“For every dollar you borrow you have to make two to pay it back.” (Dick Caddock, elder in our church in Oregon)

“Crawl up on your Heavenly Father’s lap and tell Him exactly what you want.” (Jo Stone, our former pastor, Ted’s, wife)

“You can never go wrong working hard.” (Bill Sandborg, the Superintendent of my Fulton Hotshots fire crew)

But maybe the best advice I’ve ever read came from the lips of a Jewish mother:

Well, maybe not that Jewish mother. But a Jewish mother by the name of Mary, the mother of Jesus!

It came on the day He let her know that He was about His Father’s business. She had turned to Jesus, her oldest son, to help her in a very real personal crisis. The wedding she was coordinating had run out of wine. This was a huge embarrassment for Mary, a social disaster. So, as she had been doing since her husband Joseph had died, she reported the problem to Jesus.

When Jesus replied that He just couldn’t fulfill this role any more because He was launching His public ministry as the Son of God and Savior of the world, Mary turned to the servants and said, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)

Sure enough, when they obeyed Jesus’ command to pour water in the purification water pots, Jesus turned the water into 120 gallons of the finest wine the wedding party had ever tasted!

It’s great advice. If you do what Jesus says, He will turn your water to wine. He will take our heartaches, your fears, your plans and your dreams and transform them according to His purposes…if you do what He says.

What is that one part of your life you would most want Jesus to change? Turn to His word to see what He has said.

And do it!

“Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).

Sanctification: The Theory!

We Christians are always talking about being made new. We talk about newness in Christ because the Bible makes a big deal about it, and we’re pinning all of our hopes on that truth: That we have been made new in Christ. Everything that happened before we met Christ was simply preparation and waiting for deliverance. And now that we have been delivered by Jesus and His work on the Cross, everything is brand new. We’ve received a new life to start with. And so one of the biggest ideas of our faith is that we have been made new, don’t look back.

The belief is that our new life in Christ and the power of the Spirit within us will guide us to being more like our Savior, one change at a time. We’ll gather together in groups called churches and impress the world round us with our kindness and justice, people will want to meet our Savior and join our groups because we’re so Jesusy awesome.

I want to be that Christian and be a part of that group; I signed up for just that brand of Christianity when I met Jesus in the Jesus Movement of the 60s. But it hasn’t been that smooth, this transformation from the inside out I was told to expect in myself and others — what is the theological term? –sanctification.

Sanctification: The Practice …

It’s not that I don’t believe what the Bible teaches about sanctification in verses I’ve memorized like Galatians 2:20. It’s just that I’m often a mess, and most of the people God has gathered me in groups with are messy too. And I don’t trust the ones who tell me they’re not a mess. I don’t want much. I just want authentic Christianity, and I want it yesterday, or at least next Thursday, but for sure before I meet Jesus in heaven and have to start apologizing for me and all my messy friends.

Sometimes I think about calling a religious expert, but then I remember that I’m supposed to be one of those. You’d think that with all of this knowledge and study I’d be a little more clear on this sanctification thing. I have instead been thinking of how much I don’t know about the transformation I read about in the New Testament and how amazing it is that Jesus puts up with people like Peter, and James, and John, … and me and my messy friends. He must be seeing something I’m missing.

And then it hits me. Oh yeah, it’s that grace thing that makes it all work. If grace means anything it means that Jesus is okay with messes.

And then I begin to think about what Jesus is doing with me and my messy friends.

Sanctification: A Glimpse

Like at a recent baptism on the back porch of our church. There they were, people whose stories I knew, stories that were as messy as mine. And they were talking about how God used them in the lives of the messy people they were baptizing in the name of Jesus. They talked about His grace and love and the difference He was making in their lives. They talked about our messy group, this family we call Church of the Open Door.

So then I conclude what I’ve concluded so many times in my Christian life. Jesus is more powerful than my mess. And He’s more powerful than the messes of my messy friends’ lives.

He’s determined to bring glory to Himself by redeeming messes.

It was just another glimpse of what sanctification looks like in real life, in real time, and in real community.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Dodgertown, here I come!

I couldn’t believe I was really boarding a plane headed for Vero Beach, Florida a few years ago. All my life I had been talking about meeting a lifelong friend to see our beloved Dodgers in their spring training home–Dodgertown!

I was telling the Lord how thankful I was to be finding my seat on the overcrowded plane when I saw a man sitting in my window seat.

“Sir, I’m in 27A.”

“I know, would you mind switching seats with me. My son and I are headed to spring training and he’s afraid to sit alone.”

“No problem,” I assured him. And I really meant, “No problem”–that is until he told me that his assigned seat was a middle seat.

The Middle Seat?

I argued with the Lord about what to do. I knew it was the right thing to do and I even wanted to. But a middle seat?

“You enjoy the ride with your son. I’ll take the middle seat.”

As I fought back up the aisle for my miserable middle seat I couldn’t help thinking about the fact that the man and his son were Red Sox fans. I hate the Red Sox!

When two beefy guys piled in on both sides and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, the Lord brought Esther’s story to mind.

My “Mordecai” Moment

When Mordecai challenged Esther to risk her life by going before the King of Persia to expose Haman’s evil plot to kill all the Jews, he put her rise to queen in perspective: “Who can say but that God has brought you into the palace for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

We should always be looking for the spiritual and eternal reason God has ordered our lives in the way He has. He is never surprised, never overwhelmed, never without purpose. His hand is the one that moves historic world events and the “smaller” events and circumstances of our lives–like sitting in a middle seat.

All of the noble and eternal reasons God wanted me to sit in the middle seat ran through my mind. Maybe I would have an opportunity to lead one of my portly row-mates to Christ. Maybe I would see this man and his son at the Dodgers-Red Sox game tomorrow and they would ask me why I was so nice. I’d then have an opportunity to tell them that I’m a Christian and causing them to think about the kindness of God’s people.

For almost three hours the guys on both sides fell asleep and leaned their massive body weights in on me so that I could barely move. One of them snored loudly in a way that made me happy that they don’t serve meals on planes any more.

When we walked off the plane in West Palm Beach, the father never even said, thanks.

Your Middle Seat?

My point? Most of the time we will never connect the dots of the difficult assignments the Lord asks us to take in His name to His eternal purposes.

If we’re telling Jesus that we’ll do the hard things only when He makes it clear why we should, He’ll just start handing out the really significant assignments to His more willing and trusting followers.

Question: So, what is your middle seat? What are you telling God you won’t do unless He guarantees that it all makes sense?

Only those willing to sit in the middle seat when they don’t know why will discover the joy of His intimate guidance.

Tearful Rage!

A struggling father was talking about their severe financial situation and closed his report with this sentence: “I’ve concluded that Jesus just doesn’t care about my finances.”

My response surprised him. “Nobody grieves more over the pan in your life than Jesus,” I told him.

In my book, When God Breaks Your Heart, I tell how Jesus’ reaction to Mary’s tears helped me understand this. Look at what Mary’s grief did to Jesus.

The depth of Jesus’ friendship with Mary brought on a display of emotion so profound that many Christians feel a need to explain it away. Uncomfortable with John’s vivid description of Jesus’ emotions, they ascribe cosmic theological motives to the Son of God. They speak of Jesus as an objective, but beyond emotion observer of Mary’s pain.

I have a better explanation, the same explanation offered by those who were there that day: “See how He loved him [Lazarus]!” (John 11:36) Jesus could not hide his feelings when he saw the pain of this family he loved.

“Therefore, when Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” (John 11:33)

John’s choice of those two words, “groaned” and “troubled” paint a picture of an extremely distraught Jesus. The rare word translated “groan” originally described the snorting sound of agitated horses or the grunt of a protective she-bear. When used to portray human behavior it indicates a loud inarticulate noise expressing angry feelings. The term “troubled” indicates an observable shuddering of the body brought on by mental or spiritual protest or anguish.

Somewhere in the mystery of God wrapping Himself in human skin Jesus-the God-man-expressed his Godly anger against the pain of sin and death through intense human emotions. Jesus could not and did not suppress his rage against the impact of all that is wrong with life on his friends.

Yes, He Cares

Just because Jesus hasn’t made everything better right now doesn’t mean He doesn’t care. He cares about your life, including your finances.

But if you want to feel His care, you have to trust Him for your finances. Because what He really wants from you is your trust, the kind that runs to meet Him and falls at His feet.

Where did the term Jesus Freak come from?

Jesus freak was a slanderous term they called us in the Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s. It came from two sources. First, the secular culture we came out of–the radical counterculture of the 60s–called us Jesus Freaks. Second, the institutional church–the religious hall monitors who rejected us because of our long hair and rock music–called us Jesus Freaks.

And guess what? We didn’t care. If a freak is someone who is radically different from all others, we wanted to be freaks for Jesus.

So we embraced it.

Who were the first Jesus Freaks?

We weren’t the first Jesus Freaks. It all began with Twelve Jesus Freaks that Jesus called His disciples. They were freakishly committed to Him and abandoned themselves to His care.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, they turned the world upside down for Jesus!

Are You One?

A Jesus Freak, I mean. If you’re a Christian, you should be. When people talk about your life they should be talking about your freakish devotion to Him and your freakish faith in Him.

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My organizational communication training was decidedly non-Christian. As a young man I cut my leadership teeth as a squad leader on an elite firefighting crew for the U. S. Forest Service, the Fulton Hotshots. After college, I served as an officer in the United States Army in various leadership positions in a tank battalion. The communication was often crass, even profane, as you might imagine.

What it was not was unclear, vague, or mysterious. Firemen and soldiers have a refreshingly distinct way of telling you exactly what they think about you or the organization. They tell you…exactly what they mean!

Christians? Not so much. It takes years to learn the nuances of the sanctified codes and secret body language signals of the brethren. It’s not what they said that’s important. It’s what you should have known they meant.

What they say is all prettied up, and spiritualized in safe evango-speak. They pepper their sentences with “from my perspective”, “after a lot of prayer,” and “according to the Bible” jive that somehow makes the most damaging and divisive words acceptable.

But after a while in the sick culture of hidden, codependent religiosity, everyone knows what they really mean:

“You @#*+#%*#, how dare you disagree with me.”

“I didn’t get my *%#@_*+* way and I’ll be #@#%&*+* if I’m going to take it.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the charade. Cuss me out, slap me, or scream at the top of your lungs. But please, please, please, tell me what you really mean!

“We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro…in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in loves, may grow up!” (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Believe in the Son of Man and Follow Him

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” (Jesus Christ, Luke 19:10) 

The four Gospels are corresponding accounts that provide a complex portrait of the person and work, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, Savior of the world, and Son of God. These historical books encompass about 46% of the New Testament. Though they were not the first books written, the early church placed the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament because they are the bedrock upon which the book of Acts and the Epistles are constructed.

The Gospels are written as biographies with a purpose. They are thematic portraits of the life of Christ focusing on the brief public ministry of the Son of God. Each author selects distinctive events and teachings of the Lord Jesus to present a purposefully skewed account to accomplish their purpose:

Matthew, a Jew, writes to persuade His countrymen that Christ is their King. Frequently quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures, he argues that Jesus of Nazareth “fulfills what was written.” His birth, life, death, and His resurrection leave only one possible conclusion: Jesus is the Messiah of Israel.

Mark seeks to reach the Roman mindset and presents Jesus as the Servant who came to “give His life as a ransom for many. He begins by serving the masses, but as He is being rejected and His departure grows near, He concentrates on serving His disciples and equipping them to serve others in His name.

Luke focuses on the Greek way of thinking, revealing Christ as the Perfect Man. Dr. Luke highlights the human side of Jesus, describing Him as the one who came to earth “to seek and save that which was lost.”

John writes to everyone, regardless of culture. He selects seven miracles and arranges them carefully to persuade his readers to believe in Jesus as the Son of God who will give them eternal life.

Luke, a Gentile physician, writes from the perspective of a careful and compassionate family doctor. The warmth of his words must have comforted Theophilus, because he offers persuasive evidence that the gospel he had heard was true. Jesus Christ did indeed fulfill His purpose “to seek and save the lost” (19:10). Luke uses the words “saved” and “Savior” more than any other book in the New Testament.

Doctor Luke was a careful historian who presents Christ as the Perfect Man who came to seek and save sinful man. Growing belief in Jesus and growing opposition develop simultaneously. The title “Son of Man” is Luke’s favorite for presenting Jesus. He stressed the saving work of Jesus as One who transcends history and is like no other human who descended from Adam. Jesus was not a sinner and did not inherit sin at birth. Jesus is the head of a new race and the older brother in a new family. He was a man, but the unique man, unlike any of the Greek gods of polytheism and mythology. He was superior in every way because He was God in the flesh.

And as God in the flesh, He conquered sin and death, thereby redeeming humanity and history. “Luke’s Gospel gives a reader a more comprehensive grasp of the history of the period than the other Gospels. He presented more facts about the earthly life of Christ than did Matthew, Mark, or John.” (John A. Martin, “Luke,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 201):

Luke is the longest book in the New Testament and Luke’s writings in Luke-Acts compromise 27% of the Greek New Testament!

I.  LUKE’S PURPOSE (1:1-4): Luke is writing a biography of Jesus to prove to Theophilus that the gospel he had believed is true.

II. INTRODUCTION OF THE SON OF MAN (1:5-4:13): Luke proves that Jesus of Nazareth was no ordinary man by tracing his birth to Adam, but emphasizing the miraculous circumstances of His birth, baptism, and temptation.

III. MINISTRY OF THE SON OF MAN (4:14-9:50): The authority of Jesus is irrefutable, and His teaching is irresistible.

IV. REJECTION OF THE SON OF MAN (9:51-19:27): Inexplicably, most reject the Perfect Man who came to save them. But a few believe and begin to follow Him. On His last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus teaches His followers the cost of discipleship, and thrusts their thoughts toward His Second Coming and His soon sacrifice.

III. CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF THE SON OF MAN (19:28-24:53): After His triumphal entry, official Israel rejects the Perfect Man. He focuses on the equipping of His disciples for His departure and their future ministries. Then, He is crucified for the sin of humanity. Finally, Luke’s account of His resurrection proves that the Son of Man has conquered sin and death.

LUKE AND YOU: In one of the pivotal passages in the New Testament, Luke records Jesus’ teaching of the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:25-35).

The Five Marks of a Disciple

1.  Disciples must be totally devoted to Jesus Christ (14:26).

2.  Disciples must deny themselves for the sake of the Gospel (14:27).

3.  Disciples must willingly and intelligently decide to commit their lives to Jesus Christ (14:28-32).

4.  Disciples must desert all for the cause of Christ (14:33).

5.  Disciples must desire a life of eternal significance (14:34-35).

Counting the Cost:  There is no such thing as a reluctant disciple!

1.  Is serving Jesus Christ the highest priority in your life?  Unless you put Jesus first, you cannot be His disciple.

2.  Are you willing to put aside your own goals and desires in life?  Unless you put yourself last, you cannot be His disciple.

3. Will you commit your talent, treasure, and time to Jesus Christ?  Unless you put it all on the line, you cannot be His disciple.

4.  Is your burning passion in life to serve Jesus Christ?  Unless you are excited about eternal significance, you cannot be His disciple.

5.  Have you counted the cost?  Do you really want to be His disciple?

Jesus’ Command

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus tells every Christian exactly what He wants us to do, “Make disciples of all the nations.”

It would seem that any theory of church growth, any mobilization of God’s people, any desire for revival would begin with making disciples.

Is your heart longing for revival?

Do you want to change your world, your nation, your community, your neighborhood, your church, your family?

What if we just did what Jesus said? What if we just started making disciples–maturing followers of the Lord Jesus?

What If?

You make disciples—the church must take responsibility for its role in revival to make disciples of all nations.

• What if you told some people you told about Jesus that you would love to meet with them for breakfast once a week, or they came over for dinner, or two or three of them agreed to come over to your house or meet in a conference or break room at work or school weekly?
• What if you asked them to tell their own story about Jesus so that they could get to know one another better?
• What if you asked them how you could pray for them, and if they knew anyone who needed Jesus?
• What if they said yes, and you showed them how to tell their friends about Jesus?
• What if their friends believed in Jesus and suddenly you were hosting a “minichurch” in your home or at your workplace or school?

I don’t know Kevin Bacon, though I enjoy his movies. But I do know a lot of “Kevin Bacon Christians.”

What’s a Kevin Bacon Christian?

You’ll know them if you meet them.

As soon as you mention some famous or not so famous Christian, a certain church or some work of God in the world, they have to tell you how they’re connected to that guy or that work.

“Oh, I remember way back when he was still wet behind the ears and I was helping him walk with Christ.”

“Wow, do you know her? Well let me tell you about the many times I’ve talked with her about her ministry.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but back in the 60s (70s, 80s, 90s … fill in the blanks) we served together in Africa (Asia, South America, Toledo … fill in the blanks).

“Well my, my. Don’t tell me you know them too? We’re extremely close, in fact, I was just talking to them last week.”

What Are They Really Saying?

“I’m the center of the Christian universe and I just have to make sure that you know that!”

“You may not appreciate what a signifiant saint you’re talking to here!”

GAG, GAG, GAG, GAG. AND AGAIN I SAY … GAG.

How About This?

Let’s just be Christians–undeserving but loved in spite of ourselves, struggling forward together and failing one another daily, nothing in and of ourselves but everything with Christ–Christians.

Could we stop trying to impress one another with our churchy pedigrees and start reminding one another of the Great One who rescued us from our sin?

Last time I checked it wasn’t about the Christians we know but the Christ who knows us.