Revelation: We Are Not the Center

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 11/21/2010

[audio link not yet available]

Invitation to open to Revelation, chapter 4.

The last book of the bible was written by a pastor who had been sent into exile on the Isle of Patmos, 13 square miles of land off the coast of Greece, in the Aegean Sea. The pastor is named John, and tradition holds that he is the same John who wrote the 4th Gospel, the gospel of John. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the book is called "the Apocalypse". Although apocalypse is often used by people to refer to the end of the world, that’s not what it means. Apocalypse just means "to lay bare, to make naked, to reveal, as in the lifting of a veil." Which is why we call it the book of Revelation. There are things going on around us that are hidden, covered in a veil, as it were, but if we could see them as they really are, there would be power in beholding them.

Revelation is written in a unique style, using a particular kind of language, common at the time, but uncommon today, called apocalyptic language. Which can make Revelation seem foreign to us, intimidating, inaccessible, mysterious, wild - especially since we are accustomed to reading in order to gain information. Apocalyptic literature, however, is not written primarily to give us information. It's designed to engage our imaginations, so that we can see the truth that is hidden behind the veil of our ordinary lives and world.

Wendell Berry writes: The imagination is our way into the divine imagination, permitting us to see wholly - as whole and holy - what we perceive as scattered, as order what we perceive as random.

Eugene Peterson says of the book of Revelation: Everything in the Revelation can be found in the previous 65 books of the Bible. The Revelation adds nothing of substance to what we already know. The truth of the gospel is already complete, revealed in Jesus Christ. There is nothing new to say on the subject. But there is a new way to say it. I read the Revelation not to get more information, but to revive my imagination. St. John uses words the way poets do, recombining them in fresh ways so that old truth is freshly perceived...Familiarity dulls my perceptions. Hurry scatters my attention. Ambition fogs my intelligence. Selfishness restricts my range. Anxiety robs me of appetite. Envy distracts me from what is good and blessed right before me. And then St. John's apocalyptic vision brings me to my senses, body and soul.

This morning we are going to look at chapters 4 and 5 of revelation to see what it means to be brought to our senses about worship. This very thing we do on Sunday mornings, or in our cars, or in our small groups, or with our families, or alone walking through the woods. Worship. What is really going on in worship? What's the point? Why do we do it? When we worship, what's happening, anyway?

Keep in mind, what you are going to see is an apocalyptic picture - a revealing picture - not a literal picture. In other words, the scene that will be described is not intended to be what we see if we were to take a photograph of the worship going on to God; it's intended to be an artistic rendering of what goes on in worship that helps us see what a photograph might not reveal. For example, there is a picture of a lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes. Does that mean there actually exists a lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes? Not at all. It means that the person represented by the lamb has perfect authority and sees reality perfectly, as it really, truly is.

It is through our imagination that we are woken up, that the revelation of truth happens, so let us begin with our imaginations fully engaged to receive what Jesus wants us to receive today...

Look around you. You see the walls, the pews, the carpet, the people, yourself, the windows, some of the landscape around. The lights, the roof. Your eyes see accurately enough, but not truly enough. What if there is more to see this morning than your eyes are capable of perceiving? What if you could be awakened through your imagination to truth hidden by these familiar, ordinary sights? May you and I, may all of us together, share in an apocalypse today...

[play Revelation 4&5 composition, inviting congregation to join their voices to the 5 songs contained in it...]

 

Revelation 4 & 5

4 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“ ‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center before the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. ⁹And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased for God

members of every tribe and language and people and nation.

¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

and they will reign on the earth.”

¹¹Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹²In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and praise!”

¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!”

¹⁴The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

The throne. Everything revolves around the throne.

Our attention is drawn at first to the throne at the center of the picture.

John says he sees a door standing open. It must be open to something. The first thing we wonder is: what is on the other side of that door? And then there is an invitation: Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. We're curious, breathless, anticipating, what will we see?

And what do we see?

A throne. Occupied by an initially nameless and extraordinary someone. And all of the action starts at the throne, and comes from the throne, and centers around the throne, and flows back to the throne. Lightning. Rumbles. Peals of thunder. Pulsing, dynamic power, emanating from the center of the scene, crashing outward, rippling back again. Lamps, blazing light, rainbows, a sea of glass.

Then, our attention goes to those surrounding the throne.

Twenty four other thrones. Elders dressed in white with crowns on their heads.

And a tireless zoological quartet. Living creatures, with eyes and wings aplenty.

Not to mention Angels. Myriads of them, thousands, tens of thousands of angels. Filling the stands.

And from the upper decks and the parking lots and the apartment buildings surrounding the stadium, there is a roar. The voices of every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them.

All of them, around the throne and the one seated on the throne. All of them worshipping. Laying down crowns. Falling down. Surrendered,

centered,

focused.

Eyes and voices fixed on the throne, on the center of everything.

Notice what this scene does to our attention: starting with the center, moving out to take in the scene, back to the center, then back out further and further, then back to the center, waves coming from and crashing back towards the center. The center of the scene is now the center of our attention.

When our imaginations take in this scene, we cannot help but become aware of one undeniable fact.

We are not the center.

There is a center to the universe, to life, to power and activity, to all that is and ever has been and ever will be and all that happens and has happened and is yet to happen. And we are not it.

The throne at the center is not ours and we are not on it.

And the whole universe is not standing at attention in response to us. The whole universe is not giving us its worship. Not me. Not you either. Not anyone in the Milan News Leader or the New York Times or the Washington Post or People magazine or Forbes or Rolling Stone or Sports Illustrated or even Marvel Comics.

John's apocalypse lays bare the reality that the universe is preoccupied with only one throne, and with the one seated on that throne. And when we enter into worship, we too are invited to be preoccupied and reoccupied. [Mackinac Island, guy one with nature...]

First and foremost, when we enter into worship, we are reminded that we are not the center.

When you awoke this morning, there was an open door before you. An opportunity to escape a false world that had been built up around you where you were the center of everything, and step into the true world, the real world, where there is another center, a worthy center.

When you joined together with your sisters and your brothers, you joined together with others who were, like you, escaping that false world, leaving it behind to plant your feet firmly in the universe that has a glorious center, a gravity that will never fail to hold it together.

And when the first note was played, and you joined your voices in the first words, you said, loudly enough for your self to hear: "Self, you are not the center of the universe. There is a throne, and there is someone on it, and it is not you."

We need to know this. We need to be reminded of this regularly. We are not the center. This is freedom. This is life for us. We are not the center. Hallelujah!

Think about your responsibilities, your work, the place you go to earn a living, the children you spend the day caring for, the household you run. The stress, the challenges, the pressure, the anxieties. Like it's all coming down on you.

Think about your relationships. Your friends, your family, the people that matter in your life. The drama, the concerns, the fine lines you walk, the judgments, the worries, the demands placed on you.

Think about your inner life. The struggles, the hopes, the confusion, the striving, the doubts, the pressure you place on yourself, the hopelessness that sometimes creeps in.

And then you are awakened to this simple fact. You are not the center. It's not all about you. You are not the center of your work. You are not the center of your relationships. You are not even the center of your own life.

Can you feel the freedom that truth brings? The fresh breeze that washes over you as you awaken to that truth?

As long as we are the center of anything that God is meant to be the center of, our destruction is inevitable. Not because God will come and kick us out, but because we are no longer under the influence of his gravity, no longer connected to the waves of life emanating from his throne. It happens gradually to us at first, but it does happen, sure as the sun sets in the west. It is the first thing the snake said to Eve. "You won't die...your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God." What he was saying, in essence, was: God isn't the only one fit to be on the throne; why don't you make your own throne and sit on it?

The experience of being the center is intoxicating at first. But is always dangerous to be intoxicated, despite its allure. That balloon will always pop. It happens so often to celebrities and athletes and the ego driven and the power hungry. [kids at their own birthday party...]

When we are the center, when we become pretenders to the throne, when it occurs to us that worship would be a nice thing to receive, then Shalom is disrupted, and life leaks from us at an accelerated pace.

Others are there to be taken from. Others are there to be afraid of. Others are there to be competed with. Others are there to get in our way.

We exist only for our own pleasure. For our own sakes. Yet we will never be enough for ourselves, and after we have consumed everyone else, we will consume ourselves and there will be nothing left, not even for the vultures.

The truth is, we are made to be near the center. We are made in the image of the one on the throne. That's who the 24 elders are - they represent those in whom the image of God has been restored: the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples of Jesus, the 24 orders of priests. They have crowns, like the crown of the one on the throne. They have thrones of their own, thrones given to them by God from which they are to bear his image to all of creation. But they are not on the throne.

"Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, and every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by specters and soothed by placebos. If there is no center, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose." - Eugene Peterson.

When we are the center, we aren't enough for ourselves, so advertisements appeal to us. Perhaps that is what I need. Or that. Or that! And so we run this way and that, after this and after that. And we go nowhere but further in debt.

When we are at the center, our primary aim is our pleasure and glory, and so we are susceptible to seduction. Anything that wants to use or enslave us can simply promise us pleasure or glory, and we run after it like dogs after a bone, tongues slobbering out of our mouths. Oh, you'll promote me if I just do this? Oh, you'll love me if I just do this? Oh, you'll give me your attention if I just do this?

When we are at the center, we have everything to lose, and so every alarming thing gets us running for shelter, for safety, for security. We become afraid of everything, and willing to do anything that will save us from our fears coming true.

The revelation of St. John says to us that when we worship, we gather together around another center, a center that is not us. And so when we worship, our lives become lives that are a response to the true center. We live lives that flow from the true center.

At the center is a throne.

Everything that is good and true, starts and ends with the throne, and with the one who is on the throne.

When we worship, we join something that was going on forever before and will be going on forever after (Day and Night they never stop saying). It doesn't start with us. It doesn't end with us.

And look what happens when we worship:

We fall down.

The crowns come off our heads (tumbling, perhaps?) and we lay them on the ground, surrendered to the one on the throne at the center.

And we say, and we sing.

We say and we sing. These are no small things.

Consider this question. How does the world get set right when billions of egos are the centers of their own existence? Is this not why there are wars and oppression and conflict and jealousy and hatred and misunderstandings and addictions and fears and road rage and black friday tramplings? Is this not the ultimate source of death?

The world gets set right when we find a way to gather together around the true center, from which love flows, and life, and healing, and truth. When we have something else we are surrendered to who has surrendered himself to us and calls us to be surrendered for his sake and for the sake of those for whom he has surrendered himself.

And the way to gather around the true center, the way that is natural for us, even if it feels at first unnatural, is for us to join our voices together in saying and in song.

Words and melodies and harmonies and rhythms are those things which we can join in together that carry us together, that point us together, with all of our egos and desires and worries and anxieties and brokenness, and center us around the throne.

[Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come...]

[Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see...]

And in that throng, and at that throne, we do not lose ourselves, we do not become muddied and gray. But instead, because of the radiance of the one on the throne, our true colors are revealed. (the value of precious stones in ancient culture was not their capacity for decoration, but what they did with light, the way they brought the invisible colors of light into the light, scattering them about for our eyes to see). Jasper and ruby, emeralds, rainbows bathing the worshippers in the light of the one they worshipped.

This is why when we sing, when we give all of ourselves to it, each of us in our own way, with our own weaknesses and strengths, with our bodies, our minds, our hearts, each one of us bringing something different to it, each one of us getting something different out of it, we are caught up in the Spirit of God that brings us to life.

And we help each other come around the center as we sing together, too. Oh, he is not the center, she is not the center, oh, I am not the center either. Who is she looking to...? who is he laying his crown before...? aha, there is the throne! There is the my center too. And oh what a center that would have to be to be the center to a group as diverse as this group, to be the center to one who is as different from me as that person is from me and I from him and I from her. [going to a concert and looking around at the crowd...] [this is why the worship with Agape was so powerful and life-laden last week, and by the grace of God will be tonight as well...]

Notice the four living creatures.

They represent all of sentient life on planet earth: the lion, the noblest, the ox the strongest, the man the wisest, the eagle the swiftest. They all share something in common: eyes and wings. Each one in worship is fully alert (covered in eyes), soaring on 6 wings... We come to life in worship! Because we are gathered around the true center of all life, the Lord God Almighty, the source of life.

And of course, there is at the center the one who sits on the throne, and there is also the Lamb.

Oh, the lamb! Next week we talk about the Lamb. Because not only does it matter that we are not the center. It matters most the one who is the center. The Lamb who was slain. Jesus, the Christ.

Practical Tips:

1. Do an advertisement, seduction, and siren inventory. Consider the intended course of your life, and ask yourself if you have been derailed in any way by your responses to advertising, seductions, or sirens. May this inventory awaken you to ways in which you have bought the snake's lie that you are the center of your universe. Repent, and respond to the door Jesus has opened to you for wakeful worship.

2. Worship like your life depends on it. And with others, as often as possible. And when you do, start by saying to yourself: There is a center to this universe, and I am not it. And we are not it.

3. Memorize "Holy, Holy, Holy..." Commit "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come" to memory. Say it at the first sighting of every advertisement, seduction, and siren. And every time you say it, remember that you are not alone in saying it, and you are not the first to say it, and you will not be the last to say it; your voice is joining countless other voices in the stream of eternity.

4. Coax all of your self into worship. Involve as much of yourself as you are able in your worship. Involve a little bit more of yourself than you did the last time you worshipped. More mind (use your imagination), more body (use your voice, your hands, your arms, your legs, your knees), more heart (choose to yield your place at the center), more soul (we come with cracked and brittle relationships - bring yourself to the one on the throne, inviting him to be the center of each of those others).

additional resources:  Reversed Thunder, by Eugene Peterson

Love Affairs Happen Here

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 11/07/2010

[audio link not yet available]

Invitation to turn to Matthew 13v44.

We just wrapped up twin sermon series - Nudge and Seeds & Soil - about evangelism and spiritual growth. What we have been talking about is central to who we are as a community following Jesus.

Remember our mission statement: Together we follow the way of Jesus and create breathing room. Breathing room for the disfavored to find favor, for the discounted to count, and for the disconnected to connect. Starting here.

The parable about the sower taught us that following the way of Jesus together is a process. That it takes patience. Patience with ourselves and one another, because spiritual growth is often slow & uncomfortable. That we need to make room for mixed results in our lives, and in one another's lives, because Jesus does. But not to give up, because the seed will take root, and it will produce an overwhelming crop - our rescuer, Jesus will prevail over the accuser, his Love will displace fear, and his Truth will subvert all the lies on which the broken systems of this world depend.

And the stories about the resurrected Jesus awakening people to his living presence taught us that loving nudges are the way to create breathing room for people to receive the good news. They taught us that no one and nowhere is off limits to his resurrected presence. That we are to be a church always learning to pay attention, to keep our eyes open for what the Father is doing around us, in every situation and relationship. To be keeping our senses sensitive to the needs and hurts and fears and confusions and dreams and longings of others around us, because it is there we can expect the resurrected Jesus to be making his presence known. That we are always to be looking for opportunities to join in with what we notice the resurrected Jesus doing through his Holy Spirit. Especially by inviting people to come and have breakfast with us - because it is at the family meal where the richest favor is poured out, where everyone at the table counts, and where the deepest connection and love happens.

That's the kind of church we want to be. A church where two love affairs are in process. A love affair between us and the God who is love. And a love affair between us and the other image-bearers of the God who is love.

Love affairs happen here.

My hope is to do two things today. First, to look at twin parables about the love affairs that happen here. And secondly, to give you two things you can draw on napkins that might be a conversation catalyst, that might be seeds, that might help open the door to a nudge when someone asks you the question: "What kind of a church do you go to?" You know, in the event simply saying, "I go to a church where love affairs happen" isn't answer enough.

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again, and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. ⁴⁶ and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13v44-46

Newton's 3rd Law: Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). This parable highlights the response to finding the treasure, which tells us a lot about the treasure buried in the field. Look at the response the kingdom of God produces in people when they find it.

To this guy, it's a find. It stops him in his tracks. Perhaps he wasn't even looking for it. Perhaps he was working as a laborer in the field. Planting. Harvesting. No matter, now that he's found it, he realizes he's been looking for it his whole life. And he realizes everyone else has been too. There's a suggestion of scandal here. He hides it again. Not sure how it got here, or why, or who hid it here. Who cares! This guy has got to make it his.

This is a love affair story, isn't it? Stopped in our tracks. Maybe we weren't even looking for her. But I've been looking for her my whole life. And if anyone else could see what I see, they'd be feeling the same way. Not sure how she got here, or why, or who came before me and abandoned her here. But who cares! Heaven help me if I don't make her mine.

The kingdom of God is like this. We - the vineyard church of Milan - are meant to be like that field. A place where love affairs start. Where people come across treasures buried, hidden in our everyday lives and love and service and worship, and think to themselves, I've been looking for that my whole life. I've got to make that mine.

And joy. Joy! From joy over it he goes. He goes and sells all that he has. Everything valuable, everything mundane. Things useful, things sentimental. All of it. To buy the field and have rights to the treasure. (Couldn't he have just walked off with it? Sure, but it wouldn't have been his. It would have still belonged to the landowner.)

Notice what the point of the parable is not. It's not that the man, or the merchant, should sell everything he has. As if it's primarily some moral imperative. As if the man found the treasure, and thought to himself: Uh, oh, now that I've found this, it's my duty to buy it. Oh, man, what are people going to say when they see me selling all my stuff. And darn, I really like some of my stuff - I wish I could keep a few of my things and have this treasure too, but I guess I'm stuck selling everything now. I wouldn't want to be caught coming up just a little short of the selling price of the land because I held on to a few things. And then the man consulted with his accountant, who told him: you'll get a 243% return on investment if you sell everything and buy this land, even after capital gains taxes. I see no reason not to do it. And the man fretted and worried, and slept on it for a week, and then finally decided: ok, I only live once. Here goes. And then he sold all that he had and bought the field, with his fingers crossed.

[play song clip, "What Happiness Means To Me" by Amy Macdonald in background, from 2:44-4:50...]

No! He finds the treasure, and joy floods him, and joy is the stream from which everything else flows. (Perhaps if there were no joy, it would be a sign that the treasure you think you'd found wasn't the kingdom of God, but something less.) Joy never runs out of steam. Oh, it can be forgotten. It can be stolen. But it never runs out of energizing capacity. [jumping rope, survivor...]

The kingdom of God is like this. It produces joy when it's discovered, the kind of joy from which everything else flows. We - the vineyard church of Milan - want to be a church who dig to find the kingdom until a geyser of joy starts flowing up. And then let the selling begin.

We don't want to be a church dictating the responses of the treasure seekers. We want to be a church helping one another find the treasure, and let the treasure produce the response the treasure produces. Joy, joy, joy. [Chara = Joy; at the center of the good news (which is the field in which the treasure is buried) is Grace = Charis, that which affords joy...]

Love affairs happen here. Not employment contracts. Not even prenuptial agreements.

There is another way to understand this parable. A way that would surely have eluded Jesus' original hearers at first, but by the time Matthew's good news story was written, would have been hard to miss.

Remember, in true love affairs, love flows in both directions. The treasure of the kingdom produces joy in people, joy that causes them to sell everything to have it. This response isn't only our response to God, though. It's also God's response to us.

Jesus paints a picture of God as someone for whom people are the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great value. Jesus is the man, and the merchant. And upon finding us, buried in a field, for sale on the open market, from joy he goes. From joy! He goes and sells everything. He cashes in his very life. From joy! To buy us, to make the whole field his. (Hebrews 12: For the joy set before him, he endured the cross...)

Love affairs happen here. We - the vineyard church of Milan - want to be a church where we embody and reflect and communicate the joy with which God responds to finding the treasure in the field, the pearl of great value that is the disfavored person, the discounted person, the disconnected person.

Regardless of how buried they might be. Regardless of the field in which they are hidden. Regardless of the market in which they have been offered for sale. It is with joy that he goes. May it always be with joy that we go to sell all that we have - whether it be useful, or sentimental - in order to buy that field, in order to bring that pearl home where it's value is no longer exchanged for money, but treasured in love.

Ok, so how about the napkins? You might be inviting someone to come serve with you. Or you might be inviting someone to come to a weekend celebration or small group get-together. Or you might just be talking about life. And the question comes up: what kind of church is your church?

So you grab a napkin. Or a piece of paper. Or your iPad. Or whatever. And you start to draw. Because drawing draws people in. Drawing sparks the imagination in an image based world. Because drawing gives you something to talk about. Because drawing is shoulder to shoulder, a common object of your attention. Because your drawing might be bad, and that's good for humility, which is always good for love. Because drawing opens the door to questions. Because it slows things down. Helps you pay attention, notice if God might be there doing something.

So what do you draw? Let me suggest this one first, especially for someone with limited or negative experiences with "church":

Sometimes people experience Christianity like a bounded set .

A bounded set church is experienced in terms of "in" or "out." Because there is an invisible but well defined boundary drawn by the beliefs and practices of a group of people. If you don't toe the line on all the beliefs and practices, you're out. If you do, you're in. But all of the attention is given to the boundary markers.

What do you claim is true about God, about the bible, about creation and evolution, about the end times, about what is sin and what isn't sin, about the virgin birth, about speaking in tongues, about pre-destination or free will, about the communion meal, about baptism, about what it means to be saved? And on and on.

And also, what behaviors and practices mark you as "in" or "out?" Do you go to R-rated movies? Do you listen to this music or that music? Do you pray in this way or that way? Do you dress this way or that way? Do you use these words or those words? Do you smoke? Or have tattoos? Or wear earrings? Or have any other piercings? Do you date? Or only court? Are you divorced? Or was your marriage annulled? Do you vote this way or that way? Do you use contraception? Or natural family planning? Do you watch this network or that network? Or never watch TV at all? Do you play cards? Do you go to bars? And on and on.

And so all of the attention is on the boundaries. Both when we look at ourselves: how are we doing with this or that boundary marker? And when we look at others: have they made the switch to our side about this or that issue or behavior yet?

And not enough of the attention is on the pearl of great price or the treasure hidden in the field that brought us together in the first place. And none of the attention is on our hearts, which is where joy and love flow from - and truth be told - is the place that ultimately shapes how we live, after all.

Listen to what Matthew Henry says about the text we just read:

The gospel is the field in which this treasure is hid...It is hid as the milk in the breast, the marrow in the bone, the manna in the dew, the water in the well, the honey in the honey comb. It is hid, not in a garden enclosed, or a spring shut up, but in a field, an open field; whoever will, let him come, and search the scriptures; let him dig in this field; and whatever royal mines we find, they are all our own, if we take the right course. - Matthew Henry's Commentary

It is hid, not in a garden enclosed, or a spring shut up, but in a field, an open field; whoever will, let him come...

[Draw fish in the center, with arrows facing different directions...] We are trying to be a church that functions as a centered set.

We think of church not in terms of inside or outside the boundaries, but in terms of the direction our hearts are pointed. What matters to us is the God we've fallen in love with, the pearl of great value, the treasure hidden in the field that is the kingdom of God. We might be in all sorts of places in our lives with regard to different beliefs and behaviors and practices - but the one thing we've got in common is the direction our heart is pointed. [Draw blob shape around inward pointed arrows...] We want to draw closer to Jesus. We want more and more of the rule and reign of God to be present in our lives.

And it doesn't matter to us how long it takes, as long as we keep our hearts pointed towards him, and keep trying to take one step closer from wherever we happen to be right now. It doesn't matter if you feel like you've got all the right beliefs and behaviors - if you're heart isn't pointed towards the center (for us, that's Jesus), then you're turning away from the life God has for you, and you're missing all of the joy, and the love affair is growing cold. It doesn't matter if you feel like you don't have hardly any of the right beliefs and behaviors - if you're heart is pointed toward Jesus, then his life is rushing towards you, and joy can overtake you even though it doesn't make sense to you, and the love affair is in full swing. And your next step will be in a direction that leads to more life.

And we can love and embrace one another, even though we may be in different places on our journey. Because we are all on a pilgrimage to the same place. And we all have a long way to go. And we can all learn from one another about the one to whom we are heading, because we are all seeing the treasure from unique perspectives and angles. Love affairs happening all over the place.

Think back to the parable. We tend to see doing business with God as a one-time thing...but here it is a process. One transaction after another. Selling this. and this. And this. Oh and this. and this. and this. Every transaction giving more to apply to the purchase. Perhaps even the purchase a process. Perhaps some now, and more later, like down payments and installments. And so we're all nudging one another, because it takes all of us together to buy this pearl of great value. Because all of our payments together - the crosses we pick up and carry daily in the name of Jesus - are a participation in the payment that has already been made by Jesus in our name. Love affairs happen here - Love affairs that just keep getting steamier and steamier.

Or maybe you draw this one, especially for someone with experiences with churches, but not with our church.

[Draw 2 intersecting lines., forming a grid...] Churches often fall in one of 4 quadrants.

Liturgical: Some see church as something where the life of God comes to us through the proper and faith filled celebration of liturgy - rituals, symbols, robes, candles, memorized prayers, sacraments and scripture readings, great feasts and holy days. Roman Catholics, Episcopals, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, some Lutherans.

Social Justice: Some see church as something where the life of God comes to us through the things we do together to set the world right - to alleviate poverty and suffering and inequality and oppression and other forms of injustice. United Methodists, some Presbyterians, many African American churches and Menonites and Quakers, especially.

Renewalist: Some see church as something where the life of God comes to us through our experiences of God in full-bodied worship, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit like prophecy and tongues, and healing. Especially many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, Church of God in Christ and Assemblies of God, for example.

Evangelical: Some see church as something where the life of God comes to us through the transformation of lives (often called being born-again) that happens as a result of conversion, when we turn away from sin and entrust our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. The Bible and preaching the gospel are big deals in Evangelical churches. Especially Baptist churches, Nazarenes, and Free Methodists, as well as various fundamentalist churches, like Plymouth Brethren Churches for example.

[Draw swirl at the center...] We want to be a church caught up in the swirl of border blending that is happening at the center of all these quadrants, because we believe the Kingdom of God is the treasure and it gives birth to all of the things all of these churches treasure. We don't think the life of God comes to us in the corners, where we try to defend and protect any particular treasure, but that it comes to us as we seek the full expression of God's kingdom hidden in the middle of the field. And so we want to love and incorporate and learn from and benefit from the treasures all of these pilgrims bring along the journey as we follow Jesus together, leaving only those behind that do not find their home in the city of God towards which we are journeying. The city in which the great wedding of Jesus and the followers of his way will be consummated. [note about next week's join service with Agape...]

further resources: for a more in-depth discussion of the 4 quadrants, see my dad's book: Jesus Brand Spirituality

Seeds & Soil: Contested at Every Turn

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 10/31/2010

[audio link]

Last week of seeds and soil series...invitation to turn to Mark 4.

Ever notice how hard it is to make positive progress in life?

Let's say you want to get in shape, gain some strength, pump up your cardio-pulmonary system, up your endorphin levels, develop better eating habits, increase your metabolism. You dive right in. You can do this. You will do this. Nothing is going to stop you this time. And then you get sore. Or hungry. Or sick. Or hurt. Or work gets super busy and you're on the road, surrounded by fast food and no place to exercise. Or you get some bad news that saps all your enthusiasm. Or you don't see results fast enough. Or you see somebody else getting results way faster than you. It's like the universe is against you. Which you assume is probably God saying something to you. And all of that discourages you to no end, making you want to just embrace your inner sloth.

And if you do - if you just start heading the other direction, man oh man is it easy. You can add pounds and get moody and short of breath and weak in almost no time at all. It's like the whole universe is cheering you on. Which you assume is probably God saying something to you.

Or you want to get more patient, more loving towards the key people in your life, less angry. So you start doing nice things, taking deep breaths to calm yourself. And then, invariably, those people get extra-annoying. They don't appreciate your efforts. They still remember the old you, and they don't trust the new you, they think you're trying to get something from them. Or you have a bad day at work, and your patience is shot by the time you get home. Or you get some bad news, and you don't have any energy to focus on anything else. It's like the universe is against you. Clearly, God isn't interested in throwing you a bone, right? And all of that just ticks you off even more than when you were just your normal selfish self, making you want to embrace your inner Tony Soprano.

And if you do - if you just start heading in the other direction, man oh man is it easy. It's like you're the incredible hulk and you don't even care what the universe says anymore.

It's that way with everything good and right and holy and healthy in the world. Movement in that direction will always encounter resistance. Even God gets resistance in the world he created.

Consider Jesus, God made flesh coming among us on a rescue mission. No room at the inn. The king sending soldiers to kill him shortly after his birth. Tempted by the devil in the desert. Almost stoned after his first sermon. Slander and critique and accusations of blasphemy from the religious leaders. Eventually, a plot to crucify him.

But it doesn't discourage Jesus, does it? Because he knows: this is what it's like when the seeds of the new creation arrive in the soil of corrupted creation. When the seeds of the rule and reign of God's kingdom are planted in the soil presently occupied by the enslaving rule of the kingdom of darkness. Real, true growth is contested at every turn.

Mark 4v1-8,13-20

Reminder: spiritual growth is the increase of life-giving capacity of our relationships with God, with one another, and with the world in which we are called to be image-bearers.

When the good news of the kingdom takes root in us, there is an exponential increase in our capacity to draw life from God, and to give life to and receive life from one another and our world.

And the forces arrayed against life always contest the growth of anything that increases the capacity of creation to receive and breathe life.

[balloon illustration...increasing difficulty initially, then easing up...]

Just like there is resistance to air being breathed into the balloon, there is resistance to life coming into the earth through God-breathed words.

In the parable, the resistance comes in the form of birds, and the scorching sun, and weeds.

The birds, Jesus explains, are the "satan" coming and taking the seeds away. Satan is just a word meaning the adversary, or the accuser. The scorching sun is trouble and persecution that wither the new plants. The weeds are various worries, temptations, and desires that compete with the growth, choking it off before it can bear fruit - before it can bring multiplying life.

All of this resistance to growth comes because there is an enemy of God whose agenda is to disrupt Shalom and drain God's good creation of life. An enemy whose tools are accusations, fear, and lies. [Tabloid...] Humanity has listened to his accusations, been enslaved to the fear he instills, and bought his lies, hook, line and sinker. The enemy has no real power to destroy us without our cooperation, but we have made a home for his seeds in us, and they have taken root and borne rotten, poisonous fruit throughout the earth. His seeds are a catalyst for death, which is intended to stop all growth.

Remember the first accusation, against God - "he's lied to you, it's good to eat, he just doesn't want you to be like him." received and multiplying - "it was her, she made me do it!" the first a whisper, because that's the only voice the enemy has. The second an amplifying shout, because it comes from our lungs. The accusations fly, and the world is no longer a safe place to be - God can't be trusted, and neither can anyone else. So now fear gains a foothold. And when we are enslaved to fear, all kinds of lies will be gobbled up. Money and possessions will give you life. Power is the only security. Pleasing others will make you feel good about yourself. Wearing the right mask will give you the respect you crave. Sometimes these lies take hold as worry, sometimes as deceptive distractions, sometimes as things that we actively choose over God. Because fear has made us desperate, and no rationality goes out the window when we are desperate (frontal lobe vs. amygdala). And pretty soon the whole of our world is built on a framework of lies promising growth and life but yielding only atrophy and death.

It's into this world that the Farmer comes sowing seeds. And as we've explored before, every seed is love, because the Farmer is God, and God is love. And every seed is a word from the God who is love, a word that subverts the accusations, subverts the fear, subverts the lies.

And what is required for soil to receive the seeds? Trust. Trust is what is required for the objects of love to receive love, to make a home for it.

Jesus said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that you might have life and have it to the full, abundant life. (John 10v10) Jesus' tools are the good news of the grace present in the kingdom of God, perfect love that drives out fear, and truth that sets us free. [Newspaper vs Tabloid...] The question for us is will we receive his words - will we repent (turn away) from listening to the accusations, from acting out of the fear stirred up by one who is less than God, from basing our lives on the system of lies that undergirds our relationships, and will we believe (act in trust of) his good news, act freely in the light of perfect love, and bank everything on his truth?

In this parable, in our world, trust is under siege by the enemy of life, by the satan who brings fresh accusations, who conspires to reinforce fear from trouble and persecution, who scatters the seeds of insidious, choking lies in the same soil on which the seeds of love all.

Growth Contester #1: Accusations steal Love from untrusting soil. We've all heard the accusations. God doesn't deserve your love - look what he allowed to happen. He doesn't actually care about you, only himself. Or, why would any of this apply to you? You're not anyone God would be paying attention to, what have you done to make you think he would? Or, you don't deserve God's love - look at what you've done. And when we listen to those accusations, we don't trust the seeds God is trying to sow, so they don't stick around long enough to take root. [Chris Farley show...]

Growth Contester #2: Fear limits Love's roots in un-surrendered soil. Sometimes we only let the love of God scratch the surface, because as soil, we're not actually surrendered to him and his seeds. We're just in it for what we think he and his seed will add to our lives.

Ah, the good news that God loves me? Of course he does, why wouldn't he? But we won't let his love go all the way in, and touch the parts of us that we are ashamed of, the dark and ugly parts of our lives. And the fear remains deep down in us, the fear that God will abandon us when our darkness becomes clear. And so the heat of day comes. The going gets tough. And that plant that began to grow has nothing to draw life from, and it withers.

Or the good news that forgiveness is here? Yes! of course it is - this world would be such a better place if everyone would just forgive one another! But we don't let this seed go all the way in, and touch the things we need forgiveness for, or the things we need to forgive others for. And the fear remains deep down in us, that we won't be forgiven, or that actually forgiving those who've wronged us will leave us too vulnerable. And so the heat of day comes. The going gets tough. And that plant that began to grow has nothing to draw life from, and it withers.

Growth Contester #3: Lies keep love from bearing fruit in uncommitted soil. There is a way in which we can hear the good news of the kingdom of God, receive it, and keep our options open. I'm going to follow Jesus, and make as much money, enjoy as much comfort and pleasure, gain as much power, achieve as much success in this world as I can. I'll love and forgive and give God glory, as long as it doesn't cost me too much money. Or too many of my friends. Or cramp my style too much. Or make me lose that promotion. And here's the deal - the seed takes root and grows, because seeds are like that, they'll find their way into any opening they can find. But it never bears fruit - it never multiplies and brings the fullness of kingdom life - as long as enough seeds of the enemy are welcomed into your soil as well.

Know this: Jesus doesn't tell his disciples all of this to discourage them. No, just the opposite. Jesus tells them this so that when they encounter the enemy's resistance, they would recognize it for what it is, and be able to respond to it with perseverance.

In fact, when we encounter resistance to growth, in light of Jesus' good news, we can take it not as a discouragement, but as an encouragement. Real growth is always contested; the contest is in fact a sign of the seeds of the kingdom being scattered on the soil of your life.

And there is good news about the outcome of the contest too. Jesus tells his disciples later: I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. (John 16v33) When Jesus speaks of the "world" here, he's referring to the system of death built on the foundation of accusations, fear, and lies that has corrupted the first creation.

And how has he overcome it? Like a seed being planted in the soil. On his journey to the cross, Jesus faces all of the obstacles the seeds face And he has a way through those obstacles, a way through the accusations, and fear, and lies for us to imitate as we pick up our crosses daily and follow him.

Jesus, heading to the cross, gives no ear to the accusations. He acts freely in the face of fear. He banks everything on the truth that his Father's rule and reign has come. And as a result, he becomes a seed that goes into the ground, dies, takes root in the soil of the old creation and grows up into a tree of life that breaks above the surface on Easter Sunday. And so now the accusations have been countered, the grip of fear has been broken, and the lies have been proven false. They may contest growth, but they will not prevail. Because in the resurrection, life has prevailed over death once and for all.

(the mustard seed, so small but grows to be the largest - larger than the choking weeds, large enough to provide shade from the sun, so large in fact that the birds can perch in its shade - all of the evil overcome)

What can we take from Jesus' example?

When accusations come, ask yourself where the words are coming from. (Truth be told, we have a very hard time telling whether or not what we hear is true or not...)

You do, however, know the words that come from love versus the words that come from unauthorized judgment. It's the dove vs. crow. Listen to the former. Don't engage with the latter.

Notice that Jesus only engages with the crows when the accusations are meant to make the sheep afraid, but when they are directed at him directly, he is silent. Presumably because he's keeping his ears open for the Father's voice, and the Father's voice alone. Maybe Adam's and Eve's first mistake wasn't eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil...maybe it was engaging the serpent in conversation at all.

When trouble and persecution come, it's always a choice between responding to fear, or to love. Which is always about who is on the throne in your life. Is it you, who has everything to lose? Or is it the one who has nothing to lose because he's already lost everything in loving you? Then we can act freely in light of that love. (Peter's abandoning Jesus, and then - do you love me, do you love me, do you love me - ok, now go feed my sheep. Now it's not about Peter any more, and yet now Peter is most fully himself.)

And what do we do about the worry, the deception, the desires? The only antidote to the lies is going all in on the truth. Selling everything to buy the treasure in the field. Banking everything on the kingdom of God. Everything you hold back makes room for weeds that can choke, and make the seeds unfruitful. Seek first the kingdom, and all these other things will be added to you.

Practical Tips:

1. Try a pundit and ad fast for a week. See what happens when you're not exposed to a constant flow of accusations, fear, lies.

2: Try a do over, this time starting with the seed.

Take something you've had a false start on in the past (getting in shape, becoming more patient, overcoming a fear, eliminating a bad habit, etc.), and start fresh, this time by identifying the seed of good news God is planting. Your body is a good gift, blessed by God for his purposes in your life and in the world, for example. Now, take just one step in a new direction, but this time your goal is to make a home for that seed so it can multiply and grow, not to get in shape so that girls will think you're hot, or whatever else might motivate you. Now, watch for the accusations, and when they come, if they come from the crow not the dove, ignore them and press on. When the going gets tough - you get afraid you'll never make any progress, your life will just be miserable, etc., ask yourself who is on the throne. You or Jesus? If it's not Jesus, repent and put him there again. And then press on, doing the things that make a home for that seed, trusting him and his love for you. When you start to worry what others are thinking, or get discouraged because you don't look as good or eat as well as so and so, resolve to go all in on the truth. The truth that your body is a good gift, blessed by God for his purposes in your life and in the world. Then the lies won't matter, and you'll be free, and the truth will bear fruit.

3: Try the generosity experiment.

Of all the things that are signs of the rule and reign of God growing in a person's life, wouldn't you agree that generosity would be low hanging fruit? Compared to say, loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, not holding others in contempt, having a heart free of lust, willingness to give up your life for others... Generosity, relatively speaking, is kind of square one, right? It's also directly connected to trusting the good news of God's kingdom, isn't it? Generosity makes no real sense except in light of God's love. And in light of his love, it's the only way to love that really makes sense. Every time you see generosity on display, doesn't it make you get a little choked up? Every time you experience it. Participate it. And it's simple, isn't it? It's not complicated or complex. Any one of us could think of some way to be generous today, without needing to take a course on it.

So try out what we've learned about spiritual growth today in the area of generosity.

For example, Find your tax return from last year and look at schedule A line 19, charitable contributions. Bible doesn't make a law about this because generosity can't be legislated. But the biblical tradition of giving in the Bible is a tenth. The average charitable contribution in the U.S. is 2.2% (after taxes).

When you see the number, keep an eye out for a flock of accusatory thoughts. Toward God. Toward yourself. Toward me for even bringing the subject up.

Consider that those thoughts might be an indication of the presence of a kingdom seed. Pay them no mind, press on. "To make a home for the seeds of God's generosity towards me, whatever I gave last year, I commit here and now to increase it. Even if it means I have to consume less this year." Maybe you gave less than 5%. Double it. Maybe you gave less than 10%. Increase it to 10%. Maybe you have 10%. Increase it 1%. See what happens to the accusations - watch them fly away.

[doesn't matter to me where it goes - give it to another church if you're skeptical about my motivations, give it to a good charity, give it anonymously to a neighbor in need.]

Then, along the way, pay attention to trouble that comes up, and accompanying fear. You have an unexpected repair or medical bill: I'd better not give this month, we might not make it. Your friends or parents or accountant tells you your crazy. Yeah, this is silly, God doesn't need my money. Ask yourself where the voice comes from - the crow or the dove. Fear or love. Ask yourself who is the throne of your life. You or the one who has lost everything for your sake. Repent and put him on the throne again. Notice how when he is on the throne you start to notice not the things that make you afraid, but the way in which God continues to provide in the midst of difficulty. See what kind of freedom that brings.

Notice the worry that tries to come in, the deceit, the lies. When you notice it, commit yourself all in to the kingdom of God, trusting that everything else will be added to you according to the one who loves you and knows your needs. See what kind of fruit that bears in the life-giving capacity of all your relationships.

Nudge: Go Fish

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 10/24/2010

[audio link]

Invitation to turn to John 21.

This is a story about awakening one another to the presence of the resurrected Jesus. This is a story about evangelism - bringing good news - in a way that gets past our defenses and lands in our hearts. This is a story about the power of a nudge.

This is a story about Jesus, a week or two or three after he’s been crucified and come to life again. It’s a story about people who can hear his voice but don’t recognize that it’s him. It’s a story about the church. It’s a story about the kingdom of God. It’s a story about normal life and all of its joys and frustrations. It’s a story about what happens to normal life when the living God shows up and somebody comes awake to his presence, and helps wake everyone else up too. This is a story about the power of a nudge.

This story starts out as a story about fishing, and ends up as a story about breakfast. It starts out in the night, and ends up in the morning. It starts out cold and dark and alone, and ends up with friends gathered around a fire, light dancing in their eyes, the smell of a feast filling their noses. This is a story about Nudging.

21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ²Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

¹¹Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Throughout the scriptures, the Good news of the Kingdom of God lands with a nudge, and gets people nudging each other in wonder. This story is chock full of nudges, isn't it? We'll conclude our nudge series with this story. By way of review, so far we’ve talked about how...

Nudging affects both the nudger and the nudge-ee.

Nudging is an act of friendship, of love.

Nudging is up close and personal.

Nudges usually produce smiles and embraces, not narrowed eyes and clenched fists.

Nudging is invited, welcomed.

Or sometimes it's not, but it's always designed to open the door for true relationship, and comes from a place of service, not judgment.

Nudging happens at the right time, in the right place, and it can happen anywhere, at any time.

Nudging isn't rushed or forced, yet nudgers never hesitate or sweat bullets either, because nudges happen naturally, instinctively.

We’ve talked about how at the heart of nudging is paying attention everywhere for signs of the resurrected Jesus, because no-where is off limits to his presence anymore. God isn’t stuck in a box marked "God." He’s shaken off the chains of death and now he’s roaming the earth, his Spirit blowing like the wind, showing up in the most unexpected places, at work in the most unexpected people. Even empty tombs aren’t empty; every bush is burning with his presence.

And we’ve talked about how we need a different kind of tool kit for nudge evangelism. Tools that help us listen and help us love, like duct tape, and stethoscopes and binoculars and noise-canceling headphones, and molasses and Christmas stockings that inspire us to wonder. So that we can notice what the Father is doing in one another’s lives and join in.

Today, as we look at John 21, my hope is that all these different ideas about nudging would come together in a way that encourages us to realize a very simple truth. Together, we can do this. We can awaken one another to the presence of the God who is already here. We were made to do this for one another and with one another. Nudging is the most naturally supernatural thing in the world. The only thing it requires of us is that we go fishing.

Let’s notice some things about this passage...

The resurrected Jesus isn't always easy to recognize at first. Not even by people who've known him for years...

He’s standing on the shore. They don’t recognize him. He talks to them. They don’t recognize his voice. They catch the fish in a pretty extraordinary kind of way. Most of them still don’t recognize. They’re sitting around a fire with him, and even though they are up close and personal, it’s still like he’s in disguise of sorts.

This is still our experience much of the time. We see the resurrected Jesus through a glass darkly. A lot of our nudging will be rooted in faith recognition, not the kind of sensory recognition we’ve spent our whole lives developing. So don’t expect sure-fire certainty. And don’t be discouraged when that’s not what you’re getting. [Mad gab illustration..He Heel Stub Row Ken Hard Ted (Psalm 147:3), As Cannot Well Beak Event Who Ewe (Mt. 7:7), Whirl Abe Errors To Gather Wit Got (1 Cor 3:9).]

Notice how Jesus shows up while we're doing what we do. What we love. Our work. With our friends.

Peter is a fisherman. He’s fishing. Maybe because he needs to eat, to earn a living. Maybe because he enjoys it, it relaxes him. The resurrected Jesus shows up while he’s fishing with his friends. Not in a synagogue, or the temple, or even in Jerusalem, the city of God.

So if you want to be a good news bringer, do the things you do and look for the resurrected Jesus there first. At work. At school. In your hobbies and recreation. Hang out with your friends. Join them in doing what they do. The resurrected Jesus just might show up, especially since you’re there to notice him. [want to be a church where Sunday is celebration, encouragement and equipping, but not the main event...]

Notice that Jesus shows up in a scarred and hungry body.

In most of his post-resurrection appearances, Jesus is either showing his wounds or eating. Which suggests to us a couple of things.

One, if we want to recognize him, it's worth looking where we find wounds, and looking where we find hunger. Literally and figuratively. Literally: Where there is sickness and injury and pain, Jesus is likely to be present, ready to bring resurrection life. And where there is poverty and lack and hunger, Jesus is likely to be present, ready to bring the Father's provision. Figuratively: Where people have been scarred by the brokenness of this world - abandonment, judgment, misinformation about God, etc. - Jesus is likely to be present, ready to bring healing. And when people are filled with longing for connection and hopes of a new tomorrow and dreams of beauty and joy and passion for justice, Jesus is likely to be present, ready to bring a kingdom feast.

And secondly, because the church is his body, if we want to be recognized as a home to the resurrected Jesus, we've got to be open and humble about our scars and our hunger. We are wounded people. We are hungry for more. We don't have all the answers. We have firsthand knowledge of the weight of sin, the struggle of being forsaken and abandoned, the questions about how this is all going to work out. If we're not vulnerable, no one will be able to recognize the resurrected Jesus in us, because the resurrected Jesus only shows up in a scarred and hungry body. (love the disciples' answer: "no")

Notice that Jesus invites people to a meal.

All the nudges lead to a meal where Jesus comes most fully into view, where we become most awake to the presence of God. They don't dare ask if it's him; there is something so holy going on that they just know. It's as if the fire burning is the burning bush that Moses stumbled upon, and when he asked God's name, God said something along the lines of "I am who I am." The disciples don't want to make the same mistake at this fire. They know who Jesus is because they recognize him at the meal.

All of our nudges are essentially invitations to a meal, aren't they? Come, be part of our family, eat with us. You belong because we all belong to God. You belong in the same way we all belong, because Jesus made room for us in the family through his death. There is a meal we eat together that reminds us of who he is and who we are and how we are to recognize him. Come join us in the meal, and in recognizing the body of Christ. Christ in her, and him, and her, and him. Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Who doesn't want to be invited to the meal? Not everyone will say yes to every invitation, but everyone wants to be invited. It's always a welcome nudge. [many people think church is a private club of some sort, because spirituality is such a personal, intimate thing in our culture. Coming without an invitation feels like walking into someone's bedroom when you're a guest in someone's home.]

Notice that it takes somebody familiar with the love of Jesus to say, "It is the Lord!"

It's the disciple Jesus loved that recognizes him first. Most think it is John referring to himself, the only disciple who stayed with Jesus at the cross, to whom Jesus entrusted his mother as he died. He sees the favor of God present in the catch of fish, does the math in his head, connects the dots, and realizes, It is the Lord! And he gives voice to his recognition, and that turns into a nudge that helps Peter recognize.

What was it about John that made him able to see what the others didn't? We don't know for sure. But maybe there is a hint in the phrase, the disciple Jesus loved. He was familiar with the love of Jesus and recognized what was happening as an expression of that love. Peter certainly was familiar with Jesus' love as well, and the other disciples, but perhaps they'd come to doubt that that love applied to them anymore. After all, they'd abandoned him. Peter, especially, had denied him 3 times. It takes a while sometimes to believe again that the good news of God's kingdom still applies to you. He needed John's help. We'll talk about that more in a few minutes...

Notice also this about this passage: Fishing happens best with others, in community.

Fishing stories are often stories about people swimming in a murky sea of confusion and despair being caught up in the net of God's love. So is this story, if we have eyes to see it.

Peter goes out to fish alone at first. And sometimes people did, with a line and hook as we still do today. But the real fishing was done with nets. Peter's friends say, hey, wait, we'll go with you, which meant Peter wouldn't be alone, and now they could fish with a net.

Isn't that how we approach evangelism, sometimes? Like we're out there alone, having to reel somebody in? But no, fishing happens best with others, in community. It's hard to awaken people to the presence of God by ourselves; nudging happens best with others, in community. [churches that awaken a community to the presence of God aren't filled with gifted evangelists; they are filled with people who join together to cast nets of love...conversation with MC]

Notice as well that fishing is a lot like the farmer sowing seed in the parable we've been talking about in our seeds and soil series: Nudgers know that mixed results come along for the boat ride. You can fish all night and catch nothing. And then Jesus shows up and your nets are full. What matters is that you are out there fishing when Jesus shows up on the shore, bringing the light of morning and the catch of the century.

Notice how much of what makes a good fisher also makes a good nudger. It requires patience. Quiet. Listening. Knowing the lake. Looking. Timing. Cooperation with the environment. Trusting Jesus and doing what you hear him telling you to do.

[story of praying for woman in the ER...]

This passage also shows what an important role a nudge can play in a person's life and relationship with the resurrected Jesus.

Peter's trajectory:

At the last supper, "I will lay down my life for you."

Denies him 3 times.

Rooster crows, followed by deep regret and shame.

At the empty tomb, Peter believes.

He meets Jesus in the locked room later that day.

But in this passage, he's still fishing for fish, isn't he?

Then, this loaded sign of favor comes. (Peter and Jesus have a history when it comes to fishing.) It's a nudge. Brings Peter back to being Peter. (Look at him jump into the water!) Opens the door to Peter doing business with Jesus. (The "do you love me?", "feed my sheep" passage comes next.)

The next time we see Peter, he's making a catch of 3000. He's fishing for new members of God's family. He's the man he was created to be.

We know people like that. We are or have been people like that. People who believe in God, but for one reason or another think the joyous, engaged, purposeful relationship with him is for someone else, not for us. And so we're going about our lives. But it's less than we are made for. Less than who we really are. Until enough nudges awaken us to the presence of God who has shown up with the dawn of a new day. And we recognize the signs of his favor, and our heart starts beating faster, and we take the plunge. And then we go back and bring him as many fish as our nets can hold. Because there is a fire burning and a meal to be had with friends. And Jesus is right at the center of it all, about to say something that will change our lives, and the world, forever.

Note: we ran out of time to get to the practical tips this Sunday…

Practical tips:

1. Take some swings in a nudging cage. Like a coffee shop, or a shopping mall, or grocery store, or a park where people walk their dogs, or a bar, or any place you enjoy being where people are. Give yourself an hour or 2 there, with the singular purpose of trying to notice any nudges that come your way. A nudge to buy something for somebody. Or strike up a conversation. Or pray for somebody. Don't do anything out of obligation or duty. Only do something if you notice something that might be a sign of the resurrected Jesus. Best case scenario? You get to do some nudging. Worst case scenario? You have a nice cup of coffee and a change of pace that might do your soul good.

2. Group Nudge. Get together with some other nudgers and show God's favor to someone in a practical way. Rake some lawns. Bring in some garbage cans. Clean out some gutters. Help with the Fall Free For All. If asked why, just say you wanted to show them in a practical way that God loves them.

3. Invite someone to breakfast with the wounded and hungry Jesus. Remember, nudging is done best when done with others, in community. So it's always a welcome nudge to invite someone to church with you, or to some kind of serving opportunity with you.

3b. Learn new things to write on napkins, for when someone asks, what kind of church to do you go to? [show centered set diagram and 4 quadrants diagram...advance slides as directed]

Seeds & Soil: Love, Abundant life, & Mixed Results

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 10/17/2010

[audio link not yet available]

[interactive reading: volunteers for boos (seed or word), yays (Jesus, he, or him), breath holders (between yays), and yes-ers (periods)...]

Mark 4v1-20:

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

We're going to talk today about mixed results. About how most of the seeds the farmer sows don't produce any real growth, while a few of the seeds have overwhelming results. We're talking, of course, when we peel back the layers, about the mixed results of Jesus' message of the good news of the kingdom of God, even when the kingdom message is delivered by Jesus. About how lots of what God says lands on deaf ears, or gets lost in the noise, or gets shut out by competing voices, while some of what God says to some of us some of the time really hits home. Lands so deep in us, in fact, that it changes who we are from the inside out, changing what we think and feel and say and do so much that our words and actions carry with them the same life-changing power of God's words and actions. And we're talking about why this dynamic of mixed results is in fact part of the good news, not bad news at all.

Remember, Jesus' parables are designed to uproot certain stale assumptions we bring to what God and his kingdom is like, so that his fresh and true perspective can get under our skin and take root, subverting our defenses. This parable is doing that in spades.

The predominant kingdom at the time of Jesus was the Roman Empire. It came by conquest, by force, it came organized, systematized, suddenly and uniformly. Rome set their sights on a part of the known world, marched in with an army, took it over, and set up shop. They had a system of controlling every aspect of the land they took over. They established a government, an economic order, a social order, roads, plumbing, etc. And it all happened in a top down fashion. Mixed results were not tolerated. Rebellions? Crushed. Mismanagement? Managers replaced. Quotas were brutally enforced. Results, results, results.

Rome grew it's empire, in other words, the way we might build a building or a car or a subdivision. Piece by piece, check box, by check box, benchmark by benchmark. Mixed results are not to be tolerated, because the building might fall down, or the car might not run, or the subdivision might not break even.

We can imagine, then, what kind of pre-existing grid informed people's expectations when they heard Jesus announce the kingdom of God was coming. Surely God had set his sights on the world, would march in with an army, take it over, set up shop. Complete with a system - more benevolent of course - for controlling every aspect of the world he took over. A top down reassertion of righteous rule.

This grid of benchmarks and controls is the way of our broken world, isn't it? Even when we think about our own lives and how we're progressing.

What will your life look like when it's completed? What are your goals? How are you doing with respect to accomplishing them? What are you doing to fix your failures?

Are you at your ideal weight? Can you benchpress 200? Have you run a marathon? Ever bowled 300? What's your Xbox Live gamer score? How many followers do you have on twitter or friends on Facebook?

Did you graduate from High School? Get your bachelors degree? Your masters? Your PhD?

Are you employed? Have you gotten promoted? Achieved a certain title?

Have you made this much money? Bought a house? Have a retirement account?

[even our relationships get subjected to these benchmarks and controls: the questions we get from relatives: when are you getting married? shouldn't you be a better husband? when are you having kids? shouldn't you be a better parent?]

Growth in life for us becomes checking off our boxes. In each area of life, we have a particular benchmark that we think we'd be satisfied with. That if we succeeded, we could move on to the next thing, or maybe rest easy, kick back if we've met enough them. Then it's just about maintaining good control over what we've achieved and attained.

How many of us, when we think about our spiritual lives, use the same kinds of grids?

Have you repented of your sins and made a personal commitment to Christ?

Put a shout out to Jesus on your facebook page?

Overcome your anger problem?

Stopped looking at porn?

Do you know how to pray?

Read the bible?

Do you tithe?

Mastered your 3 minute and 10 minute testimony?

Led someone to Christ?

Have you led a small group?

Served the poor?

Gone on an international missions trip?

Cast out a demon?

Healed someone?

Raised someone from the dead?

Started a church?

Growth in our spiritual lives can become for us reaching our benchmarks and then maintaining control.

Here's the problem with that approach to growth. We're carbon-based life forms, not buildings or cars or subdivisions. That might be how you build a building or a car or a subdivision, but it's not how God builds human beings. It's organic. Cooperative. There's no sheer force approach to making it happen. Largely invisible moment by moment. Happens in fits and starts. Doesn't require maintenance, but nurture. Requires faith, patience, perseverance, a willingness to tolerate imperfect results along the way.

[teachers, coaches, parents (would you just stop teaching, coaching, parenting because you weren't getting results?)...how much of doing it well requires making room for mixed results...?]

Empires make no room for mixed results, because Empires exist to concentrate wealth and power at the top.

God makes room for mixed results because God is Love. And Love exists to distribute and multiply it's life as far and wide as Love will be received and reciprocated. Love will go so far, in fact, as to empty itself of wealth and power so that the objects of its love might have life, and have it to the full.

On a biological level, the questions that matter aren't benchmarks and controls, but the life-giving capacities of our bodies' systems. On a spiritual level, the questions also aren't a matter of benchmarks and controls, but the life-giving capacities of our relationships with God, and one another, and the whole of creation.

So when the kingdom of God comes, it's not measured first by a set of external realities. Rome defeated. Messiah on throne in Jerusalem. Economic and social justice implemented. It's measured by the growth of life-giving capacities of our relationships with God, and one another, and the whole of creation.

And that kind of growth comes as a farmer sows seeds on the ground.

Jesus isn't looking for the quickest way to check off the boxes. Because Jesus could bring a sword instead of seeds (as we spoke about a few weeks ago) and check off the boxes in short order. But then the life-giving capacities of our relationships with God, and one another, and the whole of creation would, at best, remain untouched.

What God is doing instead is speaking creative words of love into the old creation so that new creation comes to life. Those words come in the form of a person (Jesus, the word of God), and his announcement, and demonstration, and embodiment of the good news of God's kingdom. And when they are trusted and obeyed (when they are received into the soil), they have the capacity to breathe new life into the old creation. A new creation that has a growing capacity for life-giving relationships between people and God, and people with one another, and people with the whole of creation.

[seed: God forgives you...ah, I can draw near without shame, ah, I can forgive the person who disrespected me, ah, I can stop punishing myself and get on with my purpose in life..., etc.]

This parable Jesus tells says that the seeds are going to get mixed results. This is just the way Love brings life: it's a growth process, a cooperative relationship between the seeds and the soil, and not much of the soil is fully cooperative, especially at first. In fact, most of the seeds won't bear much fruit. But some of the seeds will. And the ones that will, will be wildly, overwhelmingly fruitful.

So be patient, persevere, don't get discouraged and give up. The Sower is patient, he doesn't get discouraged. He just keeps scattering the seed, because he knows how seed works, and his agenda is life.

[Sales experience...not in it to feel good about myself, in it to make a living. had to trust what my trainer said about the ratios: 100 phone calls, 50 cold calls, 15 appointments, you'll make $40,000...the Kingdom ratios are even more stacked in the favor of life, 3 of 4 fail, but the seeds that take root multiply 30, 60, 100 times]

What is true of how the Kingdom of God comes among communities of people is also true of how the Kingdom of God comes in our lives personally. The seeds get mixed results, depending on the cooperativeness of the soil where and when it lands. Most of the seeds won't bear much fruit. But some of the seeds will. And the ones that will, will be wildly, overwhelmingly fruitful.

So be patient, persevere, don't get discouraged and give up. The sower is patient, he doesn't get discouraged. He just keeps scattering the seed, because he knows how seed works, and his agenda is life. If God is willing to make room for mixed results in our lives, shouldn't we be willing to do the same?

Now why doesn't the sower just put the seed in the good soil only? Two reasons, I think.

One, every seed, every word the sower sows is filled with love, is an expression of love, because the farmer is God and God is love. And God loves the people whose soil is like a hard-packed path, and God loves the people whose soil is shallow, and God loves the people with thorns in their soil, just as much as God loves those whose soil will be most receptive to his love. So God will continue to pour out his love on all of them, all the time.

And secondly, because no matter where the seeds are scattered, the seeds, over time, can't help but change the soil in a way that makes it more receptive for the next seed that lands. Bird poop fertilizes the soil. The dead plants, whether they died from scorching sun or choking weeds, fertilize the soil. And the crop that does grow up in the good soil will produce seeds of its own, seeds that are caught on the wind and take root in the previously uncooperative ground. It's true in communities of people, and it's true in our lives personally.

Don't stop scattering seeds. Anywhere. Anytime.

And don't get discouraged by a perceived lack of spiritual growth in your life. Continue to open yourself up to the words the Lord might speak to you. Some of them won't bear fruit. But they might cause the ground to become more fertile. And some of them will land on good soil. And grow up into a crop. A crop full of more seeds to be blown by the wind into the other parts of your life.

Practical Tips:

1. Thank a Farmer. Write a thank-you note to your parents, or a friend, or a mentor who made room for mixed results in your life. It just might encourage both of you.

2. Waste Some Seeds. Express love in a practical way towards someone in whom you don't expect it to take root. Because love is concerned with its long term impact on the soil, not with self gratification.

3. Go Growth Hunting. Find a place in your life where your relationship with God has become more life-giving, or where your relationship with others has become more life-giving, or where your relationship with creation has become more life-giving, and nurture it. See if it eventually doesn't just spill some life-giving seeds over into other areas of your life.

Nudge: Duct Tape, Stethoscopes, & Binoculars

sermon notes from the Vineyard Church of Milan 10/10/2010

[audio link]

Invitation to turn to John 5.

Religious scholars talk about observant Muslims (5 pillars: bearing witness, prayer, Zakat, Ramadhan, pilgrimage to Mecca) observant Jews (abiding by the Torah, keeping kosher, the feasts and festivals, etc.), but not observant Christians. What would it mean to be an observant Christian?

The rabbis say that to be an observant Jew is to be observant not just in the sense we've spoken of, but in two other senses as well. First, "To observe is to say something, to make a comment or remark, as on a text. An observant Jew does not just "study," does not merely read the text or go through the motions of ritual. An observant Jew makes a comment, makes a mark, makes it hers." Secondly, "To observe is to take notice; to perceive, to watch attentively. See the world. Listen to your heart. Notice the joy and pain of another human being. Attend to Creation. Notice the task at hand, and show your respect for it, and for yourself (created, of course, in the image of G-d), by really Being There."

It is this last sense that points the way to the aspect of observance that is central to Christianity.

Leonard Sweet: Christianity is a religion that is less wrapped up in rituals and observances than it is in rapt attention to what God is doing in the world so that we can beat a path to where Jesus is living his resurrected presence.

Why do we serve the poor? It's what God is doing in the world, it's where Jesus is living his resurrected presence, so we run to join in. Why do we tithe? Because God is doing something in the world through the local church, and so we beat a path to join in with him as Jesus lives his resurrected presence through it. Because God is doing something in our hearts with his generosity to us, and we join in with him as our generosity reflects the resurrected presence of Jesus in the world. Why do we forgive those who wrong us? Because it's what God is doing in the world, and our forgiveness of others is how we join in, step into the middle of Jesus' resurrection life. Why do we gather to worship? Because what God is doing in the world is setting his beloved Son on the throne of a new creation, and Jesus is living his resurrected presence through his gathered body, the church, and worship is how we place ourselves in the center of it all. Why do you do youth ministry, or children's ministry, or pray for the sick, or help people fix things that have been broken, or work at a shelter for battered women, or provide places for mom's of troubled pregnancies to have their babies? Because you can see God at work in those places and activities, because you want to be near when Jesus shows up with his resurrected presence, because this is how you step into the action.

Show me someone who isn't doing any of these things that it means to be a practicing Jesus follower, and I'll show you someone who has lost sight of God at work in those ways and places. It's not getting their act together that will re-engage them. It's someone nudging them awake to the presence of God that they've lost sight of, either because they've given their attention to lesser but shinier things, or because they've fallen asleep at the wheel of their life.

That's why we're talking about Nudge evangelism. About awakening each other to the God who is already there, everywhere around us, at work all the time if we only had eyes to see him, ears to hear him, a nose to catch his scent, a tongue with a well-developed taste for his sweetness, skin sensitive to his touch and texture and temperature. About bringing the good news of Jesus in a way that lands like Jesus brought good news to us, with a series of nudges. And at the heart of nudge evangelism is paying attention, is keeping all of our senses alert to signs of the presence & activity of God around us.

JOHN 5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ^3[4]Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹²So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed."

Let's pay close attention to this text, see what we might learn about Nudge evangelism.

What's the scene? A great number of disabled people. poor, hurting. Hoping that when the water moved they could be first in and get healed. The pagans believed the pool had healing properties first, so it's probably a local superstition fueling the hope.

This is a metaphor for our world, isn't it? Hurting people, their best hope a superstition that rewards the fastest, the best connected, the closest to the water, but that probably doesn't actually work...Money? Power? Popularity?

Although it's in the city of God, it's a pagan place at heart, with a pagan hope. That doesn't stop Jesus from keeping his eyes open for the Kingdom of God, does it?

Man himself doesn't know who Jesus is. Sir, he calls him. Not Rabbi, certainly not Lord. He's spent 38 years preoccupied with the stirring of the water, and he's totally missed the buzz about Jesus, or if he's heard it, it hasn't registered. Not even when Jesus is talking directly to him. Not even when Jesus heals him. He's asleep, isn't he? Have any of us been that man?

Jewish leaders are only paying attention to one thing - the law they are so protective of, the law that keeps them in business. So when the guy shows up walking with his mat, all they see is a violation of law. They seem to not even hear the fact that he was healed. They hear only that somebody told him to break the law.

When they find out what has just happened, they completely miss the activity of God again. They are preoccupied with his perceived violations of the object of their attention. Jesus healed - that's work. He called God his Father - that's blasphemy. God is healing and walking among them on the day set aside for giving attention to the things of God, and they miss him entirely. In fact they oppose him. They're asleep, aren't they?

Now look at the verbs connected to Jesus. Saw, learned, asked, said. (the implied verb is listened.)

Jesus is looking for something before he acts, isn't he? He noticed a man lying there who has been overlooked for 38 years. He inquired after him, found out his story, that he'd been lying there a long time. Asked him a question that only someone who was really looking would ask. "Do you want to get well?" It's a custom-fit nudge. In other words, are you lying here all your life because you've given up, because it's the life you've gotten used to, have you become satisfied with your lot in life? It's a question that awakens something in the man. His desire to be well. To be strong, to re-engage with purpose, and activity, to re-enter life itself in the wide world, in the city of God. A desire that is born of the image of God in him. Jesus awakens him, just a bit, to that. With a simple nudge made possible by Jesus paying closer attention perhaps than anyone has ever paid to this man.

Jesus listens to his answer, and in his answer, hears underneath the complaint, underneath the defensiveness, hears the man's yes to his question. Yes, he wants to get well. Jesus' Kingdom=radar is blinking now. Something has registered on it and it's moving. We don't know if it's a glimmer of faith in the man's eye, desperation in the tone of the man's voice, a shiver up Jesus' back, an accompanying surge of faith in Jesus' heart, a word from the Holy Spirit running through the neurons of Jesus' brain.

We only know that now Jesus says something. Saw. Learned. Asked. Then says. Nudgers are like that. More looking and listening and asking and hearing than saying. But when love is ripe the time for the nudge does come. Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.

Get up! is the word for rise. Like rise out of bed. Like rise from the dead rise. Jesus is looking at more than just this man. He's got the eyes of his heart peeled for the Father. (I only do what I see the Father doing, he explains later.) What's the Father doing? He knows the work the Father is doing is new creation work in a dying world. He knows new creation will begin with resurrection. Something registers for him here and now that the Father is opening a window from the heavens, where the Father is storing the earth's future, and resurrection life is leaking out. So he joins in by simply naming what he sees the Father doing. Get up!

Will the man receive the nudge? Yes. And when he does, he's cured. Picks up his mat. Walks.

C'mon! This is what nudging is all about. The kingdom, the rule and reign of God that brings freedom and restoration and wholeness and re-entry into Shalom and purpose and life itself.

Of course, the man still doesn't know who Jesus is. That doesn't happen until a little later, when Jesus finds him again and speaks to him again. But once he does, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he turns around and goes back to bear witness. To become a nudger himself.

Because the man's not the only one nudged in this story, is he? When the critique about working on the Sabbath comes to Jesus from the religious leaders, Jesus calls to their attention the fact that the root of the Sabbath is joining with the Father in the 7th day rest of the Father from the work of the first creation. A new creation is happening, Jesus is saying, and the Father is at work right now. Do you want to be truly faithful to what God is up to? (He knows that's the thing at work deepest in their hearts - he's been listening!) To be faithful is to work alongside of the God who is right now working, because a new creation has begun. It's not day 7, it's just about to be day 1 - the light of the new world is dawning.

Of course, his nudge isn't received. They try to kill him all them more. Be encouraged. Even Jesus' nudges were rejected from time. But that doesn't discourage him. He nudges again.

The son can only do what the Father is doing, Jesus says. We hear this as Jesus referring to himself, and surely he is. But the son of God to the religious leaders is Israel (God to Pharaoh - Israel is my son, my first born son). Because they are the religious leaders of Israel, the son is also them, as representatives of Israel. Israel can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, Israel also does. (Do you hear the invitation, the nudge? Join me, join the Father, stop resisting him - it's in vain.) For the Father loves Israel (do you hear that, he loves you!) and shows him all he does (do you hear that, you too can see him at work, you don't have to keep your eyes closed by fixating on the object of your current attention. Wake up!). Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

Marvel, wonder will be the result of Jesus paying attention to the Father and cooperating with him. With the kingdom coming, there is also coming a shift from critique to marvel, wonder. Jesus is waking them up. The healing obviously wasn't enough of a nudge to awaken them to God's presence. But more is coming, and it will awaken them. Because Jesus knows if Israel begins to pay attention to the Father at work among them again, and they cooperate, it will awaken the whole world to the Kingdom coming: the gentiles, the Romans, everyone will be able to pick up their mats and walk! [wonder is the definitive sign of someone who is awake, isn't it...? servant evangelism, encounters with God...]

Consider non-nudging evangelism in light of this story...

My experience learning evangelism as a teenager... Role-playing with 4 spiritual laws... 1. God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. 2. Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life. 3. Jesus is God's only provision for man's sin. Through him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. 4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives. Bridge diagram. Circles around thrones.

Practicing. Memorizing. Praying for chances to use live ammunition. Looking for opportunities to work the conversation to the laws. Looking for opportunities to close. Rest of relationship a function of response.

Old-School Evangelism Tool-kit: Calculator (need a sharp mind). Concordance (needed superior biblical knowledge). Stop Watch (needed a 3 minute and 10 minute testimony). Microphone (needed good verbal skills). blue prints (needed evangelism formulas and diagrams, like the 4 spiritual laws, bridge diagram, Roman road.) Otoscope (needed to identify problems, sin, infection). Oil (needed "evangelism anointing"). Megaphone (needed boldness).

Success measured in first time commitments. Sure, sometimes seeds were planted, but everyone knew that was just a consolation.

That kind of evangelism comes from love - (sometimes you needed to work up, if you weren't feeling it)...but ends up so far away from love you can't remember where you started, and it's scent isn't on you anymore.

Compare to nudging evangelism...

Paying attention to what the Father is doing always flows from your love of God (you pay attention to what you love, don't you?), leads you to love others (because that's what the Father is always doing), and is experienced by others as love (because that's what it can't help being when your actions are an attempt to join God in what he is doing - it is by definition a self-giving act, and therefore has its roots in the God who is love).

Success in nudging is measured in love noticed and love joined and love growing. It has no agenda other than love. Because it is to love that we are awakening people and being awakened ourselves when we practice the art of nudge evangelism. Seeds are planted, and that's no consolation - that's what our Father is doing, that's how the kingdom comes - yes, some will fall on stony ground, some will grow up and get scorched, some will be eaten by birds or choked out by weeds, but some will take root, and rise up, and produce a crop 30,60, 100 times what was planted. And the world will be overrun with love.

Practical Tips:

Put together a nudging tool kit...

Duct tape. Practice talking less. [neighbor...]

"You never resemble Jesus more than when you have your mouth shut."

- St. Ignatius of Antioch.

Stethoscope. Practice listening closely. Listen for the heart underneath the words. Say what more often. Tell me more about that. Listen not for flaws but for faith.

If you have ten minutes to share the gospel with someone, spend the first nine asking questions and listening. when we speak more than we listen, it is like flying a kite in the dark. Our words go out but we have no idea if they ever get off the ground.

- David Henderson

Binoculars. Remember that what God is doing is bringing near the things that seem far off. Look closely when you catch hints of that. Look for dreams buried far in the past, and hopes hidden far in the future. God may be present in both, and ready to realize them.

Noise canceling headphones. Being silent before people is important. But even more-so is spending time with God in silence, listening for him to speak to you, learning to recognize his voice. And to do that, sometimes you need to eliminate the noise.

Silence is God's first language.

-St. John of the Cross

Molasses. We've got to slow down if we're going to pay attention.

Praise without end for the go ahead zeal

of whoever it was invented the wheel;

But never a word for the poor soul's sake

that thought ahead, and invented the brake.

- Howard Nemerov

Stocking. Nudge evangelism is born out of a sense of wonder. God's up to something, all around us, all the time. My Father is always at his work to this very day. What gifts will he put in the stocking of my life today, in the stockings of my friends, my co-workers, my neighbors, my enemies. How can I wake up with wonder?

The sense of wonder

That is the sixth sense

And it is the natural religious sense.

-D.H. Lawrence.

Not to mention, from the other toolkit, Oil; but not for the "evangelism anointing (we're all anointed to be good news bringers), but for blessing others...