Jesus Will Sink Your Boat

I want to write briefly on a part of the Jesus story that I had the opportunity to read for my church's worship service today. It is below:

 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, ² and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. ³ Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

⁴ When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵ But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. ⁷ So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So when they had brought their boats to land, they ^[a]forsook all and followed Him.

While there are many lessons that could be and have been preached on this chunk of scripture, it is stunning that Jesus does not promise the fishermen riches, future business success or to be famous and influential. He gives them some cryptic message about catching people from here on out (whatever that means) and then they follow him. Crazy, right?

Still there is one wild thing to this story that I felt, deep in my soul:

Jesus will sink your boat if you obey him

Have you ever notice that before? These are seasoned fishermen and they'd likely never came up with a catch that almost sank not one, but two fishing vessels. Jesus gives them abundance of life (that is, fish was the ticket to providing for themselves and their families) but so much so that it almost sinks them. Still, they're ready to be sunk. The passage ends with them simply walking away from their boats and effectively "sinking" their lives for Jesus. The future would find these men (with the exception of John) and more dying as martyrs for this Jesus.

So what I wanted to leave readers with was this thought: are you ready to be sunken for Christ? Are you genuinely okay with Jesus derailing your life and taking you away from everything you thought your life might be? Because his M.O. says that that's what he's about. Will he bless? sure. But it'll cost your entire way of life.

Pax,

CM 

Go Into All the World

The Great Commission of Christ:

"Go everywhere, teach people how to follow me" - New International Church Mystic Version

What do we mean when we point to Jesus command to go into all the world and preach the gospel? 

I heard a man say that it isn't practical for us to go into all the world and, at a brush, this seems true. After all, how can we procure the funds (much less the time) to travel that much. So what is our solution? In recent history, the answer has been to donate our money to those who have devoted their lives to doing this - "going" - and it worked (sorta). We felt good about giving our money (I mean, that's kind of like "going") and they had the funds necessary to do what they felt called to do (not going to get into whether all funds are used correctly or not...that's just too big of a topic for one blog post). But is this true? Is this the world we live in?

No.

The reality is that this blog has been read all over the world. So, practically, I have "gone into all the world" more than Joe Shmoe who gave 600% more than me last year to missions work. I don't want to come across as someone who devalues donating to missions work - this is good. I only want to point out that in the twenty-first century, our power of influence is different. We don't necessarily have to be present in a country to have an effect. As a matter of fact, we likely don't need to do much other than continually contribute our voices for the Kingdom of God - however that may be.

The reality of the Great Commission for the post-modern church is that we have new options and, furthermore, we have new issues to connect with. Instead of trying to give you a laundry list of things we should be concerned with, I would rather just say this:

Look again

Jesus' command to go everywhere was much more about growing Christ followers, not adding to the number of people who mark "Christian" on social surveys. The church today needs to shift gears from "spreading the word"  to cultivating mini-Jesus's. Being a Christian is far more about crafting your life to look like Jesus' life than it is to get people to sign up for something. The command to go tell people doesn't have to mean that you need to literally say anything. In fact, it has been my experience in America that most people see Christ in your life before you say you follow him (if you're doing it right). It is those that seem to need to tell you that they are Christian that I hold suspect. But this is true for many areas of our lives. It isn't the athlete who boasts about his skills that is most revered but the athlete who performs incredibly well. So too should we strive to be the best Christian we can and let our lives speak for us. Should we talk about Jesus? Yes. Every chance you get. But over-stepping your bounds to create "chances" is antithetical to the natural way that Christ ministered to the hurting of this world. 

There are many many ways that this blog post could go, but instead of chasing them all out, I'd rather say this to you: 

Are you 'telling' people about Christ with your life? Are you teaching them what it means to be a Christian? or are you resting on your laurels and hoping that your obedience to worship attendance will suffice when all is said and done. Can we go into all the world? Yes, now we can. But let's do it with the premise that our purpose is to grow the Kingdom of Christ, not simply add to our numbers.

peace,

CM

"I'm a Bad Christian"

I was speaking with a man the other day who was asking about what I was getting my Masters degree in. I told him that it was in Theological Studies and a brief synopsis of what that meant and what I was writing my thesis on. He then said to me a phrase that I think resonates with many Christians in America:

"I just feel like a bad Christian."

This gentleman is quite a bit older than me (old enough to be my parent) and so for him to say this, I was a little taken aback. Surely he has been a practicing Christian longer than I have been alive! So I asked him to elaborate and his response was essentially that he felt deficient in a handful of ways:

1.  He didn't feel like he knew how to pray out loud
2.  He didn't feel like he knew the Bible well enough, much less how to read it
3.  He didn't feel like he knew much about church history.

I tried my best to comfort him in his feelings of deficiency and point out that we're all on a journey but this got me thinking that there are probably many Christians who feel like they are only Christian in name. This could be from lack of proper instruction in the way of Jesus or else it could be in a personal lack of devotion to delving into what it means to be a Christian privately as well as corporately. In any case, there are a few things I would like to say to you if you feel like my friend feels.

You're not alone

I promise that as much as you could ever feel like you could know more, you're right. The beauty of the matter is that we could all learn more. In fact, it more or less took me a MA degree in Theology to find out that I didn't need a Masters degree at all in order to be a faithful disciple of Jesus. Many of us (yes, I said "us") struggle with feelings of inadequacy. Personally, I feel like I ought to have more Scripture memorized. All this aside, however, we need to embrace that fact that we have the rest of our lives to continue to nurture our Christian selves. When we reflect and feel deficient, we should waste no time in committing and re-committing daily to be intentional about learning more about our faith and heritage as Christians. Along with finding solidarity in your lacking, you should lean on the community of faith that is available to you at almost every corner of the city (in my city); there are churches everywhere and people who care about Christians inside of them. Don't be afraid to ask an elder or pastor for practical ways to learn more about being Christian.

It's not a clean thing

What I mean is that being a Christian - correctly - is intrinsically a messy business. Jesus shows us clearly that to take up the cause of Christ is to lower yourself and be okay with living sacrificially. This may mean that you need to take time out of your self-centered schedule to devote it to a Christ-looking endeavor. Feed the hungry and orphaned, care for the elderly and estranged, be a facilitator of the Kingdom of God. In so doing, you learn the meaning of Christ and you gain grounds for improving your faith life.  

You don't arrive

It goes without saying that I am speaking about our carnal lives as we know them but my point is that the Christian life is not about "arriving" or being done or suddenly being the perfect Christian. Think of whoever you idealize in your mind as the perfect Christian and then think of that person as "in process" because that is what they are. That is what you and I are. Until our full union with God, we can never say that we've arrived. This should lead us to two conclusions: 1. take it easy on yourself, but strive hard and 2. take it easy on others because they are likely having just as rough a go at it as you are.

Concluding Thoughts

Like most of my posts, I like to leave you with room to reflect. That being said, I also like to remain pragmatic so I'll leave you with the following:

1. If you feel like you don't know how to pray out loud, I would encourage you to practice. Even in the privacy of your house, it's good to pray to God with your voice as well as your actions and thoughts. Along with this remember the analogy of God as our Father that Jesus uses when he teaches his followers to pray. Hold on to that idea because, as a father, I know that there is much grace necessary when a child is speaking to you. He is the giver of excuse and you can rely on his love to define the relationship.
2. It is not strictly necessary to memorize Scripture ver batem. It is, however, essential to Christian development to so immerse oneself in Scripture so that it's beating heart - the heart of the Father - is evident in your mind. You may not know chapter and verse location at the drop of a hat, but you should know that Jesus is King, Prophet and Priest and at the same time is pure love. Do you see the distinction? Along with this, resolve to take the time to read the Bible for all it's worth.
3.  Realize that Church history is both in the process of occurring and recorded in innumerable volumes in libraries around the world. It is both easy and essential to your Christian development to seek out a good overview resource in learning your heritage as a member of the universal Church. Heads up here, though, our faith family history is one of butchers and thieves so in all of your learning, remember that God struggles alongside humanity because he loves us. So be careful not to judge God's character strictly on the behavior of humans. A good first step is to call a local college that has a theology department and ask a professor to point you to a good church history volume set; this is worth the time and effort.

I pray that this post has been of some use to you, I know that at different points of my life I have felt inadequate as a Christian as well. In all of this remember that you are a child of God and, as such, are loved with a love that oozes patience and understanding. Share that patience and understanding with others as you struggle to work out your faith.

peace,

C.M.

Resurrection Sunday!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death.

Come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave.

Here we are, Resurrection Sunday! Today is a day when we can all breath a sigh of relief and whisper a prayer of gratitude. It has been a weekend riddled with drama; from the death of God to the quiet despair that comes with the tomb, we have once more walked our hearts through the path of Christ.

However!

The story does not stop there; we are not followers of a God that can be kept in a building, a book or a tomb. We are the adopted children of the One who breathed movement into atoms and first erected the cell walls of life on this planet. The incarnation, ministry, death, burial and resurrection of our God is now our family heritage.

I went through a phase in my spiritual development where I seriously doubted if I wanted to be a Christian any more. After all, I said to my older brother, "if we are Christians, then our spiritual heritage is one of butchers and pirates (and not the cool kind)". The fundamental flaw in my assertion was that I had forgotten that our primary heritage is that of martyrdom and love.

This is the relevance of the resurrection

That by the awakening of Jesus on Sunday morning, we may join in God's victory over death. The gospel or good news is not that God beat death - of course he beat death - the good news is that God wants to freely share that victory with us; he wants us to be one with him. 

Adam of old was deceived:

Wanting to be God he failed to be God.

God becomes man,

so that He may make Adam god.

- "Doxastikon at the Praises," Feast of the Annunciation.

By our baptism, we are joined in the process of deification, the union of man and God. Make no mistake, the creature will never be the Creator, but now we are joined in that creative energy which is the foundation to all life and all nature: grace. The truth of the events of the resurrection is that it necessarily elicits a response and only one is appropriate. We devote our lives to taking the same course as our savior and brother, Jesus. Our lives are now intrinsically oriented toward martyrdom; we take up our cross - our sin and sickness - and carry them towards the death of the corrupt us so that the resuscitation of the new us can thrive.

Today, let not a moment more go by before you acknowledge the new essence in your being, the deep connection we now have with the divine. Rejoice indeed and come awake.

peace,

C.M.