Discipleship

“I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious.” Those words have become the mantra for this generation. What do these words mean? “I’m spiritual.” I’m in touch with powers out there and powers in here? I’m sensitive to the good energy that flows through the world and exists between people? I’m open to be touched by something larger than myself? “…but I’m not religious.” I don’t go to church. I don’t want people cramming rules down my throat. Wherever the answer is to be found, it won’t be in Christianity. “I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious.”

“My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the trivial reckoning of a small tradesman: Give me and I shall give you.
My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: this is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my own sector, these are the obstacles I found, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow.
My God and I are horsemen galloping in the burning sun or under drizzling rain. Pale, starving, but unsubdued, we ride and converse. “Leader!” I cry. He turns his face toward me, and I shudder to confront his anguish.
Our Love for each other is rough and ready, we sit at the same table, we drink the same wine in this low tavern of life.”

...pay attention to what Dr. Hodes said. He said that when he came to a tough decision point, like the decision to adopt those two desperately sick boys into his own family, the answer that came to him was like God himself offering him an opportunity to help these boys. Don’t say no,” said his heart. “Don’t say no” to God.

Say what you want about the end-times views of these 19th Century reformers, but don’t miss the point that our forebears firmly believed that the way they lived their lives…the manner in which they served Christ…and the way in which they shared with their neighbors actually enabled them to (as Barack Obama might say): “put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.” They believed that their actions influenced the coming Christ and the coming Kingdom. They saw themselves as participants in the heavenly drama. They weren’t hanging around waiting for God to straighten everything out. They were co-workers in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said that this command is the greatest, the heaviest. Why? Because if you miss this one, you have no hope of understanding anything that comes after, and you have no need to search any further. On these two commandments, the whole Gospel hangs, or hinges. This command to love God is the lynchpin, the top hinge, the first stone in the foundation. If you never learn to love God, you’ll never understand his heart. But if you fall in love with God, a lot of other things will come into focus. At its very core, the kingdom of God is not about thinking correctly, or keeping the right rules or even believing all the right things …it's about being in love.

We live in perilous times. This month we added to our litany of gripping national problems: wars, hurricanes, and global warming a new crisis-- we’re now in the midst of a financial meltdown that economists tell us is every bit as desperate as the problems the United States faced in the late 20’s. So staggering is the scope of the problem, we’re losing our ability to be shocked by the numbers…You need a check…today…filled out for 700 billion dollars or it’s back to living in caves? Can we charge it to our grandkids? Panic hasn’t hit our neighborhoods yet…although the investment bankers and financial gurus’ hair has been aflame for some time. But shortages and high prices have us shaking our heads. I was supposed to meet with some preachers near Asheville on Friday. Two of them called to cancel the meeting…there was no gasoline in their towns. No gasoline to be had. Have you ever known that to happen before? Are harder times ahead? Are we due for a serious lifestyle re-adjustment? What will that mean for us?

God found some of you at 7:00am. Your folks probably got you up and had you ready—perhaps they taught you the importance of a lifetime of service in the landowner’s vineyard, and when the truck rolled into the market, you jumped on. Some of you he found at 9:00am or even 12 noon. You took a little longer to come around, but gladly got to work when you were called, and you’ve been plugging away ever since. Some of you weren’t found until 3 pm, or even 5pm, when the Lord walked in on your card game at the marketplace. You’d given up any thought of work for the Master, and were shocked when the door flew open and the Landowner stepped through with a smile and said: “What in the world are you hanging around for? Come on, let’s make something of this day.” So here you are, hoe in hand, at work in the Master’s vineyard. You’re a little embarrassed that it’s so late in the day, but it’s great to be found by Him.

What does it mean for us to take up our crosses daily? What do Jesus’ words for us mean at 9:00am on Monday morning? At 12:00 at night? When you’re alone…when you’re in a crowd? What does it mean to “lose your life for Jesus?” I’m good at losing things. I have lost sunglasses in fourteen states and three continents. But how do I lose my life, on a daily basis? And how do you lose your life by trying to save it?

It was Abraham who first gave us the notion that faith calls for us to “venture out.” Humans are almost by definition creatures on the move. The word for “human” in the Tibetan language means “one who moves.” Someone once suggested that the scientific name for humans should not be “homo sapiens,” but “homo mobilius.”
Today’s scripture, from the twelfth chapter of Genesis, describes the call of Abraham to move...to travel...to venture out with God. I don’t think there is a more important text in the entire Old Testament. This is where the history of the people of God really begins. This text marks the end of primeval history, and the start of God’s historical relationship with Israel.