Essential #6, Love Is - “The Johns”

There’s a local jeweler here in town that advertises on the radio in the way of its owner coming up with what I’m sure he thinks are creative and catchy short snippets/scenarios that are geared toward men. He will use phrases like “that warm fuzzy feeling” or “that twinkle in her eye” in what usually ends up being a corny attempt to describe love, both the love she’ll feel and the love she’ll give after receiving that diamond necklace or those martini stud diamond earrings. In fact, if you pay close attention to advertising in general the word “love” is thrown around quite a bit in an attempt to get the listener/viewer/consumer to think that the love void in their life can be filled with this incredible product, a ride in that car, or a visit to that majestic getaway.

As I’ve often said before, love is used to describe how we feel about everything from a well-cooked steak to a designer purse or a nice pair of shoes. The thing is, no thing in and of itself will ever bring us love. They might serve as expressions or reflections of our love to someone but that about as far as a thing can go. Try and explain that to the consumer-driven culture we live in and you’ll get one of those “which turnip truck did you just fall off of?” looks from your friends.

In addressing the essentials of the faith, John taught us in 1st John, chapter 3 the things that love does. Here in chapter 4, he describes for us in pretty specific detail what exactly Love is. Want a hint? It’s not tied to a piece of jewelry, a car, a getaway, food or new pair of shoes. In fact it’s not tied to a thing at all. It’s not even tied to an experience of any kind. But it is definitely meant for us to know and follow after.

The Johns - Essential #5 - Contrast

My junior high school science teacher, Mrs. Lemons, gave each student in her class a small piece of fabric, a dropper and three small vials, one containing alcohol, one containing muriatic acid, and one containing hydrogen peroxide. She told us to place a drop of each liquid onto the fabric in three different places to see how the fabric would react and then document the results in a report. She explained that this was an exercise in “comparison and contrast,” and that as we observed each reaction and compared and contrasted it with the others, we would be forming scientific opinions based on our findings.

The One who actually created the things that scientists are still studying gave a little “comparison and contrast” lesson Himself one day as He told the parable in Matthew 13 about the weeds growing up next to the wheat and how the contrast between the two would grow greater with time. Early on they would both look similar enough that it would be difficult to tell the difference between the two. But as each shaft grew to maturity, the contrast would be easier to see and when it came time to reap the harvest, the reaper would separate the two, one to be used, one to be burned up. Contrast is an interesting thing to observe among Christ followers in our culture. With some, the contrast is obvious, with others, not so much. In our study through “The Johns,” John brings several essentials to light that every believer should know and practice. This week as he shines the light on contrast, he answers for us what to look for and how to live in light of what we discover. Blending in and sticking out... is it possible to do both at the same time?

Essential #3 - Knowing Our Identity - “The Johns”

As a part of a special group of military trained and programmed assassins, Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon in the Bourne Trilogy of movies) suffers from flashbacks as he recalls several of his missions to “eliminate” individuals because of their supposed threat to national security. Part of his struggle is in trying to remember who he was before he became Jason Bourne, which was only one of several aliases he used. And in trying to re-program his brain to remember who he really was, as a part of working his way “out” of who he had become, he would be forced to mentally revisit and suffer again through the anguish of his “other self” — the trained killer. And all this is occurring while trying to avoid being killed himself by assassins in the very same program he wanted out of and was about to expose. He finally gets a little help from a CIA confidant who tells him his real name is not Jason Bourne but David Webb. That piece of liberating knowledge sets in motion a series of events to bring down the very people who are trying to kill him.

Knowing who we are is essential to becoming who we were intended to be. You see, looking through an earthly lens, we see our lives through a certain set of parameters. And sadly, over time, those very parameters become what define us rather than seeing ourselves as God sees us and choosing to move through life based on that truth. It’s easy for most Christ followers to see what we’re not — our enemy the devil sees to that on a regular basis. The real challenge comes in realizing who He says we are, according to scripture, and adjusting our beliefs, behaviors and plans around that truth in a way that liberates us and glorifies God at the same time.

Essential #2 - Hearing the Holy Spirit - The Johns

The fascination in our culture with the “spirit world” is curious and, I must admit sometimes, even quite comical. The fact that there’s a cable channel with 24/7 programming about the paranormal that can attract viewers and commercial sponsors is telling in and of itself. While channel surfing, I’ve occasionally stopped there for a minute or two to see what they’re up to and how they describe what they are experiencing and, in some cases, even supposedly measuring what relates to ghostly activity. While I must admit, I don’t believe in ghosts or “spirits” coming back from the dead, I still can’t ignore the lure that it has to some, and evidently enough to keep a full time cable channel on the air and real life “ghostbusters” traveling around from supposedly haunted place to place getting paid to analyze such things.

Whether it’s fascination or fear, when you bring up the Holy Spirit in a conversation (or Holy Ghost depending on your church background) you’re usually going to get a reaction. More often than not someone will probably look at their watch or smartphone and realize that something has suddenly come up that they simply must attend to. But some will want to hear about the story, the experience, the encounter. Is it really possible that the God of the Universe can take on the form of an invisible Spirit and bring about supernatural results from otherwise normal people in normal circumstances? Francis Chan’s book, Forgotten God is an excellent resource to help answer that question from a biblical perspective.

In 1st John 2 though, he refers to the Holy Spirit of God as “the anointing,” an intriguing description to be sure. Even more intriguing is how he describes what “the anointing” does. Wooooo!

Essential #1 - Obedience - The Johns

In the movie, A Few Good Men, Col. Nathan Jessop, played by Jack Nicholson, emphatically testifies in court to Lt. Daniel Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise, that as marines, “we follow orders... we follow orders or people die.” In essence saying that obedience is not optional as a marine and if obedience is not the norm, the consequences can be severe, even grave. As I shared with you last week, the emphasis from “The Johns” (the books of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John) is, I believe, on the essentials of the faith, the four or five things that every believer should know and should make sure they get right.

Our world has incrementally become a complex maze of options and relationships, personal, professional and social. Just think of the expanded choices you have in the last few years alone when it comes to technology, entertainment and medicine, among a zillion other things. Sadly though, that complexity has often found its way into our respective walks with Christ. We look at that relationship and often see the things that we don’t know instead of the things we do and it can be overwhelming at times.

Obedience is something that’s relatively simple to understand, even a toddler can get it, but can be hard to put into practice, given the number of options and choices in front of us at the time. So how do we know what to be obedient to? And, is there a way to measure whether I’m getting it right? Whether I’m making the wise choice? The Godly choice? Well, John says yes there is and it’s simpler than you might think.

Follow the Leader - The Johns

Resumes are supposed to tell us the things we need to know before hiring someone to fill a job opening. Hopefully, if everything looks good on paper, we’re called in for a face to face interview. It’s becoming less and less important, however, that a resume tell the whole story of a person’s readiness for the position. In fact, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, more and more employers are putting less and less stock in how someone looks on paper and more and more stock in the use of social media to really get an accurate picture of someone. Their reasons were centered around the two things that social media often bring to light. First, though a picture may not really say a thousand words, a collection of photos actually might. And secondly, what someone posts often says more about what they value than what one could ever glean from a resume.

As we open the wrapper on “the Johns,” we begin with a glimpse at the resume of their writer, John the Disciple, the Apostle, the follower of Jesus. He’s basically saying, “We’re about to take a journey together, and I want you to know who’s about to lead you on the journey. Because if you can’t trust the leader, don’t waste your time on the journey.” His journey is to bring crystal clear and simple definition to the four or five most essential elements of living life as a Christ follower. He’s basically saying, “when you get these things right, everything else will take its proper place.”

Ever asked someone to follow your example on something? It’s a humbling and sobering invitation to be sure, but John’s example is worth following... ours should be too.

All In - Pete’s In

In high school I had a class called Bachelor’s Home-Ec. While I never really saw myself being a bachelor as an adult, you never know when you’re going to need to sew up a hole in a pair of jeans or whip up some egg whites for the meringue on a pie. Anyway, among the things we were taught was what was or was not socially appropriate public conversation. At the dinner table for example (after making sure the salad fork was on the outside and the dessert spoon over the top of the plate) it was seen as socially inappropriate to discuss politics, religion or any gossip about someone that everyone at the table might be familiar with. In other words, what was socially acceptable was thin veneered conversation about things that have little significance in the grand scheme of life. A difficult thing for most, but certainly for me.

I doubt the disciple Peter would have fared very well in my Bachelor’s Home-Ec class, not according to the picture the scripture paints of him anyway. Not only did he have a question or opinion about a lot of things, he wasn’t shy about making them known to the rest of the group, or anybody else for that matter. However, what he lacked in sophistication, he more than made up for in fortitude. He was impulsive, brash and crude, but you never had to wonder where he stood on things. Whether he was defending Jesus, as he did with a knife against the Roman soldiers who came to arrest Him, or denying Him, as he would do only a few hours later, one thing was for certain, he was emphatic about it, he was all in.

While it’s initially hard to grasp what Jesus saw in Simon when he changed his name to Peter, the rock, and told him that He would be the catalyst for building what would become the new testament church, I understand it more today as a church planter. Jesus was less concerned about Peter’s social inappropriateness and more interested in his tenacity. He knew he would need it for what was to come. Because what was to come for Pete, and sometimes for us, would require someone who is all in.

All In - Abe’s In

This week’s message has had me reflecting on my own father and the many things I gleaned from his life. One of the things that was of paramount importance to him, and has become so to me, was that a man should always be as good as his word. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Or if you know you can’t follow through with it ahead of time then never commit to it or to them in the first place. Your word matters. It’s what you’re known for... or not, and both he and I would rather be known to keep it than to waffle on it or ignore it all together. Why? Because what’s always tied to a person’s word is the principle of trust. If I can’t trust your word, I probably can’t trust you. However if your word is good, then your actions, your attitude, your means and your motives usually are as well. There were a number of instances where I learned to lock that lesson away, whether I was observing a situation between he and someone else or whether it was between him and me. What he knew then that I didn’t discover until years later is that that life lesson, among many others, is not only ethical, but spiritual as well. If I can’t trust the word of my physical father, how in the world am I going to learn to trust what my spiritual Father says? And for that reason, and thousands of others... I miss my dad. I wish I could sit down and smoke a cigar with him and ask his opinions on a lot of things, not the least of which is this broken world we live in and how we got here.

This Sunday, we’re going to unwrap one of the greatest father and son stories in history between Abraham and his son Isaac. Off the charts love, admiration, respect, trust and more, and why? Because when Abraham is “in,” he’s “all in.” He’s going all the way or not at all. And when a dad learns a life lesson that the son is there to see, it’s powerful for the both of them and for everyone they’ll ever know.

All In - All In Sisters

If there is one thing I’ve learned in almost 40 years of ministry, it’s that loss is the great equalizer. Loss has a way of cutting to the core and revealing who and what someone really is or isn’t rather quickly, whether it’s a job, a marriage, or a loved one. Some fall apart, some are shaken but manage to keep going, others, at least on the surface, act like nothing happened and appear oblivious to the consequences of the pain that the loss opened up. The reality though is that, though it may look different from person to person and situation to situation, loss affects everybody involved in one way or another. Our response to loss usually depends on whether or not, or to what degree that the job, the marriage, or the loved one defined who we are or were. If those are or were at the center of our world then our world is seriously shaken when we lose them, if not, then we learn to grieve, adjust, and move forward.

A lot of people get mad at God as a result of loss, as though being a child of God should somehow insulate us from pain or hurt. However, what we’re going to see in this Sunday’s teaching is that Jesus Himself not only experienced the same pain or hurt loss can bring, but modeled for us, along with His friends Mary and Martha, how that even deep loss can be a teachable moment and an opportunity for God to receive glory, even from the darkest of circumstances. Being on the losing end of jobs or relationships can certainly be devastating, but it doesn’t have to defeat us nor define us. It didn’t have that effect on Mary and Martha after losing their brother Lazarus. Why? Because they were “all in” before Lazarus’ death and, as we’ll see on Sunday, even more so afterward. You see their brother wasn’t at the center of their universe, their Lord was. Were they hurt? Absolutely and deeply. But the lesson they were about to learn from an “all in” faith was about to rock their world. The thing is... they were more than ready for it.