Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished. ~Michael Strassfeld
I recently bought a book from Barns and Noble titled “generation ME” that paints a very accurate picture of how individualistic our generation is, how “me” centered our mindset really is. This book challenged me and shook me because at the very core of the Gospel is the opposite of this. How can we be Kingdom bringers if we think and live this way? Since we are living in the “Me” culture I’m just wondering if perhaps our individualistic, consumeristic, western minds have distorted the once pure term and act of serving, and just perhaps we’re missing the point? Maybe we need to re-think this whole thing, just maybe we need to start from the beginning and ask what is it after all, what is serving? What are the origins of this term?
Luke 10
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.
Here in the text Jesus adds something that we cannot miss, for thousands of years the Jewish nation was instructed to love the lord, to obey his commands, however Jesus now begins to fulfill the call on his life as he helps his audience see that its not just about the vertical, its also about the horizontal line of love. This prayer, is what good Jews would say 3 times a day, and then Jesus adds the final part of “love your neighbor as yourself.” When we are rooted in the identity of servants we serve, God and those around us.
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
As Jesus told this story you can only imagine how angry the Jews were who heard this, for this wasn’t just any story! Jews hated Samaritans and believed that they couldn’t do anything right, for they were half breeds, and when a Jew would even say the word Samaritan he or she would spit on the ground to get that word off their “chosen” lips. Also within the story we see Jesus intentionally highlight two of the most religious groups within Judaism, a Priest and a Levite. Two people that their culture looked onto and believed that they had it all together, which brings us to a question. Is it possible to look and act religious and completely miss the point? Is it possible to say the right things, read the right books, hang with the “right” people and consistently miss opportunities to love those around you?
So what is serving?
Serving has to become something we are, not something we do. I love this passage in Luke because it’s clear that the Good Samaritan served on his way, served as he was traveling. He didn’t look on his calendar and see that it was Saturday and thus it meant it was time to go serve. No! He was on his way, doing his life and there on the “other side” was a person he could love, a need he could meet, and he met it.
Serving is not just something that we do, serving is who we are!
Being a servant is part of our Identity because it was HIS identity, and as members, heirs, servants in the Kingdom we live a life of service because that is what this Kingdom is all about. Jesus was clear about this, “I did not come to be served, but to serve” how about you? How about me?
I am continually frustrated with Christmas, because we miss the point; we miss the chance to recalibrate our lives and lifestyles to that of Christ. Instead of our 1st question being who did you serve, our 1st question is what did you get? Do you see this?
Maybe we can stand out in a culture of “me” thinking and re-claim what this season is all about, and stand for what Christ was all about.
The hero is the one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light. ~Felix Adler
Lets be a light this Christmas season!
Merry Christmas.
Jon
Friday, December 21, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Truly Living
This past week I was finishing up watching the #5 movie on my top 5 list of all time favorites, that film being the one and only Braveheart. Its been a year or so since I’ve seen it and something this time grabbed my heart once again, seeing the quest for freedom, the desire to liberate others, and the commitment to use our one and only life for something great. As William Wallace’s life is coming to a close he makes a statement to Princess Isabella, “every man dies, but not every man truly lives.” This is so true, and incredibly sad as well. How many of us will go through this life standing on the sidelines, never risking, never stepping out in faith, never defending our cause, unwilling to give it all to see the Kingdom advance?
Last month I was invited into the home of a fellow co-worker here at Willow. I had been hearing about this guy named Jeff for some time, his vision for starting the Regional’s, and his oversight of our Chapter Two fundraising campaign are two of some the top achievements and innovative thinking our church has done in the past 6 years. I pulled into his drive way in Arlington Heights with a hope to learn from him and ask questions. I sat with Jeff for a couple of hours listening to his story, one that gripped me and compelled me in a powerful way. Jeff shared with me how he had advanced quite a bit in the business world and felt God leading him to resign from his huge salary and work for free at Willow, helping us move forward as a church. I of course pushed for clarity, restating what he just said, “Jeff so your telling me that you left your huge income with a wife and kids, and a mortgage trusting God and risking for the Kingdom?” Jeff responded incredibly humbly as if it was no big deal, but that day I saw a real life William Wallace in front of me, one who was truly living. Jeff went on to say that he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and was still in the fight, fighting each day for his life. My time with him was amazing, I learned incredible insight on church leadership, regional philosophy, team building techniques, but I also learned something that day that I’ll never forget. Each day we are faced with a decision to make whether we like it or not, that being will we truly live today? Will we fight? Will we give everything we have to see and pray that the Kingdom of God prevails?
This morning I stopped by a buddies office at work, and was told that last night Jeff went home to be with our Lord. I’ve experienced an array of emotions today, I’ve been sad, I’ve cried, I’ve been angry and also so inspired by Jeff’s life.
What will our decision be? Will we truly live?
Please pray for Jeff’s family, his wife and kids are going through a ton and can really use our prayer!
Jon
Last month I was invited into the home of a fellow co-worker here at Willow. I had been hearing about this guy named Jeff for some time, his vision for starting the Regional’s, and his oversight of our Chapter Two fundraising campaign are two of some the top achievements and innovative thinking our church has done in the past 6 years. I pulled into his drive way in Arlington Heights with a hope to learn from him and ask questions. I sat with Jeff for a couple of hours listening to his story, one that gripped me and compelled me in a powerful way. Jeff shared with me how he had advanced quite a bit in the business world and felt God leading him to resign from his huge salary and work for free at Willow, helping us move forward as a church. I of course pushed for clarity, restating what he just said, “Jeff so your telling me that you left your huge income with a wife and kids, and a mortgage trusting God and risking for the Kingdom?” Jeff responded incredibly humbly as if it was no big deal, but that day I saw a real life William Wallace in front of me, one who was truly living. Jeff went on to say that he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and was still in the fight, fighting each day for his life. My time with him was amazing, I learned incredible insight on church leadership, regional philosophy, team building techniques, but I also learned something that day that I’ll never forget. Each day we are faced with a decision to make whether we like it or not, that being will we truly live today? Will we fight? Will we give everything we have to see and pray that the Kingdom of God prevails?
This morning I stopped by a buddies office at work, and was told that last night Jeff went home to be with our Lord. I’ve experienced an array of emotions today, I’ve been sad, I’ve cried, I’ve been angry and also so inspired by Jeff’s life.
What will our decision be? Will we truly live?
Please pray for Jeff’s family, his wife and kids are going through a ton and can really use our prayer!
Jon
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Freedom
Freedom!
Last March I had the amazing opportunity to go on an overseas mission’s trip to South Africa. The 22 hour plane flight left my feet swollen but allowed me to catch up on the latest flicks out in Hollywood. Seriously my feet swelled so much that I couldn’t even fit them into my sandals. As the plane touched down in Johannesburg I was aware that I was in for a life changing, world view altering experience. We traveled around Jo-burg meeting with people, helping kids, and serving those who will not live to see 2008 due to the AIDS pandemic. After a week we headed down to Cape Town to serve in the community of Kayamude. The size of this community is about the acreage of Willow’s campus yet 25,000 Africans live there and experience extreme poverty and oppression on a daily basis. It was amazing to see all that God has done through Willow over the last three years, from donating money, to volunteer support and prayer. In the very center of this town was a community center call Kuyasa run by the most amazing couple I’ve ever met. This couple served with their kids along side Mother Teresa for some time in Calcutta and felt called by God to return to their homeland and start a community center that would cater to the holistic needs of that community.
Kuyasa in their language speaks of light breaking through the dawn, as the prophet Isaiah wrote about in the 58th chapter of Isaiah. We spent a week at that community center helping with various things, mostly really really hard manual labor. The more we served and worked among these people the more I saw of God, the more I was able to peer into his Global heart for all people. My last day there we had finished all the jobs that were asked of us and began to look at the road that led into the community center. This road or driveway was really not a whole lot to look at, for all practical purposes it was just a dirt driveway that led to this amazing refuge of hope. For some reason I grabbed a thick bristled broom, the ones you would find at home depot and began to sweep the driveway. I have no idea why I did this, I’ve never been much of a sweeper, perhaps it was to just look busy. But after about 10 minutes of sweeping dirt I saw something. Appearing through the dirt was what looked like to be a brick, I couldn’t quite figure out why a brick would be under the dirt but then again I’d been finding all kinds of buried stuff all week. The sweeping continued and the more I swept the dirt and caked mud away the more I saw. The one brick was now two or three, and you can imagine the intensity of my sweeping increased. Now by this time I recruited some friends to come and help me, I could only do so much on my own. So a few friends began sweeping as well and after an hour or so we discovered that these were not just bricks but a cobble stone driveway. The leaders of the center were blown away because for the past three years they had no idea that such beauty lied beneath the surface, it just needed to be discovered.
Over the past 6 months I’ve been making my way through the book “Waking the Dead” by John Eldridge and three weeks ago I came to the section where he discussed a verse found in Proverbs 4 that says “above all else guard your hearts for it’s the wellspring of life.” I’ve been thinking about this verse for going on three weeks now and during a prayer walk recently God reminded me of how he came here to earth to “give life, and give it to the full”, He came to Awaken our hearts, to free us, to call out the greatness and beauty that resides in each heart of his beloved. So what does it look like to guard our hearts? I have been wrestling with this and have found that so many of us have dirt and mud that restricts our hearts. Most of us really do want to live life to its full but it seems like our hearts wont allow us to. God has also been revealing to me that I constantly need to grab the “thick bristled broom” in my life and do some serious sweeping or cleaning however not in isolation. On the contrary invite others to help me in this process. To really trust and lean into God’s redemptive community knowing and trusting that true beauty lies beneath.
Can you imagine what your life would look like if you walked free? Can you picture God using you in the lives of others? I hope and pray that as we finish this year, we can reflect on the status of our hearts.
“William your heart is free, now have the courage to follow it.”
-Braveheart
Last March I had the amazing opportunity to go on an overseas mission’s trip to South Africa. The 22 hour plane flight left my feet swollen but allowed me to catch up on the latest flicks out in Hollywood. Seriously my feet swelled so much that I couldn’t even fit them into my sandals. As the plane touched down in Johannesburg I was aware that I was in for a life changing, world view altering experience. We traveled around Jo-burg meeting with people, helping kids, and serving those who will not live to see 2008 due to the AIDS pandemic. After a week we headed down to Cape Town to serve in the community of Kayamude. The size of this community is about the acreage of Willow’s campus yet 25,000 Africans live there and experience extreme poverty and oppression on a daily basis. It was amazing to see all that God has done through Willow over the last three years, from donating money, to volunteer support and prayer. In the very center of this town was a community center call Kuyasa run by the most amazing couple I’ve ever met. This couple served with their kids along side Mother Teresa for some time in Calcutta and felt called by God to return to their homeland and start a community center that would cater to the holistic needs of that community.
Kuyasa in their language speaks of light breaking through the dawn, as the prophet Isaiah wrote about in the 58th chapter of Isaiah. We spent a week at that community center helping with various things, mostly really really hard manual labor. The more we served and worked among these people the more I saw of God, the more I was able to peer into his Global heart for all people. My last day there we had finished all the jobs that were asked of us and began to look at the road that led into the community center. This road or driveway was really not a whole lot to look at, for all practical purposes it was just a dirt driveway that led to this amazing refuge of hope. For some reason I grabbed a thick bristled broom, the ones you would find at home depot and began to sweep the driveway. I have no idea why I did this, I’ve never been much of a sweeper, perhaps it was to just look busy. But after about 10 minutes of sweeping dirt I saw something. Appearing through the dirt was what looked like to be a brick, I couldn’t quite figure out why a brick would be under the dirt but then again I’d been finding all kinds of buried stuff all week. The sweeping continued and the more I swept the dirt and caked mud away the more I saw. The one brick was now two or three, and you can imagine the intensity of my sweeping increased. Now by this time I recruited some friends to come and help me, I could only do so much on my own. So a few friends began sweeping as well and after an hour or so we discovered that these were not just bricks but a cobble stone driveway. The leaders of the center were blown away because for the past three years they had no idea that such beauty lied beneath the surface, it just needed to be discovered.
Over the past 6 months I’ve been making my way through the book “Waking the Dead” by John Eldridge and three weeks ago I came to the section where he discussed a verse found in Proverbs 4 that says “above all else guard your hearts for it’s the wellspring of life.” I’ve been thinking about this verse for going on three weeks now and during a prayer walk recently God reminded me of how he came here to earth to “give life, and give it to the full”, He came to Awaken our hearts, to free us, to call out the greatness and beauty that resides in each heart of his beloved. So what does it look like to guard our hearts? I have been wrestling with this and have found that so many of us have dirt and mud that restricts our hearts. Most of us really do want to live life to its full but it seems like our hearts wont allow us to. God has also been revealing to me that I constantly need to grab the “thick bristled broom” in my life and do some serious sweeping or cleaning however not in isolation. On the contrary invite others to help me in this process. To really trust and lean into God’s redemptive community knowing and trusting that true beauty lies beneath.
Can you imagine what your life would look like if you walked free? Can you picture God using you in the lives of others? I hope and pray that as we finish this year, we can reflect on the status of our hearts.
“William your heart is free, now have the courage to follow it.”
-Braveheart
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