Discipleship & Eating Alone

This past week, I was up in St. Louis and was waiting for a friend at one of my favorite restaurants.  I was a bit early and...well...he is usually late.  So I sat on a bench near the front of the restaurant and waited for him before getting seated.  But as I waited, something interesting happened...

A man walked in.  He was dressed in business attire and was one of those guys that exude an air of confident control.  Well groomed.  Perfect stature.  Articulate.  Powerful.  As soon as he walked in, the hostess immediately came running. 

"Just one for lunch?" she asked him. 

"Yes...um...wait."  And with that hesitant response, he spun around to look me in the eye.

"Are you waiting on someone or are you also eating alone?"

I responded that I was waiting on someone.  He spun back around and had the hostess take him to his seat.  The rest of the lunch was uneventful.  My friend showed up, we ate together and talked about discipleship and how the Church was changing.  It was a good lunch.  But...

I couldn't get the initial lunch invite out of my head.  To be fair, maybe he had just read Never Eat Alone or some other book like it.  Maybe he was just being polite after walking in front of me.  Maybe he was lonely.  I don't know, but his invite got me thinking about discipleship.

It seems that so many of us who work for the Church are trying to figure out how to help people walk with Jesus.  Some are trying to launch new, bigger, and better programs.  Some are building even larger and more blinged-out buildings.  Some are trying to squeeze more into an already over crowded schedule.  But maybe we are trying too hard.

What if discipleship wasn't about doing more.  What if it was simply about doing what we already do...but with a new vision for those around us?  What if it was about a new vision for how everyday things could be used to share life and advance the Kingdom of God?  The guy at the restaurant had to eat anyway.  He simply saw me and invited me to join him.  No big deal.  Just a shared meal.  I like the idea.  I like the thought that living for Jesus might be as simple as eating...and inviting others to join me.

Furniture & Discipleship

My family is preparing to buy new furniture.  I know that isn’t earth shattering news…but it is kind of a big deal in our home right now.  We are buying new furniture.  New family room furniture, to be exact.  We haven’t bought any new home furniture that is substantial in quite some time.  And now we are (finally) ready to buy some new furniture for our family room.  A room where Minecraft is often played.  Where "snickeling" happens.  Where movies and funny videos are watched.  A room where kids enjoy sliced apples and where mom and dad sit next to the fireplace to enjoy a few minutes together.  It is an important room.  It is the heart of our home, and purchasing furniture for that room is kind of a big deal.

The problem, however, is this:  We are afraid the furniture we have picked out (and agreed upon) may actually be too big for the room.  We would like a sectional with enough room for our entire family, as well as guests, to sit together.  But how will the room feel when we add in a super-sized couch?  So last night, we hatched a plan.  We used a few chairs from the kitchen table, an end table, the love seat that is currently in the room, a few blankets, a tape measure, and some tape and we simulated what the room will look like if we choose to move forward with the purchase.  It is awesome.  It looks like a combination of a tent-playhouse and a thrown together obstacle course/jungle gym.  Our kids think it is fascinating.  We have talked about how it is an attempt to model the space.  It is a parody of what may be.

All of this has…as you can tell…got me thinking.  Specifically, I am reflecting on Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus.  Here is what he says:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.   
(Ephesians 5:1-2)

Paul tells the Ephesian church to be imitators of God.  That we should walk in love.  That we should follow Jesus in sacrificially give ourselves up.  This is a pretty tall order.  This requires seeing Jesus as more than a feel-good part of our Sunday morning (when we choose to actually get up instead of sleeping in).  It requires honestly facing the reality of our own broken, worthlessness…apart from Christ who gives us worth and who has claimed our lives.  It requires actually coming to grips with a God who is holy.  A God whose anger burns and who hates disobedience.  Rebellion.  Sin.  God hates sin.  It separates us from who He is and what He has planned for us (and for all of His creation). 

And that is why He came.  That is why the Father sent His Son, Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit to live perfectly.  To care for the poor.  To walk humbly.  To serve the needy and bring hope to the brokenhearted.  To die as the perfect sacrifice for our rebellion.  To live again as the firstborn of the resurrection.  So that we need not fear death, but instead can hope for the resurrection.  The day when we will live as fully human.  To live as He intended at the start of time, before our rebellion.

So what are we to do in response to this incredible relationship?  We are to be imitators of God.  We are to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  We are to be imitators.

Before my family left the furniture store, before we headed home to engage in serious discussion concerning the merits of different cushions, fabrics, frames, and footstools, we did something else.  We took measurements.  Yes, that’s right.  We took measurements.  You see, we couldn’t model what the sectional would look like unless we first studied it.  What were the dimensions?  What was the shape?  Which side had the extended section?  We needed to study the couch if we were to model it in the room.

And…

If you and I are to be imitators of God, we need to spend some serious time at the feet of Jesus.  We should read His teachings.  We should reflect upon His words.  We should consider His life, His actions, His movements.  We should reflect upon what He has given us…and learn to shape our lives and our worldviews around it. 

After all, this life is no longer about us.  It is all about Him.  So go be imitators…

Membership or Partnership?

This past weekend, our congregation began a new sermon series examining Paul’s letter to the church of Philippi (Philippians).  It is an interesting letter.  It is unlike other letters of Paul in that it does not seek to correct bad behavior nor does it seek to warn against or correct false teaching.  Instead, it is a friendship letter which seems focused on the topic of “joy”.  

However, instead of restating the “Joy-Focused” message from this weekend’s worship (which you can listen to or watch by clicking here), I instead want to talk about another aspect of Paul’s introductory comments.  Specifically, I want to talk about “partnership”.

Here is what Paul writes in Philippians 1:3-11:

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,^[d] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Did you see it?  In verses 3-4 Paul says, “I thank my God…with joy…because of your partnership in the gospel…”  

So what is “partnership”?  Is it different than “membership”?  That is how we traditionally try to differentiate, isn’t it?  We talk about who are members or pride ourselves and pound our chests about being a member.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with a person who lives several states away and hasn’t worshiped with our faith community in at least a couple of years.  Her comment?  She thought I, as pastor, should have contacted her about a change we made because she was “a member” and deserved to be contacted before we changed anything.  That is too often how we think and talk about membership.  It is like signing up for a gym membership, never using the membership, and then complaining about the fact that the treadmill was moved and you are unhappy about it.  Silly, isn’t it?  But that is (far too often) how we think about membership.  But is “membership” the same as the partnership that Paul writes about?  I think not.

Membership is a dead concept.  Membership means having your name on a list somewhere.  That is about it.  Membership means you think you are entitled to something.  Some say.  Some power.  Some privilege.  Membership is not how the Church is to function.  Partnership is.

The word Paul uses here that the ESV translates as “partnership” is actually the Greek word koinōnɩ́a.  It is a powerful word that is pregnant with meaning.

Paul uses the word koinōnɩ́a a lot to describe the Church (large C).  Koinōnɩ́a is the mutual relationship in Christ that results from the call of God (1 Cor. 1:9), and is sustained by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1). But koinōnɩ́a is more than just “membership”.  It also corresponds to action.  It requires action.  For example, when it is used in speaking of relief for the Jerusalem poor (Rom. 15:26) or the money given to those who teach (Gal. 6:6).  In essence, this Greek word means that there is a sharing that occurs because of Jesus.  Be it financial, or the sharing of life, meals, and relationships, there is more than just belonging.  There is giving.  There is faith that expresses itself through actions. 

That is what Paul thanks the church in Philippi for.  He thanks them for their partnership.

So what does any of this mean…practically?

It means that we need to reconsider our ideas about Church.  We need to stop thinking of ourselves as “members”…and struggle through what it means to be a partner in the Gospel.  How does our whole life – our relationships, tasks, families, jobs, web browsing, email, meals, homes, etc. – proclaim Jesus?  How do we partner, sacrifice, share in extending the reign of God to those around us…offering them hope and joy in the face of the trials of life? 

Who moved the treadmill?  I don’t care.  The question is how my life will proclaim who Jesus is and what He has done for me and for those around me.  I think that is a better question…