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Category: Disciple (Page 5 of 18)

When Silence Speaks

March 30, 2022 / / 0 Comments

There’s an old saying that reminds us silence is golden. Sometimes that is more true than you might realize. There are moments in life when keeping quiet is the best thing you can do. Silence isn’t about having nothing to say, it’s about knowing when to say something and when words will have little effect.

I’d like to challenge you all to take some silent time. Now I know that if you’re anything like me, the idea of sitting in absolute silence is unproductive and honestly terrifying. I just don’t do silence well at all. But it’s so important.

I’m currently reading a book on the power of silence. Ok so it’s not really on the power of silence but there’s a chapter devoted to silence and how essential it is. It’s not a churchy book or a book on spiritual exercises either. It’s actually a book on hostage negotiations of all things.

Some of you are probably rolling your eyes on the topic of the book but we’ll talk about that another time. The real reason I am reading this book is because it was referred by a friend when we were talking about the power of silence in sales and negotiations. You have no idea how powerful silence really is.

A former chapter in my life story was spent in the car sales world. And this is where I learned the ultimate power of silence. I won’t go into the psychology behind it or anything but silence was the difference between a car sale and a flop sale. The moments when you stay quiet, on the buying or sales side, are the moments when you win big in the car buying world.

But silence is more than just for car sales. As a matter of fact silence should be a part of all of our lives, but we’ve become so addicted to the inaudible noises in life that silence can’t even be heard or experienced. So what is the power of silence?

Think about when you were a child, or the last time someone treated you like they were a child by giving you the silent treatment. Why did the silent treatment work when you were a child? And why doesn’t it work when you’re an adult?

Silence works for children because they haven’t been trained on how to fill their minds with all sorts of noises that can distract them. This is also why it doesn’t work for you and me as adults. We’ve mastered the art of filling our lives with noise. But silence is so important.

Even though I wouldn’t want to go back and do it over again, some days I really wish the power of silence wasn’t so lost on me. I wish I could sit in a room with low lighting and empty my mind of all the distractions but it’s just not possible.

There’s a story in the bible where silence is the key player. Ok so stick with me for a second and this won’t stay super “churchy”. Throughout the Bible there’s sound. God even starts the whole creating process with the spoken word. No silent treatment there. But two times in biblical history was there a moment of silence from heaven. The first time was when Jesus was praying in the garden. He wanted to be with the Father. He wanted to have his voice heard but in that moment was silence. It was deafening. It was awful. It caused his heart to break to be sure. The second time wasn’t any better either. He was on the cross and the world was hurling insults and lies and hatred at him. He just wanted His father to be close. Instead…silence. Not a single solitary word. Silence was all he heard.

You see silence is powerful because silence is more than a noise heard or a word spoken. Silence is broken in the presence of a friend. The glance across the room from someone who cares has the power to shatter the terrifying grip of silence. Sometimes our friends and loved ones have the power to unlock our moments of silence without a singe audible word.

You see silence from audible noises is really important. And I would honestly encourage you to find moments when you can sit in still and silent spaces. But more importantly remember that you don’t always have to say something. As a matter of fact you can say far more through your presence than your words will ever be able to say. The long and short is simple. Enjoy the silence when it’s there. But know you have the power to rescue someone from silence without even saying a word.

So What Should I Pray For?

March 29, 2022 / / 0 Comments

A week or so ago, I wrote a post that said don’t just pray but instead just pray! And I know reading that line might be confusing if you don’t read it in context, so I’ll try to explain for those of you who didn’t read the post. The idea is simple actually. How often is prayer thrown in as a last resort? That’s the idea behind don’t just pray. It’s like we can’t figure it out on our own so we may as well pray because it won’t hurt anything.

That is totally different than knowing that all you can do is pray and starting out that way from the beginning. That’s what I refer to as instead just pray. It means, start from the position that God is the only way not the last resort. Start form the place of reliance on Him instead of DIY-ing it through life.

If just throwing prayer in as a last resort isn’t the best way to handle things, then what things should I pray for? The short answer is everything! The Bible says to pray without ceasing. Pray through the good times and the bad. Pray in moments of plenty and times of want. Pray with you’re feeling lost and alone, but also when you’re experiencing what being loved and cared for feels like. If you read no more than these couple words, know that it is clear prayer is a vital part of the Christian life and we should do it far more often and far more intentionally than we currently do!

But for those of you who want to go a little deeper and get a little more depth into prayer, let’s keep going. Sure we are to pray for everything but really what kinds of things? And how in the world do you do it? These are questions that I hear a lot! I know some people who pray for hours every morning in the dark corner of their kitchen or living room before anyone gets up. This was how my grandpa did things. But I also know some people who are pretty darn ADHD with their prayer life, hello that’s me! We have a hard time just staying focused on prayer while we’re reading one let alone pray for hours in a dark room.

Pray the little things.

One of the things in life that makes me chuckle but also shake my head is when people talk about prayer as if God doesn’t really care about the little things. I know a guy who prays before he leaves his home that he gets a close parking space at the grocery. For a while I thought that was absolutely ridiculous. I mean really? Does God need to worry about where you park?

But then it hit me. I obviously had a wrong view of God. If I truly believed that God was a loving father, then why wouldn’t he want to know about my silly wants? I loved hearing my children tell me about their silly desires when the were kids. As a matter of fact now that they’re growing up, I find myself missing these conversations more and more. I want to know what they’re thinking and what’s going on in their day. I believe God has the same feeling toward us. He wants to know what’s going on. So tell him the little things. Share your frustration with your bad hair day, or your realization that you have no hair kind of day. Share your happiness of the new personal record in weight lifting or speed in running.

God cares about the little things. Share those. He knows them already but just like a good dad wants to hear what’s going in their children’s lives, so also your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you too!

Don’t forget the BIG things.

The other end of the spectrum is that person who doesn’t feel they can ask God for the big thing in life because they’re not good enough or haven’t earned the right to ask God for something of that magnitude. But God wants us to bring the big, huge, gigantic requests before him as well!

I am not going to say that God gets bored freeing up front row parking spaces but come on he’s the creator of the universe. We can probably give him a little more than give me a better hair day tomorrow! Test God with your prayers a little. Ok before you get all weirded out by that statement, it’s not testing to see if he’s real. It’s taking what he’s given you and promised to you and testing his promises. God won’t disappoint. He will, as it says in Malachi 3, open the floodgates of blessing. While that passage refers specifically to bringing our offerings to God, I really think it applies here to our prayers as well. Test God in his promises.

I had a professor once say that prayer is rubbing God’s promises back in his ears. Not that God needs reminding but that we need to be reminded of God’s faithfulness. We need to be reminded of the ways God has already answered us in the past and how he’s still present with us today.

So here’s a question for you to ponder. What are you praying that you actually need God to answer? Understand what I’m asking. What are you praying for that God alone can answer? Are you praying prayers small enough that if you wait long enough, drive around the parking lot enough times, you can find the answer? Or is the prayer of your heart today something that God alone is able to answer?

I think so often we either don’t pray big prayers because we don’t think we can or because we don’t even think that big. But God is a big God. He created all of the world and everything in it, I’m sure he can handle whatever our tiny little brains can dream up. Pray the earth melting, kingdom exploding kind of prayers. Pray for healing when the doctors say it’s not possible. Pray for some miraculous explosion of God’s goodness and mercy to be rained down on you today. Pray something so big that you can’t mistake it is actually God answering when it actually happens.

Ok so there you have it, pray for the bad hair days and the give my bald head new hair moments. Pray for the rain to water the ground and for God to raise up a power house of light and grace in your community. Pray the little things that no one else cares about, but also pray those things that God alone is able to pull off.

In short – pray because it’s more the one to whom you pray than the thing for which you pray.

Grief Sucks

March 22, 2022 / / 0 Comments

We’ve all experienced it. We’ve all seen it. Felt it. Went through it. We’ve all had the taste of loss put in our mouths. Maybe the loss of a loved one to cancer. Maybe it was the loss of a job. Maybe we didn’t get the promotion and feel as if we lost out on something big. Maybe it’s the feeling of loss we have when a child moves out of the house. Maybe it’s the loss of a friend or even a spouse. All of these losses cause us to go through a time of grief. And to put it mildly, grief sucks.

Grief sucks because it’s hard. Grief is hard because there’s no clear cut path to make our way through it. And when we’re in an uncomfortable place, our number one priority is to get through it. We don’t want to be in a challenging situation any longer than is absolutely necessary. Grief is no different.

Everything around us tells us that we need to get over our grief. Sure people don’t say that but when you listen to their words, it’s pretty evident. We don’t like being around crying people because we don’t know what to say or do. So we try to give some feel good platitude that makes us feel like we’re doing something, but it really isn’t helpful in the least to the person grieving.

Grief is hard because it’s like quicksand. When we fall into grief, the more we resist it the more it sucks us right into its awful grasp. We become so tunnel visioned on the loss and the pain associated with it, that we can’t see anything positive around us at all.

Grief is suffered in moments, but is meant to be lived out in stories.

Think about it for a minute. The last time you were in a place of grief, what was your focus? It was the loss and only the loss. We become so tunnel visioned that we can’t see beyond the loss and the feelings of pain and abandonment associated with grief. It’s as if grief is all that’s left in life. But grief isn’t the end of the story, at least it doesn’t have to be.

When we realize that grief is acceptable and that there are stages of grief that allow us to move through it and not get trapped in the middle of it, we can soon see the power of baby steps. First of all, don’t hear what I’m not saying here. Grief is not something you need to get over. But you do need to move through. We all need to make progress walking through the darkness and loneliness of grief but we don’t do it alone.

As a pastor, I look at life a little different than some. I believe that grief has a very important purpose in our lives. Grief is a way to check ourselves on what’s important. Grief helps us see who and what is around us to walk with us through challenge. Grief, although awful, doesn’t get the final word.

I’ve suffered some pretty significant losses in life. From losing two grandparents in less than a year, to losing close friends, having to close a church and leave the people behind that I loved dearly. Loss is hard. It sucks to be honest. But grief is part of a story that is being written, but it doesn’t have to be the final chapter.

Another way to look at grief is to not let it have the final word. When we keep staring our loss in the face, day in and day out, we’re letting the pain and loss and grief consume us. The moment is becoming the story. It’s as if grief is getting to put a period, hard stop at the end of our joy. But that’s not healthy and it’s not even true!

Grief isn’t a period. It’s a comma. The purpose of a period is to show an ending. The purpose of a comma is to help you pivot to a new line of thought taking into account what just happened. This means that the loss you are experiencing right now can lead you to something next that could only be experienced with the taste of grief in your mouth. I know that’s hard to swallow because we just want it to end, but that’s not how grief works.

Grief has to run its course. For some it’s days. For others it takes months or even years. You’ll never get over the loss. But you’ll grow through the grief. The point is simple. Don’t let grief have the final say. Don’t let grief be a period where God intends a comma. Don’t let the moments of grief prevent you from experiencing the fullness of the story of your life. Grief sucks, but it’s not the end of your story.

Please note: if you are suffering from a loss and feel massive burdens of anxiety and depression, I would encourage you to find a professional to help you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking to someone who can help you process the grief and find healthy tools to aide in coping with the weight of grief. You’re not in this alone.

Welcome to the Table

March 21, 2022 / / 0 Comments

My family has a tradition that formed several years ago. Once a month we gather for a family dinner. I think it started when we all kind of had established lives that took us in a variety of directions. Being from a larger family where everyone is busy with work and other functions of life, it’s hard to be together on a daily basis. And my parents didn’t want us to drift apart as a family. Hence family dinner.

I will admit sometimes those family dinners roll around and it’s just hard to make the time. Maybe it’s my schedule that’s too full or the fact that I rarely have a weekend free or I just don’t want to make the drive? But whatever it is sometimes it takes a little effort to get me out the door to one of these gatherings. Now before anyone (yes even you mom and dad) get upset or hurt by this hear me out.

It’s always worth it. Yes I said it. Giving up what I want to go to one of these family gatherings is always worth it. Even if I don’t get the living room painted or the lawn mowed or the you fill in the blank. It’s always worth it. But why? The purpose of coming to one of these family dinners is to keep us connected and enjoy the feast that’s been prepared.

Ok buckle up because we’re about to take a bit of a turn to hit a parallel road.

This is a lot like gathering for worship. We often don’t want to attend because well there are many things we could be doing instead. Things like sleeping for instance. Or maybe taking a slow morning for a good hearty breakfast. Or heading out for a calm, quiet Sunday walk around the park. Whatever it is, there are a million things that we could be doing on a Sunday. But we’ll never know what we’re missing until we show up.

So are you still with me here? Family dinner is like regularly gathering for worship. No we don’t worship our families or even have a worship service at a family dinner, but there’s a lot that happens when we gather with family that should resemble worship and vice versa.

If your worship experience isn’t like one of those family gatherings, then maybe you need to rethink what worship really is. And yes I know comparing a worship gathering to a family gathering is dangerous because every family has one of those people. Some people can’t stand gathering with family because they don’t really enjoy being near those people. That’s a shame for starters, but I really think life in the church is the same way. There are those people who say things without thinking, come across a little harsh, are just too loud, seem stuck on themselves, are just kind of annoying, and the list goes on.

But why do we gather? We don’t gather for family gatherings or a time of worship because we like everyone in the room. We do it because we’re a family and better together than apart. If we can’t handle the hard times of being a family then we really need to check our own hearts but that’s a post for a different time. So putting aside what I want for the sake of the gathering just might be worth it. You should try it!

Another similarity between these family dinners and worship is the meal. It’s great to sit down and feast on the meal. But one of the cool parts about gathering as a family is that often it’s not the parents who get the food for their kids. It’s one of the uncles or aunts. We kind of share the responsibility of preparing the plates of food. But everyone feeds themselves.

Think about it for a minute. How cool would it be if every person in church thought of it as their responsibility and even privilege to help everyone else grow in their faith! I love helping my nieces fill their plates as they get their food. (I don’t have young nephews on my side of the family or I’d help them too.) Could you imagine what the church would look like if men and women would share what they were learning with other people throughout the church, both young and old? Could you imagine how different things would be if not only the pastor was the one doing the teaching but every person who was growing in Christ found it their responsibility to ensure the Bible was taught and shared?

Sure someone has to prepare the meal. Sure someone has to make sure the pantry is stocked and the table is set. But when it all comes down to it, even my young nieces are able to pick up their utensils and feed themselves. They feed themselves the very food that we put on their plates. They feast on the meal that was prepared.

The long and short is this. Make time to gather most certainly with your family but also with your church family. Give up a little bit of you for the sake of those who haven’t seen you in a while. Help those around you navigate the food on the table. Show them the menu. Serve them the food. Then feast. Feast on the meal that’s been prepared. Enjoy the fellowship around the table while you fill yourself with all that’s been set before you.

Welcome to the table. It’s time to feast.

A Different Approach To Lent

March 18, 2022 / / 0 Comments
May be an image of 6 people and people standing

The months of February and March are typically marked in the church by a season called Lent. Lent is that 40 time period that takes us from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Lent is a time of thinking, praying, and being a little more contemplative. Churches add worship services on Wednesdays for an extra time of gathering to remember all that Jesus did for us.

As a pastor, I’ve typically served churches that have done this very thing – gathering on Wednesdays for midweek Lent worship. The services have always looked the same too. We start with a song, read a reading, pray, a short message is preached, sing another song and then go home. All in all it is a mini version of what we do on a Sunday. But this year we’re doing it different.

This year, instead of a message being preached, we’re facilitating a conversation about a new set of Bible verses each week. We turn to the section of the Bible. I read it aloud and everyone follows along in their own Bibles. Then I turn the group loose to interact with the text. We’re using this as a time of training one another on how to eat all the words of the Bible. Kind of like teaching a child how to use their fork and knife, except here we’re teaching how to use the bible and some of its tools. Here’s what it looks like.

Know your tools

The first thing we do, before being sent off to work on some study questions, is unlock a tool. Better yet, we show how to use the tool that’s already in our hands a little more efficiently. You see, your bible is a great tool to access all of the goodness of God. But the problem is that many people don’t know how to use it to its fullest. So this Lent we’re giving people some fun tips and tricks for how to use the Bible to its fullest.

Throughout Lent we’re asking everyone to bring their bible to church. And I don’t mean bring a phone with a Bible on it but an actual paper Bible (yes they still make paper Bibles). The paper copy has some fun little extras inside that many might not be aware of! The goal is to help you learn how to best use your Bible so you can get the most out of it. And a side benefit is that you won’t have to rely on me to do the work for you because you’ll know how to dig into what the Bible says. The goal is simply to empower you to become obedient to God’s words, to eat on your own, to become mature in your following of Jesus.

This week we looked at the simple things. These tools are nothing earth shattering, but they’re really great things that can help a person in their study of God’s word. Our two tools this week were the little section headings and those mostly overlooked cross references.

The point of the headings in your Bible is to help you better navigate through reading. They weren’t part of the original text. They were added as little tools to make reading the Bible easier. We used them to help track down the same passage in multiple books of the Bible.

The second tool we highlighted was the use of cross reference notes. These are really useful additions to the Bible to help you see how the rest of the Bible talks about a given topic. If you trace those cool cross references around the Bible, you could gain a significant insight into what the Bible means when it says a given word or phrase and why it might be important still today.

Talk about it.

After we read the text and introduce people to the tools available to them, we literally turned them loose to answer a few simple questions and have a healthy discussion about what they read. It was totally different than anything we’ve done before, but it was great to watch and even listen to the various conversations happening. A normal worship service is so one way and the congregation is largely quiet. The style we are using through Lent is very much like what the New Testament book of Acts describes when the church was first formed.

I’m not sure what your routine is with the Bible, church or Lent; but it’s ok to try something new. It’s ok to do things a little differently in an effort to gain a little deeper understanding. The focus of the church should really be about raising people up and empowering them with the right tools to be able to grow in their faith on their own.

It’s called discipleship. It’s what Jesus commanded the church to be about in Matthew 28. It wasn’t a suggestion or a good idea. It was a command. It was a command given to the disciples to make more disciples. Not to the pastors. Not just the apostles. Not just the seminary educated *because they didn’t have seminary educated people back then! It was for the everyday follower of Jesus who was being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

So, what new approach can you take to your time in God’s word that will stretch you and allow you to feast on what God has put in front of you?

I Walk Too Fast

March 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Fast

Ok so it’s no secret – I move quickly. I like to drive fast, walk fast, run fast, move fast in general. I even have a tendency to talk fast, and for that matter type fast which explains all of the uncaught grammar errors – sorry about that. I don’t like to sit around and do nothing. I am always busy. I’ve even been given a nickname by some members of the church I serve. I’ve been named Speedy PD (PD for Pastor D). But there comes a time when we all need to slow down. I think I’m realizing that I just walk too fast.

We used to go on family vacations to Disney when our children were younger. We’d hit the parks and see all there was to see. As a matter of fact, my children would tell me to get ready for my vacation walking. It was a type of walking that was faster than normal and allowed me to weave in and out of crowds so we could get where we wanted with limited delays. But if I’m being honest, I think I walk too fast.

For many reasons, I just need to slow down. Personally speaking, walking too fast can leave you alone. There were times when I’d be walking so fast that I’d leave my family in my dust. They wouldn’t be able to keep up with me. It gives a really bad impression to your family when you’re walking so fast that they can’t even keep up with you. I was just walking too fast.

But more than just walks with family on vacation, I tended to walk fast in my spiritual life as well. And to be honest, the faster I walked the less room I would leave for God. Now I know that sounds a tad like an over exaggeration here but in reality it’s more true than we all realize. We sometimes need to slow down to let God catch up. I find myself sometimes leading God. Not that I can somehow move faster than God, but I’m sometimes a few steps ahead of where God has planned for me to be. So I need to walk a little slower.

I’m not sure what walking slower means for you but I would suggest starting with literally walking slower. Moving your feet at a slower pace. Taking smaller strides. Stopping for a minute to breathe the fresh air or take in the scenery. Slow down the pace in the mundane parts of life so you’re more comfortable slowing down in the critical parts of it.

But when it comes to your spiritual walk, literally moving slower isn’t exactly much of a help. We can, however, apply the same concept to our faith lives. We can read slower when we’re going through our daily readings. We can find a still, quiet place to have a moment alone with God. We can turn down the lights and just sit in silence. I know that sounds awkward and nearly impossible, but sitting in a quiet and semi-dark room is very calming.

Another idea that is definitely not original to me is something called a sabbath. The sabbath is the idea of stopping for a day or a set length of time and just going dark. Rest for that time. It’s not a vacation. It’s not a party time. It’s a time to rest and well…slow down! The purpose of the sabbath idea is that we are able to work from our rest and rest from our work.

I think we can all admit that in 2020 we were forced to slow down a bit. We couldn’t go to our gyms, schools, churches and even to work. We had to slow down and even stop for a bit. The point of sabbath is that we pause to evaluate where God is in our lives. Stopping or even slowing down in life is more critical than we might realize. If we don’t slow down, then God will make you slow down.

Let me say that again slowly. If you don’t slow down, God will slow you down. He might do it by letting you come down with something to cause you to pause for a minute. He might do it by making your car break down or giving you a snow day at school. He might even let a global pandemic shut the whole world down for a few months! For me, he let me speed cause headaches and anxiety that pretty much wrecked my body. You don’t have to like it, but if you don’t slow down God will slow you down. And someone else slowing you down will not be fun!

So learn from my mistakes and slow down. Pause long enough to evaluate where you are in relation to God’s plan for your life. It’s ok if you walk a little slower. Take it from me, you’re missing things by moving so fast. Maybe you’re walking too fast like me.

Please Stop Just Praying

March 16, 2022 / / 0 Comments

You know I have a bit of a love – hate relationship with the phrase our thoughts and prayers are with you. It just seems so very lame! Do we even know what we’re saying? I mean really, the context in which we say this phrase is that we don’t know what else to do so I guess we can just pray.

We treat prayer like it’s a last resort. A natural disaster happens or something occurs that shakes us to the core emotionally, and we say things like I don’t know what to do. All I can do is pray.

Yes you’re right! All you can do is pray! But that’s not a bad thing. Actually, that’s where we should all start. Start with prayer and I mean the real prayers for God to move mightily in a situation. Then wait for His leading. But instead we tend to move, then pray that God will be ok with our movement. Or we like to pray those generic prayers of God be with everyone and bring world peace.

Yeah. I get it. We should want God to be everywhere. But He already is. And we should want there to be peace in the world and in our communities. But when we relegate God to a spiritual slot machine by only coming when we can’t handle the problem ourselves it shows how little we think of God.

Prayer is huge. And I mean huge! When we pray, really pray, with heartfelt words – emptying all of ourselves at the feet of Jesus asking him to do what brings him most glory we will be amazed at what is possible.

So if you see something going on in the world or your community, please don’t just pray. Take time to just pray. Pray first. Pray second. And when you have done everything else pray. Because when all you can do is pray, you are doing more than you can ever imagine! Prayer is tapping into the very power of God. Prayer is not about bending God’s way to match your will. It’s about bending your will to match God’s way.

So pray. And when you think you’ve prayed enough, you should probably go ahead and keep on praying. Because the Bible is pretty clear that prayer might be all you have to offer, but that’s more than you’ll ever need.

But Didn’t Jesus Say?

March 15, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Ok so since my last post I’ve received a couple of comments (two of them) from a couple of people (again 2 of them) who may not have found my words all that acceptable. And that’s totally cool. I absolutely love having what a friend of mine calls robust dialogue around issues upon which we disagree. Well the point of contention with the post about my job not being to feed you was with a reference to something Jesus actually said.

In an effort to get inside my head and heart a little and see why I wrote what I wrote and what the perceived in-congruencies are of this Bible verse and my previous post, I decided to dig into what Jesus told Peter and what I intended by my comments. Here you go…

In John 21, Jesus cooks a hearty breakfast of grilled fish over a charcoal fire and recommissions Peter into the work he was originally called to do. Way back at the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus calls disciples to come and follow me. Then he says, I will make you fishers of men. Somewhere along the line, Peter and his compadres took the command to follow me less seriously and thought Jesus should follow them. Peter went so far as to even deny Jesus around a charcoal fire while Jesus was on trial getting ready to be crucified.

Fast forward now to chapter 21. We are now on the shore with Jesus and Peter. And there’s a charcoal fire. In my mind this is really an important detail that we tend to gloss over. The fact that it’s called a charcoal fire and not a bonfire or wood fire or any other kind of fire to me seems significant. Why? You ask. Well there is only one other time in John’s gospel where a charcoal fire is mentioned, and yep you guessed it. The time Peter denied Jesus it was beside a charcoal fire.

Now to understand why this is so important you have to go back to the time you were beside a charcoal fire, or even a fire in your fire pit for that matter. If you’re a campfire lover then you undoubtedly know the smell of the smoke in your clothing and on your skin. This is an unmistakeable smell. Not to mention the sounds of the crackling and warmth it provides.

Imagine for a minute you’re Peter, and you walk up to this fire. You smell the charcoal and feel the warmth and hear the sounds of the fire crackling on the shore. Where does your mind go? I would guess this is why the text describes this as a charcoal fire, because John wants us to go there too! Right back to the last charcoal fire. Peter would have remembered denying Jesus. He would have likely thought that some sort of scolding was coming. But what did he get instead?

Hey Peter do you love me? Then why don’t you feed my sheep please.

What! Jesus didn’t scold Peter, but instead consecrated him for continued ministry and mission work. So that’s the first part of this passage that really sets the stage. Second is a hidden little gem in the Greek language about the use of two different words for love which we won’t have space for here. Then Jesus tells Peter to feed my sheep and tend my lambs. So the question that was raised by two people about my former post was essentially if Jesus told Peter to feed my sheep, why are you saying you’re not going to feed the sheep entrusted to you?

Great question! But it’s kind of a wrong question. Now don’t get your undies in a bunch here. I don’t mean that to come across all sassy. It’s jus…if you really think about this for a hot second. Jesus told Peter to feed my sheep. Peter knew how sheep were fed. Do you? Do you know how a first century Jewish shepherd would feed the sheep? They would pasture them. They wouldn’t chew the food for them or bottle feed them. Ok. Sure for a time, like when they were young or if there were problems a shepherd could give a given sheep a little more attention and care, but that wouldn’t last forever. The shepherd was charged with making sure the pasture was green with enough good grass for the sheep to graze. Not to spoon-feed the sheep.

Now take that same imagery of feed my sheep by letting them graze a pre-selected pasture and bring it into the church today. If we’re going to apply the command of Jesus to feed my sheep to our modern context, then we sure as the dickens better apply it’s original intent and context as well. If, as a pastor, my job is to feed the sheep as Peter was commanded to do using the imagery of a first century Jewish shepherd, then I am commanded to lead the people to the pasture and ensure the pasture is tended properly. Hence I’m not going to feed you, but I am going to take you to the food and lay the food before you.

So I’m still not going to feed you. I still don’t think it’s the job of a pastor, DCE, church body or anyone to go on feeding the people, like literally feeding them. But am I regularly going to lay the feast of God’s word in front of the people God entrusts to me? Abso-stinking-lutely! (Technical term for you betcha!) Am I going to make sure the Word of God is rightly taught so that all can have access to the truth of God’s unchanging word? You better believe it! Am I going to lay before the brothers and sisters the true Body and Blood of Jesus as a foretaste of a much greater meal to come in heaven? You can take that one to the bank!

But I’m not going to let you as a called disciple of Jesus sit around and wait for me, or anyone for that matter, to feed you. I don’t want anyone to make you think that pastors have some magical access or backstage pass to some truth you don’t have access to! I’m not going to pick up the spoon and feed you. I’m not going to chew the food for you. I’m going to show you, train you, equip you to use the gift of God in His Word so that you can be fed even when you’re not with a pastor.

So there you have it. Jesus did command Peter to feed the sheep. And I’ll do that the very way Peter would have fed the first century church and the way Jesus even fed the disciples. But I’m not going to chew the food up and spit it into your mouth. Come join me and let’s graze on the truths of God’s word together and see what amazing things He is doing all around us!

I’m Not Going To Feed You

March 11, 2022 / / 1 Comment

I remember when my kids were little. They were the cutest things. I would do anything for them. As a matter of fact, there is pretty much nothing I wouldn’t do for them still to this day. I remember when they were small I would feed them and clothe them and yes, even change their diapers. But there came a time when all of that had to stop. I had to stop feeding them, stop clothing them and changing them. If not what would they be like today?!

feeding

Now I’m going to get a little graphic with you for just a second in an effort to drive home a simple point. Imagine a young mother who is caring for her newborn child. She discretely goes to a quiet place to be able to breast feed her child. Nothing wrong with this right? You’re probably even wondering where’s the graphic part. But imagine that same young mother now about 30 years older. Imagine that once newborn now in his 30s walking up to his mother in her mid 50s saying he’s hungry. Imagine that same mother, now a little less shy, pulling up her shirt and letting her now 30 year old son breast feed. It’s just not right is it!?

I think pretty much everyone would find that a tad odd at minimum but somewhat offensive and even gross. Ok so put that image aside but not too far, because that’s exactly how we treat our lives as Christians. We come to church and expect the leaders, pastors, and called workers to essentially lift their shirts so they can be fed. I’m sorry but that ain’t how this is going down friends! I’m not in the feeding business. Not my job. Not my calling.

What I believe our calling as pastors and church workers and leaders in the church truly is, is to teach people how to feed themselves. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that when it was right he gave those new to the faith pure spiritual milk. That’s what happens when we first come to know of Jesus. We don’t know how to pick up a fork or knife or even a spoon. So we’re fed the simple things. We glean off the top, the simple to digest parts of the message, just like being fed milk as a newborn.

But in time we can’t go through life that way anymore. In time we have to learn to pick up our utensils. We first learn how to use our spoons. Then we are entrusted with the fork and finally the knife is handed over to our use. As followers of Jesus, we need to learn when it’s time to grab our spoons and start digging into the details a little more. Then we learn the way to use our fork and knife.

If you’ve been in church for any length of time, you should know by now how to grab a spoon and stop simply drinking the easy stuff. Go a little deeper. Dig into that stew of God’s word. It’s still easy to digest. Somethings may surprise us but you can do it. I can’t feed you what you need. I can show you how to eat. Teach you how to use your utensils. Even set the table for you. But I won’t be feeding you.

Throughout the season of Lent, we are taking time to learn how to use our utensils and read the menu. We’re essentially learning what spoon feels like in our hand and how to properly hold the knife and fork without hurting ourselves or anyone else. Our goal is that you stop expecting us to feed you and that you soon learn how to eat on your own.

Now lest you think once you learn how to eat for yourself you have no need of us anymore, the point of learning to eat on your own is so that one day you can teach your own children. And that’s no different in the life of the church. We are raised up in a proper understanding of the gospel. We are given the tools of bible study and prayer and fasting and baptism and witnessing so that we can tell someone else. So we can show someone else how to use those same gifts that have allowed us to eat of the good, healthy, meaty spiritual foods on our own.

So in case I haven’t been clear, I am not going to feed you. And all of you jokers who are planning on coming to worship on Sunday asking for food, just don’t! 😉 It’s time to pick up your fork and learn to eat. Then it’s time to take what you’ve learned about how to eat, and use that knowledge to teach someone else. I’m not going to feed you. As a mature Christian it’s your job to learn how to eat. I’ll give you the tools, but I am not in the feeding business.

What I Learned From My New Washing Machine

March 8, 2022 / / 0 Comments

My family recently moved into a new home. And with a new home come a lot of new things. New furniture. New drive time to work. New challenges with an older home with more land. All sorts of new things, some we expected and some we didn’t see coming! New is sometimes challenging and sometimes rewarding all at the same time. One of the new things that happened in this new to us home was an unexpected new washer and dryer. 

Ok so the backstory here is that our washer and dryer worked fine. They were about 7 years old but still functioned well enough. They washed clothing and dried them sufficiently. The washer wasn’t something my wife ever really loved, but you can’t just replace something that works perfectly fine. It didn’t give her the impression that the clothing was super clean. She would regularly comment that the clothes were sometimes soaking wet coming out even after the spin cycle was completed while other times it felt as if they hadn’t been wet at all. 

Fast forward to the new home, where the space the washer and dryer were supposed to occupy was not sized appropriately. The opening was a little over an inch too narrow. Normally I would do some form of rehab work to widen the gap and make the things fit, but it just wasn’t going to be economical for us to do that this time. Between a load bearing wall and a cabinet with built-in sink, there wasn’t a real option to easily make this work. So we decided to sell the old set and get a new pair that would fit in the allotted space. 

When the new set arrived, we did all the hook ups and leveling and ran a “test” load to ensure the spin cycle wouldn’t shake the house off its foundation. All was good. So we loaded up some sheets and towels for the first official load in the new washing machine. 

Much to our amazement, this washer was legit washing our clothing. I know it might not mean much to anyone else but the front door is a window and we could see the water coming in and the clothing sloshing around in the water at the bottom of the drum. The towels and sheets would slowly spin through the water soaking up little bits with each passing spin. 

Life as a follower of Jesus is sometimes like that old washing machine of ours. We go through life and don’t really show any signs of being soaked by Jesus. We’re not saturated by the truths of the gospel. It’s almost as if we just dip our toes in the waters of baptism and think that’s enough. This is one of the great benefits of the imagery associated with a full immersion kind of baptism. Now before some of you get all weirded out by that statement, yes I’m a Lutheran pastor and yes we baptize infants and no we don’t normally have immersion type baptisms. I just said I like the imagery associated with the full body soaking in an immersion scenario. Even though I’m not opposed to immersion by any stretch of imagination.

But water alone isn’t the point. It’s not like sprinkling someone with water or soaking them in a pool is really going to change much for anyone. The truth of the matter is it’s the gospel that makes the difference. We need to be soaked in the waters of the gospel truth. We need to be totally immersed in the life of Jesus. A program here and there won’t do anything for us. As much as I love the whole idea of church planting and missional communities, they are not a golden ticket to a more Jesus filled church. They are tools for growing the kingdom, but the real meat and potatoes of the meal of kingdom growth is found in gospel saturation. Lives totally immersed in the life giving truths of Jesus. 

So the long and short of this whole story is that a new washing machine helped me realize that perhaps we might need to change the way we spin through the waters. That’s the key difference between the old and new washing machine. The old was a top load while the new is a front load. A simple shift in how we approach matters of faith might yield a massive difference in how saturated we become with the grace of God. 

Today I encourage you to spin through your time with God a little differently. Don’t take for granted the simple things. Maybe it’s where you sit while you read. Or what bible you use for your daily reading. Maybe listen to it read while going for a walk. Or play the daily reading while you’re driving to work. Let God change the direction of your spin through His word and watch what a life saturated by the gospel can do for your outlook on life.

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