Tag: Following Jesus

Reading the Fine Print

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So far in our journey over the last few weeks, we have talked about how and why to stay plugged in to Jesus. This week we’re shifting gears a bit to talk about what it looks like when we get it right. As it turns out, along their walk from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told the disciples one thing it would look like. The picture He painted, though, wasn’t pretty. Yet this picture has formed the reality for a great many of His followers over the centuries. Let’s talk today about the sometimes tough reality of what staying plugged in to Jesus looks like when we get it right.

Reading the Fine Print

What would you do if your faith was put to the test? I’m not talking about some kind of a pen and paper test. I’m talking about the kind of test where you are challenged to live and act in a manner consistent with your faith with the full knowledge that doing so is going to bring trouble into your life as well as the lives of the people around you. Over the past fifteen years, our culture has seen several Christian individuals put to just this kind of test. They have been approached by one person or another and asked to provide a service or involve themselves in an action which their core Christian convictions informs them is morally impermissible for followers of Jesus to take part in. In several of the most high profile of these cases, the believer courteously refused to participate in whatever it was. You can perhaps guess what was the response of the world. To put it mildly, it wasn’t good. 

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Morning Musing: Matthew 5:39-42

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“But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There is a famous quote about good versus evil that is often attributed to Edmund Burke, but which he almost certainly never said. It goes like this: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Whoever happened to say that, it certainly sounds good. Where there is evil in the world, we should put a stop to it. Otherwise, evil will flourish out of control. But how exactly we should go about doing that is another matter entirely. What if the ways we normally think to stop it are all wrong? Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: John 15:2

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“Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The school where my boys go has an incredible front yard. It’s gigantic, for one. Even more important for me, though, are its trees. It has several humongous, mature, beautiful oak trees scattered across its expanse. When they all bloom in the spring, they are exquisite to behold. Big, old trees are one of my favorite things, and these are among the best I’ve seen anywhere. Over the last few weeks, though, some tree guys came and butchered them. They cut the end off of all the branches. Now, instead of being perfectly formed specimens, they’re all gnarly skeletons of what they once were. Yet as much as I hate to see them lose their perfect form even for a little while, this was something that needed to be done. It was actually an illustration of something Jesus said here. Let’s talk about it.

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Stick to the Path

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For the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about what it looks like to live a life that is plugged in to Jesus. This week, though, we are backing up just a bit to talk some more about the hows of this journey. As Jesus was preparing the disciples for what was to come, it became clear they didn’t really understand where He was going and what He was doing. We know this because they asked Him. His response reveals a whole lot to us about what it takes to stay plugged in to Jesus. Keep reading as we explore His response together.

Stick to the Path

The world can be sorted into all kinds of different groupings based on any number of categories, but one that I’d like to do a little survey on with you this morning is this: Are you the kind of person who reads and follows instructions or ignores them? If you’re in the former group, please raise your hand nice and high so we can all see you. If you’re in the latter group, you can identify yourself however you’d like because we all know you’re not going to follow instructions anyway. 

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 4:23

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“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of my favorite illustrations of something Jesus said involves a tube of toothpaste. I look at the congregation and tell them people are like a tube of toothpaste. Then I ask them a question: What comes out when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste? After laughing nervously for a minute because they figure it’s a trick question (it’s not), I tell them: toothpaste. The next question is why? At this point, they’re really worried I’m going to pull something on them. Toothpaste comes out of a tube of toothpaste because that’s what’s in it. Now, sure, I’ve occasionally seen a magician make something like ketchup come out of a tube of toothpaste, but we all know that’s just a trick. If you were to go to the store and open all the tubes of toothpaste right out of their boxes, you would find nothing but toothpaste in them over and over and over again. Then, just to illustrate the point, I squeeze a tube of toothpaste all over a plate in front of them. The illustration is fun, but it helps make a point that Solomon makes right here in Proverbs. Let’s talk about it.

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