesn’t bother me because Kathy stays home and waits for the repairman to come; however, that is not always the case. After hours of waiting hoping the repairmen will come early, there’s always the temptation to run an errand, or walk around the pond, or do something to eliminate the boredom. Sure enough, if I ever fall victim to these temptations and do something besides wait, that is the exact time the repairman comes and I miss him.

This weekend, we had a men’s retreat that focused on what we do in the “dash” of our lives. The dash metaphor is taken from the fact that tombstones list our day of birth and our day of death with a dash in between. Yet, those two dates matter much less than what we do in the meantime—in the dash so to speak. [1] The life of a disciple is similar: from time to time, and at the end of our lives, we do experience the presence and power of God. There are times of great spiritual excitement and growth. They are great. However, we also spend time waiting—and that time makes up most of our lives, indeed the most important part of our lives are spent in the dash. A part of the difficulty of the “dash” is that we must remain faithful at times when God may seem absent or uninterested.

Are you Ready?

Luke 12:35-48 is a difficult passage. The first five verses are about servants generally. The second seven versus are a response to a question asked by Peter (v. 41). Both passages emphasize the importance of diligence in a servant, though the second part deals with leaders as much as with disciples. With that background, here is our text for the week:

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Luke 12:35-48).

The Importance of Wise Diligence

Downton Abbey is not as popular as once it was, but for the time it was necessary for me to schedule my Sunday night Bible study so that we could be home in time to see each episode! As you probably know, Downton Abbey is the story of the wealthy Crawley family through several generations in the early 20^th Century. My two favorite characters are Mr. Carson, who is the head Butler, and Mrs. Hughes, who is the head housekeeper. The two of them symbolize the dignity and efficiency of British butlers and housekeepers at the height of the British Empire. Their quiet love for each other, diligence, and loyalty to their employers have been my favorite part of the story. [2]

Jesus told many parables in which he speaks of good and wise servants, comparing them wicked and foolish servants. For example, Jesus tells parables that are designed to show us that scribes and Pharisees, who claimed to be serving God, were not good servants. He told parables in which wicked servants kill the master’s son (Luke 20:9-19). He told parables in which wise servants faithfully invest the master’s money (Matthew 25:14-30). Today’s text is a parable about what it means to be a faithful disciple of Jesus, and to take seriously our responsibilities for other disciples.

In the ancient world, for a man do physical work, he had to grab the edge of his robe and tie it around his waist. This was known as, “girding your waist.” In the New International Version, this idea is translated, “Be dressed and ready for service.” I happen to like the older translation better, but the idea is the same. In order to do any kind of work, we need to be dressed and ready to work. A wise servant is ready at all times to meet any legitimate request from his or her employer, or in Jesus’ day, “Master.” In this particular story, like the Parable of the Ten Virgins, we are reminded that Jesus may need us and come to us at any time (Matthew 25:1-13). Therefore, we should be about our masters business and ready to serve him at any time. Spiritually speaking, this means that we need to be filled with God’s Wisdom by the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we will not be properly equipped to serve Christ.

The Importance of Being Filled with the Spirit

In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, and in today’s parable, Jesus urges believers to keep their lamps burning. In the ancient world, lamps were often shallow bowls made of pottery. (Our church’s Salt & Light logo incorporates that ancient symbol in its flame.) Because lamps were small and shallow, it was necessary to keep them filled with oil. Without oil, a lamp would go out and leave a person in the darkness at an inopportune time.

From ancient times, oil has been a symbol for the Holy Spirit. In other words, this parable begins by teaching us that a servant is diligent and wise because he or she remains filled with the Holy Spirit. Discipleship is not a matter of works, although it involves doing good works. Discipleship is a matter of grace as God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, works in our lives empowering us to live the Christian life.

There is an element of discipline in discipleship; however, more important than discipline is a disciple’s continued attachment to the master by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 13:5). Our attachment to God is through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit that comes into our lives as we believe in God and open our lives to the enlightening and empowering grace of his love and wisdom. We simply cannot live out the Christian life without the Spirit of God helping us. When we attempt to do otherwise, we always fail.

The power to live out the Christian life comes from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am sure that we’ve all had the experience of beginning a Christian work by the power of the Holy Spirit but ending up trying to do it our own power. It never works. We always burn out. It is only when we come back to God and allow God to fill us again so that we find the ability to continue. This week, we had another retreat. A member and I went to Alabama to spend two days at a convent. My special prayer was that God fill me with his Spirit again because you cannot live the Christian life successfully on your own.

The Reality of Accountability

The hardest part of this text for modern ears involves the passages relating to the master’s judgment. [3] Jesus describes the faithful and wise manager as one the master finds diligently serving his fellow servants when he returns. Jesus also describes two other kinds of servants:

1. First, he describes a servant who notes that the master has taken a long time in returning, concludes the master will not return, beats the other servants, and eats their food (Luke 12:45). In very harsh language, Jesus says the master will simply cut such a person to pieces in the judgment (v. 46).
2. There is a second kind of servant, however. This servant is simply clueless. This kind of servant never bothered to learn what the master wanted and so does not fulfill the master’s bidding. The servant is also punished, though not as harshly (v. 48).

It is not a good idea to focus on the punishments. Jesus is using a form of hyperbola common in Scripture to emphasize that unfaithful, harsh, lazy, and foolish servants will not be rewarded for their behavior. This passage, like the passage in which Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven should not be taken literally, but should be taken as a way of Jesus emphasizing the importance of what he is saying and the dangers of disobedience.

Not long ago, Kathy shared with me a graphic that describes what are sometimes called, “Carnal Christians.” On throne of the Carnal Christian’s life is him or herself. Jesus is present only on the periphery of the Carnal Christian’s life. He or she may attend church or Bible studies, they may be active in some areas of service, but their faith is not central to their life. It is simply one among many ways such a person finds fulfillment. In many ways, the Carnal Christian is no better off than an unbeliever: out of fellowship with God, such a person is also out of fellowship with other human beings and with nature. They are even out of fellowship with their own deepest needs. The result is discord, frustration, alienation, and broken relationships. The random dots in the illustration represent the disorder of the Self-Directed Life.

There is a natural accountability in life. If we do not put Christ at the center of our lives, inevitably we put our selfish desires and ourselves on the throne. When we do this, we suffer the consequences. It is not that God is judging us, like a harsh unfeeling human judge. Instead, we are simply receiving the consequences of our own decisions. The judgments of the unfaithful servants are just what happen when we do not really and truly follow Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Blessing of Wise Disciples

The element of God’s grace, and the blessing of wise and faithful servants, is emphasized in two places in today’s reading. In the first half of our parable, when the master returns and finds his servants waiting for him, instead of asking them to serve him, he has them recline at the table for a banquet, and then unexpectedly serves them (Luke 12:37)! We would imagine that the reason the servants were awake late when the master returned from the wedding banquet was to serve the master! It turns out, however, that God, after returning from the wedding banquet of his church, blesses his servants, the members of that church and serves them.

In the first part of the parable, Jesus returns to a metaphor he often uses. The Kingdom of God is like a Great Banquet in which a master invites everyone to attend and blesses everyone who attends, rich or poor, deserving or undeserving, socially acceptable or not socially acceptable (Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24). All those who respond to the master’s invitation are invited to the banquet and the master serves them.

In the second half of the teaching, when the master returns and finds his servant faithfully serving others, he blesses such a servant and puts him or her in charge of everything that he possesses (Luke 12:44). This is reminiscent of the Parable of the Talents, where the faithful servants are put in charge of even greater things because of their faithfulness in smaller things (Matthew 25:14-30).

On a basic level, our text is about disciples, and especially Christian leaders, faithfully living out the task of being a disciple, bringing others to Christ, and discipling them—undertaking the task of feeding God sheep. Historically, it is about the failure of the scribes, the Pharisees, and the priests to properly feed the people of God (Matthew 21:33-46). Christ desires his servants, the Church, to do a better job. [4]

The Christian church has always seen today’s text as concerning the return of Christ and the final judgment. However, on a deeper spiritual level, this parable is about the coming of Christ into our lives at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. It is about the little judgments that we all receive due to our unfaithfulness. It is about always being ready to give account of ourselves in every circumstance.

Once again, there is a counterpart to the little graphic that I mentioned earlier. In this graphic Christ is on the throne of our lives. As a result, our lives are well ordered spiritually, and we are filled with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, and the other gifts of the Spirit (See, Galatians 5:22-25). Just as the judgments of life are the natural result of unfaithfulness to God, the blessings of life are the natural result of our faithfulness to God. When we are filled with God’s spirit and living wisely on the basis of God’s love shown to us in Christ, we are blessed and we will naturally share this blessing with others.

There are two endings to today’s parable: The first half ends with Jesus saying, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40). The entire teaching is with Jesus saying, “From everyone who is been given much, much will be demanded; and from one who has been entrusted with much more will be asked” (v. 48). Both of these our reminders of what God will do for us if we faithfully live out our calling to be Spirit empowered followers of Christ.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See, Linda Ellis, “The Dash” (1996). The key part of this text goes like this:

“For If our hearts are full of love/throughout our journey here,/we’ll be loved by all who knew us/and our memory they’ll hold dear./And when we die, these memories/will bring grateful, loving tears,/to all whose lives were touched/by the dash between our years.”

This is a poem I recommend everyone read. it can be found in numerous places on the internet. The founder of our church often reads this poem at funerals, which is where I first heard it.

[2] See, Downton Abbey, Masterpiece Theatre, BBC J. Fellows, R Eaton, N. Marchant, & G. Neame (Executive Producers (New York: PBS, 2010- Present).

[3] The second half of the parable, involves Jesus responding to Peter’s question, Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” (v. 41). In response, Jesus turns his focus to a chief steward who is left in charge of the household and is responsible to feed the other servants.

[4] In other words, those who have received the forgiveness of sins, been baptized, received the Holy Spirit and been instructed in the ways of God ought to faithfully proclaim that Gospel and help others receive the benefits of God’s wisdom and love.

As I was preparing this blog, I read a story about a young boy. His mother made a special dessert for a party the family was giving. She told her son not to eat the desert because it was for dinner later. When he was discovered, he explained that his teeth accidentally got caught in the desert while he was smelling it! [1]

Human beings are pretty much alike. We get similar kinds of trouble. The story of the little boy and the dessert is cute. The trouble we adults get into is not so cute. In fact, the results of our falling into temptation can be devastating for ourselves and everyone around us.

Not long ago, someone sent me a prayer request that was almost identical to a prayer request many years ago. Some years ago, a Houston magazine ran a story about a young executive. She was pretty, bright, and professional. She worked long hours. Naturally, there was a lot of tension. She began to drink to unwind. Over the course of time, the drinking got worse. Her marriage ended. Her drinking got worse. Her job performance suffered. Her drinking got worse. She lost her job, and her new job was not nearly so good as her last job. Her drinking got worse. She drifted from job to job and relationship to relationship. One day, she hit someone and killed them driving while intoxicated. She was indicted for manslaughter, convicted, and a promising career was over.

This blog is about temptation and how a serious Christian lifestyle can protect us from temptation and its results. We should pray, “Deliver us from evil;” however, we should also live in such a way that we are likely to be delivered. Too many of us are like the young Augustine who is said to have prayed that God would deliver him from temptation, but not yet.” [2] We want to see Heaven if there is one, but we don’t want to give up our secret sins. We want to be seen as Christians by our friends and family, bet we don’t want to take the steps that will truly change us deep in our hearts.

Life After Baptism

In Luke chapter 3 Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon him like a dove and a voice from heaven verified that he was God’s Son, with whom God was well pleased (Luke 3:21-22). Then, immediately, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness for a time of tempting (4:1). Our text today is from Luke, chapter 4, and I will begin reading with the first verse:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.” The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him (Luke 4: 1-15).

The Temptations of Life

All of us some of the time (and some of us a lot of the time!) face temptations. These temptations can be great, like the story with which I began, or small. They can have significant impact on our lives or the impact can be pretty insignificant. However, the impact is never without its dangers: The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the story of temptation, self-centered action, and consequences. It’s also a story that illustrates how serious consequences can be from seemingly small actions.

Hopefully, today’s story is one with which we can relate. We are tempted, and Jesus was tempted. Unfortunately, this is also a story we can avoid applying to our lives. When we read of Jesus’ temptations, we can mistakenly believe that these temptations were for Jesus alone, and we will never be faced with anything like them because we are not the Christ, the Son of God. We could not be more wrong.

There are three temptations set out it the story of Jesus’ temptation:

1. The temptation to turn rocks into bread;
2. The temptation to worship the devil to receive the kingdoms in the world; and
3. The temptation to cast himself off the top of the Temple, and allow angels to catch him as he fell.

Although these three temptations may seem far from us, they involve three kinds of temptation we all fall into. I would describe them like this:

1. The temptation to live solely on the basis of our physical and emotional needs;
2. The temptation to worship success or accomplishment; and
3. The temptation to put God to the test.

You may think you don’t do these things; however, in one way or another, we all do.

Jesus was human just like we are. After 40 days of fasting, he was hungry. It would’ve been easy to see this first temptation as harmless—kind of like Samantha in Bewitched. [3] If you remember the show, then you remember that Samantha was forever swearing that she would never use her magical powers again, only to do so whenever she got herself in trouble. When faced with temptation, we can be like Samantha. We say we will never do it again, but we can’t resist the temptation to take a shortcut. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts in the life of a discipleship.

This temptation is about more than bread. It’s about our human tendency to do almost anything, moral or immoral, to meet our physical and emotional needs. Psychologists who have studied human behavior have seen that our fundamental drives are so powerful that they can cause us to do things we believe immoral or which we otherwise would never do.

Bread can be more than just physical bread. It can be our normal desire for friendship, for marriage, for intimacy, for relaxation, for a sense of well-being. There is nothing wrong with any of these things except when we ignore the spiritual and moral side of our character in seeking to fulfill our natural desire.

The second temptation is the temptation to make an idol of success, power, or money. Once again there’s nothing wrong with success, power, or money; however, we are often tempted to corners just to get ahead. We say to ourselves, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” We have a natural tendency to make an idol of success and slowly but surely fall to the temptations we face. Those of us who are naturally competitive or desire success are especially vulnerable to this temptation.

Finally, there is the temptation to throw ourselves off the temple walls to see if God will save us. This is one many people may at first denied applies to them. However,  we’ve all known people who disregarded common sense, saying, “I’m just trusting God.”  Often, these are spiritual people who want to be seen as spiritual and in contact with God in a special way.

Whenever we take a dangerous or foolish  course of action—a course we know is not advisable—and then say to ourselves, “I’ll just trust God,” we are putting God to the test. If my doctor tells me that I have diabetes and I should not eat sugar or drink again, and I ignore him, I am throwing myself off the temple walls. If you sit down and think about it, there are many ways we put God to the test.

A Temptation Killing Lifestyle

The best place to begin in thinking about how we, like Jesus, can resist the temptations of our culture and live balanced, wise lives is to  remember and understand this story. When Jesus was confronted by the devil, He was in the wilderness fasting and praying, driven there by the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus was in a time of deep fellowship with God. If we are to avoid temptation we also need  to be in a deep, constant fellowship with God.

The first  habit of the balanced life we can develop is the habit of prayer, even the habit of prayer combined with fasting. We can begin and end our days in prayer. We can pray regularly during the day. We can take special times to pray. Prayer is always the first and best line of defense against temptation.

The second thing we can do to protect ourselves against temptation is to read and memorize Holy Scripture. Three times the devil tempted Jesus, and three times he responded by quoting from the Old Testament. When tempted to turn stones into bread, he remembered that human beings do not live by bread alone (Deut. 8:3). When tempted to worship the devil and receive all the kingdoms of the world, he remembered that we are commanded to worship God alone (Deut. 6:13). When tempted to perform a miraculous sign and have angels rescue him, he remembered that we are not to test God (Deut. 6:16). Jesus was saturated in Scripture. He had memorized it, and even more importantly, he had lived it until it had become a part of his whole being. [4]

Third thing we can do is center our days and weeks in worship. Scripture assures us that Jesus was in the habit of worship. He worshiped in the Temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52; Matthew, 21:12; Luke 21:37; John 2:13-22). He worshiped in the synagogue of his hometown (Luke 4:16). In Acts, we are told that the early disciples continued the practice of worship in the temple, in synagogues, and in homes. [5] The apostle Paul was accustomed to worshiping in local synagogues. [6] Public, communal worship is a time of fellowship, of song, of learning, of prayer, and of strengthening so that we can meet the pressures of life. We should not develop the habit of skipping church and find other times to worship in our homes and in special times of retreat.

A Way of Life that Ends in Eternal Life

 I almost entitled this blog “Sacramental Living.” Our text today begins just after Jesus institutes the first sacrament, baptism. In baptism, we remember the mystery of the new life we have in Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit we receive because of our faith in Christ. Our lives should be a constant act of worship, not just on Sunday morning, but every day (Romans 12:1-4).

This Sunday in our church, we  celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted a second mystery by which we celebrate his continuing presence with us by the power of the Holy Spirit. In a way, the Christian life should be lived from mystery (Baptism) to mystery (the Lord’s Supper), to mystery (eternal life)

As we gather around the Lord’s Table to have our faith fed, as we pray together, as we sing together, as we hear the word together, and as we share our lives together, we are gathered into the mystery of God. This mystery feeds our faith and endows us with the courage and fortitude to continue to walk the way of Jesus. It is a way that does not end with a tomb, but in the glorious light of eternal life.

When Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced the gallows, he said to those who would kill him, “This is the end–for me, the beginning of life.” [7] The way of resisting temptation is not always easy; however, it is the way to life.

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Jerry Shirley, The Gospel of Jesus: Swordfight in the Desert (Grace Baptist Church, March 2006). I have changed the story, but the inspiration for the story was this sermon.

[2] Lex Loizides, “Augustine’s wayward prayer!” at www.lexloiz.wordpress.com (October 15, 2008). The actual quote from the Confessions is “Make me chaste but not yet.” Augustine led a promiscuous,pagan life before his conversion. He had a mistress by whom he had a child. His mistress became a Christian before his conversion. The Son died at the age of sixteen after himself being converted.

[3] Bewitched, created by Sol Saks, starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York and Dick Sargent, and Agnes Morehead (1964-1972). More recently, a movie was made from the television show. Nora Epron, et all, wr, Bewitched dir. Nora Ephron, starring, Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley McLaine (2005).

[4] In the book, Path of Life: The Way of Light and Love (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014) and in a book on discipleship I am writing, I emphasize the notion of tacit understanding and indwelling practical knowledge in daily life, in the search for wisdom and in the life of a disciple. I am, of course, indebted to Michael Polanyi for this concept, which he outlines in many of his works. See for example, Tacit Understanding (Glouchester, MA: Peter Smith, 1983). The life of a disciple is one of constantly indwelling the story of Christ until one  becomes like Jesus.

[5] See, Acts 2:45; 2:46; 3:1; 3:11; 5:12; 5:42; 6:9; 6:42; 9:20; 9:11; 9:36-4; 10:1-8; 12:12; 13:14-15; 14:1; 17:1; 17:10; 18:4; 18:19; 18:26; 19:8; 20:17.

[6] Id.

[7] History.Com, April 8, 1945:www.history.com/this-day-in-history/defiant-theologian-dietrich-bonhoeffer-is-hanged (Downloaded October 29, 2015). One might see in Bonhoeffer’s resistance to Hitler and refusal to stay in the United States near the beginning of World War II and teach at Union Theological Seminary in New York a resistance to temptation that ended in a kind of sacramental life lived in service to his fellow Germans. For Bonhoeffer, the temptation was to put his safety and career above what God called him to do.

Jason Brown, a 29-year-old center for the St. Louis Rams, had a five-year, $37 million contract to play football. At one point, he decided that playing football was not giving meaning to his life. He resigned and gave up the balance of his contract. His agent told him he was making the biggest mistake of his life. Brown disagreed. He bought 1000 acres in North Carolina and is now a farmer. He believes that God has called him to be a farmer, and gives the first fruits of what he produces to the poor. The sacrifice he made financially is somewhere around $12 million. [1]

It was interesting to read the article and the comments that were posted. Some people felt Brown made a mistake. In their mind, he could have given away 10 percent or more of $12 million and helped a lot of people. On the other hand, a good number of people agreed with Brown’s decision. Many of them focused on the lifestyle of an NFL football player and lifestyle of a farmer, who can be closer to his family and children. In fact, spending time with his family, was one of the reasons Brown made his decision. Very few people focused on the fact that Brown felt called to change his lifestyle and be generous to the poor.

Over the years, I’ve listened to thirty or so stewardship sermons, and I’ve preached about twenty-five or thirty such sermons over the years. From being a layman, I think I know how difficult it is to listen to stewardship sermons, and I know how difficult it is to preach them from being a pastor. Nevertheless, we do need to talk about money and stewardship, because the financial decisions we make are also spiritual decisions. Money is not all there is to the spiritual life, but it is an important part of growing as a disciple. The spiritual gift of generosity is a gift God wants us all to have.

Paul’s Teachings on Stewardship

Around the middle of the First Century, there was a famine in Israel. The Jewish people, and especially Christians, fell into poverty. The Apostle Paul decided to take up an offering to be given to the church in Jerusalem. Therefore, he began raising the money among the churches of Greece. [2] Paul put Titus, a trusted associate, in charge (2 Corinthians 8:6, 16-17). He also associated with Titus and unnamed brother who was respected by all the churches (v. 18). Paul desired for the church in Corinth to support this offering. He therefore devoted a portion of the letter we call “Second Corinthians” to encouraging the Corinthians in developing the grace of generosity. Our text today comes from Second Corinthians Chapter Nine, verses 6-15.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;

their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:6-15).

Let us pray: Generous God: You sent us your Only Begotten Son, though he was rich, dwelling in truth and love as part of the Holy Trinity. He came and dwelt among us that we might see in this act of generosity what it means to be truly and fully human. Come now and fill us with your spirit so that we might become a fully human, generous people. Amen.

A Generous Fellowship

From the very beginning, the Christian church has been characterized by a supernatural generosity. Here is how the early church is described in Acts:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

Although scholars not are in agreement, it’s a mistake to see in these verses, and similar descriptions and acts, a kind of communism. [3] It is evident from the book of Acts that people who were able sold some of their property in order to help the poor and needy (Acts 2:43). However, it is equally evident both from the New Testament and from other sources that the early church was a generous church. The generosity of the early church was not a natural generosity, but his supernatural generosity. The generosity described in Acts is a generosity born of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This kind of generosity does not spring from any human source; it springs from the love and grace of God.

The generosity of the early church was so different from the generosity evident in the Roman world generally that people took notice. Even during times when Christians were being persecuted, the people of the Roman Empire saw Christians carrying for the homeless, the poor, those in need, orphans, the sick, and others. In our own day and time, one of the greatest witnesses the church can give to the Grace of God is to receive the grace of generosity among ourselves and show our culture a better way of life.

The World’s Needs

As I mentioned earlier, Paul’s collection for the church at Jerusalem resulted from a terrible famine that engulfed Palestine somewhere in the middle of the First Century. We can only imagine that the apostle, being a Jew and having friends in Jerusalem, was concerned for the people of Jerusalem and the Christians who remained there. Because of the persecutions that had scattered the early church, it is likely that many of the Christians living in Jerusalem who had financial resources had earlier left for greener pastures. Therefore, the need was great.

My parents grew up in the Great Depression. Kathy’s parents also grew up in the Great Depression. We cannot remember a time of hunger, but our parents and grandparents could remember such a time. Most of us, however, remember the downturn of 2008, what is sometimes called the “Great Recession.” There is nothing more unnerving to parents, those who are responsible for the livelihood of other people, and those jobs are in danger, the elderly, and others, than an economic downturn. Almost every week, we have to help someone in our community who is in economic distress.

Economic suffering is not the only kind of suffering with which Christians are concerned. We live in a world with economic needs. However, in our nation need is more likely to be the result of a pervasive sense of meaninglessness, loneliness, and isolation. Many people in our society lack a loving and supporting fellowship they can rely upon for spiritual and emotional support in time of need. Many people in our society grow up in homes where they were deprived of love and care, and they reach adulthood with deep needs. All human beings, whatever kind of home we grew up in, need that fellowship that we call the household of God, or the family of God, or the church. The need today may be different than the need of the first century, but need exists.

The Grace of Giving

As Paul confronted the need to raise money for the church in Jerusalem, he faced the same quandary pastors face on Stewardship Sundays: He needs to raise funds, but he does not want to undermine the Gospel in doing so. [4] In chapter 8, Paul tells the Corinthians that, “… just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (8:7). Paul teaches the Corinthians that they should not give reluctantly or under compulsion but freely and cheerfully because of the grace of generosity welling up inside of them (9:7). As important as the offering was for Jerusalem, and as important as stewardship is for our church, there is something more important: We must not allow giving to become a matter of law or of compulsion.

God desires that our giving be the result of what God is doing in us by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. This is why Paul goes on to say that God is able to make all grace abound so that the Corinthians have all that they need (v. 8). Notice that Paul doesn’t say that if you give you’ll get rich. He simply says that we will have what we need to continue to be generous (v. 8). In addition, he goes on to say that God who supplies the seed will provide a harvest of righteousness. In other words, the most important results of our giving are not financial—they are spiritual and moral.

Let’s face it: most of us are not going to get rich. There is no magic formula I can give you that provides that you will always be blessed financially because you given generously. If there were such a formula, we would not need a Stewardship Sunday. Even non-Christians would be giving so generously that all needs would be met if it were true that every time we give we received back in material possessions what we gave.

Hearts Restored by Generosity

What we receive as we experience generosity is a spiritual restoration of our souls. This is why Paul says that we will be made rich in every way (v. 11). “Richness in every way” means being emotionally rich and spiritually rich, as well as having our physical needs met. I just wrote the article for our church newsletter this week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There is something about sitting around the dining room table on Thanksgiving and remembering not just the thanksgivings of my lifetime but the Thanksgiving of my parent’s lifetimes, and my grandparent’s lifetimes, and my great-grandparents lifetimes, and on and on that helps me to remember the goodness of God. The goodness of God, and the faithfulness of God, is evident not just in one life, or the life of one family, but in the life of God’s people as a whole.

This week we were talking about the Garden of Eden and the Fall in one of our classes. One result of the Fall is that we human beings no longer natively trust God and accept what God gives us without fear. Financially, this means we are inclined to grasp and grab all that we can so that we can experience security separate from God. It is, of course, impossible. [5] One reason there is so much anxiety in our culture is that we have taken responsibility upon ourselves to secure a future that is in the hands of God.

When we develop the virtue of generosity, when the Holy Spirit fills us in such a way that we become generous, we are restored spiritually. We become a thankful people, able to trust God for our future and for the future of our families. As we let go and let God in this very important part of our lives, we experience a restoration of our hearts. Our grasping, fearful, anxious human hearts are filled with the love of the God who loved us enough to send his son to save us.

Jason Brown, the ex-football player, probably knows something Paul knew: If a farmer does not sow any seeds, or if a farmer does not sow enough seed, there is a small harvest. There is a correlation between what is sowed and what is reaped. This principle of physical farming is also a principle of the spiritual life: The one who sows generously reaps generously.

One things Jason Brown did learn as a result of his experience in becoming a farmer is that, as he plants the seeds of a future harvest, he stands almost helpless until the plants sprout from the ground. He says that when you see seeds pop out of the ground, it is the most beautiful thing you could ever see. [6] This is also true of the spiritual life. When you see a heart changed, when you see heart filled with the love of God sharing generously, you see one of the most beautiful things you could ever see.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Steve Hartman, “Why a Star Football Player Traded and NFL Career for a Tractor” (CBS News online, December 26, 2014). There have been several articles about this decision Brown made. This story was brought to my attention by Cindy Schwartz of our staff.

[2] David E. Garland, “2 Corinthians” in The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadmans, 1999), 363-415. Much of the historical detail comes from this commentary.

[3] Calvin, who is always alert to what he calls “fantastical” interpretations, believed that the love of the early church was so great that those who had means sold some of what they had to meet the needs of the poor. John Calvin, “Commentary on Acts” in Calvin’s Commentaries Vol. XVIII (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 1993), 130. I agree.

[4] If one reads chapter 8-9 closely, you can see that Paul does not want to force the Corinthians to give or undermine the role of Grace in the Christian life. He restates this several times. He constantly moves from urging that they support the offering to reminding them that it is a matter of grace what they give.

[5] The parable of the rich man, who builds many barns in anticipation of retirement only to die on the night of his retirement, reflects the understanding of wisdom that there is no security outside of God (see Luke 12:13-21).

[6] See Note 1 above. Jason says, “When you see them pop up out of the ground, man, it’s the most beautiful thing you could ever see.”

 

Just before the Second World War, a young German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, published a book, “The Cost of Discipleship.” [1] At the very beginning, Bonhoeffer stated his thesis in a way that was prophetic as to his own life and as the the course of 20^th Century discipleship. “Cheap Grace,” he says, “is the deadly enemy of our Church.” [2] Bonhoeffer went on to compare “Cheap Grace” with “Costly Grace.” Costly Grace is that grace which Christ speaks of when he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Bonhoeffer took up his own cross and followed Jesus to martyrdom near the end of the war.

Bonhoeffer’s book has become famous. Like many famous books, it often spoken of, a few of its most famous quotes find their way into sermons and religious books, but Cost of Discipleship is seldom read and even more seldom followed. Part of the problem is that the book was written in German, and German is a hard language to translate into English, especially for the modern reader that prefers short sentences and simple words. The book is not easy to read or digest. Part of the problem is its message and the message of Bonhoeffer’s life. In a culture addicted to “Cheap Grace” easy religion, Cost of Discipleship is very hard to read. An honest reader stands condemned in almost every word. This summer, I read the entire book again and found it as difficult and challenging as when I first read it in college more years ago than I like to admit.

If in Bonhoeffer’s day there was a crisis of discipleship, and “cheap grace” was a problem for the church, the problem is exponentially greater today in the Post-Modern, Western world. Today, the church faces a crisis of discipleship which would have been unimaginable to Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer lived at the end of an era. In Europe, Christendom was fading, but not dead. Today, we live in a truly post-Christian world. Both Europe and America are deeply troubled. We call the culture “Postmodern” because we know what scholars call “Enlightenment Modernity” is over. However, what we experience in the West today is the dying remnants of an age that has come to a the end of its capacity to give meaning and purpose to life.

This is not the first time the West has been at such a point. When St. Augustine wrote “City of God” the ancient world had come to the end of its capacity to give meaning and purpose to life. Rome was decaying. In fact, as the old Augustine wrote City of God, the barbarians were sacking Rome. Augustine did not save Rome. He laid the foundations of the renewal of Western Culture. Men and women built on those foundations a society of great wisdom, beauty, and power.

The radical individualism of Western Culture has created a culture in which everyone and anyone decides for him or herself what they will believe and not believe. [3] In such a culture, it is not surprising that a good many people deny by word or deed those parts of the Gospel which they find difficult to obey or hard to understand. The tremendous growth of media ministries has not helped the problem. When there is a lot of money to be made watering down the Gospel, it is not surprising that some people do. Further, it is in the nature of discipleship that it cannot be accomplished sitting on a couch listening to a televangelist. One must get up and follow Jesus.

Jesus gave the Church a commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, emphasis added). Making disciples is God’s supreme goal Christ has set for his believers and for his church. Making disciples involves being a good disciple yourself, going to where people are, helping them enter the fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them the things of God, and helping them live a life pleasing to God. Discipleship is not something for a few incredibly dedicated believers. It is for every Christian. We are all called to be disciples and go and make disciples.

Every so often something happens that reenforces the point that we live in a dark time. This week began with my being confronted with the darkness that infects and harms so many lives. We live in a time in which our nation is experiencing a kind of moral, intellectual, and practical darkness unlike anything we have ever experienced. I began this blog a while ago to celebrate the belief that in following the God of Light and Love we find wisdom for living and a community of love and grace within which to grow in the likeness of God. However, what may be said in a blog touches only a few. The darkness will lift if and when innumerable unnamed and unheralded Christians live lives of simple wisdom and love, shining like a light into the gathering darkness.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship Rev. Ed. (New York, NY: Collier Books, 1963).

[2] Id, at 45.

[3] See, Peter Berger, The Heretical Imperative (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1979).

We have a lady’s book club that meets in our church. Some years ago, they asked me for a suggestion concerning what book they should study. I recommended a novel called The Lamb’s War by Jean de Hartog. [1] When I was a new Christian, this book had a profound influence upon my Christian pilgrimage. The book tells the story of the Dutch girl, Laura Martens. Her father, a Quaker, became an adversary of the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp in Holland, where they lived during the Second World War. One day, Laura came to the camp seeking out her father. The Commandant tied her to a radiator and physically abused her in front of her father. The father was then killed. Deeply traumatized, Laura became the unwitting mistress of a German doctor.

When the camp was liberated, Laura was in danger. In particular, so far as the other residents of the camp were concerned, Laura was a collaborator with the hated Germans. Eventually, she was stripped, tarred, and beaten. She was left an even greater emotional wreck than before. Fortunately, a young American, Boniface Baker, who was also a Quaker, had befriended Laura. The story is about their relationship, and her subsequent life from the Second World War until Laura’s death many years later as a mission doctor in Africa

The book is about salvation and healing. It is also starkly realistic: for many, there are limits to the healing we experience in this life. Laura never fully recovered emotionally from her experiences during the war. She became a very difficult person.

It’s been more than 30 years since I read The Lambs War, but it continues to impact my life and ministry today. To her campmates, Laura was a collaborator, and no one likes a collaborator. Yet, Laura had a story that very few people knew, including her fellow prisoners who saw her only as the mistress of Nazi war criminal. Readers, of course, know the whole story; and therefore can have compassion on Laura. Laura was a broken person fighting the Lamb’s War—the the War of the Lamb of God, Jesus, in a harsh and difficult world. [2] Life is often much like this.

The story of Zacheaus

Our text is from Luke chapter 19, verses one through 10. It is a familiar story, one many of us have known since we were children. Here the word of God as it comes to us today from Luke, the traveling companion of the apostle Paul.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:1-10).

Lord God: When you came to live among us, you were an outsider. We did not recognize you. We rejected you. Finally, we allowed you to die for our sins. Come so our hearts with your spirit that we might share the love you have for the world. In Jesus name Amen

Zacheaus the Outsider

There is a similarity between the story of Laura Martens and the story of Zacchaeus. Laura was an outsider because she was seen as a collaborator with the hated Germans. Zacchaeus was also hated because he was seen as a collaborator with the hated Romans. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews. Under Roman law, a tax collector was responsible to forward a set amount to Rome. Anything he collected in excess of that amount, he was free to keep. Therefore, a tax collector could become an extremely wealthy person. [3] Nowhere in the Roman Empire were tax collectors loved. Palestine was no exception. However, the fierce nationalism of the Jews made tax collectors especially hated. [4]

I have called Zacchaeus an “outsider” because he stood outside the socially acceptable occupations and behaviors of his society. In every culture, there are outsiders. In some cultures, it is demeaning to engage in certain business activities. For example, the ancient Jews were shepherds. The Egyptians detested shepherds because they smelled like sheep. No good Egyptian wanted to be a shepherd. One reason why it was possible for the Egyptians to treat the Jews so badly was that they practiced an occupation that the Egyptians despised.

We would like to think that we live in enlightened times, and that we are beyond persecuting those were different or outsiders. However, it’s not true. All cultures have norms that children learn from the time they are her a born. Our culture is no exception. Subconsciously, we all shy away from relationships with people who we feel to be dangerous or different in an unhealthy way. Last weekend, I had to travel. Airports are places where we have to rub elbows with people who are very different than we are. Most of the time, I don’t pay much attention to coupon passing as I hurry through the halls of a busy airport. Saturday, I was walking from my gate to the car when I passed two women wearing Afghani Burka’s. I hardly noticed anyone as I walked down the airport corridor trying to get home as fast as I could; but, I noticed those two women immediately and wondered what they were doing. I had no reason except that they were different and come from the nation I regard as threatening.

Jesus Welcomes Outsiders

Jericho was one of the wealthiest and most important cities in the ancient world. It sits near the Jordan River. There is abundant water and the land is fertile. Today, the city is not so lovely as it once was. In the ancient world and was known for its beauty. It had famous groves of fragrant Balsam trees. Just as ancient Babylon was known for its Hanging Gardens, ancient Jericho was also known for its lovely rose gardens. It is said that the Balsam Groves and the rose gardens perfumed the air for miles around. As a visitor entered the lovely city, he or she was surrounded by lovely trees, lovely buildings, lovely gardens, and a lovely fragrance.

Zacchaeus, the tax collector, wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to know more about this Rabbi about which he had heard. Perhaps, he had heard that one of his disciples, Levi or “Matthew” as we know him, was a tax collector. As an outcast, Zacchaeus wanted to see this Rabbi who might even welcome him and seemed to love sinners.

Unfortunately, Zacchaeus had two problems: He was short and people hated him. When he arrived at the city gates to see Jesus, he could not see the road. He would have to stand in the front row near the road to see Jesus. However, the people of Jericho hated Zacchaeus. Therefore, no one moved over so that Zacchaeus could see Jesus enter the city and judge for himself what kind of a person Jesus was. In fact, scholars believe that people probably hit Zacchaeus from behind and pushed back against him, just to prevent him from being able to see. Like tarring and feathering the body of a young girl, this was a way to see that a hated collaborator got exactly what he deserved.

Unable to get to the front row near the road where he could see Jesus, Zacchaeus did the next best thing: He found a sycamore-fig tree (Luke 19:4). Sycamore-fig trees are relatively short. They have low lying limbs and are easy to climb. Zacchaeus would have no trouble climbing such a tree, so he did. Just about this time, Jesus passed by. We are told that Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (19:5). Zacchaeus came down and welcomed Jesus into his home (v. 6). Jesus was not afraid to be seen with the outsider. Jesus was not afraid to have fellowship with a man no one else liked or respected. Jesus was pure—purer than any of us—but he was not afraid to be in contact with those less pure. Not everyone was so generous or open-minded. In fact, we are told that the majority of the people looking at what was happening were upset! (v. 7). They could not believe that a rabbi, a man of God, would be the guest of a tax collector and collaborator with the Romans.

This is, perhaps, a part of the story 21st-century Christians have a hard time understanding. In the ancient Middle East, and even in the Middle East today, hospitality is an important virtue. However, like all virtues, it was to be practiced at the right place and the right time. In Jesus’s culture, when a person accepted hospitality from another, he became indebted to that person. Table fellowship implied a relationship which could not easily be broken and created a reciprocal obligation. [5] For Jesus to accept the hospitality Zacchaeus, was for Jesus to in some way become indebted to Zacchaeus, to owe him hospitality in return and tacitly to approve of Zacchaeus in some way. As a rabbi, as a leader of the people, and as a devout Jew, Jesus should not accept the hospitality of a sinner, a tax collector, a collaborator, an exploiter, an evil man. Nevertheless, Jesus did.

We live in a different world, and in some ways it is easier socially for us to reach out our own comfort zone and have fellowship with those who are outsiders. However, at the deepest level, we are no different than the ancient Jews. We find a difficult to make friendships with those who come from other nations, some of whom we secretly fear. We find it difficult to have social relationships with people who are of a different race, a different culture, a different religion, a different social background. It doesn’t have to be the case that we perceive people as dangerous to have difficulty accepting them. It is interesting that our text notes that Zacchaeus was rich, as if his wealth was also a barrier to him having relationships with his fellow residents of Jericho. We can be prejudiced against those who we feel have accomplished more than we have accomplished or have more money than we have just as easily as we can be prejudiced against those who we perceive as immoral or dangerous.

Jesus was not Afraid

Jesus showed us a different and better way. I mentioned my experience in an airport terminal for a reason. Why did I notice two women dressed in Burka’s and no one else on the long walk from the last gate to the parking garage? Was it simply because they were different? Or, was it because I was afraid? When people belong to a race or religion or creed that has threatened or harmed us or our nation or our loved ones, we are afraid. When people are different, we are also naturally afraid. This is part of human nature. It was true in the ancient world; and it is true today. Subconsciously, we all fear or suspect those who are different from us. We also sometimes fear and/or resist relationships with those who we feel inferior to or whom we find challenging.

Jesus did not fear or shy away from those who were different. He was not afraid of the outsider. In fact, he viewed Zacchaeus as an outsider who needed to become an insider. Jesus viewed Zacchaeus as a person outside of the kingdom of God, outside of the People of God, outside of the church of God, who needed to be inside. Jesus also knew that the surest way to bring Zacchaeus from the outside to the inside was too become his friend. Therefore, Jesus accepted an offer of hospitality – in fact he created an opportunity for hospitality – and developed a relationship with Zacchaeus.

We live in a culture in which many people are afraid of the church. They may never have been inside a church building. In some cases, they been inside a church building but the experience was not favorable. Such people have little or no understanding of Christians or Christianity. To such people, we can seem a bit dangerous.

Years ago, in Houston, I had to go to a prominent black church and make a small presentation. In order to attend this church, I had to drive through an area of Houston I normally would not have entered. When I got to the church, it’s customs and style of worship were very different than I was accustomed to. Although when I left the church I felt welcome, when I entered the church everyone looked at me because I was the only person in the church wearing a three-piece suit, a white oxford shirt, and a Brooks Brothers tie. My discomfort didn’t last long because the pastor and elders of the church almost immediately recognized who I was and why I was there. They came, welcomed me, and took me to where I should sit. They talked with me, and pretty soon I felt at home.

Christians are now often seen as different and perhaps dangerous. If we do not reach out and give hospitality to strangers, strangers are very unlikely to reach out and seek hospitality with us. This is not the first sermon over the last few years on the subject matter of hospitality at Advent. This is not the first sermon about reaching out to those who are different. I think, perhaps, the reason this sermon was placed in this series was to remind us to take seriously the call of Christ to go to the outsider and invite the outsider inside so that the outsider can become a Christian and be a disciple of Jesus and experience the joys of being inside the kingdom of God.

The Outsider Becomes an Insider

Zacchaeus, touched by Jesus’s warmth and friendship, had a change of heart. This man who was known for his greed and his grasping looked at the crowd and said to them, “Look, Lord here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:8). Then, Jesus looked at Zacchaeus, and said “Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (v. 9). And then, I think, Jesus continued on, after glancing at the crowd to be sure they were listening, and said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save what is lost” (v. 10).

God saved us when we were outsiders. He asks us to go into our world and there to invite outsiders to come in and be a part of the family of God. Sometimes, it’s not easy or comfortable. This may not always be true, but in my experience it’s always been true: There is no joy quite as great as as welcoming an outsider into the Kingdom of God.

It’s almost winter. When it’s cold, and when the wind is biting, there is that moment when we opened the door and welcome a friend inside. As they passed the threshold of the door and clap their hands together, they almost always smile and say, “It’s great to be inside.”

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Jan de Hartog, The Lamb’s War (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1980). Hartog eventually moved to the United States. While living in Houston, Texas, he wrote a book, “The Hospital” that became a well known critique of the state of indigent care in Houston and provoked many changes. He was a Quaker by the end of his life.  He died in Houston a few years ago.

[2] The Quakers have an entire theology of peace which they sometimes call by the name, “The Lamb’s War.”

[3] Ronald F. Youngblood, ed., “Tax Collector” in The New Illustrated Bible Dictionary Rev. Ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1883), 1227-1228.

[4] See, William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke in “The Daily Bible Study Series Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: 1975), 233ff. The historical narrative is based upon his commentary.

[5] This is at root why it was difficult for Peter to imagine that he should have table fellowship with Gentiles and why he and Paul had an argument in Galatia. See Galatians 2:11-14).

August 6^th of this year the New York Times published an editorial that caused quite a stir. Howard Shultz, the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times entitled, “America Deserves a Servant Leader.” [1] I recommend the entire article, but just want to read a quote from the beginning:

“From the earliest days of Starbucks, I’ve been captivated by the art of leadership. I was mentored over three decades by Warren Bennis, the eminent professor and scholar on leadership. I’ve gathered insights from peers, and I’ve drawn inspiration from our 300,000 employees. But nothing I’ve read or heard in the past few years has rivaled the power of the image I viewed on my cellphone a few years ago: Pope Francis, shortly after his election, kneeling and washing the feet of a dozen prisoners in Rome, one of them a young Muslim woman, in a pre-Easter ritual.”

Shultz went on to reflect on the poor current state of leadership in America, and especially on the poor political leadership we are receiving from both parties. People immediately thought Shultz would run for President, but he did not feel the call to do that. He felt called to lead Starbucks.

One negative force impacting America is the loss of confidence in leaders. In fact, there is an overwhelming sense that the majority of our political leadership of each party is in some way incompetent or corrupt. Our business leaders are not held in any better esteem. The well-known events of the collapse of the mortgage back security industry and the lack of accountability in the banking community has left a generation of young people alienated from business. Even the church is suspect, primarily because of a few well-known incidents involving celebrity preachers. The result is a lack of confidence in almost all sources of leadership for our nation: Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, government, academia, business, the media, and even non profits and the church. [2]

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

What are we do do? First and foremost, we should look to Jesus and to the leadership of the People of God. Our text this morning is from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, beginning with verse 1:

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.    He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:1-17).

 Let us pray: God of Love, who served us at our greatest point of need, our need for your grace, come and illumine our darkened hearts  so that we may be transformed into the form of the one who came to save us and show us the Way everlasting. Amen.

Jesus: Our Ultimate Leadership Role Model

Our text is from the end of Jesus’ active ministry. In the Upper Room, Jesus came to the end of his last week of life on this earth. His public ministry of teaching and healing was complete.  Jesus would now do the one, last great work for which he came. Knowing that his time with the disciples was short, Jesus arranged to have one last meal with them before the Passover Celebration during which he was to die. During this meal, he demonstrated to them what true leadership will be like in his church by washing everyone’s feet.

In the ancient world, men and women wore sandals, and roads were primarily dirt paths. As a person walked, and especially as a traveler completed a journey, there was dirt on his or her ankles and feet. It was the custom for homeowners to keep a large pot of water at the front door of a home for the washing of feet. Normally, if available, a servant would do the foot washing. Jesus had no servants. Therefore, it might be expected that one of the Twelve, perhaps John, the youngest, would wash the feet of the disciples on this night of the Passover Meal. But, not one of the disciples, not even the youngest, was willing to undertake the menial task. [3]

Seeing that no one else was willing wash his feet and the feet of the other disciples, Jesus striped off his outer clothing, bound his loins like a common servant, and began to wash their feet. The disciples could not have missed the meaning of this event: Of all those present, Jesus was the last person who should have performed the task. He was an adult male – not a child. He was a Rabbi – and Rabbi’s were hesitant to be seen less than fully clothed. He was the leader of the group, and as the leader one would expect that he should have had his feet washed, not be the one to wash the feet of the others. Nevertheless, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

Peter, who had probably not undertaken the task himself because he was the “leader of the Twelve” and “the Rock” upon which Jesus was to build the Church, attempted to stop Jesus, but it was too late (see, Matthew 16:18; John 13:6-9). Jesus had already determined to wash the feet of the disciples and teach them a lesson in humility. It is as if Jesus was saying, “If you want to be one of my followers, you must be willing to serve one another just like this.” Just to be sure that the disciples got the point, he taught them saying:

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (John 13:12-17).

In Jesus’ new paradigm of leadership, servanthood is primary, for it is in serving one another that we fulfill the commandment to “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). [4]

The Perennial Lack of Servant Leaders

We often talk about the lack of servant leaders today, as if there were a time in human history when people were naturally inclined to serve one another. The Gospels argue against such an interpretation. In Matthew and Mark, a story is told of the ambition of James and John to sit on the right and left of Jesus (Matt, 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34). In Luke, the story is of the jockeying of the disciples for preeminence. [5] Jesus warned his disciples that among the Gentiles (that is us) leaders are to be known by their position, power, and right to use the executive jet and have the best offices. In the Kingdom of Heaven, leaders are known by humble service.

The world has always lacked humble servant leaders. In the West and in the East, leaders have usurped power and served their own ambition. [6] That is human nature. In our own day and time, we have seen the great need that exists for leaders that put the interests of others above themselves. But, we cannot expect our leaders to put our interests above theirs if we are unwilling to serve the needs of our friends and neighbors. That is why, as Jesus knew, the solution to the deep problem of human pride and ambition is humble service.

This is why the Christians and the Church are so crucial: Without the example of Jesus and the Church, there is little basis in our society for anyone to engage in servant leadership. Jesus invented Servant Leadership. Before Jesus and the growth of the Christian religion, the world had not almost no idea of servant leadership. There was no example of what servant leadership might look like. It is not surprising that in Post-Christian America our leaders are seldom, if ever, servant leaders. If power is all there is, servant leadership makes little sense. [7]

Requirements for True Servanthood

How can we develop servant leaders at Advent, in our community, and in our nation?

1. First, Servant Leadership begins with Caring Deeply for People. Scripture tell us that we should “serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). No one will ever serve another person until they unconditionally care about them. We will never serve another person; really serve them, until their needs are just as important to us as are our own. Love is sacrificing what I want for the benefit of another person because that other person is important to me. Servanthood begins with love, because love is what draws me out of my selfish self-centeredness.
2. Second, Servant Leadership requires the Humility to Serve Others. Jesus says, “a servant is not greater than his or her master” (John 13:16). We will never serve one another until we have the servant “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). The reason no disciple washed the feet of the others was because each felt that someone else should undertake this menial task. Hey all lacked humility. It is humility that teaches us that we are all human, all made of the dust of the earth, and in the eyes of God, no one of us is better than another.
3. Third, Servant Leadership requires Commitment. Jesus was willing to pay the cost of loving his disciples and us. He was willing to serve, to do menial tasks, ultimately to go to the Cross. We won’t be humble servants of one another until we are so committed to another person, to our children, our spouse, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, our fellow Christians, our community and nation, that we are willing to pay the cost in time, in energy, in self-denial in order to meet their needs. [8]

The Church as a Source of Servant Leadership

More than thirty years ago, Robert K. Greenleaf published the most important book in leadership written in the 20^th Century, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. [9] Greenleaf anticipated our current crisis and understood that people are starved for a deeper sense of relationship and community, and that a servant-oriented leaders are essential. [10] Greenleaf also emphasized the importance of the church and religious institutions in creating servant leaders. If the Church does not engage our culture and train up the next generation of servant leaders, it is hard to believe that any other institution or group will.

Earlier this year, our church had a “leadership summit”. No institution, not even a church, can grow and prosper beyond their servant leadership capacity. This is, at root, the problem our nation faces. What we want to do over the next few years is to train more leaders—and not just any kind of leader. We want to train servant leaders. As our church and other churches train servant leaders for our homes and congregations, everywhere our members work, play, or serve will be inevitably changed.

There is no quick fix for the lack of servant leaders in our society. In fact, the problem may well grow worse if there is no spiritual and moral renewal of our culture. A culture mad about power, influence, affluence, and the search for personal pleasure is not fertile ground for the growth of servant leaders. Nor is such a culture likely to take seriously concern for the poor, the middle class, or those who have little political or economic power. Only those who follow the God who loves the poor, cares for families, lifts up the powerless, and gives grace to the humble, only the kind of God who would die on a cross, can create the kind of servant leaders we need.

The exclusion of Christianity and faith from business, politics, government, and the rest of the “public square,” and the relentless attempt to exclude Christian values from public debate, is a great mistake. It cuts our culture off from one of the most potent sources of respect for truth, of respect for people, of a love of beauty and goodness. A culture that cuts itself off from the spiritual values that give rise to servant leaders cannot expect them to grow in the dry and arid spiritual soil such a culture inevitably creates.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Howard Schultz, America Deserves a Servant Leader” in New Your Times, August 6, 2015.

[2] See Gallup Pole, “Lack of Confidence in System” (June 2-7, 2015).

[3] See, Charles Barclay, “The Gospel of John” in The Daily Bible Study Series Vol. 2. Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1975):138-139.

[4] See also, John 13:34; 14:15; 15:17.

[5] The story is told in approximately the same way in Mark 10:35-45 and in Matthew 20:20-28. In Luke, the story is told in form of a dispute among the disciples. Luke puts the point in these words: “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-26).

[6] Exhortations to servant leadership and avoiding selfish, self-centered, power centered leadership occur in the Tao Te Ching and in the Bible, in the East and in the West, among wise leaders in differing cultures, because all cultures have their Napoleon’s and their Attila the Huns.

[7] It is interesting that Howard Shultz was impacted by the example of Pope Francis. It is only a Christian leader that would have had a foot washing ceremony. Our culture seems to want something it cannot have without Christianity and Christ.

[8] In a book entitled, Centered Living/Centered Leading: The Way of Light and Love Rev. Ed. (Memphis, TN: BookSurge, 2014), I have looked at the commitment of a servant leader through the lens of the Tao.

[9] Greenleaf, Robert K., Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 1977.

[10] See, Greenleaf, “Community: The Lost Knowledge of these Times,” 37-39 and “Servant Leadership in Churches,” 218-248.

When I was in college, a friend of mine gave me a copy of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. [1] It sat, unread, on my bookshelf for three or four years until in a moment of need, it fell off that shelf at my feet. I picked it up, read the book cover-to-cover, and began a spiritual and intellectual pilgrimage towards faith, happiness, community, and all the blessings I now enjoy. It was a gift that changed my life in many, important, wonderful ways. Without that gift, my life might be very different, and a lot less happy.

In this world, there are gifts and then there are gifts. When our children were young, they got a lot of toys at Christmas time. Some of them are still in our attic. Interestingly, they never ask for them, use them, or even mention them unless Kathy or I mention them first. Of all the Christmas gifts I have ever received, I only remember a very few: my first bike, a set of tinker toys, an erector set, etc. On the other hand, there are gifts that you will never forget. Gifts that changed your life, like my copy of Mere Christianity.

Today, we are going to visit about spiritual gifts. Right at the beginning, we need to remember a few facts about Spiritual Gifts. First, they are gifts of God—which means that they are gifts of faith, hope, and love: with the greatest of these being love (1 Corinthians 13). All the gifts of the spirit are gifts by which God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God we proclaim to be perfect, self-giving love, dwells in us so that we may participate in the Love that God Is. Because Spiritual Gifts are gifts of an All Wise All Loving God, they are gifts that we can never forget, and God forbid that we should misuse them.

Growing in Christ

Our text is from Ephesians.  Ephesians has been called the greatest of all of Paul’s letters. In Ephesians, Paul sets out his views concerning both the Supremacy of Christ as the image of the invisible God and the power of Christ to reconcile and unify the world in a reign of peace and unity. In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, Paul sets out what the Christian life should be like in view of all that Christ is and has done. [2]

Paul begins by asking Christians to live worthily of their calling (Ephesians 4:1). He asks Christians to be completely humble, gentle, and forbearing (v. 2). He asks Christians to live in the peace and unity of the Spirit of Christ, because there is one Spirit which the Spirit of the One God revealed by Christ (v. 3-4). Then, Paul says the following:

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. … So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:7, 11-16). [3]

Prayer: God the Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift, please come as we listen to your word and convict us, convert us, and make us wholly Yours. Send your Spirit of Truth upon every one here today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The Giver

I don’t know about you, but Christmas and birthdays become harder and harder as the years go by. Frankly, there is almost nothing I really need that I don’t already possess. (It gets really hard to appreciate the 100^th tie that you don’t need!). It takes a really special person to be a good giver. Kathy is a really good gift giver. This summer, wherever we were, she would be in some shop buying something for someone we know, often a child. Kathy is a good gift giver because she cares about people and wants to give them something they need and will like.

Every gift has a giver, and the best gifts are gifts of God. God is the ultimate giver of gifts.

One of my favorite verses is James 1:17-18: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.” In this passage from James, the Apostle says almost exactly what Paul says in Ephesians: God is a giver of wonderful gifts through the Holy Spirit. All that we are and all that we have are ultimately gifts from God– in some mysterious way even our troubles are gifts from God (James 1:12). God gives us the gift of New Life in Christ and he continues to give gifts to us during our walk of discipleship!

In Ephesians, Paul extends the concept of God as the Great Giver to Christ. When Jesus came among us, when the Word of God (God’s rational presence) became human, Jesus represented the wisdom, love, and power of God on earth. This is supremely shown by his sacrificial death on the cross (Romans 5:8). The act of God offering up himself in human form for a world that rejects love and embraces darkness and violence is a supreme act of love. When Jesus ascended into heaven, this love was still present for us in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who is God and God’s love present with us always until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). Jesus by the Spirit is now the Giver of gifts to God’s people.

Spirit Inspired Gifts

Paul teaches that each one of us, as disciples of Christ, are the recipient of gifts from the Perfect Giver.  One kind of gift we receive are what the New Testament calls “Gifts of the Spirit.” When we open our hearts to God, the Spirit of God operates in a new way in our lives, and that new way results in our having talents, abilities, and gifts that we never possessed before in quite the same way. I have always been able to teach, but when I became a Christian that natural gift took on a new, spiritual dimension.

In Romans, I Corinthians, Ephesians, and I Peter, there are similar but somewhat different lists of gifts that God gives to those who open their hearts to receive them. [4] Today, we are not talking about the lists and the separate gifts so much as we are talking about the gifts as a whole. The specific gifts, such as preaching, teaching, pastoring, prayer, helping, healing, miracles, evangelism, prophesy, wisdom, leadership, administration, and the like are not so important to Paul in Ephesians as it is to make a point: All these gifts are not meant to divide people or create a hierarchy of Christians. The gifts are not meant to induce pride or selfishness, but love and humility.

Growth of the Body

Some gifts are just gifts. They really do not have a purpose. On the other hand, some gifts we give have a definite purpose in mind. If I give Kathy a piece of jewelry, I probably have no purpose other than hoping that she will be happy. If I give Kathy a new financial program to budget with, I probably have some purpose, like getting a better handle on our expenses. God’s gifts are of both kinds. When God gives us spiritual gifts, he both wants us to experience personal joy and he wants us to grow together as a body of believers with each person using their own personal gifts and abilities to make all of our lives better.

God’s gifts have a purpose. The Gifts of the Spirit are designed to allow us to experience joy and blessedness as individuals, as a congregation, and as the church world-wide.  The Gifts of the Spirit are gifts of God’s divine wisdom, love and power so that we can grow to maturity both as individuals and as a Christian community. Paul says that these gifts are given to prepare us so that we can mature as individuals and so that the body of Christ can become unified in faith, in knowledge of God, and in maturity. As we experience the gifts, we grow and mature and so does the church. This implies that we cannot really be who God wants us to be, nor can our church be all that God intends it to be, unless we all use our gifts, whatever they may be.

Going back to parenting for a moment, after four children, I  understand that the most difficult gifts for children to learn to use are those that are not the private property of one child, like a doll or a truck, but those that have to be shared. The spiritual gifts are similar. They were not meant to be hogged by one individual or a group of individuals. They were meant to be shared. They were not meant to puff us up or make us proud of who we are and what we can do. They were made to be used in humility to build up the entire Body of Christ. This means that they are sometimes hard to share and use properly.

A Goal of Maturity

One joy of watching children grow up is watching them stop fighting, stop irritating each other, stop fussing, and enjoy one another. Today, when our children are together, they just enjoy being together. (They hardly ever throw food at each other anymore unless they are remembering some funny incident from their childhood!) In other words, they are all grown up. I am sure that many of you have had the same experience.

The Apostle Paul emphasizes that what God has in mind by giving us Spiritual Gifts is reaching spiritual maturity, which God defines as being equipped for sharing our gifts with others (service), unity of faith and community in the body of Christ (love), and deeper knowledge of God (truth). God wants us to experience the kind of unity that happens when everyone is working together without friction and ego battles. God wants us to experience the kind of wisdom that happens when we know Christ not just intellectually but in our hearts. God wants us to share and serve one another, experiencing the same kind of love God has, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Maturity involves a process. First, we accept Christ, what our slide calls “meeting Christ.” This is our moment of faith, when we meet Christ, hear his voice calling, “Come and Follow me,” and then respond.

After we accept, there is a period of during which we follow Christ. We may not be learning much, but at least we follow, attend church, and learn a bit. During this period of time, we may experience times when God answers our prayers and we grow unexpectedly as a result. Our faith may not show much, but it is being strengthened and deepened.

In the next stage, like the disciples, we are learning, watching, and imitating Christ. Now, we are growing as we imitate Christ. It may not take too much for us to backslide, just as Peter does from time to time in the Gospels. Nevertheless we are growing. We begin to imitate Christ. We begin to carry a cross or two voluntarily because we know a friend, fellow church member, or family member needs us. At this stage it may not feel quite right, but we are trying.

From mere imitation, we begin to actually become like Christ. We begin to be transformed into someone we would not have recognized years before. We don’t just act different, we are different. Finally, we serve gladly as little Christ’s in our churches, families, neighborhoods, and communities.

When I was preparing this sermon, I visualized this as a kind of ladder or set of steps. Of course, we are all on more than one step at a time. Sometimes we take steps backwards! However, all of us are somewhere on the path of growing in Christ. Spiritual gifts are a big part of this growing in Christ. That is why it is so important that we use our Spiritual Gifts at every stage of growth.

I am sure that all of us remember childhood fads. When I was in junior high, Indian madras shirts were all the rage. When they were made, they had what we called “fruit loops” on the back, colored pieces of cloth that could be used for hanging them. For a time, it was a fad to tear or snip off those loops. Kids made fun of each other for wearing shirts without the “fruit loop” removed. It was silliness. It was a fad. It was easy to tear a shirt removing the fruit loop.  The only reason we all did this, was because we were immature.

When we begin our Christian walk, we are inevitably immature. We often become faddish, following the latest silly or wrong Christian idea anyone promotes. We are, as Paul says, tossed by the wind of various teachings and fads (Ephesians 4:14). Gradually, ever so gradually, however, we mature and grow. We become more stable. We are not so easily led astray. We are not so vulnerable to bad teachings. We are growing up into Christ, becoming more in tune with what Christ has to say to us in Scripture.

One of our congregation’s hopes for this year, and especially for next year,  is that we begin to move as a church from growing by listening, reading and learning to growing as we put to work in our lives and in the lives of the people we meet and the places we live and work the gifts that God has and will give each one of us.

The copy of Mere Christianity my friend gave me so many years ago is a gift that has never stopped giving not just to me, but to others as well. What ever you have been given by Christ, sharing is the best way to grow and enjoy that gift. Let’s use our gifts!!!

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, NY: McMillan Publishing, 1943, 1945, 1952).

[2] William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians in “The Daily Bible Study Series” (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1958); Archibald M. Hunter, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians in “The Layman’s Bible Commentary” (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1959).

[3] Ephesians 4:8-9, which is not included, contains a quote from Psalms 68:18, which was meaningful for Paul and his readers, but perhaps not as easy for modern people to appreciate. The idea is that Christ, when he ascended into heaven, became the giver of gifts to the people of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit Paul is about to delineate.

[4] See Romans 12:6-8; I Corinthians 12:7-11, 28; Ephesians 4:11; I Peter 4:11. First Peter really just references the gifts, but does not really give us a list.

Have you ever been walking at dusk as darkness closed in and felt the desire to be finished? This summer for four days I walked about 25 miles each day. Each day started further and further away from where we were staying, and each day we ended later and later. There is something about dusk that reminds you how tired you are and how much you wish the journey were over. By the time a hiker reaches the end of the day his or her feet and muscles are tired, and it may seem as if the journey will never end.

Life is sometimes like this. Perhaps we have suffered a shock like losing a job, or being deserted by a partner or spouse, or being diagnosed with a serious disease, or being betrayed by an old friend. Perhaps we have been struggling with a problem for a long, long time and have grown weary of the struggle. We fell as if we have nothing left in life but endless struggle with an insolvable problem. Perhaps we felt that we were making progress in some area of our life, only to discover that we were wrong and are right back where we began. Perhaps we know we are nearing the end of the journey of life and we are tired and sick. At such times we feel as if we are walking into a gathering darkness.

On the Road to Emmaus

The way Luke tells the story of the resurrection the first people to find the empty tomb were the women who followed him. When they arrived early in the morning, they found the stone that covered his grave rolled away, and two angels asking them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) Returning to the Upper Room, the women told the Eleven (Judas being dead) what they had seen (24:9-10). Peter then ran to the tomb and saw it was empty, the grave clothes lying on the burial stone, and no body. He was confused and did not know what to think (24:11).

Later on that day, two disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village seven  miles from Jerusalem. They were very obviously confused, sad, and depressed about the death of Jesus. We can be sure they were talking about the heartbreaking events of the past few days (24:15). Suddenly a stranger, Jesus, appeared, though they did not recognize him (24:16). Jesus asked them why they were so depressed, and that is where we begin our text:

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”  He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread (Luke 24:17b-35).

Walking towards the Darkness

The Scottish commentator, William Barclay entitled his commentary on this passage, “The Sunset Road that Turned Darkness into Dawn.” [1] His caption is based on the insight that most probably this incident occurred the evening of the day of the resurrection. The two disciples, one we know was named “Cleopus,” were walking home from Jerusalem to Emmaus, near the conclusion of the first Easter Sunday. Almost certainly, they had been in Jerusalem on Good Friday, witnessed the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus, knew of his death, and had heard of the missing body directly from the disciples or the women. Emmaus was West of Jerusalem, so that they would have been walking into the setting sun.

Not only were they physically walking into the sunset, so also they were walking into the sunset of their hopes and dreams. When Jesus questioned them about the discouraged look on their faces, they told him they were followers of Jesus, a mighty preacher and healer. They had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel. They had committed themselves to him, hoping that he would rescue them from the Romans and establish again the kingdom of David, bringing in a time of peace, freedom, prosperity, and plenty. Then, suddenly, over the past few days, their hopes and dreams had been shattered.

As I mentioned before, life is often like this. We begin a job, a relationship, a move, a family, or a time of life filled with hope for the future, but then gradually ever so gradually, life wears us down. People, institutions, bosses, employees, spouses, friends, co-workers let us down or fail to meet our expectations or we simply grow old and weary, losing our enthusiasm and hope for our future. When this happens, we enter a period of going through the motions through the gathering darkness of our lives.

A Word of Hope

As the two discouraged travelers poured out the facts of the day and their discouragement, Jesus listened. Then, he said something I suspect no counselor would have encouraged him to say, “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken!” (24:25). (This is a really bad grief counseling technique.) Jesus went on to explain that all the events of the weekend, the betrayal, arrest, suffering, crucifixion, and death were part of God’s plan. “Did you not know that the Christ would have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (24:26).

Having gotten their attention, we are told Jesus went through the entire Old Testament, from the works of Moses through all the Prophets, explaining to them how the fall of the human race, the unfaithfulness of Israel, the need of a sacrifice for sins, the promise of a true heir to David, the need for a Suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah, all these prophesies and more, were fulfilled by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. You can imagine how encouraging this was to Cleopus and the other disciple, to hear a word of hope from Scripture at a time of suffering—to see in Scripture the promises of God.

There is a verse in Scripture that reads, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). As we shall see in a moment, hearing is not enough to create faith, but without the content of the Gospel and an explanation of who Christ is, it is impossible to come to faith. What Jesus did for the two disciples was to explain to them why it is possible for the Messiah to be the sort of person Jesus was and to experience the suffering and failure Jesus experienced. By the time they arrived at the inn, they were interested enough to ask Jesus to stay and hear more.

Speaking the Word of Christ into the life of another person is a precious and holy opportunity. Last Thursday, a group of local pastors had lunch. One of our members just returned from a deployment as a chaplain in the military. One of the treasures of his time away was the opportunity to share the Word with young men and women, some of whom had never been to church in their lives. We should all try to be prepared for such an opportunity if it comes to us. We all need to know how to share the gospel with others. What we say, our testimony of that God has done in our lives and our understanding of the Good News of Christ cannot of itself save anyone. Only God by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit can change a life. However, we can do our part.

The Moment of Revelation

As the threesome approached the little village of Emmaus, it was getting dark, so the disciples invited the stranger to stay with them and have a meal. Perhaps they merely wanted to hear more. Luke tells us that as they were breaking bread together, the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized the Risen Christ. Just as this occurred, Jesus disappeared from their sight. At that moment, as if a light went on in their minds and hearts, they realized who Jesus was and and the impact he had on them.

When Jesus was physically with us, his call was to come and physically follow him. Those who did not have the kind of faith necessary to leave all and follow him, did not become disciples. When Jesus ascended into heaven, the call of the apostles was to trust, believe in and follow the Risen Christ, becoming a part of the little and sometimes-persecuted fellowship of Christians. After the resurrection, the call is always first to have the kind of faith that experiences and then follows a now invisible Jesus who is present in his people by the power of the Holy Spirit. The faith the disciples needed to follow Jesus was no different than the faith we need to follow Jesus. Faith is the decision of the heart to trust, ask God to come into your heart, and follow Jesus for the rest of your life. Faith is a total commitment in view of what God has spoken into our hearts. [2]

The Response of Faith

Our text tells us that the disciples immediately got up and returned to Jerusalem. This is the equivalent of Matthew’s recounting that the Peter, Andrew, James and John “immediately” followed Jesus (Matthew 4:18). When the arrived, they gave their testimony to the disciples, declaring that Jesus was alive, that what Simon had seen was evidence of the resurrection, and that the women had told the truth. They gave their personal testimony to what had happened to them on the Road to Emmaus and how the recognized him when they sat down to eat together.

Ninety percent of the sermons I have heard on this passage concentrate on the walk to Emmaus and the revelation of Jesus at the breaking of the bread. When we concentrate only on who Jesus is, the moment of revelation and faith, we miss something important: It was late, the disciples were hungry and tired. Nevertheless, when they received the revelation, the two disciples got up, retraced their six to ten mile walk uphill to Jerusalem, found the disciples, and gave them their testimony. They might have said, “This is great news. Jesus is live. We are saved. Let’s go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.” They could have said, “Tomorrow, if we have time, we need to send a message to the Twelve telling them about what we experienced and see what they make of it.” They could have done a number of things. What they did do was get up, walk to Jerusalem, and tell the disciples of this great event. The two disciples shared their new faith with the still doubting Twelve.

Faith always invokes a response. If we have committed ourselves to follow Jesus, then we must be committed to share what we know, learn more about what we have experienced, live and think more like Jesus, and continue the walk. One of the blessings of being with new Christians is the blessing of hearing their testimonies and sometimes experiencing their fearlessness.

Not long ago, one of our members shared with me an experience that ended up with our member sharing her faith with a pimp and drug dealer who happened to live nearby. It took courage, spiritual power, and wisdom to do this. God provided all these things. Why could she share her faith in such a powerful way? Because she responded to her own Walk to Emmaus by sharing what she knew with another person.

The disciples who left Jerusalem were walking west into the sunset on their way to Emmaus. It was the sunset of their hopes and dreams. The disciples who walked from Emmaus back to Jerusalem were walking east into the sunrise. They were walking into the sunrise of a new life in Christ. There are many folks in our society walking west into the sunset. They pass us every day. The question is, “Will I see the Risen Christ in the ordinary things like breaking bread, and then will I walk East into the sunrise, sharing what I have experienced with others?”

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke in “The Daily Bible Study Series” Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1975), 293ff.

[2] In The Cost of Discipleship Bonhoeffer speaks of the continuity between the call of Jesus in the Gospels for disciples to “follow me,” and the call of Paul, the early Church, and the Church today to believe and be baptized. Both are a call to utterly commit oneself to God in Christ. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship 2^nd ed. (New York, NY: McMillan, 1959), 255. I owe this section of the blog for the week to Bonhoeffer’s insight.

One difficult discipline for new Christians is prayer. Most people have occasionally prayed to God in a time of difficulty or personal need. Even pagans pray at certain times. What makes disciples different is the commitment to pray consistently, developing a personal relationship with the Personal Living God of Wisdom and Love.

When I was a new Christian, I realized that I was good at reading my Bible, attending Church, and being involved in certain ministries. I was not good at praying. I am naturally an active person, and sitting silently praying, listening for God was (and is) very, very hard for me. Therefore, I did what people do who like to read, I bought a book, Prayer, by George A. Buttrick. [1] It is still in print, but it is often reproduced in small type, and its style is dated to a time when people liked longer paragraphs and more complex writing than most of us enjoy today. Several years ago, I tried to read it again and had great difficulty keeping my mind on it!

It did not take long to realize that reading a 300-page book was not likely to improve my prayer life. Therefore, I took a different tactic. I just started praying. I found a short guide to prayer that focused on Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Personal requests (Supplication). Several years later, I was part of an early morning prayer group that met for a couple of years during a time of difficulty in our church. This group stretched and improved prayer life. In seminary, a group of us met weekly on Friday for prayer and had prayer partners. Once in ministry, I developed the habits of prayer I still have today. In a tough period at Advent, I started another prayer discipline. This summer, I want away for an eight-day silent time of prayer, wanting to further deepen a prayer relationship with God.

Text and Prayer

Prayer does not come easily to most people. As Luke renders today’s text, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). The more the disciples spent time with Jesus, I am sure the more they realized that Jesus’ prayer life was much deeper, richer, more powerful, than theirs. Therefore, they came to him and asked him to teach them pray. In Matthew, Jesus gives the following response:

[W]hen you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:5-15).

Prayer: God our Father, we come to you like the disciples saying, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts lead all of us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be in communication with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Amen.

 A Disciple is a Person of Prayer

It is hard to preach or teach on prayer. Like discipleship itself, prayer is not something we learn about, it is something we do. Like all skills, no one begins his or her prayer life as an accomplished prayer. Instead by trial and error, by long experience, by praying well and badly, rightly and wrongly, slowly but surely we become better at prayer. This has been my own experience, and I think it has been the experience of most Christians.  In prayer, like pitching a baseball, you begin learning to just throw a simple fastball, and then you gradually learn and improve your game.

It is important in prayer, as with any other skill, to keep practicing and keep learning. A disciple needs to be a person of prayer, and a disciple of 50 years should be a better person of prayer than a disciple of 15 minutes—and they will be if they just keep on praying. This summer I went on an eight-day silent retreat where for a week we did nothing but pray. We prayed in groups, alone, in journals, on walks, sitting alone, while running, etc. We prayed prayers from Scripture, in writing, and through prayers of silent contemplation of God. Once a day we prayed out loud in worship. Believe me, thirty-five years ago, I could not have endured such a long period of silence and prayer.

The Character of Christian Prayer

By the time of the Sermon on the Mount, the disciples had been with Jesus for a while. They had seen miracles, healings, exorcisms, and the like. They had heard his teachings and his preaching. They had eaten a lot of meals together. They had experienced his hidden, secret, silent power. In addition, they had seen him pray and go away to be alone in prayer. They had noticed that Jesus was a person of prayer and that somehow prayer was deeply a part of who he was and his mission and ministry. Therefore, it was natural that they should ask him to teach them to pray. It was natural that in the Sermon on the Mount, he would talk about prayer.

Jesus begins by giving just a few basic things to remember. First of all, our prayers are to be directed to God. Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father. This does not mean that we cannot use different words to refer to the One True God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. We can pray to God, the Eternal God, the Almighty, God the Healer, and the like. We can direct our prayers to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but we must remember that we are directing all those prayers to the Triune God whom Jesus called, “Father.” In particular, we don’t pray to other gods, natural forces, new age figures, crystals, or the like.

Second, we should pray from the heart. Jesus tells us to pray in secret. He does so to remind us we should not pray to show off, to show how spiritual we are, to gain the praise of other people, or for any reason other than to communicate with God.

Finally, we should be careful about “babbling.” In other words, we should be careful not just to pray words to be praying words. We should pray rationally, that is reasonably. We should be careful not to just pray nonsense or repeat a request 1000 times hoping to force God’s hand.

The point is that we should not make our prayer life a life of emotional self-exposure, irrational babbling, or showing off. If occasionally, overcome with emotion, we pray an especially emotional prayer, that’s fine. If on occasion we repeat a phrase or a request, that is fine. If we have a deep prayer for a family member or ourselves that we must pray over and over for years, that is fine. If occasionally our prayer is beyond human words, that is fine. We just need to remember that the purpose of our prayer is communion with the God of wisdom, love, and power, whom Jesus called “Father.”

A lot of people have seen the movie, “The War Room” recently. [2] This picture beautifully shows the importance of praying for our families, of praying Scripture, and of the place earnestness and emotion play in our prayer life. Jesus, I think, would have liked the movie. It certainly involved some emotion, repetition, and and public praying. The point is to remember it is the heart that counts.

The Two Tablets of the Lord’s Prayer

Having given some basic teaching on what prayer should be like; Jesus now gives a great example in a prayer we all know as the “Lord’s Prayer.” In its historic form it goes like this:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen. [3]

Since the time of John Calvin, scholars and others have noticed that it is possible to understand the prayer as having six parts, divided into two halves very much like the Ten Commandments, with one half being about or relationship with God and the other half being about ourselves. [4]

The prayer begins by invoking “Our Father who art in Heaven.” This is meant to indicate that we are not praying to the Force, to an impersonal deity, but to a Father who loves us. When we pray “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” we are recognizing and invoking the God who gave us his Name on Mt. Sinai and who is absolutely holy and who we should recognize as absolutely holy.

Then, we pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. This is where the Gospel and discipleship begin to enter into our prayers in a major way. When we pray for God’s Kingdom to come we are praying that God’s wisdom, justice, peace, and love would come into our world. We pray that old divisions would be healed, that wars would cease, that the poor, widows, and others in need would be taken care of, that those unjustly imprisoned would be released, that those who are being treated unfairly would be treated fairly. We are praying that our world would look like heaven itself. This is a time when we can speak to God about big issues, war, peace, government, and the like. Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and every day we should pray for it.

Having prayed to God for really big things, we now pray for ourselves. When we pray for our daily bread, we are praying for the necessities of life. We are praying for the things that we need for ourselves, our family, our friends, our neighbors, and those we love and care about.

Then, we pray to be able to forgive those who have wronged us. If the first prayer we have is a prayer for physical needs, this second prayer is for our moral and emotional needs, our need to be forgiven and to forgive others. Jesus warns his disciples that it is not healthy to keep grudges. It is not healthy not to forgive others. Just as those who have wronged us need forgiveness, so also we need forgiveness. In this regard God reminds us that if we expect to be forgiven, we all had best get about the business of forgiving others.

Finally, we pray to be delivered from evil. We live in a fallen world, and sin and temptation are ever-present realities. When we pray to be delivered from evil, we are praying that God will rescue us from our own sin and from the sin that surrounds us.

The Power of Prayerfulness

One of the themes of my summer was prayer. I took an extended time to to pray about big problems and deep issues. Prayer provides for our needs, protects us where we need protection, changes us where we need to be changed, and it is part of bringing God’s kingdom into the world. Every day this summer, I spent significant time reading my Bible, reflecting in my journal, contemplating Scripture and problems of our family, congregation, nation, and world. More than once, I spent an entire morning praying. It was one of the most important things about the time away.

This week, I have prayed the Lord’s Prayer almost every day, as I would say one phrase, ponder it, pray it, ask God what meaning it had for my life and for the life of our church. It became the center of my quiet time. One thing I suggest some of my readers do this week is pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly, daily, using it as the outline of your daily prayers. See if it makes a difference in your life. 

As individuals, families, communities, and nation, we face a lot of problems. The most important of these problems, the one at the root of so many of our problems is human pride, arrogance, and over-reaching. At the root of so many of our problems is the lack of a sense of family, of community, of love, of reason, of desire for justice and equity, in so much of our public debates and even in our families. Many of the problems we face are spiritual at their root, and only prayer can solve spiritual problems. We don’t necessarily need big public prayers, national prayer meetings, and the like. What we most desperately need is many, many individual people going into their own prayer closet and lifting their hearts to God.

Copyright, 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] George A. Buttrick, Prayer (Nashville, TN: Cokesbury/Abingdon Press, 1942).

[2] Alex Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick, The War Room Dir. Alex Kendrick. Starring Pricilla Shirer, T. C. Stallings, Karen Abercrombie, et al. (Sony, 2015).

[3] In the original text, the final phrase “Forever and ever” is not found in many ancient texts. Nevertheless, it is the perfect ending for the prayer, as John Calvin noted in his commentary on the prayer.

[4] John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Downer’s Grove, Ill: IVP Press, 1978), 146

Tuesday of this week, I had an opportunity to go to a Redbird’s game. As I am sure all Memphians know, the Redbirds are a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals. Going to the Redbirds game got me thinking about going to see the Cardinals play as a boy. Those memories inevitably brought back memories of Stan “The Man” Musial. I used Stan Musial as an example in a sermon a couple of years ago, so today I really don’t want to go into too much detail about his life. However, for those who are younger and have never heard of Stan Musial, I want to introduce him to my readers.

Stan Musial was a great baseball player. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941 to 1963, twenty-two years in the major leagues. He is one of the few players to play for the same organization his entire career. Stan had a 331 lifetime batting average and was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. He is recognized as one of the finest players of all time and as a role model for young people.

Using Stan as an example in that prior sermon was a great day for me in two ways: First, if you go to my office, you will see a framed memorial to Stan Musial. Danny Lee, who was here when I preached the sermon, went home between services, got it from his closet, and put it in my office. The second great thing about that day was that it explained a phenomenon that troubled me through raising four children. When any of our children played baseball, and especially our youngest, I would try to teach them how to bat. Their stance was never quite right. So, I would show them the proper stance. They never got it right, and their coaches uniformly told them I was not right. This made me mad because I just knew I was right.

In preaching that sermon, I realized that when I grew up in Springfield, Missouri in the 1950-60’s, every little boy eventually learned to bat like Stan Musial. Stan, however, had a very unusual batting stance. When I taught my children, I taught them the way I learned to bat. It was the batting stance I learned watching Stan Musial. Subconsciously, the right way to bat was the way Musial batted. You see, I was a disciple of Stan “the Man” Musial in baseball, and patterned my batting stance after his batting stance. Perhaps more importantly, he was a hero and a role model in other ways as well.

Message and Text 

Today in our blog, we are talking about discipleship. Our text is from Matthew Chapter 4. Hear the Word of God:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him (Matthew 4:18-25).

In my Facebook post earlier this week, our lesson is summarized in three phrases, “Hang out with me.” “Live with me.” “Act like me.” When Jesus calls us to be his disciples he is not merely asking us to believe he is the Son of God. He is asking us to pattern our lives after him. He wants us to become just like him, as he is the image of the invisible God.

Relationships: The Life of a Disciple

This is an exciting day. For months our staff and the pastors have been working on a kind of strategy for disciple making. Two years or so ago, Cindy went to Sheffield, England with Kent Hunter and brought back some ideas and a book which we began to read and discuss. Then, Kathy went to a mission meeting and brought back another book and idea. I began to think about how to bring these two ideas and others together in a way of being church designed for Advent. It all begins with relationships.

Notice that Jesus begins his ministry by calling people into a relationship with him. Jesus calls two, then the four who will be closest to him, and finally the remainder of the disciples. We know from the Gospels and Acts that the Twelve were not the only followers of Jesus. There were others, eventually as many as seventy disciples, 120 disciples,  and even as many as 500 people (see, Luke 10:1-23, I Cor. 15:1-6, Acts 1:12-15).

In our desire to read the Bible and to remember Jesus’ teachings, we can forget that the first thing Jesus did, and the thing he did from Day One through the Last Supper was to build relationships with his disciples. The disciples were called together as a community formed to accomplish the Great Commission. Jesus called disciples to make disciples. He does the same thing today.

Each sermon in this series has a symbol. Today’s symbol is a triangle that points up, in, and out. The Up, In, and Out represent three relationships that are essential for every follower of Jesus. There is our relationship Up with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is our relationship In with the Christian community of which we are a part. There is our relationship Out as we share God’s love with the world.

There is no vital Christian life without all three of these relationships. We all need a relationship with God. We all need a community of faith. We all need to put our faith to work. No one gets to say, “I only need a personal relationship with God.” No one gets to say, “I only need a relationship with my Christian friends.” No one gets to say, “I only need to serve others.” We all need all these relationships all the time.

Up Our Relationship with God

Just because we all need relationships does not mean that some relationships are not more fundamental than others. In the Christian life, our relationship of trusting faith God the Father through Christ the Son in the Power of the Spirit is fundamental. The disciples did not come to Jesus saying, “How about we hang out together.” Jesus came to the disciples saying, “Come hang out with me.” This points to an even bigger point: We are not in charge of our relationship with God. God is in charge of our relationship with him. He gets to set the agenda, show is the way, and lead us to grow.

Children don’t come to parents and say, “I would like to be born.” Children almost never come to their parents and say, “I would like to grow up, teach me how.” Neither my brother nor I, nor any of our children, or any children I know of, came to their parents saying, “I would like to learn to do chores, can you give me some.” No child ever says, “I think you need to discipline me so I can grow up wisely.”

God has decided that he wants to grow a community that will look just like the relationship God has, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has decided to make us a part of his family. He wants us to be his children. God has decided that he wants to help members of his family know how to love one another as a family. Therefore, God has said, “Come follow my Son who reveals me and is just like me.”

This following of God requires that we read our Bibles, learn more about Jesus, learn to talk sensibly to God in prayer, and learn how to bring God into every aspect of our day-to-day lives. To do this, like the first twelve disciples, we have to make time to just be with God. We all need prayer times, quiet times, etc.

Our Relationship with the Discipling Community of Jesus

Second, there is  our relationship between us and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ–the other members of our part of the family of God. There was never a time when Jesus was discipling anyone any way other than in a community. As Matthew tells the story, Jesus began by calling the inner circle of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Later, Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, to join the fellowship. By less than halfway through Matthew, he has called the original Twelve: “Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him” (Matthew 10:2-4).

We know from Acts that Paul rarely traveled or ministered alone. He nearly always had around him, Barnabas, who helped disciple him, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Titus and others. Jesus discipled in a community. Paul discipled in community.  and we are asked to do the same.

We live in an individualistic culture. We sometimes think  we don’t need other Christians, but we most certainly do. If Peter, Andrew, James and John needed community, we do too. The names of the disciples (and perhaps especially the inclusion of Levi, Judas Iscariot, and others) bring us to an important point: The disciples did not get to choose who was in their community. Jesus did the choosing.

We live in a culture of church hopping and people looking for a “church that meets my needs.” I can almost guarantee you that Levi did not meet Peter’s needs.  (You can imagine how enthusiastic the disciples were about having an IRS agent as one of the disciples, someone who would know of any unreported fish sales.) In building a discipling group, God brings different sorts of people together with different interests, abilities, experiences, and backgrounds. He wants us to learn from one another. He does not want is all to be alike, of the same social class, etc.

Out: Our Movement Into the World

Finally, our life of Christian discipleship, our life of following Jesus, brings us into the world around us. Once again, this week I noticed something I never noticed before: Immediately after calling the disciples, we are told that Jesus went throughout the Galilee teaching in synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God in the open air, healing diseases, and casting out demons. It appears that Jesus forgot to ask them to attend 10,000 Sunday School classes for years and years before doing something! Right from the beginning he had them with him as he ministered to others.

Americans have a naive idea that you must know a lot before you take on the job of being an active disciple in the world. Jesus seems to have thought that his disciples would learn what they needed to know as they spent time with him and watched him preach, teach, heal, share, pray, and the like. Therefore, right from the beginning he shared his ministry with them. Jesus knew that learning by doing is important, and he really believed in field trips. His three years of ministry was one long field trip for the disciples!

Being a disciple cannot be separated from doing the things that disciples do. Learning to be a disciple is a lot like learning to bat or learning any other skill: you won’t learn until and unless you do.

Christianity is not knowing who Jesus is, memorizing a few Bible verses, and learning three or four theological ideas. Christianity is a way of life. Furthermore, it is a specific kind of way of life: it is a way of life patterned after Jesus Christ and his way of life. It is a life of loving others, being a servant, sharing life together, discovering and using spiritual gifts, healing our broken world, and speaking truth into the darkness of lies. Being a Christian is learning to bear a cross now and again. We can only learn these things as we do them.

When I had been a Christian only a few weeks, one of our pastors called me into his office and asked me to lead a worship service at the Star of Hope Mission in Houston, Texas.  I had never given a testimony, taught, or done an altar call. I had four hours to get ready. Why he chose me to do such a thing, I will never know. But, he did the right thing. He could have done it himself better. Instead, he allowed me to learn by doing. In a lot of life, it is true: We learn best by doing. And, being a disciple is one of those things we learn best, in fact we only learn, by doing.

Copyright, 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

One of the most enjoyable parts of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land this summer was a visit to the Dead Sea. For those who do not know, the Dead Sea is the lowest spot on earth, over 420 meters or almost 1400 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea is so salty, that virtually nothing can live in it or on its near shores. It is in the midst of a desert—one of the least hospitable places on earth. The Dead Sea is near where John the Baptist ministered and where the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

The Jewish fortress of Masada, built by Herod the Great, is near the Dead Sea, so it is almost always on tours of the Holy Land. It is extremely hot, often over 100 degrees. Interestingly, few people get really bad sunburns. Because sunlight has to travel the extra 1300 feet, more ultraviolet rays are blocked. Therefore, the sun gives a good tan, but if you are careful, not much of a burn. (It does require sunscreen.)

I have been to the Dead Sea before, and did not like the experience. The sea is salty, so that you cannot really swim. You float on top. It is also oily, and there is sometimes a pitch-like substance along the shoreline. This time was different. I came to enjoy being at the Dead Sea.

Salt and Light are things we take for granted. However, in the ancient world, they were not taken for granted. Salt was and is valuable. Without electric and other artificial lights, oil lamps were the primary way of lighting homes. Jesus uses Salt and Light to express to his followers what it means to be a disciple.

Text of the Day

I don’t have a really good memory. If I could memorize any part of Scripture, however, I think it might well be Matthew 5-7. We know this part of Matthew as “The Sermon on the Mount.” We are told that Jesus preached this sermon on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Today, there is a lovely Italian church on the site. He walked up the side of a hill near the sea, sat down, and began to preach. As Matthew tells the story, Jesus began with the Beatitudes. Then, he spoke these words:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:13-16).

The Importance of Salt

Most of us spend at least a part of our life trying to limit our intake of salt. We know that too much salt can cause hardening of arteries and other health problems. We tend to have too much salt in our diet. In a culture where there is too much salt in the diet, it is hard to remember that there was a time when salt was expensive precisely because it is necessary to life. Without enough salt, we die.

For about a decade of my life I was a Camp Counselor in the summer time. A good bit of the time, I was a hiking instructor or otherwise had to take campers, most of whom were out of shape, on 5, 10, and 15 mile hikes. One of the things were told to do is to be sure that the campers took salt tablets during the hikes.

I suppose everyone knows that there is salt in our bodies and in our blood. Salt is necessary for the good functioning of our minds and muscles. When we sweat, we naturally lose salt. When we exercise or lose an unusual amount of salt, it needs to be replaced. Otherwise we take in water without salt and lose the correct balance of salt in our bodies. The result can be weakness, dizziness, or even death.

We take salt for granted. Most of the food we eat has plenty of salt in it. However, if were to go back into history just a few years, we would find that farmers and others desired to find land where there were “salt licks,” or natural deposits of salt. A farm with a salt lick would have abundant hunting, because animals (like deer) come to a salt lick to meet their salt needs. Salt would also meet the needs of their family, and salt could be sold to others. Salt is necessary for life.

One of my memories of my father has to do with salt. Every year, just about Christmas time, Dad would salt a side of beef or a ham. It would sit in our garage for a few weeks, and then we would eat ham and eggs and salted beef for weeks. Salt is not only necessary for life, it is a preservative. Salt can be used to prevent disease and decay.

As I learned some weeks ago in Israel, salt can be a healer. Early on, I noticed something interesting: I have a problem with two of my toes due to an old running injury. The persistent infection wonderfully began to heal while we were there. The salt in the Dead Sea is a healant.

There is an old saying that something is like “salt on a wound.” This is because salt can be used to treat infection. It stings when applied, but heals. Some time ago, I had an infection in my gums. The doctor recommended that I use a salt mix as a mouthwash, and sure enough, the infection went away. Salt is a healant.

Finally, salt is a spice. Many foods taste a bit better with salt in them.

When Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth” (v. 13), he is saying that as we are filled with the Spirit of God, as we live out the life of discipleship, as we connect with others, we become a preservative, a healant, a spice, and a source of life for others. When Jesus says “What good is salt if it loses its saltiness?” he is reminding us that if we dilute our discipleship, if we do not take it seriously, if we fail to live on the basis of the faith we proclaim, we are really not very good disciples.

The Importance of Light

Jesus goes on to say, “You are the light of the world.” Light is one of the most interesting and important theological ideas. In Genesis, God creates light first of all things. John says, “God is light” (I John 1:5):

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).

Many times in Scripture, prophets, wise men, apostles and others speak of the light of God and the light of Christ. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world (John 8:12). At the very beginning of John, the apostle writes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:1-5).

In today’s reading, Jesus says of his disciples and us: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). It is as if Jesus is saying, “The Divine Light of God which dwells in me also dwells in my disciples. If I am in you and you are in me, then my light will shine into the world through you.” Paul makes this point when he says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The very light of God shines into the world through us.

Once again, light has some very interesting properties, many of them similar to the properties of salt. Light illuminates darkness and is necessary for life. In addition to illuminating darkness, and, therefore, being an ancient symbol for truth, light is a preservative. One can dry fish and fruit in the sun. Light is also a healant. This summer, after our trip to the Dead Sea I continued to wear sandals a lot of each day—and my toes were eventually healed (almost). For a long time, doctors have understood that certain psychological disorders are much improved by being out of doors in the sun. Every one of us knows how relaxing a week at the beach can be!

When Jesus says that we are the light of the world, he is saying that, as we are filled with his Spirit and the Light of his presence, we become light for this world of darkness. Our presence can expose darkness in our culture. Our presence can preserve things that are decaying. Our presence can heal lives and neighborhoods that are sick.

This is a small example, but every pastor, Cindy, Don, and I included, can tell you many stories of visiting a person in the hospital, where the very fact of our visit made an improvement in things. We have friends whose acts of kindness and friendship have been instrumental in saving marriages and families. In every city in America there are Christian people who are making a difference in the quality of life in their community. The fact is we are the light of the world.

As I was thinking about this blog, I was thinking about how relaxing a week at the beach can be. Suppose our life goal was just to be as relaxing for our families and friends, just as healthy and life restoring as a week at the beach? Could there be any better ministry?

The Being of Every Day Disciples

The title of these lessons is “Salt and Light: Everyday Discipleship for Everyday Christians.” Last spring, God convicted me that much of my teaching about evangelism and discipleship implicitly indicated to people that to be a good disciple of Christ you needed to be “radical.” There are a lot of Christian teachers out there who emphasize this aspect of Christian faith. A negative of this approach is that it implicitly implies that ordinary people who have ordinary lives and spend most of their time with family, at work, and among friends must completely alter their lives and change what they are doing in order to be true, disciple making, followers of Christ. This is not true! Wc can incorporate being a motivated disciple of Christ into our everyday way life—and we should!

This does not mean that we do not need to change some things about how we live, work, and relate to others. We need to be filled with God’s Spirit, live wisely, love others unconditionally, and follow Jesus. As we follow Jesus, our lives will change and take a different direction. This probably won’t mean that we change our careers, friendships, location, and the like. In fact many, if not most, Christians, will continue to live where they now live, in the career and occupation they now have, supporting and sharing God’s love with their family, neighborhood, community, friends, and fellow-workers. We are and should be Salt and Light wherever we are. [1]

This brings me to the last part of what Jesus says in our text:

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

We have to be filled with God’s Spirit, otherwise we will have no light of God to share. This is the work of God’s grace. However, we also must shine. We must allow that Grace we have received and the power of God’s wisdom and love to shine in our lives and not hide what God is doing and has done for us. We should not hide our faith under a bucket, we should let it shine into the world.

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Those who have been following my blog will see that this is from “A Sower has a Way of Life” (Sunday, August 9, 2015).

All the Gospels portray the calling of the disciples in one-way or another. They have this in common: Jesus called them into a personal relationship of obedience to him. “Come and me” is the refrain.

Matthew describes it like this:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matthew 4:18-22).

Jesus found Peter, Andrew, James and John in the midst of their ordinary day-to-day lives. He did not say, “Stop what you are doing for a few moments and accept me as your Lord and Savior.” He did not ask for an intellectual commitment. He said, “Come, follow me.” In other words, he asked for a life commitment. He might as well have said, “Stop what you are doing. Leave your old accustomed way of life. Make your hobbies, families, and work secondary, and follow me.” He even offered them a new occupation: From now on they would not fish for fish; they would fish for people.

Sometimes, we think it must have been easier for the disciples than for us. We think that if we saw Jesus, if came and asked us personally to follow him, we would and we would find it easier than to hear a pastor, evangelist, or friend share what God has done in their lives and ask us if we are ready to follow Jesus. This is a mistake.

The disciples had it just as hard as we do. They had families. They had friendships. They had hobbies. They had occupations. They already had a religion. They probably went to synagogue in Capernaum if there was one. They had homes and responsibilities. One day, when they were out fishing or getting ready to fish, a man came up to them and asked them to follow him and become fishers of human beings. Our text tells us that they heard the invitation, left what they were doing, and followed Jesus.

Deciding to Follow Jesus

Somehow, amidst the hustle and bustle of earning a living, caring for spouses, parents, and children, the disciples saw something in Jesus and they decided it was worth the risk of following him. They did not have it easier then we do. In fact, they may have had it harder. We can look back at the generations of lives changed, of people healed, of ministries and missions of compassion and care. We can see the examples of people like St. Francis of Assisi and Billy Graham, and hosts of others. We have reason to know what God can do with one ordinary life. When Jesus called the disciples the cross, resurrection, and spreading of the gospel, the birth of the church, the example of the martyrs, the evangelization of the world, had not occurred. It was all to come. They had to look in the traveling Rabbi’s eyes and answer the question, “Will I follow Him or not?”

We have to ask and answer the very same question: “Are we going to respond to the call to follow Jesus?” As we ponder the question, we need to ask ourselves the same questions they must have asked. We have to ask are we willing to be committed to follow Jesus. When we ask another person if they are ready to become a Christian, we need to be careful not to make it sound too easy. We probably should not say, “Are you ready to accept Christ in your head as your Lord and Savior.” We should say, “Are you willing to be follow Jesus?” Eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, membership in the family of God, citizenship in the kingdom of God is really dependent upon our being willing to follow Jesus, not tell people we believe in Jesus.

The Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard puts it this way, “Jesus does not need admirers. He needs imitators.” As we shall see, in the ancient world a disciple was more than just a learner. A disciple followed his master and imitated his master. Jesus asks us to follow him because he intends to have us become little Christ’s living as he lived and doing the same kind of things he did. A follower of Jesus will have certain characteristics, the most important of which is that followers of Jesus try to become like him.

Counting the Cost

One of the most famous Christian books of the 20^th Century is by the Christian teacher, pastor, theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is called, “The Cost of Discipleship.” He begins his book with these words, “Cheap Grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for for costly grace”. [1] If these words were true in Europe in the years leading up to the Second World War, they are even truer today.

Bonhoeffer describes cheap grace in this way:

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principal, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian “conception of God.” An intellectual assent to the idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure the remission of sins. [2]

He later describes the calling of the disciples in these words, “The call goes forth and is at once followed by the response of obedience.” [3]

The call to be a disciple is a call to follow Jesus. It is a call to respond by committing one’s self to God in such a way that we follow Jesus, learn from Jesus, imitate Jesus, and grow to become more like Jesus. This includes cross bearing. This is why Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” Matthew 16:24).

Crosses are not difficulties. Crosses are not the consequences of our own behavior and choices. Crosses are the decisions we make to suffer for others though we are not required to by law, or compulsion, or some inner brokenness. Jesus went to the cross because God loves us, and Jesus was sent by God to bear our sins and brokenness on the cross. Being a disciple means bearing the sins and brokenness of others, loving them unconditionally.

The Role of Faith

From the beginning, Jesus warned his disciples that faith was required. Mark begins his gospel with Jesus proclaiming the good news and telling his hearers to “repent and believe (Mark 1:14)

In Galatians, Paul speaks of the Gospel that can only be accepted by faith. He speaks of the fact that people cannot earn their salvation. We cannot be justified by our moral behavior or following the law (Galatians 2:16). Paul goes on to say, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Responding to the cross means dying to self and selfish desire (“I have been crucified with Christ”) and then living by the power of Christ (“it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”). Faith means responding by giving our whole selves to God, turning away from our selfish, self-centered ways, and living out of the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a lot of confusion in our society and in our churches about the nature of faith. Is faith merely recognizing who Jesus is and calling upon him so that you can go to heaven when you die? Is faith simply believing Jesus is who Jesus is? The answer is, “No.” The Bible is the story of faith. The story begins with Abraham, who is told by God that he will be the father of many nations and have an heir if he goes to the land of the promise God will show him (Genesis 12:1-3). The Bible tells us that Abraham believed and went. In other words he trusted God not just with his mind (“OK, God I know you can to this”) but also with his heart, soul, mind, body and strength. Abraham went and followed God in the wilderness for years because of his faith. As James reminds those who think faith can be divorced from works, Abrahams faith was revealed and completed by his works (James 2:14-26). A faith that does not change the way we think, live, act, and feel is not a faith at all.

When Jesus says come and follow me, Jesus means just what he says. He wants us to follow him because we believe that he holds the secret to our becoming the people we were created to become. Our faith is shown in our discipleship.

Discipleship and Discipline

The word “discipleship” and the word “discipline” have the same root. A discipline is not something that comes naturally. A musician does not become a great guitar player naturally. There is natural talent, but that talent has to be disciplined by years of practice, of learning from teachers, of emulating those who are masters at the craft. An athlete has talent, but that talent has to be developed over years of practice and workouts. A musician may believe that they can become better. An athlete may believe he or she can play at a professional level, but there are years of discipline between the idea and mental conviction and the reality of being a professional.

One of the great mistakes of modern Christianity is the idea that being a Christian is easy or makes life easy. It does not! When we follow Jesus we have to learn to love when we desire to be selfish. We have to learn to be wise when we desire to be foolish. We have to learn to live simply when we would rather have everything we desire. We have to learn to serve others when we would rather serve ourselves. None of this comes naturally, nor is it easy. Like Abraham, we have to wander through life with God, gradually becoming a friend of God, becoming more like God in the way we think and act. We will make mistakes along the way. There will be unforeseen consequences.

The author of Hebrews wrote to encourage Christians to remain devoted to Jesus when life is difficult. In Chapter 11 he outlines what real faith is, and then gives examples from great heroes of the faith. Then, he talks about the discipline we undergo in the process of discipleship.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

If we are to be real, athentic children of God, we must recognize that our heavenly Father is going to discipline us. In fact, if he did not discipline us he would be a poor father. If he left us in the same condition as he found us, with the same sins and shortcomings, it would be a sign that he really did not love us. If we do not respond by enduring the discipline, it is a sign that we do not love our heavenly father. God’s discipline, just like any human discipline is not pleasant at the time. No one really desires to endure it. But we do because we believe that our loving Heavenly Father is disciplining us for our own good.

Almost every day, I run, walk, swim, lift weights, or engage in some form of exercise. I have been doing this for years. A man in his mid-sixties does not look forward to this in the same way that a young man in his twenties might. I often hurt. Running uphill is hard. My muscles can be sore from swimming. Why do I go on? Is it just a habit? The answer is that every year I have an annual check up. The doctor checks my blood pressure, my heart rate, my blood sugar level, etc. When it is over he says, “For a man of your age you are in good condition.” I endure the pain of daily physical exercise because I know that in the end it is good for me. The same is true of the discipline of our heavenly father. We endure it because we know that we are becoming children of God, followers of the Son of God, members of God’s family, and citizens of God’s kingdom. Loving others, denying self, remaining faithful in a fallen and sometimes unfriendly world is just the discipline we need to become the people God intended us to be, not just in heaven, but right here on earth.

We Are Not Alone

When Mark describes the calling of the first apostles, he tells of the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John (Mark 1:16-20). Then, Mark describes the calling of Levi (Mark 2:13-17). Finally, in Chapter 3, there is recorded the calling of the Twelve:

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”),  Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot  and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him (Mark 3:13-19).

It is striking that the call is not to one, two, or four. The disciples have been called together into a fellowship, a little community of those called “that they might be with him” (v. 14). They are also called into that community so that they might go out into the world to share the gospel and heal the demonic fallenness of God’s creation (v. 14). This is not abstract group of people, “the disciples.” It is twelve concrete human beings.

It is the same with us. When we are called to follow Jesus, we are called not be alone, not to live separate Christian lives as is so often the case today, not to be a part of a kind of ethereal thing called a “Church.” We are called into a concrete community of real human beings, some of whom may even be traitors to the Lord who calls us together.

Once again, we were not called to be Christians alone or to do our good works alone. We have been called into the community of God (Ephesians 2:11-22). We are called into the family of God, the fellowship of his disciples, the kingdom of peace, the “ekklesia,” the called out, the Church of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [4] When Jesus speaks to our hearts and says, “Come follow me, he calls us into a community of faith.

Responding to the Call

In his letters, the Apostle Paul makes constant reference to the Gospel, the Good News of Christ. The Good News is what the disciples were called to learn about and then to preach “to the ends of the earth” (Matthew 28:16). At the root of the gospel is the cross. Paul sometimes refers to the Gospel as “the word of the cross.” This word of the cross is that God has acted against all human expectations to rescue the human race from sin and death and to reconcile the world to God by the sacrifice of his Beloved Son (I Corinthians 1:13). The gospel is not a word of wisdom. It is not a special kind of knowledge only a few possess. The Good News is the faithful retelling of what God has done in Christ. Our response is to accept what God has done.

In Ephesians, Paul speaks of the “word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:14). He goes on to speak of the power of God at work in those called to follow him in these words:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:1-5).

Our response to the Gospel is first and foremost to thank God for our salvation, to recognize that we were dead in our sins, and to deeply understand and accept God’s great mercy shown to us in Christ.

Paul specifically tells us that our salvation is not our own, our call to follow Jesus is not our call. It is God’s. God called us to change us, from a people dead to God and dead to the world in ceaseless self-centeredness to a people alive in Christ, reaching out to the world, doing the works of love that God has called us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Called to Go

The Great Commission calls on disciples to “go into the world.” The fact is, we are all called to Go and we are all going somewhere almost all the time. We go to work. We go to school. We go shopping for groceries. We go on vacation. We go to church. We go on social engagements. There is no end to the places Christians go when they follow the God-given command to “Go.”

Normally our going takes us in a pretty predictable circle made up of clse friends, family, and co-workers. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee. We may be “going” about our day to day lives, sharing the gospel occasionally, meeting with our small group, taking on small jobs in our church, and then one day, we must take a plunge and go forward. I had been a Christian for about fourteen years when the call came to go further than downtown to the office.

Called to Share

The Great Commission does not stop when it asks us to “Go.” It asks us to do something else: make disciples. This means we must share our faith, our lives, our church friendships, our time, our talent, our energy, even a bit of our money. Sharing is a part of being a Christian. Of course, there is one particular kind of sharing that we all fear the most—sharing our faith and the Gospel. About a half of this study is going to be taken up with the business of sharing the gospel. For now, it is enough to know that sharing is a part of being a disciple. Jesus shared his life with the original disciples, and we are called to share our lives with the disciples in our church and with those disciples we make.

There are a lot of evangelism materials that concentrate on faith sharing. They cover a lot of important information. In this study, we have chosen to place faith sharing in the context of being in a discipling relationship ourselves in our church and small group. One reaason we chose to organize this study in this way is because it seems to be the way Jesus did it. He called the disciples. He shared his life with the disciples. He taught the disciples, and then he sent them out to share the gospel. If it worked for Jesus, perhaps it will work for us as well.

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: McMillan, 1937), 45

[2] Id.

[3] Id, at 61.

[4] The Greek word, “ekklesia” literally means, “those called out.” The early Christians adopted this word for themselves because they were those called out of the corrupt life of the Roman world into the fellowship of the saints, the kingdom of light, the family of God, the ekklesia of God.

Today is a busy day in our household. Tomorrow there will be a wedding. Today, there is a rehearsal and other activities. Kathy is outside on the deck reading her Bible and doing her devotion. I have already completed my time in the Word for the day. Both of us have had the habit of daily time in the Word for longer than we can remember. It is just a part of our daily routine. This fall, we will be part of a small group Bible Study. We try to do this every year. Spending time in the Word is just a part of our daily lives.

A characteristic of a committed disciple is commitment to spend time in the Word. To be a disciple is to be centered in Holy Scripture  and on the One of whom Scripture speaks. Most of what we can know about about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian life we learn by listening to the voice of God in Scripture.

In Acts, Paul leaves Thessalonica for Berea. Initially, the Thessalonians were resistant to the Good News and did not want to hear Paul’s message. Later in Berea, things were different. Luke records: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men” (Acts 17:11-12). Those who earnestly hear the gospel of Christ are almost always eager to study their Scriptures.

In perhaps his last letter, Paul underscores the importance of Scripture as he writes young Timothy:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

We read our Bibles not to memorize verses or to understand Jewish or Christian literature, but to hear God speak to us, to give us the kind of minds that are “wise unto salvation,” to be taught, convicted of our sins, rebuked for falling short, corrected when we have gone astray, and trained so that we can be representatives of Christ. When we become disciples, we are like little children: We need to learn how to survive the Christian life. It is the Word of God and God speaking to us through Scripture that will accomplish this task.

Transformed By the Word

As Christians study Scripture and meditate upon the One revealed in its pages, we encounter the God who is revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says in Romans, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Later, in Colossians, Paul urges Christians to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). As we listen to others in a Bible Study or Sunday School Class, God’s word enters our hearts through the window of our minds. Slowly, but surely, we are transformed into “little Christ’s,” participants in the life of God and vehicles through which his Wisdom and Love enters the world.

Having a Good Bible Study

There are many ways to center your growth as disciple on Scripture. There was a time when there was a lack of good small group Bible Study materials. This is no longer true. There are many, good printed Bible Study guides ranging from Sunday School materials; guides to the study of books of the Bible; topical Bible study guides in areas such as prayer, marriage, finances, child raising, coming to Christ. All of these help a group to center itself on Holy Scripture. Any good Christian bookstore has many studies. Not only do resources exist in printed form, but there are many ways to use materials to be found on the internet or in electronic media. Some of thie material is free. [1]

Most of our Christian growth will not come from sermons or large, lecture-oriented Bible studies. The key to a good Bible study is its personal character. This is why small group Bible studies are so important. They give us time to share with others what we are learning in Scripture. We can ask questions, give our opinions, be corrected in our understanding and correct others. I have been a Christian pastor for a generation and led countless Bible studies over thirty-five years. Even today, most of my growth is in a small group study. They mean more to me than any number of Greek word studies or words of commentators in my private time of study.

A life transforming Bible  study has  three basic characteristics.

Group Discussion. People remember about 10% of what they hear and about 80% of what they say. Therefore, lecture is not the best method for Bible Study. The best method for life transforming Bible study involves/personal interaction among people. This means conversation not didactic teaching.

Open-ended Questions. It is always best in leading the study to ask questions that enable group members to answer correctly whatever their relative level of Biblical knowledge. Questions like, “What did this passage mean to you” are always better than questions like, “What does Calvin say this passage means?” The term “Open Ended Questions” means questions that lead a person to disclose their understanding without embarrassment or discouragement.

Focus on Application. One of the most important things to remember that, as disciple-makers, we are more interested in what people put to work than we are in what they remember. It is always a good idea to end the study of a passage with a discussion of the question, “How am I going to live differently now that I have studied this passage?”

EXAMPLE: Don leads a Bible study. The study uses Serendipity resources, a relational Bible Study material. Donna, a member, remarked one evening, “I love this study. Most of my life, I listened to a Bible teacher. I never asked questions and no one ever asked me what I thought. In this study, I get to give my opinions and ask questions. And, it is practical.”

Basic Bible Study Rules

Here are some helpful rules in developing your Bible study skills:

Use the Bible. Everyone must have a copy of the text the group is studying. In some Bible study materials the text will be reprinted. In others, people must have a Bible as well as the guide. It is also helpful if everyone is using the same version of the Bible.

Read the Bible. Much of the Bible began as an orally transmitted message of faith. Therefore, it is always a good idea to begin by reading the selected passage aloud. This allows the modern hearer to experience soemthing of the oral tradition from which Scripture emerged. Stick to the text at hand. Avoid cross-referencing other biblical texts unless it is absolutely necessary.  Too much cross referencing confuses people, takes up time, and tends to make people shy about expressing their opinion.

Opening Question. Think out before hand the first question you will ask. The first question is always the most important of all. It will open the discussion and will often determine the character of the group’s interaction for the evening. This kind of question most often can take the form of, “What aspect of this verse made an impression on you?” or “What did you find most interesting about this passage?”

Reflective Study Questions. In reading this passage of Scripture or book, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself about the text as you prepare to lead the group:

What immediate message do you hear?

What feelings are you having in reading this?

What was helpful?

Prepare more questions than you’ll actually need. This will help you overcome a fear of not having enough material to use the time allotted.

Let Questions Guide the Study. Ask questions which are clearly tied to the text and build logically upon one another. If a question is not understood, restate it in different words. Limit initial comments to key information and definitions. Focus on the most important aspects of the passage. Try not to answer your own question. If a question does not gain response, move on to another next question. After the first response to a question, ask if anyone has a different or additional response. Don’t exhaust a question before moving to the next verse or question. Let the group set the agenda.

Involve the Imagination. One of the most important techniques that a teacher can use is to the whole person: sight, sound, touch, thought in the study. For example, as the text is read aloud, have the individuals visualize the scene. Ask the group to imagine how they would have reacted if they had been present.

Share Personal Meaning. In a small group Bible study, the most important thing to know is what the text means to a person. This does not mean ignoring commentaries or historical understanding. It just means that what changes a life is a personal experience of the power of the Word.

Don’t Be Afraid. One of the greatest barriers to some people exercising gifts for leadership in Bible Study is a fear of not knowing the answer. “I really do not know” is always a good answer. If you do not know, offer to study the question next week and give an answer at the next meeting. Even pastors do not know all there is to know about the Bible. Therefore, you should not be afraid to say you don’t know.

Stay in One Passage. One common mistake is to play “Bible Hopscotch.” Most people do not have a ready familiarity with the Bible and flipping pages makes them nervous. Sometimes to get a clear idea of what Scripture means, we need to study more than one passage. Much of the time, however, this is not ncessary.

Use Various Methods. Any Bible Study method when overused gets old. Variety is the spice of life, and we should use a variety of teaching tools and methods.

Sample Study Questions

There are some basic kinds of questions that laypersons can use to help others connect with the Bible and learn from the text. Some of these are:

What does the Text Say? The first level of any text is a rendering of what it literally says. Some questions that will help get the basic meaning out are as follows:

• What did you hear the author (or character or Jesus) saying as the text was read?
• What is the context where this is said?
• What was frustrating, unclear, or difficult?

Personal Involvement. The next stage is to help people get personally involved in the text. Some helpful questions here are:

• With whom or what do you identify with in the story?
• What past feelings does this restore?
• What personal experience does this bring to mind?
• What pain or hurt does this bring to mind?

3. Personal Application. Remember that personal application is the most important thing in any small group Bible study. Therefore, we should always leave adequate time for application. Some personal application questions are:

• What is God asking you to do?
• What hope does this give you?
• What relationship does this impact?
• What will you do differently because of this study?

Let God Work

Leading a home Bible study or a study in a Sunday School Class can be nerve racking for some people. It is good to remember that the Holy Spirit will be attending your Bible Study! Times of silence, disagreements, uncertainties about the text, questions that cannot be answered, they are all part of the way in which people learn. Years ago, I participated in what would be one of the most important Bible studies of my life. It was not perfect. Not everything that was said was totally correct. However, God worked in the text and in the relationships being formed to change lives.

People who study small groups often note that it the relationships people have in the groups more than the information that is shared that matters. Sometimes, people say this as if it exposed a weakness in small groups. Actually, it is not surprising that a God who exists in community created human beings who learn best in communities. It is not surprising that the community can often be more important than the text. God is  busy building a community–the kingdom of God–and he uses Bible studies as one of the ways in which that Kingdom is built!

The goal of our Bible studies is not to create hundreds of Christian Bible scholars but to help make disciples living together in a community of love, sharing that love with others, and expanding the reach of God’s Kingdom of Wisdom and Love. Bible study is not an end. It is a means. It is one of the ways God brings us into a life changing relationship with Him through his Word.

Copyright 2015, Chris and Kathy Scruggs, All Rights Reserved.

We miss our friends and look forward to being with you soon in our Salt and Light study!!

 

 

[1] When downloading materials from the internet it is important to remember that not all the materials found on the internet are sound. Many individuals put up materials that does not reflect either the spirit or the words of Christ or the experience of the Church over the centuries.