(Warning: I'm not going to edit this manuscript at all- many typos!)
Have you ever had the experience where you enjoyed something and even thought you were good at something, until someone told you different? As we grow up our parents teach us stuff and tell us were the best and let us win. Then we go to show off our skills to the world, only to discover there are folks way better than us and our parents are liars. (This is of course why I never let my kids beat me at anything. I want to save them the pain of this terrible and harsh reality. I want to be the one to crush their little spirits, not the world.) I suspect this is a kind of universal experience. We think we’re a great skater, until our first day of practice with the team. We think we pretty good at piano, until the first recital, then we suddenly understand how far we have to go. Often this is just the way it is. But sometimes we start putting standards or expectations on things that were never intended.
For example, I thought I had a great relationship with my wife… until I started preparing to be a pastor and went through a course designed to help couples prepare for marriage. Then I realized all the ways I’m a horrible husband and that we have a horrible marriage. We don’t spend enough hours in prayer together. We haven’t gone to enough marriage retreats. We didn’t create 5, 10, 25 and 50 years goals for our marriage, oh and the big one- according to the literature, we didn’t fight enough. Yep, according to the literature we need to work on our conflict resolution skills because every good marriage has some real all-out fights, and since we were supposed to be fighting about stuff, we need really good skills at how to fight fairly. But I couldn’t think of anything Robin and I had ever really fought about. And all that time I thought we had a great marriage, but my eyes were opened to the reality that our marriage stunk because we didn’t argue enough.
I went home right away and I let Robin have it- “I said woman, if you care anything about our marriage you and I are going to have a fight right now.” And she said “OK, what do you really want to fight about?” And I said, I have no idea, but we need to express our feelings and have a huge disagreement but then come to agreement! So I thought for and while, and then I came up with something really big. Something that had been bothering me for a long time. Something that had driven a huge wedge in our relationship and was eating away at our marriage from the inside out. I said “Robin, you don’t make spaghetti like my mom does.” She looked at me with grave concern. I said, “Everyone knows you’re supposed to put the sauce on the spaghetti noodles right after they are done, that what the noodles don’t stick together.” Robin looked at me and I could see the emotion welling up inside of her, because I knew this was going to be an argument, and I knew we needed this for our marriage to survive, and then she said, “OK, George, I think I can do that.” And I was like, “Right you will woman!” Then I realized how profoundly dysfunctional our marriage was because we just didn’t know how to really have an all out fight.
Unless I’m totally off the mark, I think something like this happens all too often with Christians in a relationship with God. We think things are going pretty well, maybe even pretty good, especially perhaps when we first give our lives to Jesus. We are just happy to feel connected to God and have this assurance and hope and peace begin to fill our hearts. But then, as we begin to grow into the relationship, we will listen to sermon, or read a book by some spiritual giant, and we’ll get some ideas about all the things we need to do in order to be a better Christian.
First, in order to really be serious about our faith, it would appear that we have to be voracious reader of books on spiritual growth. And then we need to get up at 3am in the morning so we can pray for 3 hours like Mother Teresa just to start our day, but some of use were still playing on Facebook at 2am so one hour of sleep isn’t gonna cut it. Then study the bible for 3 hours every day like Martin Luther, but we always get stuck reading through the bible at Leviticus. Then we need to get to the homeless shelter to care for the poor. Along the way we need to share the gospel with the guy who sits next to us on the bus and lead him to faith in Jesus, get them plugged into a church. But then we need to be there for our family and raise our kids, because God gave us the gift of marriage and children are a blessing. Unless of course you’re REALLY spiritual then your called to be single like Jesus, but if you’re an 18 year old guy the last thing you want God to do is call you into celibacy. So you decide to devote yourself ending poverty, but then you hear about the AIDS crisis Africa so you change your mind and devote yourself to social change and justice, but along the way you become frustrated and decide to get to the root of the problem so you want to start schools…. And by now you are so confused that you forgot where you even began this journey or that at one time you were actually happy, and content, and in a relationship with Jesus. And you spent less time looking at other peoples relationship with God, or at least how they presented it, and you spent more time just being in a relationship with God.
And it’s then that we have to take a step back and say maybe I don’t fit the mold of being a spiritual person. Maybe, in reality, there is no one mold of being spiritual and one way to be Spiritual. Maybe God created each and every one of us so uniquely and so differently that my relationship with God will look different than your walk with God and it will look different than her relationship with God, but that each and every one of us can in fact have a relationship with God. And maybe it’s time we start judging the merits of our relationship with God and our level of spirituality not on some mold that doesn’t seem to fit, but on the quality of the relationship itself. And then maybe will find common principles that can help guide and direct and grow all relationships with the living God, and embrace the wonderful ways God wires us, relates to us, and uses us for His purpose and plans.
Last week we talked about reorienting our lives toward Jesus. We looked at one man, Matthew, and how his life was totally oriented away form God. But that to bring him into a relationship with himself, Jesus just asked him one simple thing. One little thing that was a huge step for him, but something totally within his power. To follow. Just to enter into a relationship of trust with Jesus by following him. From where he was at. That was enough.
Today I want to talk now about two men who followed God. Both of whom we can say without any doubt where men of God, who knew God and loved God and were used by God. In fact, if there are any two men that we can say, from the bible, that were men whose examples we could life up as guideposts, as pillar of our faith, as lives worthy of admiration and even emulation, it is these two guys. And yet, as we look briefly at their lives this morning, you will realize how radically different they were. IN fact, it would be hard to imagine two people who lives were more different. And yet, again, both of them completely oriented towards God, and completely faithful in their lives towards God. I’m talking about a man known as John the baptizer, and the other, Jesus of Nazareth.
We know from both of their births that God had special plans for each of these men, and that His Spirit was upon them. The Spirit came upon John’s mother in her old age and opened her womb so she would become fertile, and she and her husband were able to conceive and bear John. The Spirit came upon Mary in an even more unique way, the only time ever, to supernaturally conceive the son of God, Jesus.
After these similar beginnings their lives each take faithful, but divergent paths. John was, to put it mildly, a strange duck. He was raised as a Nazarene, his hair was never cut, he never drank wine, and he never touched a dead body. (Incidentally I actually lived this way all through college, but found it necessary to cut my hair to get my first job in ministry.) He went out into the wilderness, and basically never returned. He wore camel hair and a leather belt. Ate a high protein diet of bugs and honey. (You know, they always talk about these biblical diets, but no one ever promotes the John diet with much success.) Large crowds came out to hear him preach and teach, and they were always greeted with the same cheery message: Repent! For the kingdom of God is near! His core message was that the promised one, the Christ, was coming, and with him the Kingdom of God was at hand. And when the religious folks came out to see him, the folks that really figured out a mold for beign spiritual (do everything just like we do) they received the especially warm greeting, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath!” His message- get right with God, or face judgment for your lives.
When Jesus came to see John he asked to be baptized in fulfillment of the scriptures. And when John did he heard the voice of God say this is my son with whom I am pleased. He saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend and land on Jesus. Then, they parted ways.
Later, John finds himself in jail. Not exactly what John was hoping for his ministry. While in prison, it would appear that John has some time to think about his life, about his ministry, and about Jesus, whom he has so hoped, prayed and longed for. Here we read this…
Matthew 11:1-6 1After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.[a]
2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
Are you the one, or should we look for another? Is it unfaithful or abnormal to wonder about Jesus? I think it’s impossible to not look at the life of Jesus, to really examine what he said and did and claimed to be, and not wonder, not have questions, to not at one level be deeply taken in and won over, and yet at other points, to have to step back and say who are you Jesus?
John wonders. He saw the Spirit, he heard the voice of God, he knew of the miracles that Jesus was performing. All of this fit in nicely with the ideals of a Messiah, as the one who would come from God as the savior and Lord. Stories of a rabbi who lived in poverty like himself, who taught the word of God without compromised, like himself. But he heard other stories about Jesus. Stories that perhaps didn’t fit in with his idea of the Messiah, and his idea of ministry. A Messiah who turned water into wine and kept the party going. A messiah who said it’ not the time to fast, but the time to celebrate. A Messiah who woke up at the crack of dawn some days to pray, but other days could sleep right through a hurricane. A Messiah who associated with hookers, addicts, liars and thieves. A Messiah who went to the wrong places at the wrong times to be with the wrong people. Basically, living a lifestyle in near opposition to what the religious establishment saw fitting for a prophet and rabbi.
It’s interesting what Jesus says. He doesn’t launch into a defense of his actions. He doesn’t begin to quote the scriptures he wrote and fulfilled. He simply said, tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the sick are healed, the dead come back to life and the good news is preached to the poor.
He was telling them something very clearly- you’re looking to the wrong things. Your life is oriented to the wrong standards. Your life is oriented to look to the method instead of the means. Your inner compass is set to point toward style, rather than substance. You are still looking at the religion, rather than the relationship. You’re oriented to the format, but I want to reorient you to see the fruit.
As the men left the crowd must have been thinking, ok, now Jesus is going to let John have it. He is going to cast judgment on him, and it’s not going to be pretty because John wavered, John, God forbid, doubted and had a question. Oh, this is going to be good. I love it when a preacher gets all fired up and let’s someone else in ministry has it!
What does Jesus say? John is the greatest guy to ever live! John is the one promised in the bible who would prepare the way for me. But I tell you, even the greatest will be the least in my kingdom. Then, knowing the hearts of those listening, he says,
16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17" 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.'
18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
Most of you religious types are like spoiled children who are never satisfied. If I played you a dance song, you’d say dancing is evil and you wouldn’t do it. If I played you a dirge, you would refuse to mourn or let yourselves cry.
John came before as a prophet and an ascetic. He lived in isolation, in rigorous disciple and self-denial. You called him demon possessed.
I came along and engaged the people, all the people who would receive and listen to me. You’ve branded me a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of sinners, and a sinner myself.
“Wisdom will be proved right by her actions.” You have it all wrong. Both John and I have been used powerful by God the Father. Both John and I are radically oriented towards God with all of our lives. Both John and I had been marked, set apart, used for God, and pleasing to God. Both of us have born fruit in our ministries, while our ministries have looked radically different on the outside. One thing is so very clear about both of their lives- they both loved the Father, and bore fruit in their ministry. And the reason they both bore fruit in their ministries was that they did love the Father and followed the Father’s plan for each of their respective lives.
If John tried to live like Jesus, he would not have prepared the way, and he would have fallen terribly short. If Jesus tried to live like John, he would not have been the way, the son of God, the one who wouldn’t prepare, but finish the work of redemption.
John couldn’t be Jesus. Jesus couldn’t be John. I can’t live your life, you can live my life. Some us will be great intellectuals helping us to understand our beliefs. Some are going to have wonderful ministries of compassion, serving the poor. Some of us are going to work for systemic change and social justice. Some of us are going to live quieter lives of prayer and contemplation. Some of us are going to wake up at 6am for an hour of devotions that will invigorate our day. Some of us will hit the snooze button 5 times and be late for work or class, but we’ll be happily listen to worship music, we’ll sing praise to God as we drive, and even stay up late with him. But all of us, all of us, will be invited to enter into a relationship with god that can give us life, give us meaning, give us purpose, give us peace, give us hope, give us joy.
You see, God was pleased with both and used both to bear fruit. And that is the one true sign of a life radically re-oriented towards God. It is possible for our lives to look radically different, to be called to do very different things, to like very different things, to have very different dispositions, to have very different gifts, to know different people, and both be oriented towards the same God, the same Jesus?
The right answer here is yes! Yes, and more, that’s the point! The point of the life oriented towards God is to make sure it is oriented towards God alone. It is to orient our lives toward God so that we fulfill God’s plan for our lives, not our parents plan for our lives. Not our friends plan for our lives. Not our cultures plan for our lives. God’s plans for our lives.
Now will we see cross-over and find great support? I certainly hope so. I hope as parents I’m taped into God’s plan for my kids lives. I hope as a friend I can reflect God’s plans for my friends lives. I hope as a pastor I can help guide and direct people in God’s plans. I hope as a church we support one another in what God has called us to do.
But the very proof, in many ways, that we are being faithful to orient our lives toward God is that our lives, our ministries will look very different from each other. Your life is supposed to look different than my life! If you show up at my house and eat my food and climb into my bed, we are going to have a problem.
We are going to have problems when we mistake the form of our lives as followers of Jesus, with the fruit of our lives as followers of Jesus. The form is to look very different. As different as the unique and wonderful ways that God has created you. But all of us should be bearing much fruit in our lives because it’s the fruit that matters most to our heavenly father.
Our Soul Revolution happens when we all re-orient our lives toward God. Our soul revolution happens when we are in line with God and have our ideas and beliefs set on Him. But the thing is, when our lives are all oriented towards God, it doesn’t mean our lives all look the same. In fact, it means we become free to embrace some of the radically diverse ways God has wired us. And so the way we gauge our orientation toward God is not by how the outward forms align with one another. But by the fruit our lives bear.
The life reoriented to the Father bears fruit. The life oriented toward God will always be pleasing to God, and fruitful in ministry. What is it going to look like to be fruitful towards God? Well folks, a Soul Revolution is not an easy thing, so you’re going to have to come back next week to go deeper. To renew your commitment to God, to reorient your life toward him, and to begin to reconnect in ways that bear fruit in your life. There is a very clear way to do this. A way, as the bible will teach us, to be connected to the vine, to the source, and to let him grow fruit in our lives.
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