Living, Loving and Sharing for Jesus...

...‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  (Matthew 25:40)

 Via ESPN  (http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0705/espn_e_carry_on_b4_300.jpg)

Go read this story, Why I Stayed, from ESPN, then come back here and let's talk about the practice of Christian discipleship.

What did you think?  This is a moving story on many levels.  I don't know much about Lisa Fenn, the producer of the story who helped Leroy and Dartanyon.  I have no idea whether she is a Christian.  But I don't think I could find a better example of what it means to live Jesus' instructions in Matthew 25:34-40:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The Christian church faces a number of challenges but one of the greatest is declining attendance.  In my mind that decline signals that the church has less relevance in peoples' lives.  People don't see a need for the church or Jesus in their lives.  Churches wring their hands and worry about this decline but we don't know what to do about it.

Now before you say it, let me acknowledge that there are many churches that have escaped this trap.  These so-called megachurches are growing by leaps and bounds.  People obviously are finding something fulfilling at these churches which shows that at some level Jesus resonates with people in modern America.  I wonder how much of that growth is due to a personality or some kind of "entertainment value" but I'm not going to quibble over that if people are engaged in some way and if they're on a path to becoming disciples of Christ.

But back to the story at hand.  Lisa Fenn saw a couple of vulnerable people in need and was moved to help them.  How many of us who profess to be Christians would have done what Lisa did?  What if we stopped worrying about attendance and just lived as disciples of Jesus, worshiping Him and living by his instructions in Matthew 25 to help those around us who are in need.

Ask yourself the following:

Am I ignoring the needs of people I encounter in my daily walk?

Do I look past or maybe even criticize or mock the less fortunate?

Am I willing to take a first step and approach people I might be uncomfortable with and at least offer them a kind word if not meet one of their immediate material or emotional needs?

The church grows and has relevance when it lives as the Body of Christ motivated by the Holy Spirit.  But growth isn't everything and I think we obsess too much about the size of an individual church.  I had a friend once who was rather small in stature and he liked to say that "it's not the size of the weapon but the fury of the attack" that's important.  God has a place for both small and large churches in His kingdom.  People can be blessed by a Spirit led small church or a Spirit led megachurch.  We shouldn't limit God by worrying about church size.

At our church we've begun asking hard questions about the effectiveness of our discipleship and ministries.   We're beginning  to evaluate every ministry and ensure that we're a church that's "Living, Loving and Sharing for Jesus".  The story of Lisa Fenn, Leroy and Dartanyon gives us a great example of what "Living, Loving and Sharing for Jesus" looks like.

My prayer is that the Body of Christ, the Christian church, will call on God through prayer to fill us with the Holy Spirit and give us energy and emotion to worship and serve God by serving others.  May we worry less about the size of our church and more about our effectiveness as Jesus' disciples and agents here on earth.

Our Father Who Art in Heaven.....

Saw this post "God Is Not My Father" (via The Christian Century) on a religious blog I sometimes read and the title shocked me a little.  I opened the link thinking it was from someone who wasn't a Christian (they like to present alternative views on this blog).  Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was written by a United Methodist pastor.

turnbacktogod.com

Read the post yourself but I can’t imagine a faith that doesn’t include a more intimate take on God than the one expressed by this pastor.  He says, 

"The idea of God as Father is remote to my life too. Jesus taught me to call God Father. God as Father is woven into Christian theology and liturgy. But the notion itself does not touch my heart. Neither does God as Mother, the alternative people put forth. Any parental image for God does little for my faith. It feels like I am 
missing something important here, but this is where I am. God is not my Father."

he continues...

"By contrast, I love using images for God taken from my daily practice of walking. God as the ground that my feet walk on. God as the air that fills my lungs with life. God as the trees that shelter me in their strong, silent presence. These are images for God that speak to my experience now."

Certainly it’s good to think of God as ever present and as being all things, but aren’t we supposed to develop a relationship with God.  How can you be a Christian without relationship with God?  God valued relationships so much that He sent Jesus to earth to touch us and relate to us.  The triune God we worship is by nature relational.  After all He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all existing in relationship with one another and with us.
  
Our relationship with God shouldn’t minimize God by any means but Jesus and scripture tell us that God desires a relationship with us… 

1 John 3:1 - 3
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

I feel I have a strong emotional attachment to God.  We are intimate with God through the Holy Spirit which resides within us (2 Timothy 1:14  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you---guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us).

It puzzles me that a pastor wouldn’t have a more relational sense of God in their lives.  But it points out to me that today many people don't have a traditional family experience.  It's unfortunate and to me sad, but we live in a culture in which many people may not know what it's like to have a loving relationship with a father.  I’m curious what others think of this?  Can you have a strong understanding of God without it having a more human, relational basis?  

How would you answer the following questions: 

What does it mean to you that God is our Father? 

Are we somehow decreasing God to say that He relates to us like a Father instead of the all powerful and mighty God of the universe? 

What does a Father/son or Father/daughter relationship look like when God is the Father? 

My biological father has passed on now but I dearly loved him and enjoyed my relationship with him.  I miss spending time with him and talking to him.  I miss just being with him.  I probably wouldn’t have admitted it then but I always wanted to try and please my dad as a way to get closer to him.  I did that by trying to live a life that honored and pleased him. 

I believe God seeks a close relationship with us and that all people, not just Christians, crave relationship with our Father God.  We can achieve that closeness by seeking to live in ways which please God and further His kingdom.  In other words, seeking the things he desires. And while we could make a long detailed list of what that looks like in a practical sense, I would urge you not to let the idea of pleasing God become too complicated.  Jesus actually gave us a three very simple ways to live a life pleasing to God…

Matthew 22:37 - 40  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 28:19 - 20  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.”

If you want to move closer to God you should ask yourself the following three questions:

"How am I living to “love God with all my heart and soul”?". 
"How am I living to “love my neighbor”?".
"How am I living to “make disciples” (including making myself a stronger disciple)?".

Closeness and relationship with our Father God are vital to your Christian walk.  If you seek a closer relationship with Him keep these questions close at hand and strive to live in a way which pleases your heavenly Father.