Do You See Your Discipling By God With Eyes Focused On The Opportunity Of Love?

Good Morning Friends,

Today I am asking us to imagine walking and talking and seeing and hearing and feeling with the Spirit of Jesus as a child of God in the reality that we live with institutions that need to be more humane. I am asking the Spirit of truth to abide with us, to save us and sanctify us and send us out to a world in pain so that God would become even more real for us. The message today calls us to risk with abandon in our relationships and be amazed when confronted with people’s lack of faith, while still receiving in our relationship with Jesus something better than faith, something better than hope. We are called to experience and share what Henry Drummond calls, The Greatest Thing in the World. And sometimes friends, it is hard for down deep we are shallow. We are asked to receive this and give this not because we deserve it, but because we do not deserve it. But Jesus’ whole ministry, calls us to live a life victorious, to experience with optimism and share the more excellent way, to bear the fruits of the Spirit, to be filled deep with the fullness of God in life and yes even in rejection there needs to be replaced with dignity given the sovereignty of God. So, Do You See Your Discipling By God With Eyes Focused On The Opportunity Of Love? 

Scripture: He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching.

Mark 6: 1-6 (NRSV)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

Psalm 103: 1-18 (NRSV)

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

Hebrews 12: 4-15 (NRSV)

Message: The reason why the people of Nazareth reject Jesus in Mark 6:1-6 has never been entirely clear to me. I am more familiar with instances where a small town celebrates, even exaggerates, the success stories of locals who have made it big. But it must have been an unpleasant experience for Jesus. Interestingly he does not complain about the situation but goes on to heal people he could. Maybe they thought him crazy smart or just crazy. Maybe they decided his authority was demonic. Maybe they had fixed his status and questioned the legitimacy of his father and the limits of his lowly status as a laborer. Maybe they had too much baggage. But what I think is happening is the formation of new allegiances that supersede traditional country and family values. The focus is on Jesus and what it means to be a child of God. Here we are to believe in the possibility of a faith that leads to hope and abides in love. Ultimately, we will interpret what happens in retrospect. A miracle is not just an event, but it is an interpreted event. If Jesus is not regarded to be capable of healing, any healing that does happen will not be attributed to him. Perhaps there is nothing here to see. But hold on, if we do attribute the possibility of peace to God and then rejoice in praise for all of life’s experiences maybe we are getting closer to the wisdom of Jesus. The one who changes everything is at work in our midst. And God comes to us in all of life’s experiences. So, the way to savor all the days God gives us is to realize that it is God’s will that we discover love in surprising ways. Of course, there is evil but when tribulation comes, we are not ignoring God’s good gifts nor God’s discipline and the reality that life has pain that is unavoidable but can still be overshadowed with love. Instead of lamenting and complaining, perhaps it is better if we at least try to appreciate everything God has given us. After all, if we have trusted Christ with our life, and we even believe we have the blessing of divine providence, that God directs our every step even in difficult times. So let us believe we have the blessing of divine protection, that God will deliver us from any real harm, for even death is but an entrance into God’s loving presence. Yes, we are to believe we have the blessing of God’s divine presence and delight in it. We are to love it when God brings into our lives the bright colors of happiness and delight. But also realize that God uses the dark and dull colors of difficult times and difficult people to create something of beauty in us, as well. We need to stop fighting and begin creating ways to love others as well as God. Of course, people are irrational, unreasonable, and selfish but even if they do not deserve it, we should find ways to love them anyway. Maybe that is why we do so love to love in a way that engages our very being.  The essential part of all of these experiences is transformation…in the hope beyond hope that even people dying would know that they are loved…that even that situation could become a beautiful one. Here the deepest yearning of the human heart is reflected in the stories of Jesus. And here too in the striving and the hope and the work of life we live as a child of God and here we are transformed by love… here in prayer we leave a legacy of a dream come true. That is the essential part of any great story …it is the story of Christianity with Jesus as the example and it is being played out for those who believe that God is able to do all that we ask or think through a power that works in us for His glory to all generations…. forever and ever.

And So, we have so many good gifts from God’s hand through the example of Jesus, so choose joy instead of sorrow. Choose gratitude instead of grumbling. If you want to savor your life, choose to enjoy God’s delights. Sure, we need to learn to embrace God’s discipline. We need to welcome even the pain God brings into your life and appreciate even the hard times God brings to smooth out the rough edges of our character. Not everything in life is delightful. Some things are difficult, but even those things God has designed for our good to improve your character. Sometimes God as a Father must discipline us in order to help us. So, learn to appreciate even the hard times God brings into your life. Hebrews 12 says all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. If you want to savor your life, choose to enjoy God’s delights. Friends, we are to learn to embrace God’s discipline in a way that turns us to love. Give gifts that cannot be taken when faced with difficult times.

Pray we see that which God wants us to see. Pray that God sees the possibilities in us when others are confused by appearances. Pray we glimpse in love His reality. Pray we serve a God who sees when everyone else does not. Pray that we believe that God has a plan for our lives. Pray that we fulfill a dream to become significant because of what God is doing in and through us. Pray we do not try to survive by pretense. Pray we be who God wants us to be. Pray we abide in the love of Jesus. Pray we join with the Holy Spirit in reaching people with the love of God. Pray we realize we are to invest in people with the love of Jesus so the legacy of God’s mark on the world is not in vain. Pray that in the scars of life we discover love. Pray we see the big picture of love. Pray we see through the eyes of love.  Pray we receive this love and give this love, not because we deserve it, but because we do not deserve it.  Pray those we love are victorious.

Blessings,

John Lawson