Midtown seems to attract people who are in pivot points in their life. Either a life change has been forced upon them or they are in the midst of a big life change.
People who are searching for something different with Church and community.
I like to think that we are a support to people who are in a pivot point. That Midtown helps to guide people through a difficult transition or decision in life.
Often times after the transition or decision becomes clear, they thank us and move on.
I think that’s really cool.
Many of the transitions that we experience from time to time are very positive but often times the symptom is discomfort. Life isn’t working. A feeling that God isn’t showing up to do what He’s supposed to do. That can lead to dissatisfaction or even depression.
I love how Brennan Manning uses the term “those people whose cheese is continually sliding off their cracker”.
Transition is really difficult and even more so if you have to portray an image that everything is ‘fine’.
But people here are refreshingly not afraid to be open with their own instability.
So the result is growth and depth. People who swing by here for a season usually seem to me to leave with a more mature faith. And those of us who stick around to welcome and love the travelers have also grown immensely.
And the result of that is a church group that reaches all over the world.
I believe that a lesson I’ve learned even more deeply here at Midtown is that if you want to have the biggest impact you don’t build a huge auditorium and try to pack it full of people.
You go deep with a smaller bunch of people. You toss out the things that only allow you to scratch the surface.
Because all of those people who depart here are taking the message of the Gospel and Grace and living it in their new communities. And I like to think that the people who they are coming into contact with are doing the same thing.
And thus The Message as Eugene Peterson likes to call it gets spread all over the world.
We at Midtown have a unique calling and purpose. Part of that purpose is to provide a home for the travelers.
For the people whose cheese is falling off their cracker. People who have no idea what God is up to with their lives. People who may be stuck and think that they don’t belong in a church.
People come here and see more honesty than usually happens in a church.
Intimacy Intro
For me Midtown was where God started getting it through my thick skull that His acceptance of me had nothing to do with how well I was doing at being a Christian that particular week.
I had heard the terminology of ‘intimacy with God’ and I wanted it. I wanted to experience Jesus all through my life.
The word intimacy is often used in a sensual way, but what it means is familiarity. To know personally. Like two old men who sit in the park together every day and play chess in the way that they have for the last 30 years.
In 1998 I left the business world to go on a cross country Young Life trip with high school students. We spent many nights on a tour bus and I remember a late night conversation with a couple of other leaders. All of us were in our mid twenties and single. It was probably 2 in the morning and we were talking about what we were looking for in our future spouse. As we were running through everything that our dream spouse would be endowed with, Randy, the area director who had been married as long as we had been alive said “ya’ll need to shut up. When you meet someone who accepts YOU for who YOU are you’ll marry them”.
Two thoughts immediately went through my mind….
1. I don’t think I could respect someone who accepted me how I am
2. The intimate marriage relationship that I wanted would have to be founded on acceptance.
That was rather frightening. God was going to have to seriously blind some poor woman.
The closeness I wanted with my future wife would be founded on acceptance. Not only would that person have to accept me, but I’d have to accept that person’s acceptance.
And that is what was also going on with me spiritually.
My difficulty and the barrier in experiencing the intimacy and familiarity I wanted with God was related to the difficulty I had with God’s acceptance of me.
That’s why this is so important.
Spiritual growth, discipleship, spiritual formation, growing to spiritual maturity – what Paul talked about so much is really growing in intimacy with God. And intimacy will never happen if there is uncertainty about acceptance.
Not only that, but acceptance naturally leads to intimacy. That’s what Randy was telling me. If someone truly accepts you and you accept that, then intimacy will occur.
That’s why this whole acceptance thing is so important and scary. That’s why we obsess over whether or not we are acceptable.
Our desire for intimacy in our relationships with people as well as with God is what makes us want to make ourselves acceptable. So we set out to make ourselves acceptable in all of the ways that we are taught to and if by golly we are doing a good job at it, we might put ourselves out there into the spotlight with the sneaking suspicion that we are living a lie. If we are not feeling like we are performing acceptably then we hide.
I’ve spent a lot of time hiding because of my own knowledge that I was blowing it.
Paul spends a lot of time on this because there were a lot of people out there trying to get people to make themselves acceptable.
Philippians 3:1 – Review Time
Paul states that he’s repeating himself. He’s written this before in earlier letters.
What Paul so desperately desired for them was that they would go deep together with God. He talked more about that than evangelism or giving or anything else.
Paul knew that in order to live like God’s child, there needed to be the intimacy of that kind of relationship. In order to have that kind of relationship, there needed to be acceptance.
The More Things Change…
There were a lot of super-religious people who were trying to get people to live up to the standard.
And so for the sake of argument, Paul throws himself up to the standard.
Paul’s Cred
Paul came from the best family, was raised right, was very obedient to the law, was well educated and was very successful at his career of condemning people and killing Christians.
He was the Pharisee version of ‘Robo-Christian’.
And that was the barrier between him and Jesus.
The things that we do to make ourselves acceptable – even to God, get in the way of our ability to experience God. They are counter productive.
To Paul, when he was really doing a good job at being acceptable, it was doggie doo-doo.
I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. I didn’t want some petty inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s righteousness.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.
We Need to Give Up
Steve Brown says “if you are obedient and you know it, my prayer is that you blow it big time.
God has a word for you: “lighten up”. Philippians 3:1. The spiritual journey is not the pony express.
************************************************************************************************************************************************ ¶ 12:19 PM 1 comments
We are in a series titled “Accepting our Acceptedness”. God’s acceptance of us.
Part of accepting our acceptance from God involves learning to accept rejection from everyone who isn’t God.
We can’t truly accept and experience God’s acceptance without also accepting and even embracing rejection. (Sometimes rejection from God’s people.)
As we learn and grow in grace – we are faced with situations where we need to choose between what God is leading us to and what will impress or satisfy other people.
Accepting our rejectedness sounds like a bad thing and its not fun, but it is actually a very very good thing. When we experience rejection our experience of God’s acceptance becomes much deeper. We can’t fully appreciate God’s acceptance without rejection.
But we can rest in God’s acceptance and allow ourselves to be rejected.
The Key Story
When we moved in, we realized that the key to our back door fit into my friend Tony’s front door. Because we like each other we decided to keep that way – we have keys to each other’s houses anyway. And when Tony build his garage with an upstairs guys hang-out area for us guys in the neighborhood he used the same lock so I could go up there when I wanted to.
That key is really convenient and fun, but we are not like that key. If we fit with God we don’t fit into this world.
We are either a misfit with God or we are a misfit with the world.
Misfitness
This series was response to Richard’s message on the Island of Misfit Toys which is so cool because our acceptance is so closely tied to our misfitness.
We are misfits here because we were made to fit somewhere else. We are so perfectly and precisely made for God that there is no way that we can fit anywhere else.
Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it.
1 Peter 2
Background
Peter is writing to Jewish and Gentile Christians encouraging them because many were physical exile and all were spiritual exiles (misfits). Nero’s persecution was in full swing and they needed some serious encouragement and guidance.
He tells them they are accepted by God
4 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life.
The Living Stone (Jesus) was Rejected
The workmen took one look and threw it out. God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.
Peter reminds them that the foundation of their acceptance was rejected by men! Our acceptance by God means that we align ourselves with the one who was rejected by men.
We trust in the foundation that has been rejected and that is now true about us too.
Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.
To you who trust him, he’s a stone to be proud of….
For the untrusting it’s… a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way.
Stumbling Block
Have you ever wondered why grace makes people so mad? Grace (God’s unconditional acceptance) really is a stumbling block for people. People get really mad if you talk too much about God’s love.
Some people get really snarky when you say that God’s not angry – that he loves and accepts them.
Grace really is a stumbling block when we don’t embrace rejection – when we try to be accepted by people - when we get self-righteous.
Church leadership is a great place to become self-righteous. So many people to impress.
New Understanding of License
Graceful people often times get accused of license and because self-righteous Christians can’t stand grace. When I am being self-righteous, grace makes me mad.
That is a kind of license that is very familiar to me. License is an understanding of Grace without an understanding of rejection. License happens when you enjoy the grace that has been extended to you but you don’t allow yourself to be rejected so that grace can be extended from you to others.
People who really understand God’s grace are most accepting people out there. We are the first ones to extend grace to others who are imperfect and have been rejected by people for whatever reason.
God allows us to live in a place where we are misfits so that we can extend and live grace and extend it to others. In the way that Jesus accepted rejection so that he could give us grace we accept rejection so that we can give that same grace to other people.
Galations 2:11 – this occurred before Peter wrote this letter
2:11 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line.
2:12 Here's the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That's how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that's been pushing the old system of circumcision.
2:13Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.
2:14But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?"
Peter was unable to extend grace to the gentiles because he was concerned about being rejected by the Jews.
That’s what self-righteousness is.
I’m going to act self-righteous so you won’t really know how much of a mess I am. Then Jesus (grace) becomes a stumbling block.
I can’t enjoy God’s grace when I’m obsessed with being accepted anywhere other than Jesus.
Accepting Other Rejects
This is an invitation into rejection. When we open ourselves up to and embrace rejection by the world then we are able to extend grace to the world.
Part of being aligned with a God that was rejected by men means that we now align ourselves with those who are often rejected by people – those who are sometimes rejected by us when we are feeling self-righteous.
When we are aware of the fact that we are rejected by this world then we ourselves as one of the rejects and then we can extend grace to other rejects because we are reminded that we are both accepted by God.
Not beggers telling other beggers where to find bread but rejects who love and accept and extend grace to other rejects. ¶ 12:16 PM 0 comments
Christmas at Midtown, we celebrate not just the event of coming of Jesus, but that Jesus never left. We celebrate the presence of Jesus here.
For us Christmas is not a commemoration of a past event – like what a lot of other holidays are.
It’s like a wedding anniversary. On your anniversary, you don’t just celebrate the day you were married and memories of the day. You celebrate the life that’s been shared – that you’re still together! The relationship is still alive. That’s why you celebrate wedding anniversaries together. It’s about the relationship, not just the commemoration of the wedding day.
Have you ever been to a 50th anniversary? There aren’t just wedding pictures, but also old pictures of life lived together - and the most important thing is that the two are still sitting here together.
So, as a wedding anniversary is much richer when you can celebrate the life that has been shared, and that the relationship continues, Christmas is a more rich experience when we are aware that the relationship continues and that the presence of God is still here.
Incarnation
God coming to earth in the package of an infant is the Incarnation. It’s the crux of Christmas. Incarnation literally means "enfleshment", "in flesh", "becoming flesh" – God with skin on – He took on human flesh, becoming as human as any of us are.
He came to us, becoming one of us, to do for us, what we could not do for ourselves.
Philippians 2:6-8 Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God didn't just come to us, He became fully human - as human as we are; but at the same time remained as much God as the Father. In that way, He could fulfill the law through his life.
He did the human stuff that we do too...He made friends whom He loved; He showed real joy, anger, thankfulness, empathy, irritation. He had lunch with His friends. He disappointed people and was disappointed himself. He experienced what it’s like to be misunderstood by your closest friends.
And He did real God stuff too…He healed people, He knew people’s motives before they knew them themselves, He preached directly into people’s hearts, He made dead people come back to life. He forgave people of their sins and changed their life course.
He was Present
A key to knowing Jesus is knowing that He was present to people in a personal and physical way. He displayed God’s heart to people using their own lives as the canvass.
People who believed Jesus realized that the heart of God was different than what the religious people taught. Jesus taught differently than the religious people. His solution for people’s sins, disease and pain was different than the religious people. His way of relating to the Father was different than the religious people. His way to salvation was different than the religious people.
He was physically present, and the people who Jesus walked and lived life with knew that they were experiencing God in a way they never had before.
What could be better than living shoulder-to-shoulder, walking sandle-to-sandle with Jesus? How is it possible to be closer to Jesus than to be drinking out of the same cup and sleeping with your mat next to Jesus’ mat at night?
If I Go…
Then Jesus said one of the most difficult remarkable, powerful, controversial, misunderstood things He ever said. “It will be better for you when I go.” He told the disciples that they would actually be better off when He left.
John 16:7"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper(the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
The physical presence of Jesus on earth was actually a lead-up to a greater experience of His presence. I’m sure that the disciples were thinking, “What could possibly be better than having you here?”
Jesus intended that his friends would experience the presence of God in their lives to a greater extent than even having the physical presence of Jesus as best friend, confidant, teacher and healer.
Barrier Of Skin
Jesus was saying there is something even better than me coming and living life right beside you. And that thing is that I’m going to live not beside you, but inside you.
Through the Incarnation and death He removed the barrier of Sin.
But He has also removed the barrier of Skin. When Jesus walked the earth, He wore skin. Now that Jesus was not longer contained in the skin of a man, He was saying to the disciples, “You are going to live out of the power of MY presence in your life”.
Then He Went
After Jesus left, He was no less present. He was more present than He had ever been. The disciples ended up doing the same and greater miracles that Jesus did. It was life beyond the incarnation. The disciples experienced life beyond the incarnation into an even deeper incarnation and a deeper mystery.
Never in Acts do you read about Peter saying… Man if only Jesus were here…He’d know what to do.
And Us Too!
And if that was true for the disciples then it is also true for us. If the disciples were better off after Jesus because His Spirit was living inside of them, then we are also better off in our spiritual lives then the disciples were when Jesus was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them!
The same Jesus that came to live inside of them also lives inside of us. Now that the barrier of skin is gone we can see Jesus in our midst - through a book, song, waterfall, or even in our experiences - like sufferings and joys.
We are now more connected to Jesus then the disciples were when Jesus walked the earth. “God with us”, was not just a reality the Incarnation – Jesus is now even more ‘with us’ and that defines us as a church.
Midtown Recognizes and Lives Out of God Presence
Midtown is a church that lives out of God’s presence. We are aware of God’s presence and we look for and we see it all around us.
What does it mean to live out of the presence of Jesus?
1. It means that we are expectant… it means that we are wide open… It means that we may sometimes feel called to do weird things. It means that we may do goofy stuff. It certainly means that we may end up going in a totally different direction than the rest of the world or other churches seem to be going in.
We will sometimes embody God’s unpredictability. That’s why churches that don’t live out of God’s presence feel dead. What good is a God if all we expect from Him is what will fill our plans and programs?
We point God out to each other when we see Him work.
As a church that lives out of God’s presence, is a ‘conduit between Living Water and the People of God has been opened.’ – Graham Standish
“The breath of the Spirit transformed the church from its dogmatic, legalistic roots into a vital faith that connected people with God, allowing God’s power to flow through their lives.” - Graham Standish.
2. All of the things that Jesus did when He was here He now does through us.
John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father
Jesus came to us as God with ‘skin on’. We are now Jesus with ‘skin on’. That’s what the overused Body Of Christ term means.
He has made us the incarnation. We now lead each other and those outside of the church into communion with Him. God will do miracles and healing of our relationships, our bodies, our souls.
Communion
Body Time
How have you been blessed over the past year through the Presence of God through Midtown? ¶ 7:32 AM 0 comments
Unfortunately, we can’t step outside of “Relationship” as a whole in order to get the view from the outside looking in. Relationship is inseparably central to who we are. We cannot remove ourselves from relationship.
Relationship is central to who God is and who we are
The first relationship was not God and Adam; or even God and the angels - but God and God (John 1:1). Relationship has always existed within the Trinity. God is love - so God is relationship.
That means that relationship has existed from eternity and will exist to eternity. It has always existed and will always exist. And in the meantime its going to drive us nuts! Henry Kissinger said "No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy"!
God created us to be in relationship with each other, but to draw life only from our relationship with Him.
God’s Design
God designed a beautiful relationship economy. It works like this….
We have deep relational needs, and we know (because He promised us!) that ALL of our needs are going to be met by God. As we live in that truth and trust Him to fill our relationship needs, we can then relate to each other in a selfless way – not to get what we need for ourselves, but to share what we have with others.
As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not his own interests but also each for the interests of others.”
Sounds great doesn’t it?
But because of the condition of this world, indwelling sin and our flesh, all of us have gotten it backwards at times.
It sometimes looks like this…
We live here on earth, are very aware of the needs that we have for love, respect, acceptance, significance, protection. And we look around at all of these other people – and we think to ourselves “look at all of these people who can meet my needs” – I just need to find ways [attract / manipulate / coerce] to get them into doing so.
And as long as these other people are doing a good job of meeting my needs, then things are good and my relationship with God is good. If other people aren’t doing a good job of meeting my needs, then I’m angry at God, depressed, God is failing me.
We don’t always experience the freedom that God has given us in our human relationships. Instead our whole relationship experience can be a prison.
Meet Ruth
Ruth is a book that reminds us of the freedom that God intends for us experience in our relationships.
This Old Testament woman from Moab reminds us that we can be courageous, adventurous, free-wheeling, generous, risk-takers in our relationships because we are playing with house money. God has already promised to meet all of our needs.
We’re along for the ride. All we have to concern ourselves with is loving God and freely loving the people He has put around us.
Ruth's Background (1100 BC)
During a severe famine in Bethlehem a man named Elimelech (from the tribe of Judah) took his wife Naomi and their two sons (Mahlon and Chilion) to Moab in search for greener pastures.
When they arrived in Moab Elimelech died but Naomi stayed in Moab with her sons. Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite women (Ruth and Orpah) and together they lived in Moab for 10 years. But then both of Naomi’s sons both died.
Naomi had followed her husband from her home (Bethlehem) because things were bad, but now she was in worse shape than ever. She had a major problem because she and Elimelech had no more living sons and thus she was cut off from his inheritance. Both of her sons died before they could have any sons of their own. She was broke and had no money coming to her.
Naomi had gone from a husband and sons and financial security to a future that was going to consist of living off of any charity she could gleen.
After a time famine was getting better in Bethlehem so Naomi decided to return. Ruth and Orpah both initially started off with her.
Orpah and Ruth Decide
Naomi tried to convince them to return home for their best interest.
She tried to rationalize with them: “Your family is in Moab”, “You can get married again and have children”. You can still have a future. Why would you want to go with me to a new land. I have nothing to give you. I don’t have any more sons for you to marry.
She raised some good points. Ruth and Orpah were certainly not “obligated” to continue to take care of Naomi. And Naomi had nothing left to offer them. Their family, gods and entire culture was in Moab. They could start over.
After thinking about it, Orpah gave her a tearful kiss goodbye and went home. Ruth, however made a very brave statement.
Ruth 1 vs 16-18
And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.
When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Orpah’s response and Ruth’s response
Was Orpah wrong in the decision that she made? She protected herself and her future. Her familial contract with Naomi had been fulfilled.
Ruth responded to her relationship with Naomi as a covenant. Even though Naomi’s family could no longer provide what she hoped for, she still was going to stick with her - dedicate her life to caring for an old women with no prospects.
Your God will be My God. Ruth had obviously heard about the goodness of the God of Israel from Naomi. Maybe in that moment she had faith in Naomi’s God than Naomi did.
Regardless, it was a beautiful selfless act. Ruth’s decision did not take into consideration her own future plans and needs. Maybe she could start over and have another family – have another chance for wealth and comfort. She was at risk of kissing all of that goodbye. The relationship that God put in front of her wasn’t a husband. It wasn’t even a man! And as a woman it wasn’t a woman that could bear her a husband!!
Ruth did not let fear or her concerns for her own needs make her decision for her.
I long for that freedom.
I long to make decisions in life without having to worry about taking care of myself.
This World and its Win-Win Mentality
Our society doesn’t do too well with true selflessness and self-forgetfulness, but we’ve tried to compromise with concepts Win-Win relationships.
Steven Covey – business/personal enrichment term. I can do what is good for you, and still make sure that my needs taken care of.
Win-win may be good for business, but it’s not what God intended for relationships. It still makes us focus on getting our own needs get met. It robs us of freedom – the freedom to make decisions, enter relationships, and treat each other the way we would if we didn’t have to worry about protecting ourselves and taking care of ourselves.
- What would you do if you knew that all of your needs were going to be met?
- How would you treat people if you didn’t have to worry about protecting yourself?
- What would our relationships look like if we decided to say, I’m going to make sure that you win. God is taking care of me.?
I want to:
o Be more compassionate in the pain that people around me experience
o Give more of my time when it's needed
o Be as excited about other's successes as I am about my own
o Be a more dependable friend
o Give more money where it is needed
I long for my decisions to not be made out of fear of self protection because I know that there is FREEDOM there.
I want to be able to live out of a forgetfulness of my own needs – knowing that God will supply my needs because I am abiding in Him. I long for the freedom and beauty that I see in Ruth’s decision to follow God, put her own needs aside and put Naomi’s needs above her own.
Relationship can only be experienced in the present
In Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis using a conversation from an demon experienced in tempting to a young protégé tempter, encourages the young demon to keep the young human man assigned to him focused on the past; or on the hope or dread of the future. Whatever he does, keep his mind off of the present.
Why? According to Lewis, because God’s aim is that we focus on two things: 1. Eternity itself, and 2. to the point of time that is called the Present – because the Present is the point at which time meets eternity. We can experience eternity in the present.
We humans live constrained by time, so the present is the point where eternity meets us in our time. Giving too much energy to the past can be paralyzing and unhealthy. Being affixed on the future is even worse because a focus on the future is to be concerned with unrealities. If we are focusing on the future we are focused on something that doesn’t even exist.
Obviously, relationship can only be experienced in the present. It is impossible for us to really experience freedom in our relationships if we are fixated on the past. Especially if we have had a painful relationship past, we bring a lot of baggage that disables us from healthy relationship.
Likewise if our focus is fixated on the future (which doesn’t exist) we cannot respond with the love that Ruth showed to Naomi. Our response will be more like Orpah.
The enemy wants us to focus either on the past or the future, and in that, cut us off from relationship. If we are not living in the present moment (confident that Jesus is taking care of our needs), with our eyes fixed on eternity, our relationships will suffer.
Conclusion
Orpah was unable to effectively be in relationship with Naomi because her concern was on the past and future.
I know that I miss out sometimes too. Freedom is what Jesus came to give us. We possess it but we can choose fear or self-protection instead.
Jesus is teaching me how free I really am. He wants me to experience my freedom every moment. ¶ 9:30 AM 0 comments
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
HUMMINGBIRD
Bruce Hogarth from GMI was leading our discussions on rest, authenticity and passion throughout the weekend and the Sunday morning discussion was on how to practically live out those things in our lives. We were in this great room that had 18 foot ceilings and at the top of the ceiling there were a couple of skylights. As Bruce was talking a little hummingbird flew in the door that we had open and pretty quickly realized that it had taken a wrong turn on its journey for the day. The hummingbird started semi-frantically flying into some of the windows trying to get back to what was familiar. Through this, Bruce kept teaching. After trying all of the windows, the trapped hummingbird flew up to the skylights to try to escape. This took place over about 10 minutes and the whole time, Bruce kept teaching about how to live out of rest. We were all watching Bruce and the bird at the same time. Finally, the bird exhausted itself and slowly fell to the floor. One of guys gently picked it up and took it outside.
At that point, all of us guys just looked at each other for a moment and laughed at God’s perfectly timed gift. I think that the vision of that hummingbird up the skylight beating its wings a million miles and hour and banging its beak against the glass will be forever burned in my mind.
BIRD HAD TO STOP FLYING AROUND BEFORE IT COULD BE RESCUED
We knew that it was pointless to try to rescue the hummingbird until it stopped trying to escape us. What are some of the reasons we keep us beating our wings and banging our heads instead of falling into God’s care?
FRANTIC ACTIVITY
If you are like me, you spend a lot of time in a flurry of activity or (for you “peacefuls”) maybe you sometimes feel anxious about not being active enough. I personally do both.
It’s hard for me to stop my frantic pace of activity. When you stop your frantic pace, you have to be honest about your own needfulness (neediness). It’s uncomfortable. God’s passionate pursuit of us is uncomfortable sometimes.
RESIST / PASSION IS UNCOMFORTABLE / ITS POWERFUL
One of the reasons that its hard is that it’s not just about giving a certain situation to God to fix. Its about letting go of all our little distractions and the things that we busy our mind with. And letting go of issues that we’ve allowed to own us and become too big. God doesn’t just fix a situation for us in a vacuum and then set us on our way. He desires that His passion consume us and that we receive healing at the deepest level.
When we resist His rest, we resist His Passion. God’s passion for us is a very powerful, sometimes scary thing.
ANNE LAMOTT
Anne is unique Christian writer. She probably won’t be invited to give the graduation speech at many Christian colleges.
(read passage)
Anne is not who most in the church would see as a pillar of the faith, but our great spiritual fathers and mothers were not normally accepted by the religious people. We need to take an honest look at the Biblical heroes and see who they really were.
NOAH
In Genesis 6, God chose Noah to take the most important role of his time. Noah’s passion in life was God and verse 9 of Chapter 6 sums it up by saying that Noah walked with God which is really what this Christian life thing is really all about. I don’t need to go through the story of Noah and the ark.
We know he was a man of incredible passion for God. We know he was obedient in the face of criticism. And we know that when the earth dried up and he left the ark he planted a vineyard, drank the wine and ended up drunk and naked in his tent. Let’s get this guy a seminary application!
When we need the kind of help and rescue that only God can provide, we sometimes continue to struggle on out of fear that the whole thing will collapse around us and we will be exposed.
PHARISEES
In scripture, the great men and women of the faith had their great moral failures exposed for all to see. It was the Pharisees who were so petrified of having their sin exposed. That’s why Jesus was such a threat. The Pharisees, like me, were afraid of being exposed.
We resist God’s passion because it’s difficult, as Bruce says, to come out from behind the bush.
Our shame doesn’t calculate into God’s equation though – He’s already dealt with it, so he keeps coming at us, asking us to be real with Him.
UNPOLISHEDNESS
God’s passion seeks the real and authentic. He draws close to our unpolishedness and least “shiny places” and often times that is exactly where he meets us. He views us according to our heart, which as Christians we know He has made pure, regardless if we have our life together or if it is falling apart.
OUR PASSION IS CHRIST
Noah’s passion according to scripture was God and he was in a very small minority of one. Scripture implies that he was the only person who was walking with God at the time. Noah’s passion wasn’t to build a boat or anything else. He didn’t ask, “What is my passion to do on this earth?” He was committed to his passion for God, and that led him to build the ark.
I’ve learned over the past 3.5 years of struggling with my own career that you can’t discover you passion by taking a personality test. Or by talking to people. Our passion as Christians is Christ and our only course of action is to in our imperfection throw ourselves into His passion for us and let him lead us toward whatever He has planned for us.
If you are not sure what to do with your life, pursue intimacy with God. I know that is a frustrating answer – and I know that because I am kind of there. God has led me out of one thing and I am still seeking him on the next step.
BALANCE
That can look pretty unbalanced at times. 100% Committed to Job Search.
Balance is a natural enemy of passion.
(read passage)
HERSCHEL WALKER
A deep passion requires that your life is unbalanced in that direction. Herschel Walker, the best running back ever at UGA, who carried the team to a national championship in 1980 and was the Heisman trophy winner 1982. As a kid was the family runt, was pudgy, had a speech impediment, and wasn’t even considered a natural athlete.
At age 12, however, he began a crash exercise program. Over the next year, he did 100,000 push-ups, 100,000 sit-ups and sprinted thousands of miles. All through his football career which ended in 1997, he maintained a training regime that included 2,000 push-ups, 3,000 sit-ups, 1500 pull-ups, 1000 dips DAILY.
That kind of passion for football and that type of commitment to training creates a healthy imbalance in life that the passion requires. “Your exercise is good but shouldn’t you balance it more?”
God doesn’t want us to worry about finding time for Him in the midst of our business. He asks us to be immersed and unbalanced in Him and allow Him to show us how to spend our time.
That’s what Jesus meant in Matt 10:34-39.
STOP RESISTING
Followers of Jesus have their PASSION already decided and its not a matter of balancing several priorities but to stop resisting. Let the cat in. Allow ourselves to come out from behind the bush. Let God pour His powerful Passion on us.
Intro
As we continue to discuss serving here at Midtown, I was tempted to take the easy way out and talk about serving the way that it is often discussed in churches.
A message on serving usually is focused on activity – things that you do.
But, I want to take time discuss motives and motivation. The ‘why’ behind serving.
Because the motivation behind an action is much more significant than the action itself.
As a husband, I know that doing something stupid but having good motives can actually get you points! And on the same token, doing something that appears to be kind but is done for the wrong reasons is very hurtful.
Making Fun of Misbeliefs
What I love to do during this time, is to identify mis-beliefs that we’ve picked up along the way about Jesus – lies that come from this world.
And then I like to poke holes and fun at the mis-beliefs!
Because as we look at truth together – truth that is contained in the Bible and spoken through these new hearts of flesh that God has given us we can get deeper insight into the great love that God has for us.
The Component View
Along those lines, there is this thing that I call a ‘component’ view of the Christian life. It is a view that the Christian life is made up of a number of activities (or components) that, all require practice and attention. The components are prayer, evangelism, praise, service, giving. The point is that if you want to improve your walk with God, then you work at improving one of the components.
It’s kind of like the computer. That computer is just a sum of many components. If I take a component like the 40 GIG HDD, and replace it with a 100 GIG HDD, I’ve upgraded the component – and the computer itself has been upgraded to be a better computer.
Maybe you’ve heard it said at some point, “Do you want a closer relationship with God? Then improve the way that you pray. Maybe Christian life was explained this way when you became a Christian.
This view would consider serving to be a component of the Christian life and implied is that your motivation to serve is to be a better Christian, or get closer to God, or …however your group likes to phrase it.
Obviously, the Christian life does not have any components. It was not designed by a bunch of engineers at GA Tech! It’s not nearly that boring! It’s too mysterious!
You can increase how much you serve and get good –n- busy, but it won’t give you a better Christian life! Some of you know from experience that Christian business doesn’t necessarily bring you closer to Jesus.
But it’s a strong motivation for some people – like that bumper sticker.
Motives and the Heart
I want to get us thinking about motives because motives have to do with the heart. I want to talk about the heart.
Churches need Servants
Now, obviously all church (from St. Peters Basilica to a home church) need motivated people in order to – whatever their motivation. And Midtown is no different.
Two Big Weapons
Many churches have two big weapons in order to get stuff done (aka getting people to serve): 1. a large paid staff, and 2. putting pressure on people.
Money and peer pressure are surely good motivators. But not everyone is called to be a full time minister and putting pressure (although it works very well) on people is something that we try not to do here.
That’s why it’s important to talk about our motives!
So many times well-meaning church leaders are so thankful that someone is willing to take on responsibility at the church that they don’t want to think about the motive. We are so glad that someone is willing to do it, that we don’t want to risk it by asking them ‘why’! The motive becomes a secondary thought….
Motive is Primary
But motive is not secondary. To God its primary. The heart is always primary to God. You may know these scriptures
“Above all things guard your heart.” “Man looks at outward appearances, God looks at the heart.”
When we see someone serve out of motivations that are deep in their heart, it is inspiring isn’t it. Like the Jazz minister at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in NYC.
LEISURE & ARTS (from The Wall Street Journal)
Faith-Based Jazz
This pastor tended bar to tend to his flock.
BY NAT HENTOFF
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:01 a.m.
For one hundred years, St. Peter's
The church's choice of the first jazz minister, John Gensel, immediately assured the trust of jazz musicians, who already knew him from his frequent attendance at jazz clubs. And once he could fully combine his love of the music with his religious calling, as I wrote in Jazz Times: "Pastor Gensel was seemingly everywhere in the jazz community. He conducted wedding services, and when some of the marriages hit clinkers, he was a patient, extraordinarily attentive family counselor and sometimes he paid a musician's rent."
Duke Ellington wrote a tone poem dedicated to John Gensel, "The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock," for his "Special Reverend." I've been to the church over the years for some of the jazz sessions there, but especially for a number of the memorial services. By now, nearly 500 of those memorials have been conducted for, among others, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Thelonious Monk. At the service for Count Basie's longtime resident drummer, Jo Jones (known as "the man who plays like the wind"), in the front rows was a galaxy of most of the leading jazz drummers.
Mr. Gensel was an extraordinary listener--not only to the music. I once wrote that "I never had any doubt that if religion ever became central to my life, John would be my pastor. He was a Lutheran, but the denomination wouldn't matter to me."
At 80, Pastor Gensel died in 1998, and he was mourned by hundreds, maybe thousands, in the jazz family of which he had become a full-fledged member.
God serves us
Serving, servanthood, Christian service, whatever you want to call it is actually at the heart of our Grace Walk. Serving is why God put us here. Whether you like it or not, God created us for the purpose of ‘serving’.
Specifically, God put us on this earth so that He could serve us.
God put us here not so that we could serve Him, but so that He could serve us. Sounds heretical doesn’t it? God did not make us to serve Him; rather He made us so that He could serve us.
If hearing me say that God made us so that He could serve us – not that so that we would serve Him makes you mad, you should know that I didn’t make it up. I heard it from a guy named John Piper. If you want to write and angry letter to Piper, you should know that he got it from Jesus.
Listen to this:
Scripture
Matthew 20:28 Jesus said about himself ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life, a ransom for many.’
Phil 2:7 Jesus ‘…made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of man. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death…’
Isn’t it interesting that we can say casually that that Jesus’ came to earth to die for us, but it seems radical that His purpose would be to serve us?
I think that’s proof in and of itself our idea of serving is a bit off.
Why does it sound so strange that God would serve us?
The world’s Motivations of Serving
The reason is that what we hear and experience in this world (and even sometimes from Christians) about serving people is 180 degrees from how God views serving.
Think about the dynamics of ‘serving and servants’ in our world. And then imagine God serving us.
It doesn’t make sense. You would never picture God dressed in a tux, with a British accent and answering to the name ‘Jeeves’.
True, few of us have servants that work our homes, but we all engage in serving relationships. Even if it’s going to a restaurant.
There are clear social dynamics as to how serving occurs. Who serves and who gets served in this world is determined by: position, power, in some cultures birth, money…
Lower Positions Serve Higher
Lower positions serve higher positions – you can see that even at church sometimes. Often those who have the most need end up serving those who have the least need.
No wonder this whole topic of serving can be frustrating. 99% of what we hear about serving is in conflict to the way that God invented it!
And that’s why the concept of God serving us can stress us out a little bit.
God’s Motivation for Serving
With God, serving has nothing to do with position, power, or money. God’s motivation to serve is His great love. And thankfully we need His service more than we need anything else on earth.
Can you see that letting God serve us is much more important than us serving God?
If you could walk into churches and ask 100 people what their motivation for serving God is, what do you think they would say? How many would say, “Because God serves me with great love for me.”?
Our motivation to serve God is not:
- He’s counting on me
- No one else will do it
- I’m good at it
- I love the people I’m serving
- Or either because I love God
Our motivation to serve God is:
- God loves me
God’s Motivation to Serve is our Motivation to Serve
God certainly asks us to serve Him, but the motivation behind our serving Him is the same motivation of His serving us.
His sole motivation behind serving each one of us is His great love. In that way our motivation for serving Him is His great love.
Free From Results
When we cease focusing on any other motivation to serve God and get in touch with the great love with which He’s served us, then we are free to serve without worrying about the results.
Its an Outflow
Not only are we free to serve, but we just do it. God’s love in uncontainable. When we get in touch with it, it naturally flows out of us.
We can’t go to a restaurant or good movie without it flowing out of us – we tell 25 people about it.
As we get in touch with His love for us, then we really begin to serve. And we begin to be everything that God has designed us to be. And we begin to do everything that God designed us to do.
Be and Do
And that’s really what it means to serve God. We grow to become everything that God has designed us to be. And we do the things that God has designed us to do.
Sounds good doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want that?
Serving God is simply becoming everything that God designed us to be, and doing the things that He prepared in advance for us to do – in His time. Ephesians 2
Connect with the Great Love
And how you do it is to connect with the great love of God that He served to us. And you don’t have to be strong to serve – rather it comes out of our weakness and realization of our great need.
C.S. Lewis said, “Take care of the depth and God will take care of the breadth.”
God came to earth to serve you and give you His life - so that you can do and be everything that God designed you to do and be.
God receives Honor through the good work that He does in and through our lives.
Midtown
That is my desire here at
The way that we serve God is by totally immersing ourselves in the fact that He came to serve us and give us His life.
God’s great love and service in our lives. That is the true motivation of our service and how we do it is connecting through that love.
True ministry and service comes from the heart and no where else.
