Connect 4

In the last blog, using John 15:1-17 as the text, I wrote about how important it is for us to understand the context of our spiritual life as connected to God and others (I highly recommend reading the two preceding blogs before reading this one if you haven’t already). In this blog I want to begin working out practically from the last blog to discuss how these connections will look for the Northshore Vineyard in our philosophy of ministry. In this blog I want to give the idea of the connected life a little more definition by looking at four aspects of a connected life—1.God 2.Christ-following community 3.Non-believers and 4.Our own hearts. These are four fundamental connections that, as a church, we will strive to give expression to in everything we do. Though we will look at each of these connections more as directions of movement they can also be thought of as the legs of a stool that will keep the stool stable and firm.

Connection 1—God
Our connection to God is the meaning that brings meaning to everything else in life. It is the fundamental connection and the foundation of everything else that we do. We must remember that the fruit of the Christian life comes from our connection to God—it’s his life living in and through us.

Have you ever been to a Church which didn’t seem to have much of a connection to God? There may have been a lot of God-activity or even rituals and traditions but somehow the church had become disconnected from God. Something that will be conspicuously absent in such churches is—LIFE. As Jesus said, “if you are not connected to me you are deadwood, ready for the fire.”

I think Bono summed up this sentiment well in a 2004 interview with Michka Assayas in which he said, “Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship.”

As individuals and as a community of Christ-Followers we need to mind the God-connection in our lives. We do this by actively seeking God, by carving out time to listen for what God is saying, by worshipping and praying, by living life with eyes wide open to what God is doing. In John 5 Jesus made an amazing statement, “The Son does nothing of himself but only what He sees the Father doing.” Jesus was making the point that his life had nothing to do with following tradition, pleasing the expectations of people, or even just trying to buck the system. Everything he did was connected to what the Father was doing. Everything Jesus did flowed from this connection. In the same way we need not be a group of people who are just running around like busy little bees for God or just mindlessly following rules and traditions, instead we must seek to remain connected to God in everything from mundane everyday tasks to worship gatherings with other Christians, from times of joy to times of sorrow.

Connection 2—Christ-following Community
Though we often talk about going to church or use the word “church” to simply speak of a building, church in its most fundamental sense is the community of Christ-followers.

We live in a world that is fragmented, divided, and broken. People live in “broken” homes, groups are divided among class and status, and even the very technologies that have promised connection have left us alienated, fractured and alone.

The earliest pictures of the church that emerge in the Book of Acts were of a community of people who had chosen to orient their lives around Christ and live in community (common-unity) with one another. Though they were from many different races, ethnicities and walks of life they connected around Jesus and His purposes. God created us to experience his life not as lone individuals but in relationship with other Christ-followers. Our connection to fellow Christians breaks the individualization, self-sufficiency and alienation that is so prevalent in the world and keeps us in relationships where we learn both how to give and receive. Being in relationships with others is really hard because it will involve learning to communicate, learning how to work through conflict, and learning how to hurt with the hurting and hole up the weak but the fruit of our connection to others is a deepening of God’s love in our hearts and the transforming of our own brokenness into the nature of Christ.

Connection 3—Non-believers
You may have been a part of a church that was very connected as a community of Christ-followers but to which those who were outside the faith would have a very hard time connecting. This likely happened because as that community began to form its identity it began to form its own sub-culture of customs, expressions, and insider language. This is one of the greatest dangers of Christian community because without a connection to the larger culture it will begin to erect a wall through which the very ones who need to connect with Christ have a hard time getting through. This means that even as we work to be in relationship with other Christ-followers that we must be diligent to connect with those who have not yet found themselves in God’s story. This means that as a church we seek to serve the community in any ways we can, from mentoring kids in the public schools to building homes for the poor. This means that rather than harping on the evils of society we seek to connect with the larger culture through art, music, and creativity. This means that in everything we do we try to maintain hospitable spaces for folks to connect with and encounter God. This is what gives meaning to the value of-Culturally Relevant Mission.

Connection 4—Heart
In the second century Ireneus wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

It is quite common to get caught up in a Christianity that is just about externals while never getting to the deeper levels of the heart. However, it is the journey inward which keeps community from just turning into social gatherings and that helps us more fully enter into the struggles of others because we are becoming more and more aware of our own struggles within.

I recently heard Rob Bell talking about how the church could learn a lot from Alcoholics Anonymous. He noted that AA starts with everyone admitting their weaknesses. Because of this there is no pretention in AA, no acting like folks have it all together. One comes to AA precisely because one knows his/her life is a mess.

In our world people frequently just live on auto-pilot going through the motions of life struggling with addictions, habits, anger, resentment and jealousy because they have failed to ever encounter God very far beneath the surface. And when there is no connection to the heart, Christianity ultimately just becomes something external and certainly not fully alive.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” There is something about becoming aware of our poverty of spirit, of our own brokenness that opens us up to the kingdom of heaven, to the richness of kingdom life. Staying connected to our own hearts helps to keep us living more authentically and more passionately whether around Christian community or those who have not yet come to faith. What might it be like to be around Christians who took the inward journey seriously and who helped one another on that journey?

These four connections will be what we will be about at the Northshore Vineyard no matter what we are engaged in. In the coming months we will explore each of the connections more fully.

A Meditation on Tiger Truck Stop

Where else but Louisiana might one find the rather unique blending of live tigers and a truck stop? Such is the case with the Tiger Truck Stop or Grosse Tete, Louisiana. Being that the Tiger Truck Stop is located on I-10 between Baton Rouge and Laffayette I have travelled by this wonder of the modern world on more than a few occasions over the years. I have even succumbed to the urge to visit said truck stop once or twice (perhaps because of just how bizarre the thought of tigers in the swamps of south Louisiana seems to be).

I didn’t realize until doing a little research for this blog that the Tiger Truck Stop is actually at the center of a debate between animal rights groups wanting to see Tony the Tiger (the name of the tiger at the truck-stop) set free and the owners of the truck-stop who say they have cared for the tiger since it was just a cub and feel that he would be better suited with the love and care of his owners and his humble existence at the truck-stop (besides, they say, it’s all he’s ever known and to throw him out in the wild would be much more cruel).

While this blog is not about animal rights I do have to say that each time I drive by the Tiger Truck Stop I can’t help but feel a little bit sad for old Tony. Why? Well because a truck stop is not where a tiger belongs; a cage on the edge of a parking lot of a second-rate truck stop in the swamps of Louisiana is a pretty pathetic existence for such a majestic creature as a tiger.

Why is it that we frequently feel sorry for animals such as these tigers in a truck stop (or a lion in a zoo for that matter)? It’s not like they are sickly or even being abused or tortured (though some animal rights groups might disagree with that statement). We feel bad for these tigers because there is a sense that they were made for something much greater. It’s the sadness of failed potential, of purpose thwarted, of a life that will not be fully lived. There is a sense of sorrow that these giant cats are alienated from what life as a “big cat” should be—namely running around in the wild stalking prey. Though these tigers of the Tiger Truck-Stop are alive they certainly are not thriving in any sense of the word. They technically have everything they need for life—food, water, shelter, but there is something big that they are missing—namely their natural habitat (encountering one of these big cats in the wild, their natural habitat, would be a completely different and possibly even quite terrifying story).

Context
Too often we have a tendency to look at the spiritual life as just a matter of working moral principles or formulas without any regard to context and we wonder sometimes why we are not thriving. Just like those tigers in the Tiger Truck Stop we may have food, water and shelter (technically alive) but we aren’t thriving because something or should I say somewhere is missing. We are living our lives out of context!

In John chapter 15:1-17 Jesus talks about the nature and the goal of the spiritual life. To make his point Jesus uses the analogy of a Vineyard: a famer (representing God the Father), a vine (representing Jesus), and fruit (representing our maturity as Christ-followers). What is interesting in these verses is how they speak more of our connection to God than our activity for God. Jesus makes the point that if we get the context right then fruit will be the natural product. And what is the context of which he speaks? It is our connection to Jesus and to one another. Jesus tells us to live in his love the way he lives in the love of the Father and in the same way to be conduits of that love to others. Too often we miss this aspect of the spiritual life and think that Christianity is simply about following rules, going through rituals, and staying busy with Christian activities. Yet, without a connection to Jesus and others we simply cannot thrive (or bear fruit) in our Christian walk. Principles (even Godly principles) divorced from context will never produce fruit and never bring forth life that is thriving.

Spiritual Fruit
In these verses it is quite evident that the goal of our connection to God is fruit. Why fruit? Because fruit is not only the part of the plant that frequently nourishes others but it is also the reproductive mechanism of the plant. In nature it is fruit that attracts animals because of its scent and taste and it is also fruit that contains the seeds of the plant that will cause more plants to spring up wherever the seeds are deposited. The metaphor of fruit speaks of the purposes of God in us and through us. As we live our lives connected to Jesus we will produce fruit (Paul writes about spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23). This spiritual fruit won’t come with stress or anxiety but will be the byproduct of getting the context right. It is this spiritual fruit that will attract others to Christ and which contains at its core the DNA of the Kingdom of God. This is one of the ways that the Kingdom of God comes on earth. As Jesus said just two chapters earlier, “They will know your are my disciples by your love for one another” (John 13:35 )
I truly believe one of the greatest forms of evangelism is not the words of Christ-followers but the fruit of their lives—the fruit of peace when everything is chaotic, the fruit of joy in the midst of trials, the fruit of love in the very face of hatred and contempt. This kind of fruit doesn’t come from willpower, self-help books, or positive thinking but is the manifestation of a life connected to God. It is spiritual fruit that will help people to taste what God’s kingdom is like and cause them to want to be a part of it themselves.

Is the Context All That Matters?
Does this mean that the Christian life is just passive; that it is just a matter of believing God loves us? No, it's much bigger than that, because Jesus does not simply tell us to live in his love but to love other people as well (John 15:9-13). There is an inflow of his love and an outflow of love to others (in fact as we receive God’s love and love others we begin to realize his love for and through others). I know sometimes it seems as if the Christian life would be a whole lot easier if it didn’t involve being in relationship with other people, but the reality is that this is part of our natural habitat and thus the only place in which we will truly thrive. We were created to be in relationship with God and others and any attempts at the Christian life apart from these fundamental connections will be futile. The context anchors the activity of the Christian life. Think of it this way: A tiger in it’s natural habitat will get busy doing what tigers were created to do—hunting, eating, and running around (as well as a few cat naps) and in the same way when we get the context right we are freed up to live as we were created—to be a part of God’s restorative and reconciling work in the world—and that’s good news indeed!

John 15:1-17

This week I want us to read and meditate on the following passage from John 15:1-17 and wrestle with what it might look like to live the type of Christian life of which Jesus is speaking in these verses as well as what the larger implications might be for a community of Christ-followers living this kind of life.

John 15:1-17 (The Message)

1-3 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
4"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
5-8"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce Fruit, when you mature as my disciples.
9-10"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.
11-15"I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy completely mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
16"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
17"But remember the root command: Love one another.

Questions:

What kind of ideas have you had about the goal of the Christian life and the means of achieving it? (In other words, what’s the point of being a Christian and how do I do it?)

How did you come by these ideas?

When you look at these verses from John 15 what does it say to you about what God wants to do with us?

And how does Jesus tell us this will happen?

Why do you think that Jesus uses the metaphor of a grape vine? Why not a metaphor from the world of economics, or politics, or even building or construction? (these would have all been familiar aspects of life to the original hearers)

This passage talks of our connection to Jesus. Are there any other connections you see in this passage?

Hospitable Christianity

Have you ever come across a line in a song or a book or a movie that articulates something you feel on the inside in a profound way but were not able to put into words. I came across one such quote about a year ago in a little book by Henri Nouwen called Reaching Out,

“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space in which change can take place.”

The title to the blog seems almost contradictory in this day and age. Just think of how many times you have heard the word hospitable spoken in a conversation next to the word Christian? The truth is that for many folks with sincere questions about God and faith the church is perceived as anything but a hospitable place.

I have been involved in so many church activities at various times in my life which were either something of a bait-and-switch or just down right confrontational. The bait-and-switch tactic involved trying to get folks to come to a concert, a dinner or to some other event or giveaway and then hit them with the gospel message hoping that they would respond. And it usually went over about as well when as when a waiter receives a religious tract in place of a tip (something I experienced on more than one occasion back in my table-waiting days).

The confrontational approach, on the other hand, is unapologetically in people’s faces with the ‘truth’. This was my preferred method as a freshman in college. Again it made few if any converts but I sure walked away feeling good about myself because I had stood up for Jesus in front of those pagan, abortionist, evolutionist, homosexual, secular, atheists types (or just insert any group I missed here ___________________.)

Perhaps there is a different approach to sharing our faith that has less to do with bait-and-switch or merely arguing about belief – a way of creating space where folks can encounter God not by sheer force of arguing or by a sales pitch but in a way that respects them wherever they may be in their journey.

This will be our primer for this week’s small group. I am curious as to what your experience of church has been when it comes to outreach or sharing faith?

What might it look like to be a community of Christ-followers that are not simply trying to change people but creating space and opportunities where change can happen naturally and relationally, where folks can begin to experience God right where they are at?

D-Day and the Kingdom of God

When I posed the question (from the last blog) “What is the kingdom of God?” at our small group meeting last Thursday night the answers I got were all over the map.
The kingdom of God is…
“within”,
“a present reality”,
“something of heaven,
yet something of our connection to one another here on earth”
Some people cited scriptures,
Some folks talked of concepts and ideas,
And still others brought up that for how often it’s mentioned (i.e. The Lord’s Prayer, and the parables) that they really didn’t have a clue as to what kingdom of God really means (probably one of the more honest comments on the subject).

A look at the New Testament will confirm that the answer is “All of the above”. The kingdom of God is a present reality, something within, something of community in this world, something of a glorious community in the age to come and something that we don’t fully grasp even though it is written about over and over throughout the New Testament.

One of the most basic ways of understanding the kingdom of God is as God’s rule and reign. The kingdom is the realm that is ruled by the king. This concept sounds easy enough however the mere mention of the term “king” or “kingdom” is a bit abstract or foreign to us modern Americans living in a democracy where every one gets a vote (in fact America was founded by its revolt against a monarchy). Yet even though we don’t have much of a grid for kings or kingdoms I think we can still understand something about governmental rule that might help our understanding of what the kingdom of God is.

D-Day
In June of 1940 the Axis powers of Germany and Italy invaded France and within a month France became occupied territory. During this low point in the war the French lost their right of self-rule and instead were dominated and ruled by enemies from outside of their country. This enemy occupation persisted for four years until the Allied powers staged an invasion that would be the beginning of the end of the enemy occupation of France. On the Tuesday morning of June 6, 1944 the Allied powers launched the now famous D-day invasion on the beaches of Normandy. Gradually over the next 2 months the Allied invasion began to succeed in defeating the Nazis throughout the villages and towns of the French countryside until at last Paris was freed on that August 25.

Was France completely liberated on the D-day invasion of Normandy?
No… not much of it at least (only scattered villages here and there). However the rescue was well underway. What began on D-Day would not stop until the Axis powers were defeated in France and the citizens were liberated from their tyrannical rule. When France was finally liberated by the Allied armies, the citizens of France were once again restored to a place of self-rule and self-determination.

This look at France during World War II is helpful in understanding our own place in a far greater story that began back in the opening pages of Genesis (I will get more into that aspect in a future blog). Just like the French in World War II, we find ourselves in a time where humanity is enslaved by an occupying force. The New Testament refers to this time as the present evil age that is ruled by Satan, the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4 Gal. 1:4 ). Yet as hopeless as our world may look as enemy-occupied territory right now, a rescue plan has been enacted in the person of Jesus. Jesus came into our world staging a D-day invasion of sorts—the kingdom of God breaking into this present evil age. Yet unlike the wars between kingdoms in our world, the kingdom of God came not with armies or weapons but through sacrificial love. In the ministry, the cross, and the resurrection of Jesus the kingdom of God began advancing into our world setting things right again one person at a time.

Is everything completely set right now?
No. A simple look at any cable news channel at any time of the day will show that our world is still suffering under the tyranny of enemy occupation. The evidence of this enemy occupation is sickness, disease, alienation, violence, hatred, and even death. But this is by no means the end of the story.

A look at the last couple of chapters of the Bible reveals that one day the kingdom, which began breaking into our world in the ministry of Jesus, will come in fullness. And on that day the prayer that has been prayed by countless Christians over the last two thousand years – “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” will be gloriously and finally answered. Just as our occupation by the enemy was marked by sickness, disease, death, alienation, hatred, and strife so the arrival of the kingdom of God in it’s fullness will be marked by healing, restoration, freedom, life, and love.

The In-Between
We live in between the invasion and the final victory. Those of us who have become Christ-followers are like the French citizens liberated by the Allied forces. We have been set free and are now making up the growing population of those who are ruled not by the enemy but by the king, who are increasingly living in the reality of the kingdom rather than by the rule of this fallen age. What’s more is that we who have been liberated get to join in the battle to see others set free from the tyranny of the enemy. Each time the kingdom breaks in afresh to this world it is a taste of the fullness of the kingdom to come. In this in-between time it will only be a taste but it is a very real taste and a signpost pointing to the day when the kingdom of God will ultimately come in fullness, when there will be no more suffering or pain, when the dwelling of God will be with man ( Rev 21:3-4 ).

So What Does this all Matter?
This means that when we pray for the sick and they are healed the kingdom is breaking in to our realm. This means that when a person responds to the good news of the Gospel and becomes a follower of Christ the kingdom is breaking in. This means that when a person experiences freedom from spiritual oppression the kingdom is breaking in. But it also means that as Christ-followers we make it our aim to increasingly live in the reality of the future kingdom. So whether we are praying for the sick or building homes for the poor or simply and sacrificially loving others we are a part of kingdom work in this world; part of bringing a little bit of heaven to earth.

Application
One way this understanding of the kingdom has informed my own faith journey is in my personal prayer life. A helpful exercise I try to do in the first moments of consciousness each morning is to get my foggy mind to start going through the Lord’s Prayer not as a rigid formula but with people and situations in mind where I perceive a desperate need for the kingdom to come. I ask God to let his kingdom break in on sick friends, on those who are having difficulties in their jobs and marriages and on those who are isolated and alienated from God and people. Praying this way not only helps me to be a part of kingdom work but begins orienting my life into a kingdom perspective from the start of my day.

What is The Kingdom of God, and Why Does it Matter?

The Kingdom of God is a phrase that appears over and over throughout the New Testament, but what is The Kingdom of God and why should it matter to us?

Is the kingdom of God the church?
Is the kingdom of God heaven?
Has the kingdom of God already come or is it something coming in the future?
What does the kingdom of God look like?
What sort of evidence might clue us in to it’s nearness?
How does someone become a part of the kingdom of God?
Can we participate in the coming of the kingdom of God? If so, then how?

While I don’t normally recommend reading scriptures apart from the context of the chapters in which they appear (this would have been a very long blog otherwise, but feel free to check the chapters out on your own), I have listed just a few of the many scriptures which talk about the kingdom of God in the New Testament. What does this brief survey of scriptures indicate to you about the kingdom of God?

Matthew 5:3 [Jesus Speaking] Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:10 [from the Lord’s prayer] …Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Luke 9:2 …and Jesus sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Luke 10:9 [Jesus Speaking] …Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
Matthew 12:28 [Jesus Speaking] …But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 17:21 [Jesus Speaking] …nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within[a] you."
Acts 28:30-31 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

Finally, I would like all of us to read Matthew chapter 6 a couple of times in the next week. It is a great chapter to chew on which ends with the phrase “but seek first the kingdom of God…” This is a great passage for preparing our hearts for kingdom life.

In or Out? MP3 Just Posted

This last weekend I spoke at the Kenner Vineyard on the topic we talked about at the last small group. You can download it at VCFK.com or on Itunes (search 'VCFK' and it should take you where you need to go). This MP3 of the message covers a few different aspects which did not come up in the small group discussion which I think will be helpful in processing what this value looks like in practice.