Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Love Each Other

I got a lesson yesterday in puppy love -- let me explain. I took our dog, Lucy 2.0, to the vet yesterday for her annual check-up and vaccinations and, when the vet’s assistant picked her up to set her on the exam table she started shaking, I’m assuming in anxiety or fear. I say, I’m assuming because, in all our previous trips to the vet, she had never done that before. So, I got up and suggested that the assistant step aside and let me try to calm her down. Talking to her during the process, I put one arm around her chest and the other arm around her torso and pulled her into my chest and she immediately stopped trembling. The vet looked at me, smiled and said, “You’ve got a sweetheart that loves you a lot.” I gave her an inquisitive look and she explained, “She feels safe with you because you’ve earned her trust and her love.” The vet went on with the exam, drew some blood, and gave her three shots and Lucy never once flinched. We aren’t gushing pet parents by any stretch but Lucy must recognize that she is loved and cared for because she is. For goodness sake, she lives in dog heaven, with plenty of room to run and play, explore, or chase critters, then, at the end of the day, lays down to sleep on her own memory foam bed at night. We should all have it so good, but in our relationship with Lucy, the love goes both ways.

That’s what we’ll be digging into together on Sunday as we put a wrap on Disciples or Tag-alongs by examining how true disciples are to love one another. In fact, our love for each other is probably the most compelling evidence of our relationship to God. So is that easy to recognize in your relationships with others or not so much?

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Set Free

Growing up I loved school. Recess, lunch, and PE were my favorites but I just liked being at school with friends and I did like learning things, especially things I was actually interested in. Then came 7th grade, my first year of Junior High. Everything changed - the location for school, the schedule in multiple classes instead of just one, with multiple teachers instead of just one, and I was okay, even somewhat excited about that part. What I didn’t expect was that it would be harder, with actual homework and more accountability. Elementary school came easy for me and I was expecting to just breeze into and through Junior High with the same level of commitment required. Boy was I wrong. I recall a conversation with my 4th period math teacher who had just assigned quite a bit of homework. I explained that I had already received homework assignments from my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period teachers that day, to which he responded, “Sounds like you’d better get to work as soon as you get home then.” I learned to adjust somewhat as the year went on but 7th grade still felt like a prison sentence to me and as spring arrived I began counting down the days to the last day of school in anticipation of FREEDOM. I remember grabbing the lock off my locker, running out the door and all the way home... uphill... both ways. Then when I got home I remembered that I would have to go to work at my dad’s grocery store all summer and part of me wanted to be back in school again.

We’ve all probably encountered situations in life that, whether it really was or not, felt like bondage to us and all we could focus on was freedom. As disciples, learners, students, mimics, copy-cats, who are seeking to walk with Jesus on a deeper level, freedom is there for the taking. However, the deceiver doesn’t want you to see it and will do everything he can to keep us in bondage, whether perceived or real.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Fruit-bearers

Several years ago I was sitting in the front breezeway of a house in Nicaragua sharing Jesus with a 70-75 year old grandmother, her daughter, and her teenage grandson. I was trying to explain to them how a sovereign God had planned ahead of time for us to be there and have that conversation, even before any of us were born. Recognizing a look of confusion on her face, I pointed to the mango tree in her front yard and asked her if that tree produced mangos all year round. She shook her head no and I asked her, “So who decides when that tree produces mangos?” “Nature does,” she responded in Spanish. I continued by asking, “And who decides when the fruit is ripe and ready to be picked?” Seeing where I was going, she responded with, “God does.” I looked around for a ladder and, not seeing one, I asked, “So you have to wait until the mangos hit the ground and then quickly collect them before any animals or bugs get to them?” “Si,” she said. “So there is a season, a window of time, when you have to be ready if you want to harvest the mangos off that tree, and it’s a season you don’t have any control over but that God, through sun and rain, brings to pass according to His plan and in His time.” She smiled and nodded yes. I went on to explain how that same God that caused that tree to produce fruit in its time and according to His plan had planned this time for us to be there telling her about a relationship with Jesus. I told her, her daughter, and grandson that the church nearby that we were there with, as well as us, had already been praying for that visit weeks, even months ahead of time. “For us?” she asked, pointing to her daughter and grandson. “Si,” I responded. “Then tell us about this Jesus,” she said. We did and the three of them became kingdom fruit that afternoon.

For a disciple of Jesus, bearing fruit is about seeing and seizing those opportunities that God has ordained ahead of time and preparing for them ahead of time.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Givers

Our family spent Halloween evening at my daughter’s house, as has been the case for the last few years, enjoying a meal, the fellowship with each other and setting up camp in their front yard to hand out candy and watch the grandkids. The handing out candy portion of the event has normally been an adult kind of thing but this year, my grandson Henry wanted to get in on the candy distribution. After going out into their neighborhood for a few minutes to trick or treat and collect candy for himself, he came back home and grabbed one of the buckets of candy and headed out to the sidewalk with the proclamation, “Trick or treat, come get your candy here!” It was what followed that let the rest of us know that Henry is a giver. We adults would typically hand out a piece or two to each trick or treater but not this guy. He would reach into the bucket and grab as many pieces as his little hands could hold and drop it into their bags, even occasionally double-dipping for a bigger kid or two, and even chasing down some of the smaller kids who might be a little unsure of his eagerness to share. I had fun watching him give in abundance to any “customers,” as he called them, that walked by that night. When I was his age, I was far more interested in filling up my own bag than putting a heaping helping into someone else’s for sure.

He gave willingly, abundantly, even joyfully. What about you? How easily do you give of yourself to others, whether it’s your time, your abilities or even your money? I watched my dad give groceries from his store to several families that couldn’t afford them over the years, knowing that there was a time in his life when he didn’t know where his next meal was coming from. Giving has to be taught, especially since we are born with a nature to please ourselves, but it can be and should be. In fact, disciples of Jesus should be the ones leading the way, especially when you consider how much He has already given us.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are All In

My first and only experience with a snapping turtle was at a summer youth camp when I was a kid and was thankfully a few feet away. Far enough that I was in no danger but definitely close enough to get my attention. One of the camp directors saw the turtle near the bank of the lake we were swimming in and decided to catch it and kill it before any of the campers found it and did something stupid or got hurt. So, he found a stick nearby and began prodding the turtle to see if it would snap and lock onto the stick. Well it did but it ended up snapping the stick in two... twice. So he went to a nearby storage cabin and brought back a steel rake to try. Sure enough, the turtle snapped onto the rake handle and then he raised the turtle up out of the water for those of us standing around to see. Then he pulled a revolver out of his hip pocket and shot the turtle once... twice... three times, and shockingly that turtle was still tightly latched onto the rake handle. He then laid the rake and the turtle on the ground and put three more shots into the turtle (two into it’s head) but that thing would not let go. He finally had to retrieve a crow bar to get the now dead turtle loose from the rake handle. The lesson from that story? Snapping turtles are All In. No doubt about it, when they clamp those jaws down onto something they are not about to let go... dead or alive.

I wonder as people look at our lives from the outside if they can clearly see that we are first of all disciples of Jesus. Then would they see a devotion, a tenacity that would lead them to believe that, regardless of the circumstance, we’re not going to let go of Him? So much of our lives, whether believers or unbelievers, are tied up in our own comfort and convenience and that has a way of filtering into our faith journey as well. We’ll hang on to God pretty tight when we’re in crisis but tend to be the captain of our own vessel when life is working the way we want. Cross bearing? “No thanks” is what most of us would say, but that’s just what Jesus tells disciples of His is going to be a part of their journey if they are going to follow after Him.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Vulnerable

If you are like me there are a number of times in a person’s life when they feel vulnerable. I remember feeling vulnerable as I started Jr. High and High School, and again when I fell in love with and married my beautiful and talented wife. I felt vulnerable when our two girls were born, and again when they both started school. I felt that way again when we got a late night call that our oldest daughter had been in a near fatal car accident in Nashville and our prayers for her as we drove through the wee hours wondering what we would encounter when we got to the hospital. More recently, I felt vulnerable over a 3 month period in 2018 when I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer, and underwent surgery to remove my prostate. The point I’m trying to make is that there are times in all of our lives when we feel vulnerable because we are seemingly being carried along by circumstances that are beyond our control and there seems to be nothing we can do to either predict or alter the outcome such that we feel safe or in control again.

As we will see this coming Sunday in our series Disciples or Tag-alongs, one of the requirements of a true disciple of Jesus is that they learn how to handle vulnerability when the way gets hard and it seems that there is no one in our corner. As Jesus sent the disciples out with a clear and brief message, as we saw last week, He describes the circumstances He is sending them into as looking like sending “sheep among wolves.” Ever felt like a sheep among wolves? Me too and it’s absolutely no fun but living and walking in this world as a disciple of Jesus is not for the faint of heart. One of the great lessons though that follows our willingness to walk toward vulnerability instead of running away from it, is the real peace that comes from knowing there is a sovereign God in charge who sees us, knows every detail of our situation, and is at work in us and through us to others. Hang on as we discover what vulnerability really is and isn’t as we strive to be Followers, Harvesters, and Messengers who are willing to let go of the reigns.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Messengers

Our third grade class was out on the playground plying kickball when one of the girls fell and skinned both of her knees on her way to first base. Our teacher told James to run inside the school to the nurse’s office and tell her to bring her first aid kit to the playground. Then she took several tissues out of her sweater pocket (Ever wondered why all elementary school teachers carry a pocket full of tissues?) and applied pressure to her knees to try and stop the bleeding. James, on his way to the nurse’s office, saw a friend cleaning chalk board erasers at the machine outside her office and stopped to help. After that, he had to use the restroom and then when he finally got to the nurse’s office, she had already gotten word about the fall and was gone to the playground to help. When James got back to the playground, our teacher ripped into him pretty good and rightfully so. She told him, “I gave you one job, you were a messenger with an urgent message and you totally dropped the ball.” James realized the significance of what he had done and walked over and apologized to the girl. I don’t know that it made her feel any better but I’m confident he got the message either way because he seemed pretty remorseful.

As I look around today at those of us who would call ourselves disciples of Jesus I would think that my third grade teacher’s admonishment probably applies to most of us. We are indeed messengers with an urgent message to tell that is largely going untold. It would do each of us good to regularly ask ourselves the question, “Whose lives may hang in the balance waiting on me to share the good news with them?” A family member? A neighbor? Someone at work? Sometimes the messages are lived out and sometimes they are given a voice but hopefully both are true of us over time.

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Harvesters

Last night was Taco Wednesday (I know I’m a day late) at our house and the best part about taco night or fajita night is what comes with it... homemade salsa. Since we started making our own salsa a number of years ago from friend’s recipe, we have become salsa snobs. We’ve tried to like store bought, and even restaurant salsa, but none of them measure up. It all starts with fresh Roma tomatoes from one our raised beds out back (more on that later) to which we add a can of Rotel, some fresh garlic, fresh onion, fresh cilantro and chives. Throw that in the food processor with a healthy dose of salt and voila’, killer salsa. We use Roma tomatoes because they are meatier with less liquid and we grow them out back in one of our raised beds. In addition to the Romas, we also grow some cherry tomatoes, (tommy toes) some sandwich tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, okra, green onions, romaine lettuce and strawberries. Everything except the strawberries we plant every year and do the 3 Ws; wait, water, and watch. What I like best about the beds is eating what comes out of them but what my wife likes best, in addition to the harvest itself, is watching it all grow, bloom and bear. When it’s time to harvest she goes to the beds every afternoon when she gets home to see what’s ready to be picked and what needs another day or two. I enjoy seeing her passion as a harvester and watching her enjoy seeing the 3 Ws come to fruition.

Did you know that, as disciples of Jesus, we are all called to be harvesters? Only it’s not okra or tomatoes we are to be harvesting but people. Just like produce, people have to be planted, watered, weeded occasionally, and nurtured along until it’s time to harvest them too. What are the best ways to do that? What are the tools needed for the job and how do you know when harvest time comes? Well, some of that is knowable and some of it is a matter of faith in trusting the Holy Spirit to bring readiness to their hearts and minds in His time but I want to know the knowable parts though don’t you?

Disciples or Tag-alongs? - Disciples Are Followers

My mom was not having a dog in the house, it was just that simple. You see, I had found a small puppy wandering the alley on a warm summer afternoon about a block or so from our house that I thought needed a home... our home. But when I introduced him to mom and asked if we could keep him, she said that I would have to ask my dad when he got home from work and warned me that he would probably say no. Until that time, I had gotten the puppy, whom I had already named Fluffy, a left-over piece of toast from breakfast and a bowl of fresh water. After that, Fluffy followed me everywhere I went, even to the point of trying to keep up with me as I rode my bike up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. Shockingly, when he got home, dad said that I could keep Fluffy for a few days as a trial period to see how he would behave or if perhaps it had been lost from someone in the neighborhood. As I said earlier, mom was a hard no on letting him stay inside so I made him a bed on our back stoop with an old towel that he seemed to take to. The next morning he was at the back door waiting on me and we played together all day with him again following me everywhere. The next morning... gone, nowhere to be found as I searched the neighborhood around our house for a couple of hours trying to find him. Mom could see how disappointed I was when I got home and explained to me how loyalty works, that it is learned and developed over time and can’t be bought with a piece of left-over toast and a warm towel. I thought I had a buddy, a loyal follower, but I learned that an immature puppy, like an immature person, can have a short attention span and an even shorter memory.

As we begin examining whether we are really Disciples of Jesus or religious Tag-alongs over the next several weeks, we will take a look at what it means to be a follower. Does your willingness to follow have to be packaged with enticements or are you “all in” regardless of your circumstances?

Forgiven - To Share in Forgiveness

My mom was one of eight children raised, for most of their childhood, by a single mom during the depression who took in washing and ironing to try and make ends meet. She told me a story once about her mom going to bed one night and hearing her pray more fervently than normal, knowing that there was no food in the house to feed her children breakfast the next morning before sending them to school. When morning came and the children were all around the table and waiting for breakfast, she told them that there was no food in the house for breakfast that morning and that they were going to pray and thank God for His blessings and for meeting their needs so many times before and ask him to provide. A few seconds into their prayer came a knock at the door. She told the children to keep praying and left to see who was at the door. When she opened the door she saw a neighbor lady standing there with a large bowl full of hot oatmeal who said that she had accidently fixed too much and wondered if they could use it. With tears in her eyes, granny thanked her and carried the oatmeal to the kitchen and told her children that the Lord had provided for their breakfast that day and the next as well.

Had the neighbor lady not been compelled to share what she had, not only would my mom and her siblings gone to school hungry that day, their faith would likely have taken a hit as well. You see, Granny had placed the responsibility to provide for her family squarely in the Lord’s lap and they all knew it. So if they ended up hungry it was on him.

Forgiveness is a lot like the neighbor lady’s oatmeal. It does nobody any good whatsoever sitting on the shelf or even in the bowl for that matter. To provide any nutrition for anyone it has to be shared. That’s why it’s so important to understand that we have been Forgiven in order to share that forgiveness with others who need it, and sooner or later we all need it. So what about you friend? Are you a forgiveness hoarder or do you share it freely.