I am currently reading Eugene H Peterson’s book, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology.

I have read Peterson for years. I want to be like him in many ways. Long tenured pastorate. Steady ministry. Clear and Biblical thinking. Pastorally rooted.

But I must be myself… yet it does not keep me from learning anew from him and others, such as Gordon MacDonald, John Ortberg, AW Tozer, (and now Joan Chittister via her The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life).

As a pastor, I am very concerned about depth of faith these days and  it has a bearing on the total condition of our nation and our individual lives these days.

I am hearing it more and more these days in the blogs I read.

Notably Alan Hirsch in a post over a catalyst.com entitled “No Disciples, No Mission” when he writes very pointedly, “if there be no mission there can be no discipleship, and if there is no discipleship there will be no mission. And there can be no missional church if there is no disciple-making church—it’s as simple as that.”

Hirsch also makes this point, “And it does not take a genius to realize that we have all but lost the art of disciple-making in the contemporary Western church. No wonder Dallas Willard calls the systematic non-discipleship of the Western Church “the great omission” in his book by that name.”

Then Pastor Tom Steagald, at The Christian Century’s blog, theology.org writes in a post titled “Salvation by Pastor Alone.” “I should disclose that I recently received a nice “promotion.” In my new pastorate—where I’m thankful to be and thrilled to pitch my tent—I’ve been trying to locate and avoid the traps set for all ministers. Here’s one: even well-meaning congregations often believe they will be saved not just by work, but by the work of the pastor: her preaching and personality, his pastoral care and visitation, the winsomeness and marketing and programming that will change the old First Church from “inglory” into glory.

Which makes Peterson’s point very poignant… and disconcerting…

“Out of the grab bag of celebrity anecdotes, media gurus, fragments of ecstasy, and personal fantasies, far too many of us, with the best intentions in the world, because we have been left to do it “on our own,” assemble spiritual identities and ways of life that are conspicuously prone to addictions, broken relationships, isolation, and violence.”

God help us.

(All italics in direct quotes are mine)

Willow Creek presents a FREE webcast.  This Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 12:00 – 12:45 CST Jim Mellado, President of the Willow Creek Association will interview John Ortberg, Senior Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, about his 2009 Leadership Summit experience.

Ortberg attended the Summit at a satellite location with a large group of his staff and volunteer leaders. During this webcast, he will share how he’s using Gary Hamel’s content in his own church. Together Mellado and Ortberg will discuss key insights from the 2009 Leadership Summit, with time available for your questions.

You can get more details and information here.

Scripture Passage – Matthew 14:29

Description – The Sixth and Final Sermon of the fall 2009 series ‘Get Your Feet Wet!’

(Slide 1) A trapeze artist once supposedly boasted that he could take a person seated in a wheelbarrow across a tightrope many hundreds of feet up between two tall buildings. “Who thinks I can do it?” he asked a crowd who had gathered to watch.

One man raised his hand and said, “I think that you can do it!”

“Good!” the high wire man said in reply. (Slide 1a)“Get in!”

We have spent six of the past eight weeks examining Matthew 14:22-33 that is the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter getting out of the boat to meet Him.

(Slide 2) There are two points that I want to make about this story and I made mention of one last week.

(Slide 2a) It is that we need to focus in the right direction, the direction of Jesus, when we are in the midst of the storms of life. Looking elsewhere will cause us to sink. We have to look to Jesus and fix our gaze and hearts on Him.

(Slide 2b) The second is that we have to be willing to get out of the boat in order to live the life that God wants us to live. These ‘getting out’ moments are not necessarily everyday occurrences (certainly, walking on the water was not one for Peter) but they are critical moments, necessary for our faith to grow and our lives to have a quality of purpose and character to them and in them that God has always intended.

So then, the purpose for these kinds of moments is to help us live through and overcome, in Jesus’ name and power, those moments of fear and uncertainty, and break through to a higher level of faith and confidence in the Lord and through the Lord.

We have examined this passage from a variety of angles. (You probably won’t read it the same way again.) (Slide 3) Our main text for this morning is only verse 29, “All right, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.” (NLT)

I want us to notice something in the story that perhaps we have never noticed or maybe have noticed and thought no one else would believe us if we said something.

Jesus did not immediately call on anyone to get out of the boat… until Peter asked Jesus to do so. The first thing Jesus did was to quiet their fears by letting them know that it was Him. We read in verse 27, “It’s all right,” he said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”

Then Peter says in verse 28, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.”

Only then, does Jesus say, “All right, come.”

I am not sure if Jesus was going to have any of them get out of the boat. May be He was, may be He wasn’t… we don’t know.

But, as was mentioned in one of the first sermons in this series, at some point, probably just after Jesus identified Himself, Peter focused on Jesus (not the storm). Then, at some point, he had this powerful moment when from deep within himself, Peter heard himself utter, Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you. He then found himself doing what seemed to be the impossible. He walked on the water.

What fascinates me is that Jesus seems to play more of the responder in this situation than initiator. However, it also appears that Jesus set the situation up to see how the twelve would respond and what kind of faith they currently had.

He told them to get in the boat and cross to the other side of the lake after feeding the five thousand. He saw, according to Mark’s account in chapter 6 of his gospel that Jesus saw that they were in trouble but waited until 3 AM to come to them. How long did He wait and why did He wait so long?

(Have you ever wondered if the disciples questioned when and where Jesus would meet them after they parted company? He is not going in the boat. How is he going to catch up with them? Makes you kind of wonder, doesn’t it?)

What comes to my thinking at this point is Peter’s response. “Tell me to come to you!” It is an act of great faith! It is act of worship! Peter is making a statement about Jesus and what he believes about Jesus.

But, what was going on within Peter to make him say such a thing?

What would make Peter want to get his feet wet? Why risk your life?

(Slide 4) John Ortberg asks this question, “Where is God calling you to walk on the water?” (Source: John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on the Water, You have Got to Get Out of the Boat. Page 84. © 2001 by Zondervan, Inc.)

How many here are uncomfortable with Ortberg’s question? Why?

FEAR!

As we conclude this series, our focus will be on what Ortberg calls four indicators that might be signs that perhaps God is calling you to get out of the boat. Why? To get out of your comfort zone for a while, or to take a step of greater faith in the Lord, in your life. As we examine each one, I am going to suggest how they might have played out in Peter’s mind in our text.

(Slide 5) The first indicator is one that we are very familiar with the past two months – Fear.

Our series text leaves no doubt that fear was a part of situation. When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. This is the easiest indicator for Peter to get out of the boat, he was afraid of going down with it!

Think with me for a moment on this: Peter was a fisherman who fished this lake as his business. He knew, I really believe, just how turbulent and sudden this lake’s surface could change. Maybe he also knew of friends, family, and even competitors who drown while out fishing by getting caught in such a storm! Maybe he had been in this situation before. (Remember this was fishing with large and heavy nets not a fishing pole) So he could have had this very real fear of sinking with the ship because he could be tangled up in the nets at his feet.

Fear is a strong motivator sometimes, right? And sometimes when we experience fear, the Lord meets us, as He did here, and wants to help us face our fears because the path we need to take is through them and not away from and not around them.

Last week we spoke of the fear of failure. I would also suggest that when it comes to getting out of the boat and fear that we also fear rejection and even ridicule.

As I hear and observe the lives of some teenagers I know, I remember the fear of rejection and ridicule that came with that time in life. Sometimes when you said what you really felt or thought, you were met with stinging and unforgettable mockery and ridicule and instant rejection.

What fear are you experiencing that might be a sign that God wants you to get out of the boat and take a step of great faith to overcome that fear that is blocking your path?

Maybe it is the fear of failing. “I really would like to lead a small group but I can’t.” “I think that God is calling me to teach this class but I am afraid I would mess up.” “I think that God has called me to the ministry but I am afraid that I cannot afford it.” “I am afraid that God is calling me to stick with my current job though it is getting stressful and I want to quit.”

But there are other indicators besides fear that might be a sign that Jesus is calling us to get out of the boat.

(Slide 5a) Frustration is one.

I have shared this story before, but it illustrates a point about frustration as a motivation, so I will be brief. It involved being charged for a car repair on a car I owned that was still under warranty.

I went home and wrote a letter to the owner of the dealership and it was successfully resolved. It was my frustration that drove me to write the letter and it was an out of the boat experience because normally I would have not done anything at all!

Maybe you are frustrated about a situation and you are not sure you can take much more. This is where prayerfully considering how (and if) to get out of the boat is vital. (“Water walking” is not an impulsive act but a measured act of faith.)

I did not immediately confront the person at the service desk with my issue. I knew that I could have immediately escalated the situation with my impatience. So I waited after I had cooled down a bit.  Then I took a breath and wrote the letter and a successful resolution took place.

Now I am not sure if Peter was frustrated in this situation. Maybe he was!

Maybe he looked around (we don’t know how much time passed in this situation) but in those moments of spiritual awareness thought, “Why are we all sitting here? If that’s Jesus out there, I am going to tell Him to tell me to come to Him! I am tired of sitting here and letting fear have its way.”

Is there an area of frustration you have that might be God’s way of getting your out of your boat? Be careful in assessing that frustration.

We can let our own agendas get in the way of God’s agenda. Pray about it. Seek good counsel on it. Then, if it is God’s push, get out of the boat.

(Slide 5b) Then there is compassion. Many people experience a compassion that comes out of a frustration that ‘something is not right’ and it leads them to compassionate acts.

Many far-reaching and effective acts of caring in our history have come out of a person’s compassion being the indicator for a ‘getting out of the boat’ experience.

Now in this day of high drug prices it seems that frustration with disease would be the last thing on a doctor’s or scientist’s mind in the research lab. But I would wager to suggest that research, born out of frustration with disease, is behind most of the major drug discoveries and development. In reading about people like Jonas Salk, who discovered the cure for polio, I think we get the sense of a sometimes-quiet frustration working under the surface to beat a disease.

Now I am not sure how Peter would have shown compassion while out in the boat when it could have been every disciple for him self! Maybe though, in the moments of his spiritual awareness, Peter saw the look on the faces around him and was moved to compassion to get out of the boat and go to Jesus who could (and would) do something.

What moves you to compassion? What breaks your heart? Who breaks your heart?

(Slide 5c) Finally, there is prayer.

Now how might prayer be God’s way of getting us out of the boat?

Look at your own experience in prayer, for a moment.

How many times has your prayer life caused you to say, ‘With out God in this situation, I cannot go from ‘a to b?’

It is often during boat rocking, storm surging, wave crashing, moments that we get on our knees, bury ourselves in our Heavenly Father’s lap, and find the strength and the will to get up and get out of the boat and walk toward the Lord.

Do you ever pay attention to your prayer life? By this, I don’t mean, the amount of time you pray, or the length of your prayer list, or what time of day you pray. I mean do you pay attention to the impressions that you experience within you as you pray?

Do you ever sense, as you pray, a change within you that creates frustration that needs to be resolved, a fear that needs to be addressed, or a compassion that is taking shape? That might be God’s signal for you to get out of your boat and start walking in the direction that He wants you to go.

(Slide 6) So what then does all of this mean for us this day and this week?

I did this series because I felt back then (and still do) that fear, directly from Satan’s lair, has been wrecking havoc on Christians in this nation and around the world and that we have given in to it and find ourselves on the defense. Since when is that okay?

I acknowledge this fear and I certainly understand it. I have done battle with it as well.

However, I also acknowledge this as well: That God is our source of power and life. Greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world!

Perspective is important in the passages we have spent time with these two months. And, like Ortberg’s questions in regard to our perspective, we need to develop a God-centered perspective as Ortberg points out.

“Courage!” he says. ‘I AM! Don’t be afraid!” I believe that. It is part of my creed. I have committed my life to teaching others about it. Yet all too often my life does not reflect it. All too often I shrink back when I should confront; I worry when I could pray; I cling when I could generously share; I stay in the boat when I could walk on the water.”

(Slide 7) “So how can I change my perspective? How can I come to believe in the sufficiency of Christ for my life the way I now believe in gratitude? How can I live in a way that reflects the fact that I follow a God who is sooo big?”

(Source: John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on the Water, You have Got to Get Out of the Boat. Page 194. © 2001 by Zondervan, Inc.)

Where does some change need to take place in your life so that you will respond, by faith, to Jesus’ call to get out of your boat, your place of comfort, and go to Him and follow Him?

Prayerfully discern that area. Choose, everyday, to place your life and will in God’s hands. Share with one or two faithful others what you are thinking and praying about. Then, with confidence in the Lord, act.

Let us allow God to develop our faith into a faith of confident assurance that will enable us to stand tall in the storm, through the fear, so that when He says, ‘come!’ We will get out of the boat and starting walking toward Him… Amen.

Description – The fourth in a six-part series ‘Get Your Feet Wet.’

(Slide 1) You can probably tell by my sermon title how I am going to start this sermon this morning, right?

Here we go!

(Select one person to be the contestant they will answer 5 questions. They can ask the congregation for help, two times.)

(Slide 2)

Question number 1: A writing tool that you can erase with when you make a mistake or correction: a. Pen b. Pencil c. Desk Jet Ink Cartridge d. Quill Pen (correct answer is ‘b’ pencil)

(Slide 3)

Question number 2: The disciple who got out of the boat when Jesus said, ‘Come on was’: a. John b. Mark c. Luke d. Peter (correct answer is ‘d’ Peter)

(Slide 4)

Question number 3: November 11, 1918 is the day when this occurred: a. Pastor Jim was born b. World War 1 officially ended c. The Spanish American war began d. The New York Yankees won their first World Series (correct answer is ‘b’ World War 1 officially ended)

(Slide 5)

Question number 4: This early American leader is famous for his kite and key experiment: a. Benjamin Franklin b. Franklin D Roosevelt c. John Hancock d. Jerry Springer (correct answer is ‘a’ Benjamin Franklin)

(Slide 6)

Question number 5: The state that is to the west of Indiana, the south of Wisconsin, the northwest of Kentucky and the northeast of Missouri is: a. Iowa b. Tennessee c. Illinois d. Michigan (correct answer is ‘c’ Illinois)

Thank you for playing!

We are half-way through our fall series, ‘Get Your Feet Wet’ and we continue this morning with our study of Matthew 14:22-33: “Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves.

About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” he said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.”

“All right, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. “You don’t have much faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.” (NLT)

The main point of this sermon series is to face and deal with, with God’s help, our fears that hold us back from taking the next steps with the Lord.

(Slide 7) For this morning, I call our attention to verses 28 and 29: Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.”

“All right, come,” Jesus said.

(Slide So far, we have learned that:

• Jesus calls us to get out of the boat, that is our place of security and comfort, in order to grow in our faith
• Fear is a big wall that we must over come, by faith and trust in Christ
• That God, if we wait and intently look for Him, comes to us in the midst of our life storms; our life fears

Today, let us think about this:

(Slide 8a) Saying yes to God is risky business. But, saying yes to God is also not a misguided calculation that creates unnecessary anxiety but a confident trust in God’s ability to help us get out of our own boats and onto the water and move forward.

John Ortberg tells the story of going to a dude ranch in Arizona at the instance of his wife who felt the vacation was not complete without “the exhilaration of a truly challenging horseback ride.” (His exact words.)

The first time he went out at the ranch, he did so with no trouble and thought that he had tamed the art of riding a horse. However, the next day he and five of the trail hands took a herd of horses on a three-mile trip out to pasture.

As he went to the stable to get his horse, he thought about the name of his horse. Would it be ‘Stout’ or ‘King’ or ‘Knight?’ No, oh no. The name of his horse was ‘Reverse.’ It was called ‘Reverse’ because he had the habit of going in reverse when you pulled on his reins.

The trip out to the pasture was uneventful. The trip back to ranch and stable was not. One of the hands decided to start a race back to the stable.

Here, in Ortberg’s own words is the rest of the story: “His [one of the five ranch hands] horse took off at full gallop and the other four immediately started racing to catch up with him. Reverse started to make his move. Instinctively, I pulled on the reins as hard as I could. Reverse rose up on his hind legs and took a few steps backward-just as Silver used to do under the Lone Ranger-and then took off like a bat out of… a cannon.

For the better part of a mile, Reverse ran a dead heat (the word dead sticks in my mind). We were not sauntering or trotting-this was an all out sprinting as in a scene from a movie… Reverse and I passed four of them. I say “Reverse and I, “ but the truth is, he was doing most of the work. I was waiting to die… Exodus 15:1 came to mind, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

(Source: John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk On Water, You Have Got To Get Out of the Boat. © 2001, Zondervan)

Ortberg goes on to say that he begins to realize that he is probably going to survive this high-speed romp through the Arizona desert and he then begins to enjoy the ride and safely finishes the race back to the ranch.

For a couple of years back in the 90’s (remember the 90’s?) this time of year featured a trip to a state park between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Michigan (the name escapes me) and horseback riding. I remember the first time I went riding, it was in Michigan though Susan and I had lived in central Kentucky (a major area in this country for all things horse) for two years during seminary.

I remember that I was given a stick to hold in my hand in a way that the horse could turn its head and see that I meant business while on the trail. I don’t remember the horse’s name (it was not Reverse) but I kept that stick where it would be seen and we got along fine.

Ortberg goes on to reflect on his wild and exhilarating ride, and makes this observation: ‘My only choice had been to say yes or no to the ride. I had to decide whether I had enough faith to ride the horse. When I mounted that horse, I did not have a clue as was to what was going to happen to me… Once I took a single step, once I got into the saddle, a whole world of experience was set in motion. Everything else was up to the horse. I could not control it. But I could have missed it.’

John Ortberg’s decision to mount the horse and ride was ‘his final answer.’

Likewise, Peter had a decision to make once Jesus said to him, ‘All right, come.’

In both cases fear was either going to be listened to and obeyed or stared down and trampled on.

Therefore, when it comes to making a ‘getting out of the boat’ decision, our final answer is our choice of believing, trusting, and then acting on that belief and trust, or not.

Moments come when we have to decide whether God is to be trusted or not and act accordingly. For Peter, it was after Jesus said ‘All right, come.’

Faith requires trust and action. Faith requires us to have moments when our feet are going to get wet.

Speaking of getting your feet wet, let’s go for a moment to Joshua 3:14-17 where the Israelites cross the Jordan River and into the Promised Land:

When the people set out to cross the Jordan, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now it was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, the water began piling up at a town upstream called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the city of Jericho. Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by them. They waited there until everyone had crossed the Jordan on dry ground. (NLT)

The oldest members of this group had waited for this moment for over 40 years! They were about to take possession of some new property promised to them for a long, long time…

But, wait, the river is overflowing! How are the kids going to get across? How are we going to stay together as a family as we get over there? My sandals are going to get wet! Will we find the rest of our group once we get over there? I can’t swim very well, I might… drown!

Fear, worry, and anxiety pops up at the slight bump in the road, doesn’t it?

The fear of the unknown is sometimes like a big huge wave ready to sweep us under and we are just not sure that we are going to ride it out. We often want ‘dry ground,’ that ‘rock bottom’ assurance, before we take the first step in the direction that God wants us to go that this is going to work out perfectly.

That is not what happened here. Someone’s feet got wet first before God acted!

Now it was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, the water began piling up at a town upstream… And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the city of Jericho. …the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by them. They waited there until everyone had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.

We don’t like to get wet, do we? It is inconvenient and it is a nuisance.

But to possess what God has for us to possess, we have to get out of the boat and get our feet wet sometimes because it is the only way to move forward with the Lord.

Faith requires action. It is not a passive thing. The Israelites had to believe that God would help them possess the Promised Land by taking the first step and as they believed and they trusted that God would help them get across the dry ground appeared.

There comes a point (many points) when we have to make a final decision; a final answer – go or no go.

There comes a point (many points) when we have to make a final decision; a final answer – believe or disbelieve.

It was that way with the Israelites and it was that way with Peter!

So, Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.

There was success for the Israelites! They made it safely across!

But, not for Peter…

“But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. “You don’t have much faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

We will have more to say about this segment next week but I present it here to acknowledge that sometimes, legitimate steps of faith don’t always go right, and it is not necessarily the end of the world. (Though it may seem that way!)

(Slide 9) So what does this mean for us today where we are at in our lives and our history?

Where are you feeling the pinch and pressure of ‘your final answer’ at work? At school? At home? With finances? With a relationship? With a calling that God has been making for you to do something new and different?

I suggest that our final answer will cause us to:

… either get out of what Ortberg calls our ‘spiritual comfort zone’ and experience the exhilaration of an often wild ride with Christ that moves us forward

or

… we will stay in it (our boat) and not experience the power and the wonder of walking on the water with the Lord that will move us forward.

The final answer is our choice.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you about this today? Are you having to give a ‘final answer’ to God in some area of your life and you want to give the right answer that will allow you to move forward with Him?

Or, are you still clinging tightly to the side of the boat or hanging on for dear life to the reigns of a horse called ‘Uncertainty’ and you are simply afraid to let go and let God have His way?

Let God have His way today. Get out of the boat! Enjoy the ride! Tell God your final answer is: Yes, Lord I will!

AMEN!

Some serious Christianity in action– Mike, a police officer, gives material and spiritual help to a prostitute addicted to heroin. 

—

The anti-war movement was really just the anti-President Bush movement – What other explanation is for their comparative silence now that Obama is President?  More here about the Code Pink hawks whose reasoning sounds similar to that given for the current Iraq strategy.  Of course, they hated those decisions.

—

“Tolerant” and “open minded” college student group votes 25-2-2 to ban pro-life speaker– The decision was bad enough, but look at the voting margin!   That type of not-so-free speech is coming soon to a country near you.  They are a self-parody, pretending to be open minded but trying to prevent the opposition from speaking. 

Update: Pro-abortionists arrested at pro-life event

—

Rich Karlgaard from Forbes is my favorite business columnist.  He writes a column and a blog and in addition to provocative business insights he deftly works in spiritual themes at times (not what you’d expect from a secular mag like Forbes).  Here’s a recent post where he highlights a video that he thought applied to business as well as the church.  I liked the video on its own merits but wanted to highlight how Rich just “happened” to pass along a Gospel presentation to an audience that wouldn’t normally hear it. 

P.S. The host in the video was John Ortberg, a terrific author.

—

Many times our lives are aimed more at ourselves than God. Even when we are approaching spiritual growth, we tend to get caught up in ourselves and what we can gain from God.

In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg provides a helpful grid for us in considering whether or not we are getting it right in our approach to spiritual growth. We shared this with our class at the “Discovering Spiritual Growth” Infusion on Saturday, October 3rd, and I thought I’d pass it along to others as a helpful self assessment tool for anyone who is interested.

1. Am I spiritually “inauthentic”?

“Inauthenticity involves a preoccupation with appearing to be spiritual” (Ortberg, p. 35).

• Have I become preoccupied with appearances in my spiritual life? Am I trying to appear “more spiritual” than others?

2. Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or proud?

“Pride is a potential problem for anyone who takes spiritual growth seriously. As soon as we start to pursue virtue, we begin to wonder why others aren’t as virtuous as we are” (Ortberg, p. 36).

• Am I sitting as a judge over others or caught in the comparison trap? Am I rating people like judges at the Olympics?

3. Am I becoming more approachable, or less?

“The rabbis had the mistaken notion that their spirituality required them to distance themselves from people….Jesus was the most approachable person they had ever seen’” (Ortberg, p. 37).

• Do people feel distanced from me because of my faith or approach to spiritual growth?

4. Am I growing weary of pursuing spiritual growth?

“Both intimidating and unchallenging at the same time….Intimidating – because it may involve thirty-nine separate rules about Sabbath keeping along. Unchallenging – because we may devote our lives to observing all the rules and yet never open the heart to love or joy” (Ortberg, p. 38).

• Have I begun to mark spiritual growth with boundary lines that are intimidating to me, but also unchallenging for me?

5. Am I measuring my spiritual life in superficial ways?

“God’s primary assessment of our lives is not going to be measure by the number of journal entries….The real issue is what kind of people we are becoming. Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important – not because they prove how spiritual we are – but because God can use them to lead us into life” (Ortberg, p. 39).

• Am I more interested in the ’spiritual’ things I’m doing than the spiritual person I’m becoming?

>> As you read these five potential pitfalls of spiritual growth, which of these are you dealing with in your own life presently?

So many things, so little time to blog it out.

*I have been cooking and baking alot, lately.  I find that my desire to be in the kitchen increases 10 fold, when the weather is cooler.  It just seems “right”.  Tonight I made my own version of Shepherds pie.  Instead of mashed potatoes, I used onions, chopped potatoes and halved carrots and put them in a satay pan with butter, fresh oregano and some other seasonings and combined it with seasoned beef.  It was delicious.  I baked some Molasses cookies this week that made me drool.  Horrendously fattening, but worth every calorie.  Thanks Rachel, for the recipe! (PS–I needed a new pie dish and this was a cute one, at TARGET.  Only 8 bucks and a fun, red color!

*We are enjoying the cooler weather and the season changing.  Candles lit, candy out and festive treats headed to the mailbox!  Don’t you love getting mail?  It’s one of my favorite things and I have several faithful friends that send postcards, handwritten thank-you notes and packages.  It just makes me smile.  What’s better than a handwritten salutation?

*Excuse the cell phone pic, but I can’t help but share….my daughter stacks ANYTHING and everything.  It’s really quite endearing.

*It is “Save The Pink Bathrooms” week over at one of my favorite sites, Save The Pink Bathrooms and their sister-site RETRO RENOVATION.

I already took the “pledge” to not get rid of my authentic 1960’s bathroom.  While it isn’t the “Mamie Pink” they are most often referring to, it is burgandy, grey and light blue….a combination commonly ripped out of homes today, for lack of inspiration and ideas on how to make it relevant.  Take a hop,skip,jump over to their sites.  Adore.

*Thanks for the great response on the RUCHE giveaway.  You can enter anytime through Monday, October 5th!  Isn’t it a fun scarf?  And a addicting fun store?

*My latest acquisition that is changing our life.  If you are like me, your husband wears dress slacks, collared shirt and tie to work each day (he really does look quite spiffy).  That means some serious dry cleaning, laundering and sweating!  Since I am not willing to pay for dry cleaning, we wash and launder each of Seans shirts and then iron them.  For years.  With an ironing board and spray starch.  UNTIL.  We got a fabric steamer.  Life=changed. 

*Currently reading (and highly recommend): “The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People”.  It’s amazing.  Really.  I am tearing through it.

*Lots of you have written and asked for specific items that will be sold at “The Attic” sale in October.  You want to know how much things will be and how much of certain things are available so you can save your duckets.  I so appreciate your enthusiasm.  I do feel that giving a specific list of each thing on sale takes a bit of the mystery away from that night, but I am going to do a general list (think a PENNYSAVER ad) later this week that gives you a broad idea of what will be there. All I can say is you don’t want to miss out. I began the large process of organizing and pricing last night and several times I picked something up and said, “That is adorable!  I want that!  Oh wait….it’s mine….”  So seriously….be there.  It’s going to be swell!

And after speaking to Chef April….well, even if you don’t dig vintage….come for the sugar and sparkle.

Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Scripture Passage – Matthew 14:26

Description – The second in a six-part series ‘Get Your Feet Wet.’

(Slide 1) In a book, whose title and author escapes my memory is the author’s story of rappelling down the side of a steep cliff as part of an outdoor learning experience. Now rappelling involves ropes, strong ropes, safety equipment, helmet, good shoes, and guts. It involves, going down the cliff, not climbing it, by using your feet and legs to push off the sides of the cliff and descend to the ground. I distinctly recall the fear in this man as he began the journey down the side of the cliff.

He froze.

His instructor he recalled quoted him the program’s theme, which did not help the matter at all as it did not address the inner panic and fear being experienced as you are suspended over the side of a cliff several hundred, if not several thousand, feet in the air. (Clichéd expressions just don’t make it!) Finally, he told the man to lean backward and push off as that was the only way to do it.

He finally got the hang of it and started to descend.

But in a few moments his instructor shouted, ‘look down.’ He did.

He was descending into a deep crevasse several hundred feet below him. He would have to change course to avoid rappelling into the deep crevasse. Fear, as I recall, checked in again.

What he was instructed to do was to lean out completely so that he was parallel to the ground… far below… and then push off and swing out in a new direction and away from his current path of descent. In doing so, he would move to another part of the cliff face and then resume his descent. He finally did so and eventually made it down.

But he had to work through the fear. For him, that rock wall (not to mention the height) was a wall of fear.

Last week I spoke of the fear of flying. I remember the first time I flew. I was about 6 or 7 and my dad and I drove to the private airport a few miles from my home. He found a man cutting grass who agreed to take us up in his two-seat single engine plane… one at a time. I went first as my dad waited on the ground…by myself. It was a fun and frustrating experience… I was too short to see over the top of the instrument panel. But I did see my house and I waved to my mom. (At least I think that I did)

Well then, we came back and landed and then my dad went up while I waited at the car… by myself. (Moms, how high are your fear meters right now? Not to mention your blood pressure.) When we got home, I said, “Mommy did you see me wave to you from the airplane?” “What airplane?” And I proceeded to tell her about our trip to the local airport…

I never rode in another plane for about 14 years and only then I was a paying passenger in my first jet airliner and my mother knew I was on the plane coming home to be in a wedding. We understand (and my father certainly, I think afterwards, understood) the anger and fear of a parent.

Fear is sometimes an unexpected wall that comes across our path from time to time and when we do, we have a decision to make. To freeze or do make a choice to overcome our fear.

This is the second of a six-part series entitled, ‘Get Your Feet Wet!’ Last week we started our examination of Matthew 14:22-23 that is the story of Peter walking toward Jesus on the water in the midst of a sudden storm. We focused on the dialogue between Jesus and Peter prior to Peter’s getting out of the boat. We spoke of boats that create comfort zones we find it hard to get out of and so keep us from more of what the Lord may has for us.

(Slide 2) Our main text for this morning is Matthew 14:26 that says, “When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost.” What scares you? Where are the source(s) of your fears? Why did the disciples scream when they saw Jesus? Did seeing a ghost lead them to believe that they were dying if not already dead?

John Ortberg suggests, “Fear will tell you what your boat is.” (Source: John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk On Water You Will Have to Get Out of the Boat. Zondervan Publishing) How I see it is this: “Tell me what your boat is and I will tell your what your fear is!” Ortberg talks about boats called ‘vocation,’ ‘relationship,’ ‘secrecy,’ ‘addiction,’ ‘a parent,’ and ‘success.’

The thing about our boats is that they easily become our security rather than the Lord being our security. And again, the purpose in getting out of the boat is not to be stupid and careless but to believe in faith that by getting out of the boat we are obeying the Lord. As we study our main text this morning, we observe that when Jesus appeared the disciples ‘screamed in terror.’

I have to admit that I start chuckling when I read this passage because the very thought of men screaming makes me laugh. This past summer on our youth group trip to Holiday World, I stood and watched people ride the new water ride that took you in a boat of about a dozen people up to height of about two hundred feet and then let gravity take over from there. What was fun to hear were the screams of people as they came down the hill.

But, when one boat came down it was nearly silent. That caught my attention! I thought, “That has got to be a boat of all males!” It was!

(Slide 3) But when men do scream it is down right hysterical at times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xMTztCjtA8

For the disciples, tossing in a boat, most likely swamped by water, it was a very scary scenario anyway. Then to see someone coming on the water, impossible to do, that created an internal overload in these terrified and troubled men’s hearts and they ‘screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost.’

We don’t have to be in a boat, during a ‘ghost seeing’ storm, to scream out in terror or frustration or pain or fear. We have had those moments. We are truly at our wit’s end. The observation I make about this passage is that Jesus scares the twelve! The twelve are experiencing fear overload; fear keeps the twelve from seeing Jesus instead of a ghost. And Max Lucado makes an interesting point when he says: They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way. Neither do we. We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. (Source: Page 70 in Max Lucado, Fearless. Thomas Nelson, 2009)

Why do we expect Jesus to show up only in the nice quiet times and not in the earth shattering, emotionally impacting loudness of life? Why do we think that Jesus is only close by when everything is good and that He is somewhere else when it is difficult, lonely, rough, and fear-full?

(Slide 4) For a few moments, let’s think about this wall called ‘fear.’

First of all what is fear? When you think of fear what comes to mind? (Ask for feedback) Fear is mentioned quite often in the Bible. (Some say that the most mentioned command of God is to “Fear not,”…) Jesus told the disciples in this situation, as well as others, don’t be afraid… fear not! Fear is terror, dread, horror, panic and alarm. We experience it at the doctor’s office when waiting for the doctor to tell us the results of the tests. We experience it when we get a three a.m. phone call. We experience it when we sense a change in a relationship that leaves us unsettled.

Now I think that there is a legitimacy to fear. For example, if we were at a zoo, and we saw that the entrance to the lion cage was wide open and there was no lion in the exhibit… fear would be a very appropriate experience. Running away would be a very appropriate action! (Not going “here kitty, kitty!”)

One of the greatest fears we have is the fear of change – planned and unplanned. Why is that? It is because we don’t like to feel that we are out of control. But how much of life is within our control? How much? Very little. (And sometimes we spend too much energy on trying to control the things we can’t instead of trying to control the things we can – like our attitudes and priorities.) Fear is sometimes a very nebulous feeling. We feel it but we are not sure why.

(Slide 5) But there is worry. It is a close relative to fear – a brother or a sister close. Jesus spoke about not worrying but to trust the Father. But we do worry. We worry about our kids. We worry about our jobs. We worry about our health. We worry about our money. How helpful has all the worrying you have done been in your life? Has it helped to accomplished anything (other than giving you an ulcer?) But what did Jesus say? “So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing?” Matthew 6:25 (NLT)

(Slide 6) Then there is anxiety! Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB) I want us to repeat this verse aloud: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Again…

(Slide 7) Now, I want us to say the verse this way: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your fears, worries, and anxieties be made known to God.” Again…

(Slide So what? So what Jim? The economy is still not good in my opinion, the health issue is not going the way I want it to go, my relationship with my friend is disintegrating, and I am concerned about a health issue. SO WHAT?

(Slide 9) Let me suggest that you ponder for a moment this statement from the words of Avery and Matt Willis. “Sometimes we fear situations and problems in life because we unconsciously regard them as bigger than our God.” (Source: Avery T. Willis, Jr. and Matt Willis, Learning To Soar: How To Grow Through Transitions and Trials. NavPress, 2009, page 57) I also think that we are more afraid because our fear of failure is so strong that we would rather not try than look bad. Where does that come from?

I think that it ultimately comes from the Garden of Eden and from the shame that we carry around in us. This is shame that can only be dealt with the Lord’s help and touch.

The other source of shame is the shaming voices of either our self or others that we have heard down through the years that ultimately say, “if you fail, you are not good enough.” Or “If I fail, I will be rejected.” Again, we need God’s help here because these are powerful voices.

Now, it would be very easy to end this sermon right now. But, leaving this message at verse 26 would leave us hanging, without resolution… just like fear does. That is why there is a verse 27!

(Slide 10) Verse 27, “But Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” he said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.” More than once in my life when I have truly given my fears to God, the peace of God that Paul spoke of came flooding into my spirit!

(Slide 11) We are concluding as follows: We are going to give our biggest fear to God today as follows: 1. Take out a peace of paper and write down your biggest fear. 2. Pray this verse of scripture, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let this fear be made known to God.” 3. When you are ready, fold your slip of paper, bring it to altar and place it on the altar. 4. Then after all have had the opportunity I am going to tear them up and pronounce them overcome in Jesus’ name and throw them away!

Let us spend a few moments in silence before we conclude…

Scripture Passage – Matthew 14:28 and 29

Description – The first of a six-part series ‘Get Your Feet Wet.’

(Slide 1) I have shared elsewhere about my later in life triumph over my fear of water that has enabled me to swim. For others, it is an-going fear that has yet to be resolved.

Some people are sacred to death of flying. To think of getting on airplane and taking off at 150 MPH, climb to an altitude of 30,000 feet and go 400 or so MPH, is a bit much.

Reminds me of the story told years ago about a flight of a four-engine jet plane. It was a lengthy flight and it got lengthier when the co-pilot came on the intercom and said, ‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, we have lost power on our number two engine. So we will be an hour or so late. Sorry for the delay.’

A hour later the pilot came on the intercom, ‘Well, folks, we have lost power in our number four engine. But nothing to worry about, we still have two engines that work. Sorry for the delay again but it we will be at least two hours late to our destination.’

A short time later, the now nervous co-pilot announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to inform you but we have lost number one engine. Now our plane is built to fly on just one engine. However, we are projecting a three-hour delay to our destination. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.”

With a nervous cabin now coming to life, one passenger exclaimed, “If we lose that last engine, we are going to be up here all day.”

(I did not help anyone whom has a fear of flying, just now, did I?)

Fear is a very real thing. Max Lucado writes, ‘Fear it seems, has taken a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop.’ (Source: Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear.) We have financial fears, we have occupational fears, we have relational fears, we have personal fears, and we have safety fears – personal and national.

Today we begin a six part series called, “Get Your Feet Wet.” Our text for the series is Matthew 14:22-33. It is, as I said last week, the story of Peter walking on the water and it has come to represent in many peoples thinking the tension and the decision between fear and faith.

For this morning though, I want us to concentrate on verses 28 and 29:

(Slide 2) Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.” “All right, come,” Jesus said. (NLT)

Now recalling the four Bible study questions that I shared a few weeks ago, I ask, ‘What does this passage say?” It says that Peter asks for Christ to tell Peter to come to Him by walking on the water as proof of Jesus’ identity.

In the preceding verses, the disciples are scared to death at the sight of Jesus on the water thinking it was a ghost. But Jesus assures them that it is Him not a ghost and to not be afraid. Well, Peter then makes this statement, which appears in our main text, and it is a statement, a declarative statement. It is a request of, almost a command to Jesus to call him “to come to you by walking on water.” It is not a question, it is not, it appears to be, a request but a command to Jesus: “tell me” not ask me nor should I, but “tell me Jesus to come to you by walking on water.”

What does this passage, therefore, mean?

In the context of a very scary and fear filled situation, it seems to mean that Peter is asking Jesus to tell him to do something that required an extreme act of faith. Last week, I mentioned that only Peter asked to come to Jesus, not the other eleven. Why?

A couple of things coming to mind. First, our series main passage begins with the phrase, “Immediately after this…” (verse 22). Immediately after what? What does ‘this’ refer to?

It refers to the previous segment of chapter 14, verses 13 through 21, which tells us what? The feeding of the five thousand. A miracle story.

“Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

“That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”

“Impossible!” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish!”

“Bring them here,”

And a miracle took place.

Then, “Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home.” He then goes off to pray.

It seems to me, as we read further, that Jesus has another miracle planned. Or, another faith development experience.

I just wonder if the conversation in the boat was about what they had just seen and witnessed. Maybe they were ‘feelin’ good about being one the boyz!’

Then Jesus comes along, several hours later, and does this “walk’n on the water thing.” Scares them out of their wits.

But only Peter says to Jesus, ‘Tell me to come to you!’

Why?

This brings me to my second thought and it is one that I cannot substantiate with scripture. It is only a hunch.

Eleven of the twelve looked at the situation with faces of fear. Peter looked at the situation with a face of faith.

As I started writing this sermon and really thinking about what was going on here, I began to think about the faces of the twelve. And I think that we have always assumed they all had fear written over all them by the time Jesus showed. (And they did, for a time!)

Let me put it this way: In an intense movie scene, when people are facing a scary or fearful situation, doesn’t it seem to be the case that there is always one whose face changes from fear to wide-eyed possibility… to faith? We can see the transformation right before our eyes, can’t we?

Think of ‘ET.’ Think of the initial fear of Eliot giving way to wide-eyed wonder and amazement and hope. It drove him to believe in ET and believe things that others would not believe.

I think this is what happens in the boat with Peter. The face of fear gives way to the face of faith and hope. Confidence, in Jesus, takes root and grows! And it bursts out in him with an extravagant demand, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.”

And I think that Jesus smiled. Yes, this is what I am hoping for! A proclamation of faith! An act of radical belief!

How then, continuing with our third question of good Bible study, ‘does this fit in with the Bible as a whole?’

God was, and is, always calling people to Him. He called the Israelites to follow Him… again and again and again and again.

Jesus called the twelve to ‘follow me.’

God called the Israelites to repentance and obedience

Jesus did the same thing.

God call us to do the same thing. God calls us to join Him in building His kingdom.

This brings us to question four of good Bible study: How do I use it in my life? (Source of the four questions: David Durey, Steps Toward Spiritual Maturity, Foundation of Hope, Portland, Oregon © 1996)

As each of us answers this question, I would have us think about this statement from the pen of John Ortberg.

(Slide 3) There is always a call. God asks an ordinary person to engage in an act of extraordinary trust, that of getting out of the boat. (Source: John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk On Water, You Have Got to Get out of the Boat. Zondervan)

(Slide 3a) A couple of words to guide our thinking for a few moments: Trust and decision.

Do you trust God at this point in your life? Do you? Do you really? Do you really, really trust God? Do you really, really, really, really trust God? Do you really, really, really, real… well you get the point.

Peter began at some microsecond in this story to trust Jesus enough to say, ‘tell me to come to you!’ That is trust and that is faith!

But not everybody always sees it that way…

‘Peter, what are you doing? Look at that idiot! Hey, get him back in this boat! There he goes again! I am not leaving this boat, even if I drown, I am not leaving this boat. What a stupid fool he is! There he goes again!’

That is the sound of fear, isn’t?

Peter trusted Jesus and believed in Jesus and said, ‘tell me Jesus!’ And Jesus said, ‘come!’

Peter now had a decision to make. Trust and act and get out of the boat or stay in the boat.

Boats wiggle in water don’t they? Water is wiggly, except when it is ice or a steam.

How did Peter get out of the boat? The text said ‘he went over the side of the boat.’ I have a great deal of trouble seeing him gracefully exit the boat in that storm. Maybe he fell over the side and stood up and rose to the top of the water.

Maybe he stood on the bobbing prowl of the boat and timed his first step off the side. Maybe he walked to the stern of the boat and trusted that the water would hold him up as he timed his step of the side. We know that he did get out of the boat. (And given our view of Peter over the years, he could have just jumped over the side and took off.)

Now what was the greatest threat to Peter once out of the boat? It was failure. He risked failure.

But he made the decision to go over the side and go to Jesus. He started to walk on the water! But then…

… he failed.

“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.”

You and I have had, and continue to have moments in which we have to decide whether or not to truly trust God and get out of the boat thus risking failure, or not. Moses failed. King David failed. Peter would fail again.

Failure is a part of life. The late Jack Lemmon said, ‘Failure seldom stops you; what stops you is the fear of failure.’ (Source: Quotationary, Leonard Roy Frank, ed.)

There is that word – fear- that brings us back to our starting point and the question (Slide 4) So What?

(Slide 5) There is always fear. God has an inextinguishable habit of asking people to do things that are scary to them. It may be a fear of inadequacy… a fear of failure… a fear of God… one way or another, there will be fear.’ John Ortberg

Some people probably read this story and think Peter was suicidal, crazy, nuts!

Yes there are those who claim God’s will in bizarre and hurtful situations but this is about clear and Biblical trust and faith in God that does not make sense sometimes. And it is scary.

But Jesus calls us to get out of our boats – of security, of fear, of contentment- because He has more for us and more for us to do for Him.

And we do and will feel inadequate to the task, to the call, but what He wants is us and our willingness and our obedience. He will give us the power and ability as needed to step out of our boat and move forward in faith.

Are you willing to get out of the boat this morning? Are you wanting to get out of the boat? Do you need to get out of the boat this morning?

The disciples are paralyzed in the boat. And the boat is fast becoming a dangerous place to be!

Some of the boats that we are in these days are sometimes the un safest place to be!

Perhaps God’s call to get out of the boat is a call to end a relationship or repair a current one.

Perhaps God’s call to get out of your boat is a call to change jobs and careers or be willing to make an adjustment of some kind in your current one.

Perhaps God’s call to get out of your boat is to walk across the lawn or street and begin a new relationship with a neighbor or to renew an established one.

Perhaps God’s call to get out of your boat is to place a family member in God’s hands and step away and let God take over or to go and seek reconciliation with a family member.

Perhaps God’s call to get out of your boat is to say ‘yes’ to God and decide to start a new ministry of some kind or to re-commit to serving an existing one.

Finally, perhaps God’s call to get out of the boat is to say ‘yes’ to God’s call to ministry and pursue ordination.

I recently had a prince of a guy from the last church I served, send me a note on Facebook and tell me that he had started working with the teens again and also began the process of ordination. He is in his 40’s with two teenagers. I told him that I was not surprised and spoke God’s blessing on him.

If God calls you, to the ministry (as in your paid employment type of ministry) you can run from it but you cannot hide! I know!

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning? Please do not resist His call to get out of the boat. Obey Him and follow Him where and as He leads you.  He’s calling, “come to me.” Amen.

Today is The NINES Conference, a free online conference that is taking place all day today!

Just go here to watch over 70 presenters speaking sharing for 9 minutes each (sorry, didn’t have enough room for all 70 below).

Here’s the approximate schedule for the day. All times are Central. (Don’t worry, all of the talks will be available for free download after the conference, so you don’t have to miss any!)

9AM   — Troy Gramling, Mark Beeson, Anne Jackson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Hodge

10AM — Perry Noble, Stacy Spencer

11AM — Dino Rizzo, Nancy Beach, Steven Furtick, Reggie McNeal

12PM — Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet, Greg Surratt, Jon Tyson

1PM   — Margaret Feinberg, Larry Osborne, Matt Carter, Pete Wilson

2PM   — Neil Cole, Reggie Joiner, JD Greear

3PM   — Mark Batterson, Dan Kimball, Mark DeYmaz

4PM   — Jud Wilhite, Brian McLaren, Bob Roberts, Rick McKinley, John Ortberg

5PM   — Alan Hirsch, John Bishop, Toby Slough, Ed Stetzer

6PM   — Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, Brad Powell

7PM   — Darrin Whitehead, Brian Bloye

8PM   — Eric Bryant, Nancy Ortberg, Rick Warren

-jordan

Just registered for a cool, free, online conference called “The Nines.” Its a pretty cool concept. Tons of pastors, church leaders, and people who love Jesus are given 9 minutes to tell church leaders around the world what they would tell you if they were only given 9 minutes.

It starts at 9am on September 9th. Speakers include: Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, John Ortberg, Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Alan Hirsch, JD Greear, Dan Kimball, Neil Cole, and lots more.

If you’re around on the 9th and have a bunch of 9 minute blocks available, I would HIGHLY encourage you to sign up and listen in. Can’t beat free.

A while back Tyler sent out a survey email asking for our top five resources on small groups as well as our top five insights. It was fun to think through some of the things I’ve learned in working with Life Groups here at Real Life. I’ve worked with some wise people, which has made up for my own natural incompetence in this area! Below are the resources I offered.

1. “Flow questions” – Mariners Church in Orange County has put together a model for small groups discussions that I think is the best out there. I think you can get it emailed to you here.

2. Making Room for Life and The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee. These are indispensible, in my opinion. They make the case for actual community (not just group success), and for diverse geography-based groups as the path to get there. (Not as necessary or even helpful in some urban contexts.)

3. Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them by John Ortberg. Life groups are messy, and people need to get this from the start. This is good material for new groups to work through to be prepared for what will come.

4. Soultalk by Larry Crabb. This book will give you a vision of the type of connection we dream about in doing life groups. He talks about moving beyond accountability to authentic relationship, and unleashing the Holy Spirit within us all to empower transformation.

5. Building a Church of Small Groups by Donahue and Robinson or Simple Small Groups by Bill Search. Both of these will provide an overview of small group ministry. Building was one of the first written and is still valuable for some of its insights. Simple is newer and more streamlined; it would be very helpful if you’re looking for a simple overall vision of what groups should be about. Both will help some people “get it.”

I started chapter 11 of The Life You’ve Always Wanted on my way to work a couple weeks ago. The chapter is about an “undivided life” accomplished by “the practice of reflection on Scripture.” Since I was reading on the train, I only got a couple pages in, which means I’m still at the part of the chapter where Ortberg discusses some of the issues we all face in reaching that undivided life – in this case, “double-mindedness” and a combination of multiplicity and duplicity. This book is getting better with every chapter, and even though I’m only five pages in and not even yet at the “meat” of this one, I’m already bookmarking, flagging, and underlining a whole slew of things I could stand to examine in my own life.

Double-mindedness, in Ortberg’s definition, is the term for the mental tug of war between good and not-so-good that goes on in all of us. We want to volunteer more, but we don’t want to give up our TV time. Or we want to donate more to causes we care about, but only if we make more money. He defines multiplicity and duplicity as “a life marked by ambivalence – pulled and pushed” and “the reasons we give for doing something and the real reasons why we are doing it” respectively. And then he goes on to say that all of these things are the enemies of simplicity. And simplicity should be the goal of every Christian – simplicity in this case being living for “one thing” and that thing being God.

Right away the language Ortberg was using caught my attention, because “simplicity” is a term I try to apply to my life over and over and over again even if it slides off almost as soon as I stick it on. Simplicity is something I’ve been actively after for at least the past year now, but it’s fair to say that I suffer from all of the above. And identifying all of my areas of double-mindedness, multiplicity, and duplicity, and then actually *overcoming* them has been a step by step process. Usually, I have to force myself to act QUICKLY in a moment of inspiration before I settle back into my day-to-day routine. And my steps towards achieving simplicity start with simplifying first in the home. Which means for the past year, I’ve been in the process of weeding out all of the physical baggage I carry with me that not only distracts me, takes up my time and money, but keeps me from actually getting out there and LIVING the life God may have planned for me.

When Steph and I decided to downsize as part of our Total Money Makeovers and move to a smaller apartment in Greenpoint (bad decision, btw), the end goal was simplicity. I would sell all those things I didn’t need. Donate what I couldn’t sell. And then live as “simply” as possible to save money, pay off my debt, and then do all the amazing things that would come with living debt free – going back to school for nutrition and wellness, giving above and beyond what I’m currently giving, taking vacations, etc. In some ways it worked because the apartment was so small that we had no choice but to live “simply” and we were both able to regulate our sleep schedules, squeeze in exercise time in the morning, save up money, and pay down debt. That lasted for three months until the great bed bug disaster of 09 hit and everything went out the window.

When we made the decision to move back “home” to beautiful South Brooklyn (where we’d been living for the past three and a half years), we both wanted the end goal to be simplicity – get away from the all the “scene” in Greenpoint and get back to a quiet neighborhood with trees, flowers, kids playing outside, and tomatoes and basil plants in the backyard. I wanted to find my peaceful Sundays again to catch up on my small group books, journal what I’m learning and what I need to work on, visit the farmer’s market, and make a menu for the week ahead. And since we lost all of our furniture to those evil little bugs, we’d definitely be living “simply” for the first few months.

The bed bug crises (seriously, it was a crises) forced me to reevaluate the way I live and question how much of my living in Greenpoint was simple on the surface (having a “sleeping closet” just big enough for a full size bed instead of a nice, large bedroom like I’d had in Windsor Terrace for instance) and how much of it was the true simplicity of living a life focused on serving God. I think in moving from Windsor Terrace to Greenpoint I took steps towards simplicity. It was nice to realize just how many of my things I could sell and not miss (and make a nice chunk of change off of in the process!) and clear some of the physical clutter out of my life (I don’t think “simple” living means we have to sell all the things we own. In my case, doing a clean sweep of the apartment definitely helped me reprioritize though). And, because I have a tendency to make my home my haven, moving from a spacious apartment I LOVED on Prospect Park to a small apartment with a view of the highway that could be best described as just “charming” was a step of faith. I had to prioritize just to squeeze into that place.

Moving to Ditmas Park has been an even bigger step in that direction because it’s shown me that simplicity is about what’s in my heart just as much as it’s about what’s in my apartment. God knows me inside and out – He knows I like room to stretch out in, clean air to breathe, flowers and trees outside my window, and easy access to organic local foods. He even went the extra mile and surprised me with a laundry room (he must’ve heard my silent prayers with that one .) He’s shown me that I can have a big, beautiful apartment (thank you, God!) and still live simply if my reason for living is Him.

So this time as I’m slowly filling this apartment back up, I’m leaving room for simplicity. Yes, I want a full size bed and a nightstand with a lamp and a little “prayer chair” and table for my Bible in the corner of my room (and that NEVER would’ve fit in my “sleeping closet” up in Greenpoint), but this time I’m hoping I can recognize that my security is in GOD and not in having a perfectly decorated apartment. And I hope that if God calls me to leave this apartment at some point and go somewhere else, I’ll be ready to answer because my life won’t be just about what I can get for myself, but what I can give others as well. Even if it means losing the comfy full size bed I can’t wait to buy (and I’ll be honest… that’s not always an easy idea for me to swallow).

=====

Resource: Generation Church “Take it All” podcast 06/11/2009 – The theme of this sermon was that the reality of God is not just information, it’s impartation. The pastor has a “unique” delivery to be sure, but stick with it. This totally ties in with what Ortberg talks about in the second half of Chapter 11, which is that the path to simplicity is in reading and understanding Scripture. And that the real purpose of the Bible isn’t just information, but transformation of God’s people. If we read the Bible with the right hearts and minds we will continually be transformed into the people we’re meant to be. From there it follows that we would live out what we’ve learned in Jesus in our daily lives – imparting Christ’s love on others. I was listening to this right after reading Chapter 11, and I heard so many similarities between what Ortberg and this pastor are saying and ended up really enjoying this podcast.

John Ortberg comments that the badge of doubt is often worn with pride (‘honest doubt’), but we seem embarrassed or even ashamed of faith (‘blind faith’).

But of course, he says, there are also such things as ’blind doubt’ and ‘honest faith’!

John Ortberg’s Book, Faith and Doubt, was published in 2008 by Zondervan.

When I started Every Lil Step, I planned on reviewing a chapter a week of John Ortberg’s The Life You’ve Always Wanted, a book I’m reading and leading a small discussion group on through my church. But then the great bug debacle of 09 got in the way. So instead, I’m going to pick up where I’m at now and then rewind to earlier chapters here and there when I can. And my reviews are of course nothing compared to the book itself, which I definitely recommend it as a “must read” for anyone looking to grow in their walk with God.

The basic principle of the book is that transformation should be the goal of every follower of Jesus Christ – and that transformation is possible.  Not through our own efforts (or “trying” as he puts it) but through the deliberate process of “training” – which we do by undertaking spiritual disciplines that allow us to grow in our relationship with God and therefore grow as his people. It is then that we are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the whole point of The Life You’ve Always Wanted is that the whole point of life is transformation – so that we actually find ourselves wanting to live the way Jesus would live in our place and then DOING it.

The books that I read in the discussion groups I lead or take part in usually end up looking like workbooks. I underline, make arrows, and jot down notes in the sidebars. There’s just way too much in each book that speaks to me personally to even begin sharing it all. But one of my favorite paragraphs in The Life You’ve Always Wanted is in the opening chapter, when Ortberg writes, “The truth is that the term spiritual life is simply a way of referring to one’s life – every moment and facet of it – from God’s perspective. Another way of saying it is this: God is not interested in your ‘spiritual life.’ God is just interested in your life. He intends to redeem it.”

That one really forced me to look at my life and how I might separate my “spiritual life” from the “rest” of my life. It also forced me to ask myself if there are any discrepancies between who I am “at heart” and who I am “in real life”. Believe me – there are more than a few. (This story for instance has always amazed me. I think about it on almost a daily basis. At heart, I’d like to have the guts to do something big and amazing like this starting today. “In real life,” I don’t even donate to this cause yet. All “reasons” or “justifications” aside, it’s an example of the gap between who I’d like to be and who I am right now. Hopefully all of the steps I take can help me close the gap a little more each day). Since reading Ortberg’s comments on it, I’ve tried to replace the term “spiritual life” with “life” in my vocabulary. Simple semantics that have had a real impact on how I’m living my life since reading that.

Luckily for me, Ortberg also reminds us that the story of the human race is one of hope and that transformation is a lifelong process we can all take part in if we just keep our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts open to what it is God is doing in our lives and asking of us along the way. Spiritual disciplines are simply those activities that help us live our lives as Jesus would in our shoes. For most Christians, the disciplines he talks about are probably something we already do on a regular basis. But reading The Life You’ve Always Wanted has been a great way for me to take stock of just what roles these activities play in my life and how I’m growing and changing for the better along the way. So starting tomorrow, I’m going to hop in at Chapter 9. And then from there, I’ll jump around to touch on how this book has been changing ME as I read it. To anyone following along, thanks for reading. And I definitely welcome any feedback along the way.

=====

Link of the Day:  At a Distance by Karen Ehman [Proverbs 31 Ministries Daily Devotional]. This really tied into exactly what I was thinking as I wrote this. So looks like I can take some notes on Peter as well to become the “bold, world-changing servant of God” I want to be. This also ties into one of my memory verses this week: 1 Peter 4:10 “God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you.” Synergy!

Scripture Passage – Matthew 25:14-30 Description – 2nd part of 2 part series on “Using What God Has Given You.”

I begin this morning where I left off last Sunday, with this quote from Richard Stearns: (Slide 1) “Someone once said, “God does not call the equipped; He equips the called.” Saying that we are not clever enough, good enough, or talented enough to serve God is just making excuses. All of us have something God can use, even if it’s only a stick. (Think Moses). The question is whether or not we will offer whatever stick we have to His service.” Richard Stearns (parenthesis, mine)

Now I want to make clear that the context for Stearns’ remarks is poverty and how Christians can make a difference in important, but small, ways. But, I believe that his remarks can apply to everyday life and (Slide 2) the life of witness and service that we are all called to as Christians.

This is where our main text for this morning applies. I will read it in a moment but first we are going to hear from our three winners of the envelopes that were handed out last week. Please come to the pulpit.

As a reminder, here are what the envelopes contained. (Slide 3) In one of them was a blank check for $5.00 with an assignment to take someone to lunch. ____ was the winner here and so ____ tell us what you did. (____ shared she was unable to do so but will be working on it.) In another one, was an assignment to use 60 minutes of your time this week to do something nice for a neighbor or co-worker. ______ was the winner here and so ______ tell us what you did. (_______ shared (via a family member) that she helped the church janitor to wash the windows at church.) In the third one, was an assignment to select either an article of clothing or something that you own, to give either to someone you know could use it or to one of our community agencies. ____ was the winner here and so ____ tells what you did. (____ shares.)

Now I have a few questions for you: Was your assignment hard or easy and why? Did doing your assignment give you a new view on serving? What emotions did you have as you did your assignment?

(They replied it was somewhat hard (one admitted to his introversion) but it was good to do.)

Now, as you heard their stories I want to ask for your thoughts on these questions: (Slide 4) What is harder for people to give these days: time, money, or possessions? Why? What is the biggest internal barrier for people investing what they have already have for God? What is the biggest external barrier for people investing what they have already have for God? What is the one thing that people fear most that God will ask them to do?

With these questions in mind, let us read our main text for this morning, Matthew 25:14-30: “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities—and then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But, the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money for safekeeping.

“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, ‘sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.’ The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

“Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold, with the report, ‘sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.’ The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

“Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, ‘sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.’

“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You think I’m a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn’t plant and gathering crops I didn’t cultivate? Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (NLT)

I want to note the following this morning as we consider the question (Slide 5) “What am I doing with what I have been given?” (Slide 6) The first thing to notice is that this is an illustration of God’s kingdom. Jesus says at the very beginning of this passage, (verse 14) “the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated…”

I am reminded as I re-read that line of the opening of the 1960’s hit TV show Dragnet, “the story you are about to see is true.” What Jesus is saying is, “this is what the Kingdom of God is like.” He is at a point just before His arrest and crucifixion, probably about two or three days away according to Matthew 26, that the Kingdom of which He has taught is like a wealthy man going on a trip. But in his leaving he invests and empowers three of his servants with a significant, if not the entire, portion of his wealth to invest while he is gone.

Can you recall a time in your life when someone left you something of value to take care of? A bit scary wasn’t it? You, hopefully, took good care of what you were asked to take care of.

What about when you were “put in charge” for the first time.Do you remember when you were left to be in charge of something? The shift? The store? The kids?

I recall a time when I was in retail management and I was left in charge of the department where I was being trained as a management trainee. I took it seriously and I acted the part.

Now I know that I acted the part because one of my co-workers, when she came back from lunch, looked at me after I indicated a list of tasks for us to do, and said, ‘Did, so and so, put you in charge?’ And I said, as a management trainee, ‘I guess.’ To which she responded, “Did so and so make you the management trainee?”

To which I responded, “Yes.” To which she responded by getting her coat and signing out. I asked her what she was doing, ‘so and so will know what I am doing.’ She quit on the spot!

And there I was all alone! (And least for a while.) But I was, in a sense at that point, in charge of a department that probably had at least 100,000 dollars worth of inventory!

These three men were in charge of a great deal of wealth. (Some scholars estimate that it would be in the millions of dollars today.) So, the point Jesus is making is that God (who is the wealthy man) is putting something of value in the hands of His followers to do something with until He returns.

This is an important point to remember. This is not a story about a wealthy man. This is a story about what God expects of His followers of which you and I are numbered.

The next thing we need to understand is probably the most difficult concept to accept in this passage: (Slide 6a) “He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last – in proportion to their abilities…”

This segment of our text points out the Kingdom of God is not a democracy of equal opportunity. It is a “spiritual monarchy” where God is the King and we are the people (though I would remind us that Jesus called the disciples at one-point “friends” instead of “servants.”) What this segment means is, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12, God decides what gifts and what responsibilities to give to whom as He, God sees fit. We don’t have a choice in the matter and this has caused us, as it did back then, problems with God and with others.

Does this mean that God is not fair? If we answer ‘yes’ to this question (though we might say ‘no’ out loud) it means that we are going to wrestle with jealousy and envy and a host of other things all through life and we are not going to be satisfied and that is a dangerous place to be.

But we need to understand that some of us have been given many responsibilities and some of us haven’t. Not because we are less human or less loved by God but because God knows our character and abilities and what we can and cannot handle. Yet, while we may start out with less, as we go through the rest of this story, we realize that what we start out with and what we may end up with, based on what we do with what we have been given, will be different.

Now the next thing we need to notice is implied in what happened between the departure of the wealthy man and his return. (Slide 6b) This parable is about investing and increasing the Kingdom of God and not our kingdom. Two of the servants obey what they are told to do and the third does not because, as we say today, “he has issues.” He has issues with authority; he has issues with his employer; he has issues with power; he has unmet issues; he has issues with jealousy; he has issues with fear.

Now maybe the other two had some of these issues as well, especially fear. (Maybe fear was their motivation in their investments!) Yet, they invested their master’s wealth and were rewarded. The third one refused to do so.

John Ortberg has pointed out that the master plainly disciplines this servant for simply being lazy and doing nothing at all. He then goes on to say this result has unsettled many over the centuries who have tried to come up with an interpretation that he spent it on something or did something to merit his master’s displeasure, but the text plainly shows that he did not, he buried it and did nothing with it.

(Slide 7) So what is Jesus saying to His audience and us? Simply this (verse 29) (Slide “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.”

These are perhaps hard words to hear. Jesus is not kind right now.

I also think that we need to frame our interpreting of this verse not in material abundance but spiritual, inner, abundance. Things like the peace of God that Jesus would point out in short time as we read in John 14:27: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

How many of you here this morning are at peace with yourself? I mean really at peace with yourself? How many of you here this morning are at peace, really at peace with God?

Happiness is the goal of today and, while there is nothing wrong with being happy, it is a fleeting experience. Chasing it, and I have chased it, too, is a waste of time. But, being at peace with yourself, that’s a treasured moment!

This last servant was not at peace with his master and certainly not at peace with himself. He also was not a happy man at all.

The other part of this inner abundance is the importance and affect of obedience. Jesus was to make clear in a very short time that obeying God is evidence of love for God. He would simply say as we read in John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments.”

Though all three might have been afraid of their master, I think that a case can be made that the first two servants loved their master and obeyed him. The third one, by his harsh characterization, “you are a hard man,” indicates that there was no love in his heart for his master.

In giving to God what we already have so that God can use it to accomplish His purposes through us, obedience is a requirement not an option. How well are you obeying what you already know God wants you to obey Him in?

Are you having trouble with connection with the Lord in the right way? Is communication with Him, ‘fuzzy,’ shall we say? Maybe it is because there is an obedience issue.

If we say we are Christians, the obedience to Jesus Christ, is necessary. (Slide 9) So what do we do to invest effectively what we already have for God, if we really want to do so?

One thing we have to do is become what John Ortberg calls “Water Walkers.” He wrote a wonderful book entitled, If You Want to Walk On the Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat based on the gospel account of Jesus and Peter on the tumultuous Sea of Galilee.

In the opening pages of the book, Ortberg lists the realities and challenges “Water Walkers” face. And germane to our thoughts of this morning and to our current question, here are some things he says that we need to think about and act on.

(Slide 10) Water Walkers discern between faith and foolishness. To invest effectively for God what we already have, we need to become wise to “places of decision” and whether or not they are opportunities for a foolish decision or a positive leap of faith in God and His purposes. (Slide 10a) Water Walkers expect problems. He says, “Fear will never go away.” It is something that we constantly live and deal with throughout life. But, he also notes, water walkers learn how to ‘master failure management.’

(Slide 10b) Water Walkers see failure as an opportunity to grow. How do you see failure? Is it a ‘one strike and you’re out’ event? (And some failures are… very, very serious) Or, is it something else? Water walkers see failure as a part of growing and living and learning.

(Slide 10c) Water Walkers learn to wait on the Lord. There is a time for action and there is a time for waiting when it comes to invest effectively what we already have for God. It is part of the discernment process to help us determine when and if, to get out of the boat.

(Slide 10d) Water Walkers get out of the boat. There is a time for reflection, prayer, and discernment and then we have to make a decision, i.e., to get out of the boat or stay in the boat! The third servant never got out of his boat. He never left the security of his place. He refused to invest what he already had and he paid dearly for it.

For a while now, we have been afraid. Fear is everywhere. And I understand why it is here – the loss of jobs and income; government plans and policies that make us feel threatened for a variety of reasons. I see and hear those fears and I acknowledge those fears this morning and do not make light of them at all.

But isn’t God bigger than your fear? Why should you be afraid? Why do we seem to want to hold back from really getting out of the boat and giving to the Lord what we currently have so that His kingdom and His agenda are being advanced and not the Devil’s?

You may feel that you have been giving only one thing in life. But that is one thing that the Lord can use through you to accomplish something important in someone else’s life.

Fear cannot win! Fear cannot get the upper hand in your heart and life. So get out of the boat, get your eyes on Jesus, and start walking!

Let us give to God, no matter how big or how small; no matter how much or how little; what we already have in our hands. And, most importantly, let us give our very selves to Him as well. Amen!

Sources: Richard Stearns, A Hole In Our Gospel John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on the Water, You Have Got to Get Out of the Boat

Today, I am halfway through my “social media sabbatical” that I began at the end of June. This sabbatical consists of not tweeting on Twitter; or posting or responding to messages on Facebook. (I admit to logging on to Facebook for a couple of e-mail address cross checks.)

It has not been as hard as I thought it would be.

I got the idea from another ‘tweep’ and given the state of my soul and schedule four weeks ago, I though that it would be a good idea. It has been.

What have I done on my sabbatical? Well I have had some fun. For example, I went to Kings’ Island Amusement park outside of Cincinnati and had a blast. I rode the new coaster, Diamondback, 4 times! It had a great deal of airtime, especially on the top of the hills.

The Beast seemed slower for some reason this year. Well, it’s only 65 MPH compared to the Diamonback’s 82 MPH. Then there is The Racer; still a classic to ride and enjoy. I think that I had 13 or so circuits under my belt of about 4 or 5 coasters this year. I cannot wait until Cedar Point!  (And there still is Kingda Ka out in New Jersey! My oldest and I are trying to figure out how to get out there!)

I helped wash my mother’s mobile home. I say ‘helped,’ because my wife did most of the scrubbing! I also reconnected with some cousins that I have not seen in several years.

As noted in a previous post, Picking Green Beans and Counting People, (http://jimkane.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/picking-beans-and-counting-people/) I have done some important community service that has taught me a great deal.

I have also read:

The late A.W.Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God. A 6-decade-old classic that still has much to teach us about the true pursuit of God.

I re-read Keith Miller’s book The Secret Life of the Soul that again reminded me programs and slogans cannot help us do the deep soul work that only a willingness to surrender to God and allow our wall of denial to break down can do.

Julia Duin’s book Quitting Church has also given me much to think about as well. (See my review elsewhere on this blog.)

John Ortberg’s If You Want to Walk On Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, spoke to me on many levels about faith and fear and becoming fearless for the Lord once again. Then Gary Thomas’ Spiritual Pathways, a great book about how we best experience God, was a cool drink of water for me. As I read it, I was again reminded that I am a traditionalist when it comes to one of my sacred paths and that I thrive on liturgy. (Hum, I wonder what the implications are for future ministry?) I have started to utilize his included example for a “habit” of prayer.

But what has been most important has been the experience of being renewed in my soul and drawing closer to God. I was losing my ‘hearing’ with all the ‘tweeting’ and ‘friending.’ My wife noticed this and I needed to address this. I have also reconnected with my wife through evening walks and time on the patio talking about many different things that we have needed to talk about.

I am not sure that I am going to continue to personally tweet when August 1^st arrives. I am seeing Twitter more and more as a PR and marketing tool (and that is okay) but how can one have a meaningful conversation in 140 characters or less? I think in complete sentences and paragraphs. But I have valued several ‘tweeps’ who have become friends beyond 140 characters and shared some good things with me.

Facebook will stay with me. I am reconnecting with family and some high school friends as well as childhood friends and that is important to me.

But, this sabbatical has been much more beneficial that I imagined. And my e-mail box is more manageable as well.

Scripture Passage – Matthew 15:32-39 Description – Part 1 of a Two Part Series on Using what God has given you.

(Slide 1) It was only a few years ago that I learned to swim.

This was after the boys had already learned to swim.

Their joy and enthusiasm in the pool gave me a boost that I finally needed to say, “I am going to learn to swim!’

So with goggles on, I learned to swim… in a hotel pool… underwater… with a breast stroke… (actually more like a frog stroke)

When I was about 10 or so, my parents joined a private lake club that had swimming lessons. I hated learning to try to swim in a lake… yuk!

After several lessons (and I remember learning to float on my back) I refused to go… and so for nearly 40 years, I often sat on the sidelines (or in the shallow end) while others had fun.

I was afraid.

At first, I was afraid of the water.

I had several scary experiences (again at a lake) when I was knocked down by some waves.

Yet over the years, I tried to learn to swim on my own. I remember one time, 30 years ago this summer, when I jumped in the deep end of the pool at the Salvation Army camp where I was working. It was for… our staff swim test…

I failed…

Sputtering and flailing, a hand appeared (it was from one of the girls I was trying to impress and who happened to be the head lifeguard) and helped me get out. I worked hard that summer at trying to swim but ended up with pink eye and sat out the final weeks of the season along the side of the pool… out of the water.

As time passed, my fear of swimming changed. I was now afraid… of being left out by others who were in the pool… of being ashamed when others learned that I could not swim.

But, when in a hotel pool (and I cannot remember where it was), I simply gave myself to the water and dove in… I found my stroke and style and started swimming.

And, while I am not a great swimmer, one of my greatest fears, had been overcome.

(Slide 2) At this point in your life, what is your greatest fear? Why is it your greatest fear?

What have you done to overcome it? Have you overcome it? If not, why not?

For this Sunday and next, I am feeling very strongly led by God to focus on what we have already been given (time, talents, money) and the barriers (internal and external) (another name for ‘fear’) we daily face that often keep us from really stepping out in faith and living with and for the Lord.

I shared the story about swimming to illustrate a point – fear is a constant issue and a constant companion in life. In fact, John Ortberg reminds his readers that the most common command in the Bible is: (Slide 3) Fear Not.

I also want to make another point today. As we will see in our main text, (Slide 4) God calls us to give what we have not what we don’t. There is a relationship to our fears and giving what we have when Jesus invites us to give.

And our main text for this morning is Matthew 15:32-39 in which we read:

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the road.”

The disciples replied, “And where would we get enough food out here in the wilderness for all of them to eat?”

Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

They replied, “Seven, and a few small fish.” So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.

They all ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over! There were four thousand men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan. (NLT)

One of my bad habits, which is being dealt with as I pay more attention to what I am reading as well as paying more attention to God while I am reading, is reading something into a text, from the Bible and other wise, that is not there. I have had this bad habit broken in this text, and its parallel, a chapter earlier where Jesus feeds the 4,000.

I had it broken while reading Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. He wrote a book entitled, The Hole In Our Gospel and in it he references the feeding of the 4,000 out of Mark 6 in which, as he does here, Jesus asks, ‘What do you have?’

Then, in light of Jesus’ question, it is Stearns’ remark that ‘turns the light on’ for me.

(Slide 5) He didn’t ask about magnitude or strategy or feasibility. He asked not how much it would take to solve the problem, but only how much they had to offer… Jesus did not ask the disciples to do the impossible; He asked only for them to bring to Him what they had… God never asks us to give what we do not have…But He cannot use what we will not give. (Some emphasis Stearns’ and some my emphasis.) Richard Stearns, The Hole In Our Gospel Pages 252 -253

Now let us go back for a moment and look at Matthew’s parallel account of Mark 6 that is found in Matthew 14:15-21: That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and it is getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

But Jesus replied, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”

“Impossible!” they exclaimed. “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish!”

“Bring them here,” he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. And he took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God’s blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave some of the bread and fish to each disciple, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves, in addition to all the women and children!”

We have no indication, at least in Matthew’s account, how much time took place between these two incidents. It could have been a week, a few days, a month or a few months. But we do know this. The disciples still did not quite get it!

Notice they say in chapter 14 that it is ‘impossible’ for them to feed. Then in chapter 15, they say, “And where would we get enough food out here in the wilderness for all of them to eat?”

Not exactly the same but pretty close in attitude.

Jesus did not ask them to do the miracle of the feeding, he only asked them to provide what they already had available! He did the rest!

(Slide 6) “So what” number 1: So what would happen the next time you gave God what you did have and did not focus on what you did not have?

Moses had that problem didn’t he? I like how John Ortberg says it.

“God called Moses: Go to Pharaoh – the most powerful man on earth. Tell him to let his labor force leave without compensation to worship a god he doesn’t believe in. Then convince a timid, stiff-necked people to run away into the desert. That’s your calling.”

“And Moses said: Here I am. Send Aaron.”

Moses eventually went back to Egypt, with Aaron’s help, and led the Israelites out of slavery and toward the promise land.

But Moses was focused on what he did not have instead of what He did have. But what did Moses have? He had two things: fear and what I call a heart for his people.

Remember that he fled Egypt fearing for his very life. In a moment of anger, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, one of his own people.

Decades passed and I don’t think that a day went by when Moses did not think about what he had done. I just wonder if he wished some how he could make things right. And I think that it was out of this painful situation that he still had a heart for his people.

And God knew that he still had a heart for his people.

God also knew that Moses still had fear in his heart as well.

Now, I want us to go back to Stearns’ quote for a second

(Slide 7) He didn’t ask about magnitude or strategy or feasibility. He asked not how much it would take to solve the problem, but only how much they had to offer… Jesus did not ask the disciples to do the impossible; He asked only for them to bring to Him what they had… God never asks us to give what we do not have…But He cannot use what we will not give.

So often, I have recently realized, we so complicate the process of obeying and serving God.

“Well, we need to appoint a committee to make a recommendation to approve the expenditure.”

Yes, there needs to be accountability in our work. (I often do this because I think that it is one of the ways that we learn how to make good decisions together… and share the blame together when we don’t!)

But Jesus did not asked them to organize a “feeding committee” of 3 (1/4 of the disciples). He simply asked them, ‘What do you have to share?’

“Well, the pastor needs to be asked what he thinks about this.”

Granted the disciples did respond to Jesus’ question, but with a hint of (I think) sarcasm and incredulity. “What? Feed them? That’s impossible!”

Jesus did not care what was fed to them he cared that they were feed!

Is someone in need of phone call or a kind word? Make the phone call; say the kind word.

“Is this feeding expense in the budget? Can we do this?”

Who truly has the wealth of the world in His hands? The Lord does! Jesus already was prepared to do His part, if the disciples were to do their part.

(Slide eight) So what does this mean for us in the week ahead?

How do we overcome our fears that keep us from using for God what we already have? Scriptures says, to ‘fear not.’ That is a command of God, not a request.

John Ortberg recalls a scene from the movie Chariots of Fire, where one of the main characters, Harold Abrams, one of England’s leading runners of another generation, is moody and angry after losing to the Scottish runner Eric Liddell, who would later die in a Japanese containment camp during World War 2. It is the first time in his life that Abrams lost a race.

As he sulks his girlfriend, Cybil says to him, “Harold, this is absolutely ridiculous. It’s a race you’ve lost, not a relative. Nobody’s dead.’

Abrams responds in a moan, “I’ve lost.”

“I know. I was there. I remember watching you; it was marvelous. You were marvelous. He was more marvelous, that’s all. On that day the best man won.” She continued, “He was ahead, there was nothing you could have done. He won fair and square.”

“Well that’s that,” he replies.

“If you can’t take a beating, perhaps it’s for the best.”

“I don’t run to take beatings- I run to win!”

Then he shouts, “IF I CAN’T WIN, I WON’T RUN!”

Cybill pauses and then says, “If you don’t run, you can’t win!”

I believe, and I have seen in my life, that we are often afraid of two things: failure… and success!

Fear of both keep us from hoping, trusting, and believing in the Lord. It holds us back from moving forward.

It keeps us from giving what we already have to give when Jesus asks us.

So what is your biggest fear these days? How is it keeping you from giving to Jesus what you already have?

As with the disciples, Jesus asks us to give what we already have… not what we don’t.

And all of us have three things: time, possessions, and abilities that the Lord desires us to give to him and this brings me to our conclusion for this morning.

Three of your bulletins have colored dots located on the main right hand page. Take a moment to look. (One is red, one is yellow, and one is blue.)

(Slide 9) Now, I have three envelopes with the corresponding colors on them. (I do not know that what is which envelope.)

(Slide 9a) In one of them is a blank check for $5.00 with an assignment to take someone to lunch that does not always get to go to lunch. You are to write in your name and cash the check and bring me the receipt for our records.

(Slide 9b) In another one, is an assignment for you to use 60 minutes of your time this week to do something nice for a neighbor or co-worker. It could be some help with housework, to take them somewhere they need to go, or, simply, to spend an hour visiting with them this week.

(Slide 9c) In the third one, is an assignment for you to select either an article of clothing or something that you own, to give either to someone you know could use it or to one of our community agencies. It does not have to be something you need to keep (although…) but perhaps something, like an extra coat, that you can live without.

(Slide 10) Now before I give this envelope to you three this is what I am asking of you:

That you willingly will complete the assignment this week.

That you are here next Sunday and share the results of what happened.

Will you agree?

Hand out the envelopes…

I close with this quote for our reflection:

(Slide 11)

“Someone once said, “God does not call the equipped; He equips the called.” Saying that we are not clever enough, good enough, or talented enough to serve God is just making excuses. All of us have something God can use, even if it’s only a stick. (Think Moses). The question is whether or we will offer whatever stick we have to His service.” Richard Stearns (parenthesis mine)

What is the Spirit saying to you this morning?

Let us prepare to pray…

Sources: The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns; If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg

Back in the 80’s it seemed many books had titles begin with ‘A Theology of…’ For a while now, I have thought someone needs to write a book (or article) with the words ‘A Theology of Failure,’ in it.

Well, I almost titled this blog post ‘Toward a Theology of Failure.’ But, as I began to write ‘reflections’ seem to be a better word to use.

The occasion for this post arise from my current reading of John Ortberg’s book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. Yes, it is based on the gospel account of Peter’s walking toward Jesus on the water during a storm.

As I read chapter 7, ‘That Sinking Feeling,’ Ortberg’s words about failure went deep into my heart and soul and I found myself praying to God about my fear and shame regarding my failures.

So, as I prayed and read; then prayed; then read some more, I began to think about the need to frame a biblical view of failure that neither minimizes nor overstates it.

Ortberg takes us back to King David and his descent into the cave of Adullam where he was to spend about 10 years of his life. “God,” Ortberg goes onto say, “does some of his best work in caves.” He recalls Elijah’s experience after the overwhelming victory on Mt Carmel and, Jesus’ resurrection in the ‘cave’ called a tomb.

As I read, I was struck by Ortberg’s discussion of why we do not learn from our failures and want to sweep them under the rug or bury them deeply within us and not appropriately learn from them. One word – fear and shame. (Okay, two words.)

I also think of perfectionism (something that I have done battle with all my life) and, as does Ortberg, ‘impression management’ when it comes to failure. I do not like to be a failure nor have failure in my life.

But the question that I really have asked over the years is: Is failure, sin?

To me it is. But is it, really?

As I write these words, I recall a very profound personal failure of decades ago that I am realizing I need to learn from but have not because I have been stonewalled by fear and shame (read; denial). Yet as I have read and prayed through Ortberg’s book, I now have a hopeful clarity that learning from this profound failure is one of the ways that God’s grace and mercy can flow freely in my heart and soul in some new ways.

I just wonder, is learning from failure an important spiritual discipline that we need to include in an update list of disciplines? We have confession but do we really do the right kind of confession anymore?

I am not talking about a morbid, soul flailing that causes us to beat ourselves up. (AKA, shaming.)

I am talking about a honest review of what happened with a safe person. Those in the 12-step community, call this, I believe, Steps 4, 5 and even 10.

I am still wrestling with how God can use my failures, and, to me, they seem to be many, to accomplish His good work in and through me. But I am growing less fearful of my failures and more hopeful that they will become pathways to growth instead of walls and barriers to it.

One of the theologies I’m currently struggling with is the working out of my faith. Justification. Regeneration. Spiritual formation. The whole “becoming more like Jesus” thing.  Here is a good essay on the topic by John Ortberg in LeadershipJournal.net.  He doesn’t do much except point out the importance of recognizing and dealing with sin, but he does a great job:

So the question isn’t "How much sin am I allowed?" The question is "Am I moving toward the darkness or toward the light? Am I growing toward God, or away from him? Am I becoming more sensitive and responsive to Jesus?"

Read the essay here.