Understanding the Sermon on the Mount - Part II of IV

I had hoped to write these four installments on the Sermon on the Mount in a more timely fashion, but life has a way of changing our plans when we don't expect.  When I wrote Part I last month it was around midnight the day I was starting the Chaplain's Retreat for the ministry I lead down at Lee University.  Since that night, life has been a whirlwind, full of fun and crazy moments.  But I'm finally getting back to what I had set out to do over a month ago.

We left off discussing the Sermon on the Mount from the book of Matthew chapter 7 verses 13-23.  The first part of our conversation was about verses 13 and 14, the narrow and wide gate.  In these first few verses, as well as the next eight, we will see that Jesus is pointing out four separations that people of the Kingdom (see Christians or Christ followers) are supposed to have from different aspects of society or religion.  Basically, the way I see it Jesus has articulated what the Kingdom of God is all about, the ins and outs, the expectations of the Kingdom or his manifesto for what Kingdom life is all about.  Now, in the final verses he is helping his followers understand what they are to do with this knowledge about the Kingdom.  In verses 13 and 14 Jesus points out the need to love and be set-apart in a way that is counter-intuitive to the world's way of loving and living.  Instead of being self-loving and living for ourselves Jesus says we should love others and live for the betterment of others.

In verses 15 through 20 we see Jesus warn his followers to watch out for false prophets who will be known by their fruit.  He uses the analogy of two trees; one which bears good fruit and the other which bears bad fruit.  The good tree can't bear bad fruit and the bad tree can't bear good fruit.  So a prophet will be known by his or her fruit.  But what does this really mean? What is good fruit and what is bad fruit?  Why would Jesus choose to discuss false and true prophets at this time in his Kingdom manifesto?

Are you ready?  Because this is going to be fun!  The following are my random thoughts.  I'm going to discuss them in as logical an order as I can, but it may take a second reading to really follow my wanderings and perusing of this passage.

Let's start by asking the question: why two trees?  It seems like a simple question with a simple answer: because if there is a false prophet to be wary of, there must be a true prophet so if one is going to use trees as an analogy it makes sense to use two trees.  But here is my thought...In Jewish culture a child's education starts when they are around 6-8 years old.  But instead of learning math and science or reading and language arts, they are taught to memorize the first five books of the Torah (our Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).  As crazy as this might be, we have to ask ourselves what stories would they first have learned and memorized?  Starting at the beginning a child would instantly learn about creation and the fall.  As part of the fall we have a story about two trees, one bearing good fruit (the tree of life or the tree that gives life) and one bearing bad fruit (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the tree of judgment).  Jesus compares a false prophet to the tree bearing bad fruit.  It is my thought that Jesus is telling people that the root of a false prophet is not just a prophet who is heretical, but instead is someone who is judging those who are different from him or her.  It's almost as if Jesus is asking his followers to not use the knowledge of the Kingdom of God as a way to judge or lord over others.  The goal of the Kingdom is to love and welcome people to the Kingdom, not keep them from God's love by pointing out their faults or judging them on a scale that even the prophet can't live up to.

So what does it mean to bear good fruit.  I have two thoughts.  First, keeping in connection to the Genesis story about the two trees, the tree of life was all about giving life.  After Adam and Eve eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God won't let them eat of the tree of life because they will live forever.  God isn't punishing us through death, instead it's a form of liberation.  To live forever as judgmental, fallen people is to live eternally in a fallen state.  This would break God's heart more than the fact that we are fallen to begin with, so God allows us to die.  But God doesn't leave us in our fallen condition, Jesus comes to conquer death, giving us hope in his resurrection for our own resurrection.  But not only does Jesus overcome the curse of death, he provides a way of life that actually brings heaven to earth.  The Kingdom that he comes to establish isn't just a healthy way to live, but instead is bringing the fruit of the tree of life.  When we live according to the Kingdom we are giving people life, giving them fruit that will last forever, bringing heaven to earth.

My second thought in connection to good fruit is found in Galatians 5 when Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control are the fruits of the Spirit.  A prophet should be known by his or her fruit.  In comparison to the Sermon on the Mount, it is amazing how many of these fruits of the Spirit found in Paul's writing are specifically mentioned by Jesus: blessed are the peacemakers, love your enemies, etc.  

The Kingdom of God is about exemplifying the fruit of the tree of life and the fruit of the Spirit.  When we live in this way we bring the Kingdom of God to earth.  But the knowledge of the Kingdom isn't to be used to judge others or to point out others faults.  Instead, the knowledge of the Kingdom is to be used in order to live a life that brings life, a life that brings love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control to the world.  If we truly listen to the words of Christ, if we listen to them closely and let them soak into our very being they have the power to change us.  The power to transform us into lovers of people who bring heaven to earth and bring life straight from the tree that gives life.

Peace be with you.

Understanding the Sermon on the Mount - Part I of IV

I woke up today at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready for church (at least in my world it was the butt-crack of dawn, for the rest of the world it was just 6:30am). Although I had been in a similar situation before, I was especially excited about giving the 'talk' (sermon, lesson, teaching,whatever) this Sunday morning. My entire summer seemed to fly by; with a short trip to California for my beautiful sister-in-laws wedding, an even shorter trip to Minnesota in order to hear my talented little brother give a speech at his high school graduation, engrossed in the dark road of misery known as a summer language (my language of choice being Latin). Needless to say, I haven't had much time for thinking or writing or preparing talks at church. So today, at the crack of my proverbial dawn I found myself in nervous waters of excitement and anxiousness awaiting the moment when I would take the mound, I mean holy pulpit, I mean the borrowed music stand and stool.

But more than just my long summer of language misery and my selfish need to feel the adrenaline rush before I go take the stage and do my thing, I was really excited to talk about the passage of scripture that I would be touching on. (Looking back, I am even more excited now than I was before. I think I finally am understanding the brevity of the subject matter from this morning.) For the past 11 months we have hopped around, danced within and hopefully put into practice the Sermon on the Mount; found in Matthew chapters five thru seven. This journey has been long, all consuming and flat-out fun. But more than anything it has challenged us to see the world and the roll of Jesus' disciples in the world differently. And today I was able to talk about the final seventeen verses, Matthew 7.13-29.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer does these passages more justice than I ever could. So if you really want to know what's going on I suggest picking up The Cost of Discipleship and flipping to about page 200.

But here are my thoughts on these verses, namely verses 13-23.

Jesus has just laid out his plan, his kingdom manifesto (as Brian McLaren puts it). He's spent time discussing the Beattitudes (basically a list of certain characteristics that should define kingdom of God people), he's redefined the law and discussed how he has come to fulfill the law and not abolish the law, Jesus has clearly helped the people see what non-violence and non-resistance looks like in the face of persecution and oppression, he's pointed us toward understanding love differently by discussing the need to love not only those who love us but our enemies as well, and Jesus has also discussed the idea of judgment and called his followers to look again at the mission of believers on this earth (to be lovers of others, not judgmental condemners). And now Jesus is nearing the end of his manifesto.

There are four separations that Jesus is making us aware of in these passages. I suggest sitting down with a bible while reading through this; I would never want anyone to blindly trust what I have to say about scripture. It's not that I doubt myself, but I don't pretend to know everything. Plus, I would love to hear back counter arguments or additional thoughts or insights. Finally, please know that I hope and pray that as you read these thoughts the Holy Spirit is helping you discern what is right and true and what is not.



1. The Narrow and the Wide Gate

There are two thoughts that I have about this analogy that Jesus poses. The first thought is that the narrow gate or path that is rarely trodden is a path of self-sacrifice and enemy love that the world and those outside of God's kingdom don't understand. The wide gate or the wide path is one of self-love and the pursuit of power. The wide gate is the understanding that people should gain control and influence by whatever means possible, even killing our enemies to protect our freedoms. The way of Jesus, the narrow gate is to trust in the power of self-sacrificial love. This way says that the only way to truly change someone is to affect their heart through loving service, not temper their behavior through the threat of violence.

My second thought is that this analogy of a narrow gate and a wide gate is really a paradox. The way of Jesus, the narrow gate, is really a broad love. And the way of the world, the wide gate, is really a narrow understanding of love (loving only oneself at the cost of others). The love that Jesus calls us to is a broad, all inclusive, all encompassing, all forgiving type love; whereas the way the world loves is narrow and closed off to the feelings and hopes of others.

The sad part is that this separation between the narrow and wide gates should be the separation between the Church and the world, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, the kingdom of the cross and the kingdom of the sword. But the Church has fused the two kingdoms, making it almost indistinguishable from one kingdom to the next. So often the Church or the body of Christ is focused on gaining power the way the kingdoms of the world gain power. So often the Church is passionate about influencing culture in the same way that the kingdom of the sword influences culture. We forget that Christ calls us to be set apart, to be different, to be a peculiar people who don't let the powers and structures of the world dictate how and when we love. Instead we are supposed to love radically and serve willingly and die honorably for the cause of Christ. Is our gate narrow or is our gate broad?

Part II of Understanding the Sermon on the Mount will cover the second separation - The False Prophet (who will be known by his or her fruit)

Stay tuned for this one because it will be a doozy!!

The Dave Matthews Band Plays Gospel

I grew up in a small suburban/ rural town, which means you could probably call it a rural suburb of Minneapolis. My family lived 55 minutes west of Minneapolis when I was born and now they live 30 minutes from downtown in the same house because of the wonderful, God-given invention of freeways. Being from a rural suburb has a ton of good things going for it; I can see a Twins game anytime I want, go to a coffee shop with all the weird people down by the Lakes anytime I want, as well as drive two minutes to watch amateur Polo played on an infrequently used airplane runway. (What?) Exactly what I thought growing up, but hey, that’s home. Maple Plain, Minnesota or otherwise known as The MP.

I also grew up as my father’s son, playing baseball and basketball, knowing that crying wasn’t cool, especially if the only thing that was hurt was your feelings. School was fun because I was smart; one teacher that I regrettably never challenged myself to take actually called me bright, which I in turn told her I thought she heard wrong. To this day I don’t know who had things more accurately. I loved math and the “sciences” because I could reason and logically steer my way through them, relying more on my God-given gifts than actual learning methods. The arts drove me crazy. Trying to connect emotion to a piece of clay that wouldn’t stay on a spinning wheel was arguably the dumbest and most ludicrous thing I had ever seen. Music was just as bad. I could see the need for structure but not all the “why” questions behind all the “what” questions.

For instance; what is the sound of that instrument there? Hand goes in the air and little Jason yells out a violin. Good job little mathematical Jason, now why would the composer choose to play that note with a violin? I don’t know, because it sounds good? Yes it sounds good, but why does it sound good? I don’t know because my ears tingle and I get little shivers when it screeches like that? Okay, but what emotion is the composer trying to make you feel? Love and happiness. Why? Are you kidding me? Didn’t we just go around and around two seconds ago? Let me listen to the piece, memorize what it sounds like and who composed it so I can regurgitate it back to you three weeks later for my “A”. That in a nutshell is my grade school, middle school and high school experience with the arts, and it only got better from there.

Now in middle school, I was corrupted for a long period of time. My youth group showed a video called “Hells Bells,” a pretty famous documentary on “evil” music from the late 80’s early 90’s that was leading young people to hell. They had interviews with the satanic high priest, excerpts from very disturbing concert performances, and interviews with devil worshipping band singers and guitarists. Basically, anything and everything that was scary to a 13 year-old rural suburban kid from the MP was used to show how the devil would take your soul if you listened to this kind of music. I couldn’t sleep for two nights after this video. I missed school the next day and even spent a couple nights on my parents floor because I was so scared the satanic high priest, who I now had a mental picture of, would come take me to hell at night if I closed my eyes.

Then it got even better the next week. (Why I went back, I’ll never know.) The next week they showed Part II of this wonderfully demonic video that was meant to scare kids away from the radio and reading Rolling Stone magazine. I think the reason I went back was because I had to show the other kids I could come back and that I was a man, and also because I convinced myself that the first video really didn’t affect me because I had never listened to “that” music before. Than part II starts, 'why main stream music is also of the devil,' including my mom’s favorite Whitney Houston. If the first half didn’t scare me enough, the second half sent me three years back in my music listening. Not only was the devil leading people to hell through music, but my own church-going, stay-at-home mom was buying into the lies that he was selling. I honestly didn’t listen to the radio (except for wonderful Focus on the Family) for three years, not until high school. Instead of the radio, I was subjected to the ungodly sounds of contemporary Christian music, the closest thing to death ever published in a recording studio.

It’s interesting how far back our separation of pop-culture and Christian culture goes. For me it was middle school, I knew then that some things were right and others were wrong. If you smoked you were wrong, if you drank you were wrong, if you danced frivolously you were wrong, if you swore you were wrong, etc. I also knew that if I read my bible everyday, prayed everyday, went to church on Sunday, I was right and God liked me because I did these things; even though I knew that those things weren’t why I was going to heaven, they did bring a smile to God’s face and every face that I cared about in the world.

The backyard of my friend Drew Roddy’s house was a safe and fun place for the guys in the neighborhood as we grew up in the rural suburb of Minneapolis. He had a pool and a trampoline, making his house the best place in the world. His mom made lunches that always tasted better because it was someone other than your own mom making you eat the same stuff you had every day. His dog Dusty liked to eat everything; shoes, towels, swim trunks (on or off the person) and especially Yard-O-Beef which gave him some monstrous, nasty gas. Drew and my best friend Aaron also liked this cool band called the Dave Matthews Band. We swam, jumped, and listened to Dave for about two straight summers towards the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. All the while, I had no idea that this music wasn’t on Focus on the Family radio, I didn’t even really listen to the lyrics for about a year-and-a-half when I finally saved up $15 and bought my first real CD (after the wonderful Jars of Clay CD I got in middle school).

I appreciated the sound of Dave’s music and liked his edgy lyrics, not knowing if he was a Christian or not (naïve middle schooler). I bought every new album he and the guys came out with, Crash, Before These Crowded Streets, Live at Red Rocks, Tim and Dave Live at Luther College, Busted Stuff, and more. I’m still buying everything that comes out; to the extent I got a boot-leg from a concert in San Francisco. But it wasn’t until I was a senior in college that I realized the Dave’s Matthew’s Band played gospel.

I was driving from the campus of Bethel College in St. Paul two hours north to meet my fiancé at our friend Hannah’s house where we would be spending the night before heading further north for the football game that weekend. As I was driving I listened to the entire Busted Stuff album, with its final cut being the wonderful song Bartender. The song is a series of requests from a patron to the bartender to fill his cup with whatever drink Jesus had that raised him from the dead and to take away whatever drink Judas drank before he betrayed Jesus. The song speaks of the patron being down on bended knee praying for the bartender to fill his cup for him. It ends with the music and Dave’s voice slowly building over a three minute climax where finally the entire band explodes into an emotional peak of ecstasy and bliss with vocals and instruments being played in perfect harmony and dissonance all at once.

When I drive my car with the Dave Matthew’s Band, I tend to let the speedometer be dictated by the emotional pitch of the music combined with my own performance in my private little moving stage on four wheels. After the first playing of the song Bartender I instantly hit rewind to play it again, I felt like I messed up my performance of a few verses and could use a second go round. The second time I did better on the verses, but realized there is more potential for performance during the final climax, where Dave let’s his voice soar, no words, no phrases, just sound at one with the instruments. It was in the third playing that I chose to put words to that sound, to put phrases where Dave had just let his voice soar. It was in this moment that I felt chills explode through my soul, emotions pouring through my very core. I actually couldn’t finish what I had started, I began to well-up with tears and my voice, already way off pitch and out of tune, began to crack and break as I let the Dave Matthews Band connect me with praises to my Father up in Heaven.

As my 1990 Geo Prism with a sunroof and rust slowly made its way back down to 70 mph from the vibrating 90 mph that I had incidentally moved it, I thought how amazing it must be to sing and play music like an angel and not even know the power and emotion that can be used to praise the one who created music. To think that life can be looked at through such a harsh lens of “right vs. wrong” leaving no room for the wonders of such majesty as the voice of Nat King Cole, the emotion of Pearl Jam, and the musical talents of Led Zeplin.

White, yellow and green rode signs flew past my window as I slowed the car on reaching the end of my trip on I-94 West, the last 16 miles would be covered going slowly through small towns on a two lane highway that Californians see only in old movies made in the 50’s. As I gaze ahead, following the straight and dashed yellow lines on the rode I had begun to question and wonder; is there more to life than right and wrong, isn’t God bigger than the boxes I’ve grown up putting him in, how can a sound that brings me near tears and allows me to connect with God in a whole new way be bad? It was in this moment that I finally had an answer to the “why” behind the “what” of music; why does it sound so beautiful and make me feel so much?
Because God can be glorified.

My Background and Submitting

I finally finished my posts from months ago. You can scroll down to check them out.

My apologies for the delay.

Peace, Love & JC

Evangelical Politics: Three Generations

Below is a link to a conversation that took place about a month ago at the National Pastors Convention in San Diego. Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne all participated in a dialogue about faith and politics from the Evangelical perspective. Each member of the pannel has recently written a book on the subject: Chuck Colson - God and Government, Greg Boyd - The Myth of a Christian Nation, and Shane Claiborne - Jesus for President.

This conversation is very engaging and very thought provoking. I highly recommend the longer version found about a scrolls length down on the website. There is also a video download available for those who like to watch their speakers and see facial expressions. Being that I'm a bit obsessed with the topic of faith and politics I've listened or watched all three (the 60 minute version, the 90 minute version and the 90 minute video version).

In a previous post I recommended Shane's Jesus for President. At this time let me recommend The Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd. This book has rocked my understanding of faith and caused me to ask some serious questions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus in America. I bought the book for my dad for Christmas, so it goes without saying that I strongly recommend it. I plan on reading Colson's God and Government this summer, so a review will come later.

Here is the link...
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/evangelical_politics/

Grace and peace and tons of questions to you who are brave enough to think critically about your faith and how it affects your thoughts on politics.

Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne...a short book review

I'm a big fan of reading books and I have a hard time being negative towards any book that I take the time to read.  I can almost always find redeeming value to reading any book, even the most boring ones.  Jesus for President is not one of those books.  I very strongly and very enthusiastically support the reading of this book.  Shane Claiborne (who stayed with my wife and me when he spoke at Lee last Spring) is ridiculous.  From the very outset of his book, he strives to show the dangers of fuzing the kingdoms of the world with the kingdom of God.  Beginning in the Old Testament, working into the New, examining the early church, and finally critiquing and challenging the present, Shane does a thorough job of calling the church to be the church.  He re-envisions how the world can and should look if Christians were really looking and loving like Jesus.

This book can be very imposing and hard-hitting if the reader is not ready to critically think and question much of what their possible conservative up-bringing has told them.  Issues of violence, war, economics, homosexuality, poverty, environment and much more find their way into this book.  Shane doesn't pull a single punch and doesn't hide his thoughts and feelings.

There is much more I could and should say about this book, but I promised that this would be short.  Maybe I'll add more in the near future...

Read Jesus for President.  It could and should make you think and make you see things with new eyes.

Joining the Journey

I'm honored and excited to join Summit Uptown as a fellow follower and learner.  Following Jesus as a disciple called to imitate, literally mimic the Son of God (I fall short all the time, but I strive).  Learning what it means to do this as authentically and holistically as possible in the world that God has called us to live and move.

To my friends who graciously invited me to join...I humbly say thank you and look forward to encouraging, challenging and supporting each other as we grow.

To those who read these ramblings...I pray that these words, articles, and talks challenge you to think more deeply about faith and that they encourage you to know God in a way that creates change in your world and the world around you.

Let the journey begin...