Greatness Redefined

Mark 10:35-45 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So here’s the question: who gets to define greatness? We all know what James and John are asking for, and we can’t really blame them because we’ve all wanted the same thing from time to time. Who hasn’t daydreamed about landing a feature role in some blockbuster movie, or perhaps walking out to the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies with thousands of adoring fans cheering you on. Maybe you think about winning the lottery so that whatever you want lies at your fingertips. Or maybe you just think about being a famous writer or world class doctor. I don’t know. But if you’re at all like me, there’s more than just the occasional thought of what it would be like to be famously popular or so important that everyone respected and looked up to you.

Probably, if I was following Jesus around for those years, and if I knew He would one day be king of the universe, I might be a little antsy for some shared greatness myself. But again, the issue is who gets to define greatness? Jesus clearly has His definition. But you can see that James and John are far too into themselves to be anywhere near the same page as Jesus. Jesus sees greatness has being others-centered, being a sacrificial servant for the betterment of the people around you. James and John have more their own benefit in mind when they come talking to Jesus.

So how about you? Do your own self-centered dreams and desires get in the way of true greatness? Do you see what Jesus is saying, or do you think He’s just some weirdo goody two-shoes? Which do you think about more: making your life better or making the lives of those around you better? How were you a servant this past weekend?

And less we ever get too into ourselves, may we never forget that whatever blessings or good things we have, whatever hope or bright future we might look forward to, comes only because Jesus was willing to think lovingly and graciously about you and me above His own well-being. Jesus gave up His life completely so that ours might be saved. That’s greatness!

A Religious Wawa

Matthew 28:16-20 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Let’s see, today we had to go to the grocery store to purchase a bit of food for at home. We had to swing by the gas station to buy gas for the car. $49.50, ouch!! Then when I was in the office I bought some bibles and books from an online bookstore. Later I took Callie over the YMCA, using the family membership we pay for each month, to swim in their very nice outdoor pool (we were disappointed Juan wasn’t lifeguarding!). I live in a world where if there’s something I want or need, I somehow find the money for it and then go out and buy it. And okay, youth pastor’s aren’t the richest people in the world, but I seem to have enough money for the basic things I need (except for that fire-red Porsche Carrerra 911 Twin Turbo I’ve got my eye on). So essentially, whatever I need, I can go to some store and get it.

You know, there are two ways of looking at church or understanding what the church is. Some people think its a place where they go to satisfy or fill up whatever “spiritual needs” they might have. For them, church is kinda like a spiritual grocery store. I go. I get what I need. I go home all fueled up for the coming week.

But then there’s some other people that think church is more a group of people being sent out on a mission. For them, church is not just a place to go to get filled up on worship or relationships or good lessons or whatever. Yes, they might enjoy those things, but they see church as more than that. They see it as something they belong to, a mission they are part of.

This passage is often referred to as Jesus’ great commission to his followers. He starts off by saying all power and authority belongs to me. This world belongs to me now. And since I am king, go! Since I am king, I am sending you out to build my kingdom, to go bring in the people of my kingdom. See, to be one of Jesus’ followers is to be someone on a mission. You become someone who is sent, sent out invite others to become followers of this awesome king you’ve come to know.

The danger we all face sometimes is seeing church as just another store or service station for our needs. We can easily expect church to sell us (for free of course) the religious and spiritual food we need so we can go about our lives as normal. And in one sense, yes, church is certainly a place we can grow closer to God, have our souls nourished by the teaching of His word, and grow in relationships with others. But if it stops at that, we’ve missed the whole point. There’s a reason church does all that for us. The reason is the mission! The reason we grow is so that we can go all the more.

So how do you see church? Is it just another WAWA, a religious WAWA, in your daily routine? Or is it something you belong to, a mission shared with others in God’s family. To be part of Jesus’ church is to be part of a mission. If we neglect the mission, we’re not doing church (or youth group!).

Weak Missionaries

Matthew 26:69-75 Meanwhile, as Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, a servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. 71 Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said. 73 A little later some other bystanders came over to him and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.” 74 Peter said, “I swear by God, I don’t know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. 75 Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went away, crying bitterly.

I love this passage! Okay, I know that sounds a bit weird. Here’s Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends and disciples, completely stabbing him in the back. “No, I don’t know that guy! I’ve had nothing to do with him!” Peter is so consumed with self-interest and worry from all the “peer pressure” that he denies any association with Jesus…Jesus! He’d hung with Jesus for over three years now, seen all His miraculous displays of authority and power, heard His message of truth and grace, talked about His coming kingdom, and yet here he’s so worried about the reactions of the people that he completely turns His back on Him. Yeah, this isn’t normally one of those stories you’re supposed to feel good about. And actually, it’s not really this story that I love so much, but its what happens after this story.

Peter goes on to become one of Jesus’ greatest missionaries later in life. Take a peak through the book of Acts and see how many times Peter’s name pops up in connection with some major event in the life of the church or the spread of Christ’s kingdom. That’s so encouraging to me. Because I know how often I’ve turned my back on Christ. I know how many times I’ve wanted nothing to do with Him when things weren’t going my way or the situation was a bit difficult or whatever. This passage reminds me that in spite of everything Jesus’ is delighted to use imperfect sinners in the cause of His great mission.

It’s also a great reminder that the real work of the kingdom is done by Christ Himself. It’s not Peter’s super spirituality or awesome saintliness that makes him such an effective missionary. Instead it’s the power of God’s grace at work through him. He, like all of us, was a broken instrument that Christ was willing to use…and use in really neat ways.

Denying Christ is a terrible thing! Unfortunately, it’s something we’ve all done. Yet, how reassuring it is that our screw-ups and failures never disqualify us from service in Christ’s kingdom mission. How great is the love of Jesus that forgives and sticks with us even when our backs are turned!

Where’s the White Bread?

John 6:1-14 John 6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

So what’s the point? That’s always the question we have to ask when we read these stories about Jesus’ neat tricks (miracles). Because again, the point isn’t just, “Wow look at that guy, he does cool stuff with bread and fish.” There’s always a deeper point to Jesus’ miracles. So to get at that deeper point, maybe I’ll ask this question: what does bread symbolize?

If you can’t come up with anything, you could scroll down to Jon’s devo from yesterday and read what he has to say about the part of the Lord’s prayer that says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread (especially for people back in Jesus’ day) was just one of those basic essentials of life. So to any ancient reader it would easily symbolize all the basic things we need to survive, and as Jon points out, to grow. Okay…so next question: what might Jesus be demonstrating about Himself when He sees the hungry people and supplies them with more bread than they can even handle?

Well, if you still have no ideas, I suppose I can give my take on it here. This is Jesus showing how He knows exactly what we need and He is quite capable of (and up to the task of) providing for our needs. Right? Wasn’t that the concern of the disciples in the beginning of story? “These people need food. We’ve got nothin’ to feed them with.” Enter Jesus…

So great, Jesus can meet all our needs! When I come to Jesus, everything is honky dory now because Jesus is going to give me everything I need. Ahh, but here’s the problem: yes we’re all about Jesus meeting our needs, but how many of us actually trust Him enough and are willing to let Him determine what it is we need? Personally, I’m not a big fan of wheat bread. Back then, they didn’t have the tasty over-processed white bread I love so much. So I probably would have been the guy in the crowd who said as the bread and fish were passed around, “Ah come one! You mean you got no white bread. How am I supposed to choke down this stuff.”

Sound familiar…even just the slightest? Ever complain about what you have or don’t have? Ever wish your situation in life were different? Ever wonder why in the world you were made to suffer the way you did these past few weeks? You cry out and ask God to fix things, to help you with the hurt or the things you think you so desperately need. And He doesn’t answer…at least it sure seems like He’s not.

Do you trust Him? Sure we trust that God can do anything. He can answer all my deepest needs. No…do you trust Him? Do you trust that He best knows what’s best for you? Do you trust Him to decide the things you need? Will you hand over your expectations, your desires, your “needs” and patiently rely on His perfect care for you? That’s the question.

It’s hard for me to choke down the wheat bread. But then again, all these health nuts keep tellin’ me all that over processed white bread really ain’t all that good for you. So what do I know about bread anyway?

Fear and Trust

Matthew 14:22-33 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

I don’t care who you are, you might the world’s craziest extreme-sports enthusiast; you might be the original daredevil supreme; or maybe you’re just mister tough guy that has convinced everyone at school that no matter what the situation, you are always cool as ice. Ahhh…bull! Everyone knows what fear is! And everyone knows it because they experience it more often then they let on. It’s just something we all have in common. If we sat down and talked through everything you did today from the moment you woke up until now, I bet we’d find plenty of stuff you did out of a little bit of fear. Maybe you made a last minute outfit change as you were walking out the door this morning because you were afraid what people might think or say if you wore what you’d had on before. Maybe you straightened up your room because you feared the war that if Dad came home and saw the hurricane damage (or what looked like hurricane damage) that ripped through there. Maybe you avoided someone or a group of people at school because you feared how they might treat you.

And you know what? It’s okay to have fears. I know we’re told all the time how we need to conquer our fears and stop being afraid of whatever it is we’re afraid of. And okay, maybe some of our fears don’t need to be there, but for the most part its actually okay to be afraid.

What I love about today’s passage is the idea of Jesus walking out on top of this most dreadful of scenes. You know the story: the disciples are out in a life-threatening storm. They’ve been battling the waves and the wind to the point of exhaustion and are every bit as far out to sea as when they started. And to top it all off, people back then had weird superstitions about the sea which led to even more fear of it. But then in the midst of all this, here’s comes Jesus, waltzing out, un-phased by the raging wind and daunting waves, walking right across the water. This isn’t just some nifty little trick Jesus can do. It’s a demonstration to the disciples that He is so much bigger than their deepest fears.

And notice what Jesus says to Peter after he starts to sink in fear. It’s not, “Why did you fear, Peter?” Rather, He says, “Why did you doubt?” There’s a big difference. Again, Jesus is not expecting to never experience fear or never find ourselves in fearful situations. The issue is, will we trust Him when we’re in the midst of those situations. I think He’s certainly proving Himself worthy of being trusted. He’s demonstrated that He (not us!) has conquered and overcome every fearful situation. There is no situation that has Him beet.

So the question for you and me: in the midst of fearful situations will we trust the One who claims to be our Savior?