This Sunday in our series on discipleship we took a look at part of the Sermon in the Mount - Matthew 5:21-48. The bit where Jesus says things like 'you have heard it said, do not commit murder, but I tell you if you're angry with your brother or sister you will be judged'. Challenging stuff.
And some parts of the Bible are very challenging to read because they highlight an obvious gap between the life we'd like to lead and the life we're actually leading. A gap between what is seen on the outside and what is going on inside. But how do you feel and how do you respond after you've read a challenging passage?
Paul tells us in the New Testament that for the Christian there is no condemnation - because of Jesus. He died to bring forgiveness and peace. But he also tells us that God's word will rebuke us at times, because we will read it and realise that there are areas of our life that do not match up with what God wants. But the Holy Spirit does not reveal these things with the purpose of making us feel rubbish about ourselves and want to give up following Jesus. Rather he wants us to repent of our mistakes and take a fresh start.
I remember someone telling me once that our walk as a follower of Jesus is a bit like someone building a circular tower of bricks. Where each brick represents an area in our lives that God is transforming, and God is the builder. So maybe at the moment God is putting his finger on anger - and once that issue got a bit sorted he moves on to our attitude towards money, and then lust, and then telling the truth and then...and then...and then...
Eventually the first layer of bricks is laid, and God returns to anger - either we need to relearn the previous lesson or God wants to take us on a step further, and then money, and then ... and then ... and then... until the second layer is complete.
And so we keep on going round and round and round, but each time the tower gets a little higher.
This picture is helpful in a number of ways.
- It reminds us that God often works on us one piece at a time - so what is God working on in me at the moment?
- Also just because I see certain sins in others doesn't mean that God is working on those sins at the moment - I need to allow God to work in his time and in his way.
- God's word does challenge us about our behaviour - but not with the purpose of paralysing us, but to allow God transform us a bit more and therefore lay another brick.
- Sometimes it feels as if we're just going round and round in circles, but we're also getting a little higher each time.
Depending on your church background you may or may not 'do Lent'. As someone who is part of a Baptist church, my experience is that Lent is a bit of a hit and miss, take it or leave it, season. Although I get the sense that it has gained in popularity in recent years as churches have seen it as an opportunity to engage with the Bible and their community, and the number of 'Lent courses' have multiplied. Part of this may be influenced by an increasing number of churches of different flavours working together - which is a very positive trend.
Last year as a family we signed up for 40 Acts - rather than a focus of giving something up for Lent, the focus was on actively making generous choices throughout Lent. Some of those were very little things - but as is often the case - small things can have a big impact on someone else.
So I'd encourage you to have a look at 40 Acts and see if this is something you could get involved in this year, starting on Wednesday 18 February.
Every now and again I do click on those external links and videos that people are constantly posting on Facebook or Twitter. Here's one I came across the other day...
I have a bike - but it's not a mountain bike and I would certainly not attempt anything like this. Once this guy is on his bike it's clear that he's not your average cyclist and I doubt his bike cost about £150 from Halfords.
I wonder how many times this guy had to fall off in order to perfect some of these tricks? Obviously you don't go from riding along a residential street to riding backwards balanced on your front wheel or somersaulting over a barbed wire fence over night. You also don't learn that kind of stuff without falling off and hurting yourself a few times.
I haven't just posted this on here because I think it's a great video - although it is. But as I watched this through for the third or fourth time I got thinking about faith. God makes us some incredible promises, including the promise of the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to obeying the things that God has asked us to do, I wonder whether too often I settle for ... a quiet ride of my bike around the local park rather than learn to bunny hop. And then because I can't bunny hop God can't teach me to ... and because I never had the courage to learn how to ... God can't then teach me to ... And so I never make it out of the local park, I never make it to a mountain ridge across the Isle of Skye.
God invites us to trust him and hang on for the ride.
There was at some point a tweet or post that came across my desktop which ran something along the lines of 'Jesus uses Twitter because he wants followers not friends'. Of course Jesus does call us to 'follow me', but elsewhere in the gospels he calls his followers friends (e.g. John 15:14). So maybe Jesus would use both Twitter and Facebook - I guess Paul would certainly have used both (1 Cor. 9:22).
Last Sunday we started a new teaching series looking at discipleship in the gospels - starting with Jesus' call to follow me (Matthew 4:18-22). We've been looking recently on here at resolutions and so often our resolutions involve things that we do. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) Mary models the behaviour of the true disciple - sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him; whilst Martha is so busy serving that she misses the point.
And yet spending time with Jesus does require us to do something. Getting to know him better will not happen all by itself.
We know that reading the Bible and prayer are disciplines that will help us know Jesus better. Maybe that's why these are two of the commonest (if not the two most common) resolutions amongst Christians every January. But how do we ensure that our 'doing' does not get in the way of our 'being'? How do we approach a series on discipleship without slipping into the illusion that discipleship is about doing all of the following better or more...rather than about being about following a person, Jesus?
As I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks I have been reminded that even human relationships don't just happen - they take effort on our part. Think about the friend who moves away, and the promises to keep in touch etc. Sometimes we do, but sometimes we're lucky if we remember to send a Christmas card. It takes an effort to keep in touch, to make space to meet up and spend time together. I guess it comes down to a question of priority.
Marriage preparation courses deal with the effort that we will have to make in order to make a marriage work. That feeling of 'fuzzy round the edges love' alone is often not enough. It's not just about being - it's also about doing.
But what is the motive for our doing? That I guess is the key.
