Follow Me: An Old Call to a New Life

Follow Me: An Old Call to a New Life

Jesus calls us to be salt and light, but what does that really look like?

 What relevance does this have today?  What are we to do in those days when

we are not feeling like a disciple?

Follow Me: An Old Call to a New Life

Lots of us in this room have met Jesus. And lots of us believe that he’s pretty great and maybe we even believe that Jesus can change the world. But so many of us meet this life-changing, world-changing person of Jesus… and then we just go back to the same old nets*. The old nets of people pleasing, of pretending to be something we’re not to avoid rejection. The old nets of judgmentalism when we’re feeling inadequate about ourselves. The old nets of workaholism because we’re not sure we matter without it. The old nets of trying to control our future or the futures of those we love.

Like Ruth, immigrants to the United States are often seen as problems to be managed, rather than people to be supported. But in the same way that God loves the orphan, the widow, and the impoverished, God also makes it crystal clear that he loves people just like Ruth -- people just like you and just like me -- people whose hunt for their true home has put them into vulnerable situations. (Deut 10:19) And just like God loved and protected us when we were foreigners to Him, we are invited to love and protect those like Ruth who are foreigners among us. Matter of fact, welcoming the Ger’im — the immigrant — is one of the most often repeated commandments in scripture, appearing 92 times, with only the imperatives “do not be afraid” and "worship only the Lord your God” appearing more frequently. God commands his people -- us -- to love and protect those who are like Ruth, the immigrants making home among us.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Fostering relationships is hard work. Today, friendship can be traded or dropped with a single text. So many of us feel lonely every day and self-medicate to keep pressing on. It's costly to "lay down my life for my friend." What should it look like and how can I find the strength to do it?

Anne Lamott said it well: “You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” We don’t have to go far in the Christian life before we’re impacted by this kind of polarization - either by giving it or receiving it but usually both - and the entire character and dignity of another person gets reduced to a nameless, faceless “other” which makes it easier to marginalize them and dismiss their views. So many of us do this. I do this. And when this becomes our way of interacting with the world? We end up with a culture of culture wars, where people no longer feel safe to dialogue, or to learn and ask questions… or to explore new opinions, or to be who they truly are.