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One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?

April 29, 2013 by 1 Comment

OneFishTwoFish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?
Sycamore Creek Church
April 28/29, 2013
Matthew 14:17-25
Tom Arthur

Peace Friends!

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Evangelism.”  For many of you evangelism probably brings up a lot of negative associations.  It does for me too.  There are certain “tribes” of Christianity that I occasionally run into that make me feel like I’m taking a test.  If I don’t get the test right, that probably means I’m not a Christian and need to be converted to their tribe.

I also think Sarah’s experience with a Mormon who came to our door one day.  We had a sign on the door about morning and evening prayer times, and Sarah saw the Mormon evangelist look at the sign, start to walk away, and then come back to the door and knock.  Sarah went to the door and the Mormon evangelist said, “Do you know why God sent a flood on the earth?”  Sarah responded, “I’m a student at Duke Divinity School and married to someone who is studying to be a pastor.  Are you sure you want to get into this conversation?”  He said sheepishly, “No.”  And then he gave her his pamphlet and left!

I recently asked my friends on Facebook this question: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are some of the answers I got [the full answers are at the bottom]:

Two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.”

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.”

I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell me (while kids cry, dinner burns and I try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bull horn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jim Bakker.

Whew!  That’s quite a load of negative associations with evangelism and sharing your faith.  I want you to know that we do it differently here at Sycamore Creek Church.  We’re a church that is curious, creative, and compassionate.  And we are told quite often that people find this a place that isn’t pushy and is very welcoming, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey and what questions you’ve got.  I’d like to introduce you to someone who has been recently coming to SCC and is finding this a good place to seek answers to her spiritual questions.  Meet Marian Wilson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zpVU23XL-A&feature=youtu.be

Marian may be physically blind, but the eyes of her heart are seeking God and finding SCC a good place to do that.  And she even plays the keyboard for us!  And if you were here a couple of weeks ago when she first joined the band, you know that Marian is a real gift to us, even as she’s still seeking answers to her God questions.  That’s the spirit of evangelism that we have here at SCC.

Today we begin a new series called One Fish Two Fish How Do I Do This?  It’s a series about sharing the faith.  Today I’m going to answer the question: Why do I do this?  Why share the faith?

There are three basic motivations that Christians have for sharing the faith, and you can find all of them in the story where Jesus calls his followers to leave their fishing nets and fish for people.  Let’s explore each of these three motivations for sharing the faith.

Concern for Eternity

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:17

For many, the weight of eternity is a significant motivator for sharing the faith.  They look around at the people they come in contact with and see that they’re heading away from God for eternity.  They desire for all to repent, which originally was a traveling term that simply meant “to turn around”, and head toward God for eternity.

One key tool Christians have used over the last fifty years to make this point is often times called the bridge diagram.  There is actually a free app you can download to your phone that walks you and someone else through this bridge diagram.  Here’s a video about that tool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tNvEBnUj15k#at=67

http://www.howtoshareyourfaith.com/images/BridgeDiagram-8.jpg

The basic storyline of this diagram goes something like this:

  1. God created us to be in relationship, but we rebelled and sin entered the world causing a big gap to form between us and God.  The result of this gap of sin is death.
  2. We sense this distance between God and us, and we try to do good works to cross over this gap.  None of our good works is good enough to get us across the chasm.
  3. God saw the predicament we were in and sent his son, Jesus, to bridge that gap.  Through his life, death, and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and created a bridge between us and God.
  4. To cross over this bridge and be in relationship with God we ask Jesus to be our forgiver (Savior) and leader (Lord).  Where do you find yourself in this diagram?

There are some key motivators for those who feel the weight of eternity.  At its worst, the weight of eternity can lead to a motivation of fear, especially a fear of hell, and a desire to make sure one has the right “fire insurance” to not end up there.  When those who are motivated by eternity act out of fear, it is often clear to everyone else around them.  Fear as a religious motivator can be powerful, but also very dangerous and off-putting.

At its best the weight of eternity motivates because we recognize that we’re all mortal.  We all will die.  What’s the number one cause of death?  Birth!  If you were born, you will die.  Our culture does a lot to tell us we’re immortal, and sometimes we need a reminder that we don’t live forever.  While concern for eternity has and continues to be a big motivator for many Christian to share the faith, for me personally, this is not a big motivator.  I am much more motivated by the next two.

Obedience to the Truth

A second motivator for many to share their faith is obedience to the truth.  As we continue reading the story of Jesus calling fishermen to join him and fish for people we read:

As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.  And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20

“Follow me.”  This is a command.  And it’s a command that implies that the “me” that you’re following is worthy of being followed.  Jesus tells us what this means elsewhere:

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32

Here Jesus is inviting us to be obedient to the truth of his word, to be obedient to him.  What is the truth of who God is and who Jesus is?  If we find any book in the Bible that lays that out systematically, it is the book of Romans.  St. Paul doesn’t lay it out as systematically as we might sometimes like, but his letter to the Romans is the closest thing we’ve got.  Christians have recognized this and created at times what is called the Romans Road.  It is a path through the book of Romans that succinctly describes the truth of Jesus.  What you do is write the Romans Road in the margins of your Bible and then all you have to do is remember where the first verse begins.  You look up that verse and beside it is the next verse.  The content is pretty self explanatory.  There are several versions of the Romans Road, but here is my take:

Romans 1:20—Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.

Romans 3:23—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23a—For the wages of sin is death,          

Romans 6:23b—But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8—But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9-10—If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Romans 8:1—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:16—It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:38-39—For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 12:1-2—I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One of my favorite ways of describing what the truth of Jesus is comes from a third and fourth century church leader named St. Athanasius.  In his book, On the Incarnation, he begins by describing how we were made in God’s image so that we could have a relationship and friendship with God.  But sin distorted that image and broke the friendship.  Jesus came to restore that image.  Here’s what St. Athanasius says this about the truth of who Jesus is:

What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need. Here is an illustration to prove it. ‘

You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: ” I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19. 10) This also explains His saying to the Jews: “Except a man be born anew …” (John 3. 3) He was not referring to a man’s natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.

C.S. Lewis, influenced by St. Athanasius, summed this up even more succinctly: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”  I sometimes make Lewis a little more gender inclusive by saying: In Jesus, God took on the character of flesh so that flesh might take on the character of God or In Jesus, God became friends with us so that we might become friends with God.

If all that seems too complicated, John Wesley comes to our rescue with a simple description of the truth: “Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is, simplicity and purity : one design, one desire : entire devotion to God.”  Love God with everything you’ve got!

For those who desire to be obedient to the truth, there are some key motivators for sharing the faith. At the worst, this motivation can become intellectual hair-splitting. At its best one is motivated by truth, integrity, reason, honesty, and fidelity.  Why share the faith?  Because we are called to be obedient to the truth.

Joining an Adventure & Rescue Mission

A third reason why one might share the faith is because you’re inviting those around you to join an adventure and rescue mission.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.  So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Matthew 4:23-25

Now that’s what I’m talking about!  For me this is a huge motivator to share the faith.  I want to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to heal and transform the world!

One recent tool that has been developed to tap into this motivation is sometimes called the Four Circles or The Big Story or the True Story.  It is somewhat of a reaction to the bridge diagram.  The bridge diagram is very individualistic.  As you’ll see the Four Circles diagram is very community oriented.  Here’s a quick video that describes the four circles:

http://vimeo.com/24231464

To see how this works if you drew it out, here’s a more home-grown video of the Four Circles being explained by it’s creator, James Choung:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCVcSiUUMhY

http://openchurchnz.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/choung4circlestruestory.jpg

Here are the four circles:

  1. Creation – Designed by God for good.
  2. Fall – Damaged by evil and living self-centered.
  3. Redemption – Jesus restores for better, and his life, death and resurrection show that sin, evil and death don’t have the last word.
  4. Mission & Adventure of Following Jesus = We are sent together to heal to become an agent of mission to change the world.  The goal is to transform you and send you to transform the world by bringing God’s kingdom now.

I have a hard time coming up with worst case motivations for this, but if I had to, I’d say that because it is a reaction to the Bridge Diagram, sometimes this motivation can be simply reactionary.  But at it’s best, wanting to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus I am motivated by: compassion; justice; ending or reducing poverty; tearing down the walls of racism, sexism, classism, etc.; and bringing God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Now that’s what gets me up in the morning!

I like this way of thinking about evangelism and sharing the faith because it is also communal.  We don’t do it alone.  We are sent together to heal.  We invite people to join in that adventure and rescue mission.  Who doesn’t want to be involved in transforming the world for better?  And a key doorway into this mission is through worship.  Worship is the staging ground for this adventure and rescue mission.  We attempt to make this as easy as possible for you by providing three to five Big Sundays every year.  Easter was our last Big Sunday.  So you know that we had almost three hundred people here on Easter?  That’s amazing!

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus led to personal transformation.  Addictions are broken.  Marriages are healed.  The lonely find community.  The “worthless” find worth.  The least become the greatest.  The last become the first.  The lost become found.

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus leads to joining an adventure and a rescue mission to the world.  The homeless women and children at Maplewood find a home.  Those on the edge of society find a welcoming place at Open Door.  Those who are forgotten because of their age and health find friendship and love at Holt Senior Care.  Those in need of basic supplies for life find them at Compassion Closet.  Those who need medical assistance in Nicaragua find health and healing and hope.  Do you know that these are all places where our church is already reaching out to the community and world?  We do it by receiving money and giving it away.  Do you know that we have over the life of our church received and given away almost $80,000 in special offerings that have gone to meet the needs of our community and world?  SycamoreCreekChurch is joining the adventure of Jesus and his rescue mission to save the world.  That’s why we share the faith!  Will you join the adventure?

God, sometimes we’re not very motivated to share the faith.  Sometimes we’re even scared and overwhelmed.  Give us motivation when we don’t have any.  Help us have a concern for eternity. Help us be obedient to the truth.  Help us join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to transform the world.  Amen.

Friends, I want to let you know about two things.  First, there are three books that have been influential to me in working on this series.  I’d like to encourage you and/or your small group to pick one up and read it.   They are:

God Space by Doug Pollock

This book is a short (127 pages) easy to read book about how to get into spiritual conversations with those around you.  I heard Doug speak about a year ago and was deeply moved by his approach to evangelism.  His approach is really about how to listen well and ask good questions.  I don’t think you can go wrong with this book.  If you’re not sure about which book to pick, pick this one.

Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale Fincher and Jonalyn Fincher
This book is a little longer (219 pages) but covers more ground than Pollock’s book.  It deals with the same topic, how to start spiritual conversations, but also spends a lot more time covering what the Christian faith is and how to respond to possible “arguments” against the Christian faith.  If your group wants to go deeper than just how to get into the conversations and needs some help with answers to possible questions that come up, this book would be the one to go with.

True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
This book is the most readable even if longest (222 pages) of the three because it is almost all a narrative (And at times is a page-turner!).  It is a “fictional” conversation between a college-age Christian, a mentor professor, and his non-Christian love-interest.  This book doesn’t dive at all into how to get into spiritual conversations, but shows how to talk about Christianity in a way that is compelling to our current culture.  The book attempts to correct some past ways that Christians have tended to present the gospel that have caused our culture to tune out Christians.

Second, in the fourth week of this series I’m going to be doing a live Q&A with you answering the question: What about objections?  I’m going to give you the opportunity to ask the kinds of questions you’re afraid will come up if you talk about your faith with others around you.  I’m not preparing much for this message because I want you to see what it looks like to answer these questions unprepared and on the spot.  I want to model for you how you might answer objections to the faith, and I may even have to model how to say, “I don’t know.  Let me get back to you on that one.”  So begin compiling your questions and bring them on week four!

Facebook Questions & Answers

Full answers from my friends on Facebook to the questions: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are all of the answers I got:

Back in college I attended a ministry on campus. Once they had my contact information, two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate. I was young in my faith and they knew it. After fumbling through my responses, they left. At no point did I feel they actually cared about me. They were there with an agenda. They had no intention of hearing my thoughts. It was as if they only cared about results and could care less about fostering a friendship. Needless to say, I never returned and they never wondered where I went.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.” Specifically, I think about when this big production with BMX bikes and loud music came to my high school gym one Friday night. If you didn’t attend the event, you must not have been a Christian. If you didn’t go up front at the altar call, you must not want to be saved. Shame on you!  A similar pressure was present at other church events like concerts and such. It never happened at Lake Louise, Lake Michigan, or Wesley Woods… all UMC camps. I love being United Methodist!

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.” I saw a poster once that showed a polar bear on this empty frozen wasteland. The caption read “Now this is my kind of neighborhood for evangelism.”

What I don’t like about being evangelized to is the feeling that there is only one belief and if you don’t agree fully with every single facet then somehow you are “less than” as a person.  I personally don’t like to evangelize to others because I don’t necessarily “fit” the traditional Christian mold. I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way. For example, I know religion is a touchy subject with most members of the LGBT community, and even though I personally feel that God is love and everyone has the right to seek personal happiness, bringing up my faith could be seen as passing judgment or even an attack.
My short answer? Evangelism is awkward for me. Religion and faith place me in a box that I personally don’t fit into.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell my (while kids cry, dinner burns and i try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

When I rebelled against God I disliked Christianity, especially those who evangelized their faith. As I mature in my Christian faith I respect those that profess their faith and encourage their enthusiasm. In retrospect, I am thankful to God for those annoying evangelists who sparked contempt and fear into my heart.

Interesting you should ask that, that was the exact question my worship committee discussed this month as we gear up for a sermon series on evangelism: what is it and what it isn’t. I hope God is blessing this conversation for you and your church!

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway. If I believe the same thing, I shouldn’t be offended or feel uncomfortable when you talk about it. I can only imagine how much worse it is if it is a non-believer who answers the door.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bullhorn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Hmm today at sm group we watched a Nooma video called bullhorn, it’s about a bullhorn guy screaming hell fire and brimstone. I loved how he talked about how Jesus “evangelized”

I don’t think of evangelism the same way as I did when I wasn’t as far along in my faith walk. Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jimmy (?) Bakker. Anyway, it was a turn off, pushy, intrusive. Now I see openly talking about faith and how I can lean on God through faith feels comforting and “looks” totally different from “The Bakers.” I don’t feel fake like the big hair and clumpy makeup or the loud pushy preaching.

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Walking with Bilbo – The Cost of Adventure

January 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Walking with Bilbo

 

 

 

 

Walking with Bilbo – The Cost of Adventure
Sycamore Creek Church
January 20 & 21, 2013
Tom Arthur
Luke 9:57-62

Peace friends!

Have you ever watched one of those hoarders shows?  Here’s a brief clip from one show about a “collector’s collector.”

 


We’re in this series called Walking with Bilbo, exploring spiritual themes in The Hobbit.  One of the spiritual themes in The Hobbit is the question of hoarding stuff.  Bilbo isn’t so sure about joining the adventure because he doesn’t want to leave all the creature comforts of his hobbit hole, and when he finally does join the adventure he exclaims to Gandalf the wizard, “I’m awfully sorry but I have come without my hat, and I have left my pocket-handkerchief behind, and I haven’t got any money.”  Bilbo is a hoarder and it gets in the way of adventure in his life.

The problem is that we’re all hoarders in some shape, form, or fashion.  I hoard my reputation.  I protect very carefully what other people think of me.  I want people to think I’m smart and well educated, emotionally together, competent and even excellent, creative, a leader, a compelling speaker, kind but firm, and well organized.  Of course sometimes things backfire.  A couple of years ago I was sitting at home waiting to leave to go to my yearly evaluation with our Staff Pastor Relations Team when I got a call from Bill Hoerner, the team leader.  He said, “Where are you?”  I said, “I’m at home.  I’m getting ready to leave.” He said, “The meeting started thirty minutes ago.”  I had it written down for the wrong time on my calendar.  I was late to my yearly evaluation!

I’d like today to take a look at a story of Jesus interacting with several people who want to go on the adventure of following him, and see what we can learn about what kinds of things we tend to hoard in life, what we have to give up to follow Jesus, and what it costs to go on Jesus’ adventure.

Luke 9:57-58 – Stuff that Gives Us a Sense of Security
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 

Jesus points out to this person who wants to follow him that he’s going to essentially have to give up all the securities of the stability of home.  He’s going to be joining the lifestyle of a wandering homeless preacher.  He won’t know where he’s going to sleep each night.  Now that’s an adventure!

We all tend to hoard stuff that gives us a sense of security.  Stuff that gives us a sense of security is anything that you wonder how you’d live without it, like technology.  I was sitting behind a guy on a plane recently when he realized he had left his cell phone at home as he was leaving for a week-long trip.  He was busy borrowing his friend’s cell phone and talking to his wife.  Some of you are feeling the bottom of your stomach drop out right now because you can’t imagine going away for a week and not having your cell phone.  What would you do with yourself?  How would you live?  Of course, technology isn’t just cell phones.  Some of us can’t live without our tablets, mp3 players, computers, or TVs.   We hoard technology because it gives us a sense of security.

Another thing that gives us a sense of security is money.  We hoard money like there’s no tomorrow.  Which may not mean actually saving it.  Hoarding money may mean simply hoarding its blessings for ourselves.  We buy stuff for ourselves rather than pass the blessing around.

Others of us have certain things that give us status and that status gives us a sense of security.  Owning a big home in the right neighborhood, a fancy car, designer clothes, extended degrees (like ones from Duke University, not that I know any Blue Devils around here), awards from our jobs, expensive jewelry, the best makeup, the latest hair fashions, the best destination vacations, and of course man-toys like boats, RVs, ATVs, and on and on and on.  We hoard status stuff because it gives us a sense of security about our place in the pecking order.

This is kind of a touchy subject, but something that gives us a sense of security that I think can be used for quite a bit of good, but also can draw us away from God’s adventure for our lives is insurance: health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance, home insurance, renters insurance, umbrella insurance.  All these things can give us a false sense of security that can keep us from the adventure that Jesus is calling us on.  Would you be willing to give up a job that provides health insurance but isn’t where you think Jesus is calling you for a job that has no health insurance but is on the road of adventure with Jesus?

We hoard stuff that gives us a sense of security.

Luke 9:59-60 – Old Dead Stuff
59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 

Jesus comes across a guy who wants to go bury his father before he’ll follow Jesus.  Jesus seems a little harsh in his response, but there is a recognition that following Jesus has a cost.  We have to give up hoarding old dead stuff.

Most of us aren’t in the literal situation of having to bury anyone, but speaking more metaphorically, why do we keep doing stuff that keeps not working or that leads to dead ends?  We hoard old habits that lead to dead relationships.  We hoard old memories, pain, and guilt that lead to a dead spirit.  We hoard old fears that lead to dead futures.  We hoard old “scripts” that lead to dead ends in our relationships.

Sarah and I have a couple of fifteen-year-long arguments.  They’re fifteen years long  because we play out the script of the argument over and over in the same way.  I’m not sure why we think we’ll resolve the argument this time using the same scripts from the past fifteen years, but we dive in with full vigor attempting the argument one more time.  Then we went on a retreat for our 15-year anniversary back in May.  We used a DVD marriage retreat from John and Julie Gottman called The Art and Science of Love.  The Gottmans have done longitudinal studies of couples over several decades.  That means that they’ve followed some couples for thirty or more years.  They’ve found that 69% of problems in marriage are unsolvable.  You’ll always have them.  So how you approach them is key.  On that weekend, Sarah and I made some headway on one of those fifteen-year arguments we’ve been having.  We have simply learned some new lines to say rather than the old dead ones that we keep hanging on to.

We all hoard old dead stuff that is no longer working in our relationships and our lives.

Luke 9:61-62 – Relationships
61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus encounters a guy who wants to go back to his home and say goodbye to some of his friends before he’ll follow Jesus.  But Jesus realizes that some relationships keep us from the adventure that God has in store for us.  What relationships are distracting you from the adventure Jesus is calling you on?

Maybe one of those relationships is your boss at work.  You think to yourself, “Let me first get a new boss, then I’ll be able to join the adventure Jesus has for me.”  Perhaps your boss is like the CEO who was hired at a company to shake things up.  This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers!  On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a guy leaning on a wall dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The room is full of workers and he wants to let them know he means business.  The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, “And how much money do you make a week?” Undaunted, the young fellow looks at him and replies, “I make $300.00 a week. Why?”  The CEO then hands the guy $300 in cash and screams, “Here’s a week’s pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back!”  Feeling pretty good about his first firing, the CEO looks around the room and asks “Does anyone want to tell me what that slacker did here?” With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters, “Pizza delivery guy.”  So this boss is pretty bad, but you can’t wait for a new boss to follow Jesus.  Jesus says follow me now.

Others of us say, Let me first find some good friends, then I’ll follow Jesus.  Or Let me first deal with my aging parents or Let me first resolve the conflict with my brother and sister or Let me first finish high school, college, grad school, or Let me first find a boy/girlfriend, or Let me first see where this relationship leads, or Let me first raise my kids and get them out of the house, or Let me first get my marriage put together, and on and on and on.  You see where this leads.  Relationships are supposed to support us in the adventure of God, not keep us from the adventure of God. 

We all tend to hoard relationships and let them distract us from adventure with Jesus.

We will never be able to get so “fixed” that we’re now “ready” to join the adventure of Jesus and proclaim the kingdom of God.  Joining the adventure with Jesus and proclaiming the kingdom of God is the fix.  Elsewhere Jesus says,

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33 ESV).

Again, the problem is that we’re all hoarders.  We try to hang on to these and a million other things.  But in hanging on to them we lose the first and most important thing – the kingdom of God.

If you’re a guest here for the first or second time today, I want you to hear clearly a truth that Jim Elliot a missionary to Ecuador spoke.  Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep [security/old dead stuff/relationships] to gain that which he cannot lose [eternal life].”

Today I want all of you to give up everything you’re hoarding and put the adventure of God first.  So what can you take with you?  Jesus answers that question too.

Mark 6:7-9
7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

In other words, take your shoes, the clothes on your back, and the staff in your hand.  The shoes you should wear are the Heavenly Father who is your foundation.  Do not take but one heart, undivided and fully surrendered to one Heavenly Father.

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth  (Matthew 6:24 NRSV).

You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3 NRSV).

The clothes on your back are Jesus who clothes you in righteousness.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14 NRSV).

If you want to know what God wants you to do, here it is: be holy.  Be righteous.  Be right with God and with those around you.  That’s the adventure you’re on.  If you’re faced with two choices, which one will let you love God and your neighbor more?  If neither clearly leads to more love, then it pleases God that you would choose whichever way most pleases you.  God’s desire is that you would put on the righteousness, the full and total love, of Jesus.

The staff is the Holy Spirit that steadies and guides you.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:14 NRSV).

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God with you, the friendship that the Father and Son share.  The Holy Spirit invites you into that community of friendship between the Father and the Son.

At the end of The Hobbit, Tolkien says that Bilbo “may have lost his neighbor’s respect, but he gained—well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.”  It costs you everything to join the adventure of Jesus, but in it you gain the friendship of God, and that is enough.

Prayer
God, show us where our hoarding keeps us from joining the adventure that you have set before us.  Help us to give up everything and follow you.  Let us be content to have gained friendship with you.  Amen. 

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Walking with Bilbo – The Purpose of Adventure

January 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Walking with Bilbo

 

 

 

 

Walking with Bilbo – The Purpose of Adventure
Sycamore Creek Church
January 13 & 14, 2013
Tom Arthur
Luke 5:1-11

Peace, Friends!

Today we continue in a series based on The Hobbit.  We’ll be walking with Bilbo, the main character in The Hobbit, as he transforms from an unassuming three foot six inch hobbit to the unexpected hero of the story.  Along the way Bilbo will find his clear purpose because of the adventure he goes on.

Many of us struggle with purpose.  Part of the reason we struggle with purpose is because we don’t often see ourselves clearly.  I struggle with this myself.  I often tell myself and others, “I’m not a very good counselor.”  I probably say this because when I was a psychology major in undergrad, I intended to be a therapist.  But then I did an internship and didn’t like clinical work at all.  So I redirected my studies toward research rather than therapy.  But then the other day I told someone that I wasn’t a very good counselor as they were sitting in my office seeking some help working through a problem.  After two different hour-plus-long meetings, this person said to me, “You say you’re not very good at this, but you’re actually really quite good.”  Hm…Maybe I don’t see myself as clearly as I think I do.

We all struggle with seeing ourselves clearly.  We say things like:

I’m the humblest person I know.
I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure.
I can be spontaneous if I have enough time to prepare for it.

All jokes aside, here’s some examples of how we don’t see ourselves very clearly:

  • We think we’re poor, but in reality, we’re exceedingly rich.  According to globalrichlist.com, if you make $40,000/year like I do, you’re one of the top 3.17% richest people in the world.  If you add in benefits (health insurance, housing allowance, pension, etc.), then you’re in the top .82%!   If you make $20,000/year, then you’re still in the top 11.16%.
  • Single folks think they’re unattractive or will never find a life partner, but I look at them and think, “Wow, some day they’re going to really be a blessing to someone!”
  • I was reading some research the other day that showed that women tend to rate themselves further from an “ideal” than men do.  They think men want someone who is skinnier than they are, but the average woman in America is very close to what the average man finds attractive.
  • We all tend to think we’re basically “good people” but we ignore the little things that add up, including our inappropriate motives.  For example: we focus on the things in others that annoy us and downplay the things in ourselves that annoy others!
  • David Myers, in his introductory psychology textbook reports: “Most people see themselves as better than average. This is true for nearly any subjective and socially desirable dimension. In national surveys, most business executives say they are more ethical than their average counterpart. In several studies, 90% of business managers and more than 90% of college professors rated their performance as superior to that of their average peer. In Australia, 86% of people rate their job performance as above average, and only 1% as below average” (1998, p. 440, emphasis mine).

I recently met Whitney Banks, the adoption recruiter for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.  She works with teenagers who need to be adopted.  She told me that almost all of the teenagers she works with think they won’t be adopted because their many problems and their age make them unadoptable.  So I asked her how many of the current teenagers she’s working with will she find a home for.  She said she will likely find a family for almost every single one of them!

In The Hobbit, when Gandalf tells the dwarves he’s chosen Bilbo, an unimpressive hobbit, to be the “burglar” for their adventure, the dwarves are pretty skeptical of Bilbo and Gandalf’s judgment, but Gandalf says, “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.”

If you haven’t sent the movie or read the book, this trailer will give you a glimpse of who Bilbo is, and the struggle he has to see himself clearly:

The Point
Here’s the point I want you get out of this message: Adventure with Jesus pulls out the clear purpose of our lives.

While we struggle to see ourselves clearly, when we go on the adventure that Jesus is calling us on, the clear purpose of our lives becomes evident.  Let’s take a look at one example of how this worked with one of Jesus’ followers, Simon, later called Peter.

Luke 5:1-11 NRSV
1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,  2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 

Here we find a casual encounter between Jesus and Simon: Jesus simply gets into Simon’s boat because he needed to get away from the shore where people were crowding in on him.  Many of us are at this stage of the adventure: we’ve had a casual encounter with Jesus.  But this casual encounter leads to…

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”  5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Here the casual encounter turns to an invitation to trust.  The invitation to trust includes doing something counterintuitive and unexpected.  For Simon, who was a professional fisherman, it was the invitation to put out again to fish after a long night of catching nothing. Simon is the expert fisherman here.  Jesus is a carpenter.  What does he know about fishing?  Surprisingly, Simon accepts the invitation.  The acceptance of this invitation to do something counterintuitive and unexpected leads to…

6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.  7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

The acceptance of Jesus’ invitation to do something counterintuitive and unexpected leads to an unexpected adventure.  Simon and his companions caught so many fish that the nets began to break.  They had been fishing all night and hadn’t had anything significant happen.  But when Simon accepts Jesus’ invitation to something counterintuitive and unexpected, unexpected adventure ensues.  This unexpected adventure leads to…

8 But when Simon Peter saw it, [ON KNEES] he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”  9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken;  10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

This unexpected adventure that Simon finds himself on leads to a deeper trust through surrender.  He falls down at Jesus’ feet.  He recognizes that he’s standing in the presence of the Lord, and he surrenders to him symbolically by kneeling before him.  This act of surrender leads to…

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

This act of trust in and surrender to Jesus leads to an unexpected twist in the purpose of Simon’s life.  He will no longer catch fish, but instead he will catch people.  This unexpected twist in the purpose of Simon’s life leads to…

11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

This unexpected twist in the purpose of Simon’s life leads to a complete and total surrender to that purpose.  Simon leaves everything and follows Jesus.  There is nothing more important to Simon than this new clarity in the purpose of his life.

Again, here’s the main point I want you to get out of this message: 

Adventure with Jesus pulls out the clear purpose of our lives.

Simon’s life is transformed because Jesus saw something in him that he did not see in himself.  Later Jesus renames Simon to make obvious what Jesus sees in him:

And I tell you, you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  (Matthew 16:18 NRSV)

So if adventure with Jesus pulls out the clear adventure in our lives, there are two things I want you to do this morning:

1. Go on an Adventure Following Jesus

I want you to join the adventure of throwing it all in with following Jesus, and risking your reputation, way of doing things, money, time, everything, so that you will find Jesus’ purpose for your life, a purpose Jesus knows you’re ready for, but you’re not yet so sure about.

J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit, was a philologist, someone who studies language, academic at Oxford University.  Philologists aren’t supposed to write children’s fantasy stories.  Yet he jumped into the adventure of writing The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and risked looking silly in front of his colleagues.  In the end he found the purpose of participating in the creative act of God as what he called a “sub-creator.”  He found that he had an impulse (or a purpose) to create, because he was made in the image of a creator.  And hundreds of thousands if not millions of people have loved his stories ever since.

Linda Kidrick, a new attendee at SCC, accepted the adventure of celebrating Christmas differently this past year.  She attended our Christmas Eve service and tried to focus on the reason for Christmas.  Here’s what her experience was like:

Join the adventure of investing in the lives of our children (Kids Creek) and youth (StuREV), and take the risk of giving up some of your time and find the purpose of changing the life of a child or youth.

Join the adventure of being a steward of the money God has given you by taking the risk of living simply and giving generously and find the purpose of money in your life is really to bless other people.

Join the adventure of inviting your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors to church and risk feeling silly or embarrassed and find the purpose of being one step in someone having a life-changing encounter with God.

Join the adventure of a local mission (Maplewood, Open Door, Holt Senior Care), and take the risk of getting to know a group of people you didn’t know before (and were maybe even a little afraid of) and finding the purpose of sharing God’s compassion with others.

Each of the small groups in our church makes a commitment to serve in some local mission.  The elderly in nursing homes are often a forgotten people in our culture who don’t get much attention or much companionship.  The Agnostic Pub Group meets on the fifth Thursdays at Holt Senior Care home on Willoughby and simply plays games with residents.  It’s a little out of some and a lot out of others’ comfort zones.  At our last visit, we had about eight senior citizens joining us for cards.  One of those was a widower who rarely ever comes out of his room.  That night he and all of us laughed, talked, joked, smiled, and had loads of fun.  What an adventure to follow Jesus into the forgotten places of our culture!

2. Seek a Spiritual Guide or Spiritual Friends

Coming back to the problem we have seeing ourselves clearly, it is so important to have a spiritual guide or some spiritual friends who help us see ourselves better than we can alone.

In The Hobbit, Gandalf the wizard sees something in Bilbo that he does not see himself.  He has a kind of confidence in Bilbo that Bilbo doesn’t have in himself.  Bilbo reads about the dangers of the adventure with the dwarves and faints, but Gandalf never questions for a moment whether Bilbo will join the adventure:

Who is the Gandalf in your life inviting you out the door on to the road of adventure? Who are you seeking out intentionally to mentor/guide you?  This can’t always be me, the pastor.  I simply can’t provide ongoing personal guidance to a hundred and fifty people.  So who do you sit down regularly with over coffee to talk about life, someone who isn’t always a “Yes Man” in your life?  Who asks you the hard questions? Who is willing to be honest with you but is also encouraging?

If you’re a guest here today, I want you to know that you can’t find this kind of community in a big group setting like this.  It’s virtually impossible.  You’ve got to get into a small group of some sort.  It’s not the only way to receive this kind of guidance or to have spiritual friends, but it’s the best way we know as a church to try to provide an environment where these kinds of things can thrive.  So join the adventure of a small group, and take the risk of opening up and giving a true account of who you are and finding the purpose of authentic community.

Last Tuesday four dads gathered at McDonald’s with their kids to have fun and talk about being dads.  We shared one thing we were thankful for being dads in 2012 and one thing we learned about being dads in 2012.  It was a great conversation with fellow dads who see things about being a dad that I miss.

A couple of Sundays ago, I was talking with the small group at Pizza with the Pastor about how I felt like I didn’t have enough passion in life.  I was surprised to find that two people said they were at this church & were even following Jesus because of my passion!  Wow.  I didn’t see that coming.

One day I was having a particularly bad day.  Mark Aupperlee, a volunteer here at our church and a friend of mine, knew about how bad my day was going.  He called me and left a message on my voicemail simply saying, “I’m here with you on this adventure.  I’ve got your back.  I love you.”

Who are those kinds of people who provide spiritual guidance in your life, who see things in you that you don’t see in yourself?

Sycamore Creek Church
Imagine being part of a community that was on the kind of adventure that brought out these and other new purposes in your life and the lives of those around you, purposes you couldn’t see before but Jesus can see right now.  If only you’ll trust him enough to let him get in the boat of your life and lead you on the adventure of your life!

Imagine being part of a community where there were people along the entire spectrum of the adventure.  People who were new to the path.  People who had been traveling for a long time.  And imagine them sharing their wisdom with one another in shared guidance and mentoring.  That’s the kind of community we’re trying to create at SCC!

At the beginning of Bilbo’s adventure, Gandalf says of him, “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.”  And as Bilbo is getting ready to go in to meet Smaug the dragon, Tolkien as the narrator tells us, “Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago.”

Prayer
God, help us to accept the invitation to adventure that Jesus puts before us, and to find the clear purpose of our lives.  Amen.

For further discussion on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/tomarthur01/posts/10100244064669254?comment_id=4206226&ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment

 

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Walking with Bilbo – An Invitation to Adventure

January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Walking with Bilbo

 

 

 

 

Walking with Bilbo – An Invitation to Adventure
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom & Sarah Arthur
January 6 and 7, 2013

Peace Friends!  And happy new year!

Today we begin a new series called Walking with Bilbo, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.  How many of you have:

  • Seen The Hobbit movie?
  • Read the book?
  • Seen The Lord of the Rings movies?
  • Actually read that trilogy too?

Some of you may be wondering why we as a church are spending four whole weeks on what is essentially a work of children’s fiction, and a fantasy story, at that. You may even be dreading these four weeks, if you’re not a fiction or fantasy lover. Well, it’s my prayer that God will use this series anyway, that you’ll find something to take away from this message. And I think as we unpack it all in the coming weeks, you will.

Let me begin by telling our story of what role this book has played in Sarah’s and my life, and then we can explore some of the spiritual themes in the book as a way to see how God is at work in the world, even the world of fiction.

Why The Hobbit?
Now, it came as something of a surprise to us, when the first Lord of the Rings (LOTR) movies came out ten years ago, that most people were completely unaware that Tolkien was a Christian.  Sarah had studied LOTR and The Hobbit as an English major at Wheaton College where she learned about Tolkien’s faith.  He wrote, “I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories), and in fact a Roman Catholic.” And he wasn’t just a Christian in name only. He really believed and lived this stuff—so much so, he was instrumental in the conversion of his friend C.S. Lewis (later author of The Chronicles of Narnia) from atheism to Christianity.  Tolkien wrote occasionally about the spiritual themes in his work.  He said, “In ‘The Lord of the Rings’ the conflict is not basically about ‘freedom,’ though that is naturally involved. It is about God, and His sole right to divine honour.”

It is important to understand that The Hobbit is not a Christian allegory like Pilgrim’s Progress where there is a one to one correlation between things in the story and the Christian life, but The Hobbit does share themes with the Christian journey. Did Tolkien intend for it to be a religious story? No, but when you are a Christian, the flavor of your faith comes through in everything you create. He created his stories as an act of joy, a labor of love, an act of worship, to the glory of God.

So Sarah wrote Walking with Frodo, named after the main character in The Lord of the Rings, and later Walking with Bilbo, named after the main character in The Hobbit, to explore spiritual themes in Tolkien’s works.  These books were originally aimed at a youth audience but people of all ages have appreciated them.

The Theme of Adventure
One of the spiritual themes in The Hobbit is the theme of adventure.  To get you into that theme, especially if you’re not familiar with the story, the trailer for the movie does a pretty good job of summarizing the theme of adventure.

Gandalf said to Bilbo, “I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.”

Hobbits are small human-like creatures—3 foot, 6 inches—who live in an imaginary world called the Shire, which is rather like rural parts of England. Most of them like good food, comfy homes, a good book, a pot of tea, and prefer peace and quiet.

Bilbo is the model hobbit, but with an interesting family history. He is part Baggins, which prefers to stay home and safe; but he is also part Took, which has a history of going on mysterious adventures.

Gandalf’s job is to appeal to the “Took” side of Bilbo. Gandalf has chosen and selected Bilbo to join an adventure with a group of dwarves who want to reclaim their mountain kingdom and their gold from an evil dragon. But Gandalf can’t MAKE Bilbo go on this journey. Gandalf can only extend the invitation. Now it’s up to Bilbo to accept it.

Like Gandalf, God has been in the adventure business for a long time, choosing and selecting unlikely people to participate in the great and small stories of human history.  All throughout the Old Testament, God is calling people.  Then Jesus came on the scene and called twelve disciples:

Luke 5:27-32
Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”

Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Difficult to Find
But “it’s very difficult to find anyone” who is willing to accept Jesus’ invitation to adventure–why is that?  Here are four possible reasons.

First, we don’t feel qualified.  But Jesus doesn’t call those who are supposedly qualified, the ones who are the obvious choice, who have their spiritual act together (back to Luke 5:29-32). He calls the ones you least expect, the ones whom the rest of the world has overlooked, whose qualifications and abilities are questionable at best. Tolkien “chose” hobbits, the small and unexpected, to be the bearers of such huge tasks and adventures.  He called this “ennoblement.” Bilbo doesn’t feel qualified to join the dwarves’ expedition. But Gandalf sees something in him that he doesn’t yet see in himself. The journey will ennoble him, offer him the opportunity to be part of a larger, more significant story. And that is enough.

Second, we’d rather play it safe. Bilbo would rather stay home where he is comfortable and well-fed and nothing dangerous ever happens. As he says, “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!” And once he embarks on the adventure, he realizes that he actually underestimated how hard things would really get. If he had known, he would have stayed home. Following Jesus is not safe or easy. It’s not for the faint of heart. Jesus asks us to give up things we’re not willing to give up (habits, sins, attitudes). He also asks us to take on Christian behaviors that sound odd or annoying or downright boring. But the Christian life is anything but boring. G.K. Chesterton has said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried” (Chapter 5, What’s Wrong With The World, 1910).

Third, we like our life the way it is and we don’t want God messing in our business. Tolkien’s friend C. S. Lewis, for a long time before his conversion, thought of God as the “Transcendental Interferer.” God is this powerful being who interferes with your life and makes you do things you don’t want to do. But once Lewis became a Christian, he realized that in Jesus there is freedom: freedom from sin, from fear, from pride, from other things and people having power over you.

Fourth, we’re afraid to take Jesus at his word when he says difficult things like “love your enemies” and “give up everything.”  Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution, is an interesting and unique example of a new kind of Christian who is really seeking to simply follow Jesus even when it is difficult. Claiborne is a Christian and an activist who helped start The Simple Way community in the ghettos of Philadelphia, where he lives and ministers with the poor. He wrote in an article entitled “Jesus wrecked my life:

I know there are people out there who say, “My life was such a mess. I was drinking, partying, sleeping around; and then I met Jesus, and my whole life came together.” God bless those people. But for me, I had it together. I used to be cool (I was prom king, for heaven’s sake). Then I met Jesus, and He wrecked my life.

The more I read the gospel, the more it messed me up, turning everything I believed in, valued and hoped for upside down. I am still recovering from my conversion.

I ended up at Eastern University outside Philadelphia, studying youth ministry and sociology. I had heard one of my college professors say, “Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with your life.”

I decided to take Jesus up on the offer. The adventure has taken me from the streets of Calcutta, where I worked with Mother Teresa, to the war zone of Iraq, where I lived through the bombing of Baghdad. Following the footsteps of Jesus, I can’t remember what it feels like to be bored.

http://www.youthworker.com/youth-ministry-resources-ideas/youth-ministry/11552643/

To get a deeper feel for how Claiborne follows Jesus, watch at least the first three minutes of this video:

 

Responding to the Invitation
Here’s the point of this message: Jesus is calling you to adventure.  For some of us, it may be simply to surrender your life—your habits, choices, attitudes, actions—completely to Jesus, to claim Christ as Lord of your life.  For some of us, like Shane Claiborne, Jesus might be calling you to live a radically different life than the rest of society, in order to take care of the poor or the sick or to meet some other need. You may be called to mission work or inner city ministry or living simply so you have more to give away. For some of us, as Shane said, the call may be simply to love one person well: to take care of an aging relative or to love a difficult coworker or to forgive someone who you never thought you could forgive. Like Mother Teresa, we are called to do “small things with great love”: it’s that simple and that challenging and adventurous.

The question is, will you respond? There is a now famous image of Gandalf standing at the door at Bilbo’s house at Bag End that has been used to promote the movie in theaters. It is a key moment in the story because there would have been no story to tell if Bilbo had not answered the door.

In the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, Jesus says, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (3:10).  There is a famous painting by William Holman Hunt of Jesus at the door titled, “The Light of the World.” The door has no handle, weeds have grown up around it, it has not been opened in a long time and can only be opened from the inside. The viewer is sort of holding one’s breath to see if anyone’s inside, and if that person will respond.

Jesus does not force his way in, but he is waiting at the door of your life, extending an invitation. Not to a boring life. Not to a life in which you’re simply a nicer person than you were before. But to a life of adventure, following God’s call into places and interacting with people and doing things you never dreamed you’d be doing. Like Gandalf, Jesus can’t guarantee that you’ll be safe. He can’t guarantee your reputation. But you’ll have a pile of stories to tell when it’s all over. And in the end you’ll be welcomed into the strong circle of adventurers led by Jesus himself, honored and celebrated for a life well lived.

As Sarah writes in Walking with Bilbo, “Faith is an adventure, not just a one-time choice. Once we hear the knock on the door and step onto the road, there’s no turning back. Life will never be the same again. Are you ready for the adventure?”

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