Don’t get me wrong here…we’re not talking about what makes us significant.  We’re talking about what makes a life significant.  What makes you and I look at someone and say, “They are living life!”

As we were having our conversation, this question kept popping into my head, “Who am I becoming?”  Do you ever ask that question?  For those who know me, I think it is THE question of Scripture.  If we never take time to ponder that question, then we never move beyond a life that rolls out of bed, goes to work, comes home, and rolls back into bed.

Jesus’ sermon on the mount begs this question of his followers.  Listen to just two of the verses from that famous sermon:

• “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:20-21)
• “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

What answers this question of who am I becoming?  The answer, your holy calling!  For centuries the great spiritual writers have written on calling.  Calling, in a sense, is what animates the soul.  So, what is holy calling?  Here is how I view it:

• If spiritual gifts answer the WHAT question.  Namely, what should I do for the Lord?
• And if personal style answers the HOW question.  Namely, how should I do whatever I should do for the Lord?
• Then holy calling answers the WHERE question.  Where should I be investing my life?

Calling transforms the drudgery of routine into the daily movements of a significant life.  Scripture is overwhelming on this idea of calling.  God is committed to your life being one marked by significance.  Check out the following passages:

• It is God who works within us to will and to do what pleases Him. Philippians 2:13
• Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to Him, trust in Him and He will do it. Psalm 37:3-5
• I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
• For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for you to do. Ephesians 2:10
• 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 that is marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Calling is not a thing to do; it is not a project.  Calling is not easy.  It will require great sacrifice for you to do it.  Furthermore, calling is not an idea that will be easy for you to embrace.  True calling will bring with it a slight overwhelming sensation BUT, and I stress this last part, living in your calling is the only thing that will bring you alive.

You will know when you’re in your calling.  You don’t want to be anywhere else.  You get the sense that you were made for this time and this place.  You will feel a rush of the Spirit.  Where many things in our life are good but take away precious energy and time from us, calling brings new energy to us as we step out into it.  Calling moves a good life to a great one.

So, as I was pondering this signficance/calling idea, a few descriptors came to mind of people who live in their holy calling.  Those individuals whom I feel move their life from good to great:

• People who move their lives from good to great are able to subtract good to pour their limited amounts of time and energy into the great.  It’s easy to remove bad things from our lives.  (I say easy in that it’s simple to identify bad behaviors.)  It’s difficult to take something that is profitable and do away with it.  People who discover their calling are able to subtract good for great.
• People who move their lives from good to great are able to quickly and succinctly tell you the calling God has upon their life.  Calling is in your DNA.  It doesn’t take me 30 minutes of “ums” and “ers” to tell you what I do for a living, who my parents are, where I live, and what I enjoy to do.  Calling, much the same way, is woven deep into our souls.  You should be able, in even one sentence, to tell people what captivates (or consumes) your life.
• People who move their lives from good to great take captive each thought, each word, and each action to make sure it is moving them closer to their life’s passion.  We are all given a finite amount of time and energy.  Great are those who recognize this finitude and get busy to make sure every moment of their life is directed at the greater story of their life, namely, their holy calling!

My challenge to you this day, take time to break away from the busyness of life to be alone with God.  In your conversation take a journal or a scrap piece of paper and begin mentally doodling.  Think to yourself, “If time were not an obstacle in my life, I would…”

Follow the rabbit trails and discover thoughts/feelings that bring life to your spirit.  Listen to God.  Ask yourself a ton of questions regarding where you enjoy spending time, what activities do you look forward to, where are you finding life/fulfillment right now?

Then, begin to try to craft some sort of sentence, or sentences, based on what you’ve discovered.  Take those sentences/thoughts and run them by some people you trust.  Make sure these are people who know you and will be honest with you.

Take their suggestions, and return to the process once again, from the very start, and begin listening to the honing voice of God once more.  Never stop being amazed by the things God has in store for you in this most important area.

In closing, my friends, my prayer for you is summed up by this classic quote by Fredrick Buechner in his classic book, Listening to Your Life:

“Listen to your life.  See it for the fathomless mystery it is, in the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

May your life’s calling be found tucked away in the beautiful grace that is God’s love for you.  And, may your journey be a daily awakening of that grace poured anew upon you!

July 4, 2009

(Please forgive the bland look, this blog is still under construction)

This fourth of July weekend we will celebrate our national freedom – which privdes us with a perfect launch to celebrate our personal freedom as the followers of Jesus Christ.  In working through my sermon this week on John 8 (7 Explosive Claims of Christ), I reflected on spiritual freedom and I wanted to explore it further.

Remember, freedom is the absense of retraints on our ability to act or think.  So reflect with me a bit here.  

• What do you want to be FREE FROM in your life? What is holding your life back?  What is restraining your ability to think and act as you want to think and act?  What burdens you?  Journal 3-5 things you really want to be FREE FROM in your life.  And if you want, post it here and we can share our longings for freedom together.
• But, most of us don’t want to just be FREE FROM things.  Don’t we also want to be FREE FOR other things?  FREE FROM is the negative side.  So what do you really want to be free FOR? Journal 3-5 things you want to be free FOR in life.  What do you really want to become or do?  Taking the time to reflect on this could change your life.  What are your greatest longings and hopes?  And again, if you want to share, respond here and we will continue the dialogue. You may want to rank order what you want to be free from and free for, so you know where to put your energy first.

To guide our thinnking about freedom here are some Scriptures I gathered this week on freedom in Christ.  And after that are my beginning ideas on a Christian Declaration of Freedom.

Some Scriptures on Freedom

• “In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free.  The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?  The Lord is with me; he is my helper.  I will look in triumph on my enemies.” Psalm 118:5-7
• “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”  Ps 119:32
• But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.” Ps 129:4
• He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free.” Ps 146:7
• “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” Ps 119:45
• “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Jesus. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Luke 4:17-21
• “Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Jn 8:31-32
• “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jn 8:36
• “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Gal 5:1
• “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Ga 5:13  (See also 1Pe 2:16)
• “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” 1Cor 9:19
• “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Ro 6:18
• “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Ro 6:22
• “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Ro 8:20-21
• “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Col 1:22-23
• “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Rev 22:17
• “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  2Cor 3”17-18
• “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”  Eph 3:12
• “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25

Are there any Scriptures you would add?

A Christian Declaration of Freedom

Send back to me what you would add so we can have an ongoing dialogue.

FREE FROM…

• I am free from failure for “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).
• I am free from always needing more and more for “my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).
• I am free from fear for “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind” (2Tim 1:7).
• I am free from the power of Satan “for greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world” (1Jn 4:4)
• I am free from defeat “for God always causes me to triumph in Christ Jesus” (2Cor 2:14)
• I am free from ignorance for “we have the mind of Christ” 1Cor 3:15)
• I am free from inferiority for I am “complete in Christ” (Col 2:9-10)
• I am free from inadequacy for “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2Pe 1:3)
• I am free from shame for “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin” (1Jn 1:7)
• I am free from worry for “I cast all my cares on him because he cares for me” (1Pe 5:7)
• I am free from bondage for “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2Cor 3:17)
• I am free from condemnation “for there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Ro 8:1)
• I am free from fear for we know that “God works together all things for the good of those who are called in Christ Jesus” (Ro 8:28)
• I am free from worry of what people think of me for “I am hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:1-4)

What would you add here?

FREE FOR…

• I am free to be loved for “we know and rely on the love God has for us” (1Jn 4:16) and “I have been chosen by God and adopted as his as his child (Eph 1:3-8)
• I am free from defeat for “in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Ro 8:37
• I am free from the fear of death for “death has been swallowed up in victory… But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 15:54-57
• I am free from frantic busyness for Jesus says “I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28
• I am free to dream “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17)
• I am free to rejoice “in the Lord always (Phil 4:1)
• I am free to be a friend of Jesus (Jn 15:15)
• I am free to be nurtured by my Father in heaven for I am a child of God (Jn 1:12, 1Jn 3:1)
• I am free to speak with God face to face and to expect his mercy and grace (Heb 4:16)

I had less time to work on this one, what would you add here?

But, you’ve probably felt it…maybe when you’ve tried to hook up with a church small group that promises real friendship and support, but all you find is emotional and spiritual barbed wire. Maybe you’ve sensed it when you’ve shown up in a worship service and all of the words that are being sung and spoken are transparent and empty and thin, especially your own. Maybe you are aware of it when it occurs to you that you don’t even know these people you are supposed to be loving unconditionally, and you’re not sure you want to. Maybe it buzzes around your soul when you realize that everything you’re involved in feels flat and meaningless. You’ve felt it too, right? Please tell me you have.

Sunday, our new pastor, Bill Johnson, talked about the reasons why the Church is still worth loving. And I totally agree. I can’t say that I have always agreed or that I agree every second, or that I will always agree, but I think I have seen the alternatives enough to know that the Church is pretty lovable and upstanding and meaningful compared to other things that bring people together. We, the Church, are noble and genuine at heart, but there are some stiff addictions that we need to call out and slap down before we start looking like Jesus.

To detox, a body has to go through some things that seem radical and even unreasonable.  I wonder if we, as Jesus’ Body, might not need to do some rehab before we can start to be the enticing, refreshing, restoring groups we were made to be. Maybe we need to lose ourselves a bit to find ourselves.  I have some possible rehab-plan suggestions that are totally not in the “ministry plan” of any church I know of, which might be just what the therapist ordered for our many churches that make up The Church:

• What if we’d stop our obsession with church attendance for one year? Don’t publish attendance figures in the bulletin. Don’t post attendance on the website. Don’t talk about it between churches as a comparison. Don’t use it in any way that suggests that attendance is a accurate measure of success. If the crutch of attendance was kicked out from under our churches, what other things would we start paying attention to? What sensitivities would come alive that are now blind? How would it change our mission and our strategy? How would it change our willingness to risk?
• Could we declare a season of Spiritual Amnesty that gives people the chance to be pruned spiritually so new growth can appear and flourish? Could we permit each other to admit our doubts and questions and weariness, in private and public ways, without any threat of easy answers, prescriptive plans, rebuke or shame? Could we have “Doubt Services” that give people a chance to publicly admit and process their lack of faith in a safe, prayerful environment so that the process of growth and restoration and encouragement-in-the-faith could occur.
• As part of that Spiritual Amnesty season, could we encourage each other, corporately, to simultaneously wave the white flag of surrender to living behind sterile, opaque, proud facades? What if we’d invite confession in a way that lets people off-load their heavy guilt, not so that a “priest” can suggest penance, but so that together we can find the freedom of admission and the common ground of sin (See Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz for evidence of this idea’s power). We all need the chance to say “I’m Doug, and I’m a sinner.” We all need to see that we’re in this together and that our sins shouldn’t keep us from living free, open,vibrant lives.
• Could we try to schedule at least half of all church activities somewhere other than the church facilities? We keep saying that the Church is not the building, but we seem rather naked without it.
• Could we do a lot of hard work to seek out those who have dropped out of church and go to them and apologize for our indifference, our inflexibility and our lack of humanity? Maybe we could ask them how we could help them grow closer to Jesus and then shut up and listen and not be defensive. Maybe we could invite them back and help them see that we need people who can’t stomach church, the way it is, in order to make it what it should be. We need them to influence “church” back to a place of honesty and warmth and spiritual purity. Those of us who are left in church right now will never be able to do that.

Even though I can’t explain the disconnect between our hearts and church very well, I think, at its heart, it has something in common with the Hebrew slaves’ insistance to create a golden calf and worship it instead of the living God.  We have created a very sterile, controllable, predictable faith that looks a lot more like us than it does the all-loving, all-powerful, wild God. It makes us feel in control, but it doesn’t touch the really deep issues of life any better than we can.  Deep is calling to Deep, and this golden calf that we’ve made out of church is not the Deep that satisfies. Church needs to look more like God: honest, pure, mysterious, raw, agile, energetic, open, self-less. It is going to take letting go of the comfort of control so that we can begin to look, feel and act like Jesus’ body, which is the Church.

4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5″A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

9His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
” ‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’[a]

11″This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

This past week I began reading a new book (no surprise there!) and a conversation broke out between myself and the Lord regarding the Parable of the Sower (see above).  This same parable is found in Mark 4:1-20, Matthew 13:1-23, and Luke 8:1-15.  Upon review of this passage, a list of questions flooded my mind:

1. Who is the farmer?
2. What is the seed?
3. Why is the farmer so reckless in scattering the seed?  He throws it on rocks, on the path, etc.
4. Why is the farmer scattering seed over thorny patches of the garden infested by weeds?  Shouldn’t he/she weed first?
5. What is the meaning of the crop that is yielded “a hundred times more than was sown”?  That means the entire garden was filled to capacity!
6. Why does Jesus “call out” after this parable, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”?  Isn’t this passage simply about spreading the word of God?
7. What is the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God”?
8. What is the word of God?

I have read and re-read this passage for years.  Everytime the point seems to be painfully clear, be like the good soil and receive the word of God.  I’ve also heard this passage evangelistically, as we spread the good news, some people will be receptive to it and others will not.

It is not that these explanations are false.  We should all seek to live lives that are prepared for the goodness and richness of Christ Jesus.  Likewise, out of our lives should flow the good news of Christ to those around is.  And, some people will receive that news and others will not.

The power of this passage lies in what the language we take for granted would have actually meant to Jesus.  This parable is so important that in Mark’s version of it Jesus asks His disciples, “Don’t you understand this parable?  How then will you understand any parable” (v. 13)?  So powerful is the message of this parable that Jesus stakes His entire teaching/training ministry in its contents.  Why?

As I encountered this passage in reading I am immediately drawn to this farmer.  It is not strange for Jesus to use an agrarian parable.  Agriculture was of great importance to those He was speaking.  This farmer, however, seems to be a little sloppy.  If you live a life totally dependant upon the harvest you receive back and you have a limited amount of money with which to buy seed, why would you scatter it so haphazardly as to cover the pathways, rocks, and weeds?  Furthermore, why wouldn’t you first weed the garden?

Verse 8b shows us an amazing feat, “[The seed] came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”  It seems that the farmer knows the quality of the seed he is spreading.  He knows there is no need to uproot the weeds or chase away the birds.  True to his foreknowledge, the seed produces a crop a hundred times more than was sown.  The garden is filled to capacity (and overflowing)!

This brings us back to a question, if this parable is all about being faithful, why does Jesus  to his followersm “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand’” (v. 10).  This language finds its roots in the commissioning of Isaiah.  God is calling for a prophet to go forth and do two things: 1) Warn the people of God’s anger and judgment for them to repent AND 2) to proclaim a day that is coming; a most blessed day of Yahweh.

In this little parable found in three of the four gospels, Jesus utilizes that same language.  Kind of odd if this message is incredibly simple for Jesus to 1) hinge the meaning of all other parables in this one, 2) to declare that the meaning of this parable is enveloped in the “secrets of the kingdom”, and 3) to have the people recall the commissioning of the great prophet Isaiah.

As I said early, the traditional understandings of this passage are not incorrect.  But, I want to argue that they are not complete either.  There is a grand story at play in this parable.  In verses 11-17 of the passage above, Jesus offers the pieces of the puzzle.  Scripture is forcing us to put the pieces together.  It’s asking us, you’ve read this passage many times BUT do you know the larger story of my narrative?  Do we know the fuller story of Scripture and why this parable is so radical?

The radical piece of this story lies in the discovery of the identity of the seed and the farmer.  The seed is the word of God.  What, then, is the word of God?  It is not the Bible.  The Bible finds its ultimate purpose in meaning flowing out of the true word of God.  John’s Gospel declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He [the Word] was with God in the beginning.  The Word became flesh and made his [the Word's] dwelling among us” (1:1,14, NIV).  The seed is Jesus.

The farmer is us, the Church.  We are called to proclaim the identity (the Savior, Lord and King) of Jesus Christ.  The fascinating thing of this story is that the weeds, the rocks, the birds are not eliminated.  Think for a moment the implications of this for our journeys of faith.

Too many Christians spend inordinate amounts of time petitioning Congress, their city councils, etc to remove things they find offensive and sinful.  Here lately, the rhetoric of America as a Christian nation has been written everywhere.  Many Christians think the way to change America is to get rid of all the sin.

I want to argue counter to this.  I find that many people who live according to the above philosophy have golden hearts.  They truly want to see Jesus manifested and people coming into a beautiful relationship with Him.  But look at this parable, the weeds, rocks and birds are not removed.  Instead, the seed is scattered and the crop, in spite of the weeds, grows a hundred times more.

What would it look like if instead of trying to remove the problem of evil, the Body of Christ began to exemplify the overhelming goodness of the Gospel?  What if instead of trying to shut down a strip-joint the people of God sought ways to truly love those entrapped to a life of lust and shame and bring freedom to the captives?  What if instead of saying how much you hate abortion you began to fight for better adoption education and stood in the gap for women who feel they have no other choice?

All throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, he would declare that the kingdom of Heaven (or God) is at hand.  This parable does not show the destruction of the garden but an all out restoration of it.  The barren spots, weedy spots, rocky spots…they’re all overtaken by the unstoppable growth of a hundred fold crop.

There comes a time where the people of God need to stop picking weeds and need to start planting seeds.  You can pick all the weeds out of the garden and be left with a garden even more barren than it was before.  If you plant seeds, you not only grow a crop.  The crop that is grown has the capacity to produce seed for future crops.  This grassroots, organic, everyday-person adventure allowed the Church to spread like wildfire in the early Church and begs of us to experience it afresh today.

For Jesus, Heaven is not something we wait for.  It’s not something we purify the world for.  Instead, it is something we look forward to, walk lovingly towards, journey with others in the mindset of, and seek to be ambassadors of right here and right now.

May we recognize that the farmer is not God.  The farmer is us!  May we recognize that the seed is the relational good news of Jesus Christ and spread it everywhere we go to produce a harvest for which we will be told, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”