“Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.” — 1 John 2:6

What kind of life did Christ live? He lived, for most of his 33 years on Earth, as a normal human being. Of course he did some amazing things even before he began his public ministry, but by all appearances, he lived a normal life. He was born a baby. He wore diapers. He lost his teeth. He had chores. He got summer jobs. He was just like you and me. When he began his public ministry, he was still living as a ‘normal’ human. He had the same struggles that you and I have. He also did some crazy things. He performed miracles. He washed dirty, smelly feet. He ate and drank with some of the most hated people of his day. He touched lepers. He prayed a lot. He struggled with his calling. We talk about him like the life that he led is not attainable by us, even if we really wanted to live like him. Chan says, “In short: You think He’s a great Savior, but not a great role model.” I have to agree. I have to say that in my life, this is most often true. Sure, there are plenty of times where I’m totally living the Jesus life, but a lot of the time I’m living the Tony life. I claim that I’m intimate with Jesus, but my life doesn’t show it. 

One of the dreams/visions that I have for myself and my family is that we would be Jesus with skin on to the people around us. It is kind of hard to do that when I’m living the Tony life. It is hard to do that when my wife is living the Destiny life.  Sophia is only two, but she has a built in propensity to live the Sophia life. It is my hope and prayer that as I live the Jesus life, that she will long for that life as well. It is my hope and prayer that as I live the Jesus life that my neighbors and co-workers will long for the Jesus life. It is my hope and prayer that as I live the Jesus life that you will want to live the Jesus life as well.

Good thought to keep in mind: Would this (insert action/thought) imitate the life that Jesus lives and calls us to live?

• Many motorcycle clubs are highly entrepreneurial.  That resonates with me. They find ways to make money, invest for the future, and also take care of not only their own people, but people in their communities.  Their endeavors are not limited to bars and strip clubs, but law firms, doctor’s offices, and countless other LEGAL operations. Bikers are huge supporters of Toys for Tots and also have tons of charity events throughout the year.  A great missional community aspect if you ask me.  We could learn a great deal from this by not just opening a coffee house or bookstore in a Business as Mission environment. Where else can we branch out? What other lines of business can be mutually beneficial?
• They are fiercely loyal to family and friends. If you’ve got an issue, they have your back. No questions asked. In Church, if you’ve got an issue you’re probably scared to bring it up because of how you’ll be judged.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen a lot of Churches that handle issues very well, but many don’t. Not just big issues, but just general life stuff.  You need a place to live? Crash on my couch. You need some food? Here is $50 bucks. You need a ride? I’ve got this old Ironside you can use until we can fix yours. Your old lady left you? Let me buy you a beer and we can talk about it.
• They are not concerned with the status quo. I dare venture to guess that you’d never hear the President of a motorcycle club talk about how he is worried that the club down the street doesn’t like them or the club secretary report about all the calls they’ve gotten about the latest mailing they sent out.  They simply do what they do because it is what they do. How often is the Church concerned with the status quo. Motorcycle clubs are generally governed by a charter or bylaws. That is it. They don’t allow anyone outside the club to tell them how to run things. How much more (or less) should the church be concerned with the status quo?
• Motorcycle Clubs generally like to party. In all honesty, I’m pretty boring. I’m a family man now, which means I don’t spend a lot of time hanging out with people that aren’t my family or close friends…and that usually takes place at a home of some sort. But back in the day, I used to love going to parties and hanging out with people that I didn’t know, talking about who knows what. Some of my fondest memories of my early twenties are when I was a waiter because I would hang out with my coworkers after work, share stories, food, and beer. I can honestly say that I had more spiritual conversations open up during those late nights/early mornings than at any other time in my life. I loved every second of it. I’m not saying you should go down to the bar every night, but it wouldn’t hurt to venture outside of your comfort zone now and again. (I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone else here)

I could probably draw many more parallels, but these are just some of the thoughts that sprang to mind. The main thing is that I don’t see the Church actually being the Church as described in Acts 2 as often as I have seen Motorcycle Clubs be the Church.  Again, preaching as much to myself as anyone else here. I’m probably more at fault than anyone reading this. I need to re-examine my priorities so that my life displays the attributes of the Church more often. I need to be more missional in my daily life. My hope is that we are all daily moving toward a more missional life and focus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

  John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word. He was with God and he was God.  Everything in existence was made by him and through him.  In the beginning was this man named Jesus.  We’ve been studying this man named Jesus’ life for the past few months in our worship gatherings at Real Life and it has certainly been interesting.  I always love to hear other people’s takes on scripture and the story of God and humanity and Real Life has some gifted teachers who bring new life to old stories.  This morning was no different.  Allow me to share a bit about my take on what the preacher shared. 

You’ve may or may not have read the Gospel of Matthew in which he records the genealogy of Jesus.  I say you may not have read this record simply because most people don’t.  Unless you are Mormon or really into genealogy, you probably skim over it like I have done many times.  The intersting thing about this section (and book) is that it is written primarily for Jews.  Jews would probably have taken great interest in what Matthew laid out.  Who is this man named Jesus?  Well, he was begotten by Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan, the son of Eleazar…..You get the idea.  In all, 42 generations spanned from Abraham to Jesus.  A  Jew reading these names would know most all of them.  Names like David, Solomon, Uriah, Josiah, Obed, Ruth, Jesse, Rahab, Tamar…All ‘famous’ names in Jewish writings.  Some of these folks accomplished great things.  Some of these folks did great things…Most of these folks had something in their past or present lives that would exclude them from looking great on the outside. David, one of the most beloved Kings in all of World history, an adulterer.  Solomon, the wisest person to ever live.  Josiah, the good king.  Rahab, a friend to spies, but also a friend to many, many men who left money on the bedside table before leaving.  Tamar, a likely candidate for the Jerry Springer show because she pretended to be a prostitute so that she could seduce her father-in-law in order to bear a child in his line.  

The line of people that God chose to use in order to fulfill literally hundreds of prophecies simply amazes me.  And it gives me hope.  If there is hope for people like Tamar and Rahab and David and Jechoniah, then there is certainly hope for the rest of us.  If you think your family line is disfunctional, take a look at Jesus’ family line.  There are more miscreants and screw ups in this line that you shake a stick at!  I’m still amazed that I get a great deal of traffic to this site from the phrase “I suck at everything I do”.  If you’re here because you think that, this message is especially for you.

What is God’s message through all of this? His message is this (quotation and paraphrase mine): 

 ”I’ve been working through the entire span of human history, using ordinary, messed up people to accomplish what I wanted to do from the beginning.  What is that, you might ask?  I’ve been searching for you.  I’ve been longing for you to be near me so much that I used a long line of adulterers, prostitutes, and really bad kings to give you this man named Jesus.  All of history has been building toward this day, this day when I can be reunited with you, my child.  I love you.”

Christmas is undoubtedly a special time, even for people who don’t celebrate the birth of Christ.  Record attendence at churches across the land show time and again that there is still something amazing about this man named Jesus.  This year, more than ever,  Christmas is returning to the celebration of this man.  The glitz and glamour of presents and wrapping paper are fading, people are being humbled by life’s curveballs, and they are returning to the Bethlehem manger to gaze at the Christ child.  Whatever your leaning, I implore you to take a moment and relect on the monumentous accomplishments of God through a bunch of misfits to bring you grace, love, and peace through this man named Jesus.  At the risk of sounding corny, He is the reason for the season. 

From our family to yours, have a merry and blessed Christmas!  We wish you nothing but God’s blessing in the New Year and pray that you would start living life with this man named Jesus. 

In the circles in which I travel, there has been much talk about our (”our” being Christians, Ministers, etc) response to Barack Obama becoming the President-elect.  Most everyone agrees that following BIblical mandates regarding submitting to authority and also praying diligently for our soon-to-be president are good things. I’m with them.  (The conspiracy theory nut in me has some other ideas, but luckily my wife keeps me grounded.)  With that being said, I’d like to talk a bit about why I think people overwhelmingly, especially inside of Christian circles, voted for Obama and what I think that means. 

It is no secret that Obama is for social justice.  A look at his policies including health care reform, tax policies, and even closing the Guantanamo Bay Naval installment speak very loudly to the fact that he is very interested in social reform.  In the Christian world, we’ve become enamored with social justice, which I think is funny because isn’t that what we’re supposed to be about anyway? So here is a guy who says he is going to do a lot of stuff for the people that we want to help.  Cool!  He is also not the president that almost all of us voted for in the last two elections, but since he is so unpopular we no longer want to associate with him.  The only problem is that Obama’s social policies are not social justice in Biblical terms, they are social policies in governmental terms.  I’m all for government.  Small government that protects freedom and liberty among it’s people.  

The problem I see is that we’ve become enamored with the idea of social justice but don’t actually want to do the work of social justice.  We’d love for poor people to have more money.  We’d love to pay less taxes (which under Obama (or McCain), you probably won’t…The Fair Tax would be the way to go).  We’d love for everyone to have equal access to healthcare and education.  But somewhere along the line we’ve bought into the lie that these things are better left to the government.  Ask the good people in Africa how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Haiti how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Honduras how that is working for them. If it works so well, why do we use a lot of resources sending missionaries equipped with mobile clinics to heal these people?  Why isn’t their government taking care of them? 

The bottom line is that we need to be THE CHURCH.  We need to stop building church buildings and programs and put our money where our mouth is.  We need to be Gospel Incarnate and actually live out the things that we preach about.  We need to respond when Jesus tells us that we are to care for the sick, widows, and orphans.  We need to be sensitive to the needs around us and take action on them when we are able.  If we aren’t able, I guarantee that we know someone who is able.  

I might be preaching to the choir, but if that is so, then why do we still have Welfare, Food Stamps, and homeless people sleeping in the woods?  

Just something to think about.

Now, I’m not that geeky and most of what I know about these old technologies I’ve learned from Hollywood or books such as “The Computer that Wore Sneakers”.  My foray into the wonderful world of the information superhighway came sometime in the mid-Nineties when I would use my grandparent’s home computer to dial up (probably a 9600 or 14.4 modem I don’t remember) to America Online to research and occasionally chat.  Surely you remember those days?  During college I utilized AOL Instant Messenger exclusively and services like Yahoo and MSN were loathed by yours truly.  I used to chat a ton and always had IM active when I was online.  Then I would meet one person who used Yahoo or one person who used MSN Messenger.  Then cool services like Trillian and now the web based Meebo came out where you could have one central location to manage all of your contacts.  Today, Social Networking, which is pretty much what the early BBS and IM were, has exploded into tons of networks and services.

So what?  I was thinking today as I was reading a new blog that I stumbled upon by a guy named Paul Watson about the social nature of the internet. It seems that we’ve come full circle in terms of what we use the internet for.  Sure we can get the latest news, stock quotes, pay bills, buy stuff that we don’t even need, and conduct endless amounts of research.  But by and large the internet is still used for networking of the social and professional variety. Blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Forums, LinkedIn, and a whole bunch of other places are simply ways to connect with other people.

Paul’s blog has a ton of interesting info about reaching the online generation.  If you are a staff member or volunteer at a church, it is worth your time to take a minute to check his blog out.

I’ll be talking more about the online community and what I’ve done and what I would like to do to have a great impact more as the days go by.  The real eye opener behind all of this is that people are searching out connections and community in any way that they can get it.  What can we do to help fill this real need in people’s lives?

This past week a dear friend and minister of the Gospel passed away.  A man that has had and will continue to have a great impact on the Kingdom of God, David Kester.  A man that is dearly loved by many.  I was reading a transcript of the Eulogy that was delivered at his funeral by another friend and was deeply moved.  Not really by the words (although they were moving as well), but by the man whom the words were spoken about.  It dawned on me that one of the differences between David and myself is that David truly lead a Gospel Centered Life.  He understood that the Gospel isn’t something that we simply preach, it is something that we are.  The Gospel isn’t something that we read and write about, it is something that we embody.  Do we need to use words?  Sometimes.  Is the Kingdom impact even greater when we’re able to be the incarnation of the Gospel that we preach?  Indeed.

How is this done?  One of the things that struck me in reading my friend’s tribute to David was my memory of this man.  He was one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.  On the other hand, one of the funniest and most sarcastic people I’ve ever met.  His embodiment of the Gospel was simply by being him.  Sure, he was a pastor, a board member, a committee person, an author, but he was mostly just David.  I think that I often try to compartmentalize my personalities.  No, I’m not in need of medication.  I’m in need of repentance and repair, however.  It isn’t that I try to be someone I’m not.  It isn’t even that I’m dramatically different in the different sectors of my life.  I simply want to live a Gospel Centered Life.  I want my life to make even half the impact that David’s had.  I want my relationship with Jesus to be as personal as David’s.  I think that, more than anything, is what I’ve just now realized.  How can I invite people into a relationship that isn’t even that personal.  Oh sure, I have a lot of personal closeness with Jesus.  But thinking of the life of my friend David reminds me that I can be closer.  it isn’t a challenge to see who can be closer.  At the end of the day, David’s life was simply about helping people become closer to Jesus.  Thank You, Dave.  You’ll be missed until we meet again.

I was sitting at our kitchen table drinking an iced coffee and eating leftover pizza (the bachelor lifestyle!) reading what I thought was today’s entry.  Turns out it was actually yesterday’s, but since I slept until 4pm yesterday I guess I’m a day behind.  The verse for the entry is from Ezekiel and it says,

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
–Exodus 14:13

Spurgeon says, ” These words contain God’s command to the believer when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do? The Master’s word to him is, “Stand still.” …–keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.”

I’m in an interesting season of life right now.  We’ve recently relocated to another state, changed jobs (including a halving of salary), and feel a tremendous force upon us to ‘do’ something.  I’m encouraged by the words of C.H. Spurgeon.  I’m here, standing still, waiting.

I’ve had this thought in my head for the last couple of months.  I’ve been playing back this one sentence from Romans 1 over and over.  When I’m thinking about all of the stresses of this life that are weighing on me like a ton of bricks, I think about the lies that are behind that stress.  I miss the beauty of the truth of God in the mess of life, when fact of the matter is that the truth of God is the beauty of the mess.  Often I talk with people who wonder why bad things happen to good people or why if God called them to do something then why are they struggling financially or physically or emotionally?  God never said it would be easy.  He never said it would be without trials.  In fact, he guarantees that there will be.  The truth of the matter is that in the face of those trials is where the beauty of God’s Kingdom is found.  I think about our own situation, our own mess.  I go back and forth in my mind with God about what He wants us to do here.  I struggle with trading the truth of God in the beauty of the mess for the lies that the world and those around me are telling me.  We knew coming in that it would be hard and I’m stepping it up big time.  I’m pressing on, I’m living in the beauty of the mess.  I reflected on this beauty the other day when I was on break at work.  I was sitting in a break room with a guy in a wheelchair who is from Haiti, a Chinese girl and a Puerto Rican girl and we were all talking to each other.  I glimpsed the Kingdom in that moment.

Exchanging the truth of God for a lie can look different for everyone.  It could be the porn addict exchanging the truth of God for the lie that the woman/man on the computer screen wants them.  It could be the work-a-holic that trades his family for cash.  It could be the school kid who cheats on the exam.

For me, it is the things of my past that I exchange for the truth of God.  I’m letting go.  I’m trading in the lies for the Truth.  Going back into the beauty of the Truth.

Perry Noble wrote a post that basically outlined the things that he is struggling with in terms of discipleship.  He mentioned a person wrote to others wondering what their churches were doing to make discipleship.  The caveat was that this could not be on Sunday mornings.  Being a pastor, Perry obviously didn’t agree with that point.  My thought is that discipleship must happen during gatherings such as Sunday worship.  Many churches have Bible teaching times outside of the worship setting as well.  I’ve seen this done tremendously well in a church plant I was on staff at in the Minneapolis area.  I was always impressed that we could gather 50 plus people for an hour each week and they engaged and implemented what we taught.  Amazing!  Should discipleship extend beyond Sunday mornings?  Certainly, but to say that it cannot and does not happen is simply insane.

Perry defined discipleship as teaching someone to walk with Jesus, picking them up when they fall down and teaching them to feed themselves.  Pretty straightforward definition if you ask me.  Perry did mention that it is difficult to make disciples without first having converts…not sure I agree totally there, but could be a matter of semantics and when the point of conversion actually happens.

Anyway..thoughts? Comments? Smart remarks?

Check out these guys for some more reading in this vein.

Chris Elrod

Brian Jones — He has a great series of posts on the idea of small groups….Loved it. Thanks, Brian.