“Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness….” I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ words since I read them on Sunday afternoon. I’ve especially been asking myself what it means to “seek the kingdom of God.” I’ll probably share more about that at a later time. One thing I’m quite sure it means is advancing the kingdom, which raises an interesting and challenging question that I’d like to throw out to all of us: Where is your primary interest and passion — advancing your personal life or advancing the kingdom of God? I’m guessing that how we answer that question will clue us into how much we’re “following Jesus, wherever he leads us, whatever the cost.” Are we focussed on fulfilling our dreams or on fulfilling God’s Dream?

I hope those of you who are on the *28 journey are being taught and blessed. I encourage all of us to imagine what the places we live, work, play and learn would be like if the kingdom of God were to come there, and then seeing ourselves as “catalysts of transformation.” Anyone is capable of complaining. But if we have a kingdom vision, the help of God’s Spirit, and are willing to take risks (like our Master), we can and will make a difference. Small changes can have a ripple effect. Just changing ourselves can signal to others that what happens here will no longer be business as usual.

Yesterday afternoon I was reading through the Sermon on the Mount and came across this passage that I thought related well to yesterday’s sermon: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

“Going with the flow,” at least the flow of our culture, as well as the natural flow of our desires and compulsions, will not lead to life. What Jesus says here is really counterintuitive. The “wide road” suggests opening our lives to more and more possibilities. The “narrow road” requires that we narrow our search and look specifically where the Spirit of God is leading us. The Lord means for us to find this life. He is just warning us that few will find it, because very few will look to Jesus to lead their search. Most will not trust him enough to do that. Most look for life in the ways that seem most obvious to them, and maybe ask Jesus to help them find life in the places they are already looking.

This doesn’t mean that life is to be found in some hidden cave or some obscure corner. I believe it’s to be found anywhere and everywhere — in the world and in our inner world. Jesus may even lead us to the places other people are already looking. But because he is leading us, and using experiences and events along the way to change our hearts and open our eyes, we are in a better position to drink of his life when we get there.

Remember: Jesus himself is both the way and the life (and the truth as well). Staying close to him and following the lead of his Spirit is the narrow path holds the most promise for our finding the Life that we’re seeking.

Do you sense what that narrow path is for you right now?

Enjoy the quest.

It was good to read the responses to yesterday’s post. I want to respond to a question that Mary raised, and just throw something out there. Sharon and I watched a movie on Sunday night about Winston Churchill. During the movie someone made the comment that the “ideal” that Churchill called “England” may have never existed, but at least it got him through the war.

That got me thinking about the church. The “ideal” church that Paul and others point to, has probably never existed in reality, or at least not fully. But that doesn’t mean that the “ideal” shouldn’t intrigue and motivate us and provide a goal for us to aim for. That ideal does exist — in the mind of God, and fortunately, he chooses to look at his church on earth both realistically and in light of that ideal. That’s helpful for me to think about as a pastor.

I wonder if the same principle applies to other places that we live, work, play or learn. Can we love God by loving the ideal of what each of these environments could be and in some way already is in the mind of God? Do we love him by loving that ideal and energetically living in each of those places as if it were already a reality? In spite of all the spiritual death and chaos that surrounded Jesus when he walked on this earth, he still managed to love people and the world in light of the ideal of God’s kingdom.

Just as he had to take up his cross, we can also take up the cross of all that is wrong and unjust and unfinished in the places we live, work, play and learn. How do we experience pain and injustice without becoming bitter? One way is to continually go back to the cross, and be stunned again by the courage, love, and beauty of the One who was nailed there. And remember that he’s the one we follow. The cross was the inner and outer price that Jesus paid for living and proclaiming the ideal of God’s kingdom.

Is it possible for our hearts to “thrill to the ideal,” even as we take up the cross of also experiencing all that falls far short of  God’s “dream?” Just wondering.

Could all this also have implications for how we view one another? Rather than comparing each other to the ideal, is it possible to see one another through the lens of that ideal? Then maybe we can hopefully and compassionately live with all that is still broken or spiritually diseased right alongside with what is becoming more beautiful and whole in each other. Is this part of what Paul meant when he said, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view….”?

Today’s gospel reading includes the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” One way we can love God is by loving what we’re doing, at least as much as that’s possible.

At a natural level, what we’re doing may not be the most satisfying or fulfilling. But we can love God through it. At least, that’s what the apostle Paul suggests when he addresses slaves in his letter to the Colossians: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for people, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”

I mention this today because I don’t always think of taking out the trash or brushing my teeth or even a lot of the stuff that I do at church as a way to love God (which is embarrassing). Have a great day loving him.

I’ve struggled with whether or not to keep yesterday’s post on the blog. I think I will, for now, in case it can be helpful for some folks. I want you to know that I don’t feel any animosity towards my father. I’m sure my own kids have their own stuff to work through because of my relationship with them. It’s just that these early, primary relationships usually affect how we see and relate to God, and that can be instructive.

I want to share another story about my father that will explain why I said yesterday that he was a “good man.” This happened around 1982. My first wife and I were looking to buy a house. The house only cost $20,000, but we were on a very limited income because I was working for a homeless shelter that was very much hand to mouth. We needed to borrow $5000 for a down payment, and my father was the only person I could think to ask. He said, “Let me get back to you.”

A day or two later he called and said he would be sending the money. I told him how much I appreciated it. He said he was glad to do it. What I didn’t know, and didn’t find out until several weeks later, is that my father’s auction house had just burned down, and that its contents weren’t insured. When I called him he was in the process of taking out a second mortgage on his home, as well as figuring out how he was going to support my mother and himself until the building was rebuilt. He didn’t tell me any of that. I didn’t learn about the fire until a trip that we took to California the next month. The only way he could send me the money I asked for was by cashing a life insurance policy.

Is that cool or what? It still blows me away.

Yesterday felt like another fruitful day for my *28 journey — at least potentially fruitful, as I see how much I have yet to learn. One really positive thing that happened was what felt like the most spiritual, Spirit-led meeting I’ve had with classis colleagues since I came to Schenectady. It was very encouraging and I am starting to feel quite hopeful about some things that could happen in the future.

There were some other surprises yesterday. It’s very helpful to trust that Jesus himself is leading us into those surprises and to look for the positive opportunities they present to us.

Day three of *28. Day three of “following Jesus, wherever he leads us, whatever the cost…for love.”

“Following Jesus” is fundamentally the experience of “being led.” We follow Jesus wherever he leads us. He takes the initiative, not us. Following Jesus isn’t just a matter of asking ourselves, “Okay, what would it mean to follow Jesus in this situation?” or “What would Jesus do?” When we’re following Jesus, the emphasis is on his leading rather than our thinking. I’m not saying we shouldn’t think about what we’re doing. It’s just that our thinking shouldn’t be turned in on itself, but should be a response to what we sense Jesus may be doing or asking.

The Magi didn’t just decide to go on a quest. They followed a star. They went where they were led. I encourage people to view *28 as an opportunity to experiment with allowing yourself to be led by Jesus, and following his leading whatever the cost, even if you end up being wrong. Revolving our whole lives around Jesus is basically about “following the Leader.”

My own journey has taken some unexpected turns the last couple of days. One of the ways God seems to lead me is through books, especially through books I’m not currently reading. Sunday night my eyes lit on a book on my shelf that I began a long time ago, but never got very far into. I felt drawn to picking up the book, and the few pages I read generated the thoughts that I shared in yesterday’s post. I talked about how because of Jesus’ sovereignty and foreknowledge, there is a sense in which he is always the one “leading” us into whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. Once we accept this “outer leading” from God, then we can listen for that narrower “inner leading” for how to engage with what’s happening.

Now I feel set up. Yesterday morning, just before breakfast, I felt drawn to looking at another book that I had received as a gift at a pastors convention a couple of years ago. It didn’t make much sense, given all the other really good books I’m reading right now. In the first few pages the author writes about an experience he had of returning to the place where he had given his life to Christ as a teenager. He talks about some of the values his father had taught him, values that, before his conversion, had kept him from grasping and accepting the full measure of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

I thought, “I’ve sure been reading a lot about fathers lately.”

Later in the day, when Sharon and I were praying, I remembered something my own father had said to me the previous evening. I’m not going to repeat it. If I told you what it was, you would agree that it was an awful thing for a father to say to a son, or for any human being to say to another human being. It was not only awful, it was bizarre. And it was directed at me. Now, my father is a good man, and what he said was his very poor attempt at being humorous. My father is Dutch. He was born and raised in the Netherlands. There is a particular kind of Dutch humor that can be very difficult for other people to appreciate — especially if they are butt of the joke. Well, I was the butt Sunday evening. And no matter how often I told myself it was just a joke, and that my father didn’t mean anything by it, I realized that what my father’s motives were didn’t matter. The words had done their damage. It’s sort of like someone firing a gun at you. It doesn’t matter if it was an accident. The bullet is still going to wound or kill you.

As strange as it sounds, I now realize that the Lord “led” me into that interaction with my father. As Sharon and I were praying yesterday about a totally unrelated matter (or so it seemed), I suddenly became aware of my father’s words and what it said about the relationship I had with my father growing up. And lights turned on, as I realized how my relationship with my father had affected my feelings toward my heavenly Father, and a lot of other things as well. As I wept, I sensed Jesus leading me, introducing me actually, to my heavenly Father. Instead of being faint and distant, the Father was suddenly very large and real and present. It sort of took my breath away. And I heard him say how much he loved me, and of how proud of me he was. I wasn’t expecting any of that. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I don’t think so. I think that Jesus and the Father arranged all this. Like I said, I’m pretty sure I was set up, and I’m grateful that I was. Yes, “wherever he leads us,” it’s “for love.”

All this makes me think of something Jesus says in the gospel of John: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I wonder where following Jesus will take us today?

Welcome to day two of *28.

“Following Jesus. Following Jesus wherever he leads us. Following Jesus, wherever he leads us, whatever the cost…for love.”

Where does Jesus lead us?

I’m realizing that it’s important to answer that question both broadly and narrowly. If we don’t grasp the broad answer, we may miss or misinterpret the more narrow ways he leads us.

It’s important to remember that the One we follow is the Lord of Life – all of life. The whole world, all of history, each person’s story, each of our circumstances. He is the “foreknower.” He knows what’s ahead. He knows where things are going, and he is sovereign over it all. So there is nothing that happens, no place in which we find ourselves, where he hasn’t in a sense “led” us. It may have been our poor choices that put us there, but he foreknew those choices and allowed them and their consequences to unfold. He has already gone ahead of us to provide a way for us to learn from those consequences and circumstances and serve him there. He is forever and everywhere our Teacher and Master. He is the Lord.

And so it becomes essential that we be very present to our lives. Because that’s where Jesus is; because that’s where Jesus has led us. Because Jesus is Lord of this objective kingdom that touches upon our objective lives, we must look for Jesus not just up in heaven or inside our hearts, but in what’s actually happening right now. Following Jesus is a real, physical following him into our physical lives — wherever we live, work, play or learn. That’s where he is. That’s where he’s leading us. So we must be very present, talking with him about our circumstances, looking for ways to exhibit his character and love, serving his purposes in the lives of others. That’s where he is Lord, and that’s where the Story is that he’s creating. That’s where he has led us, even when our own choices, or other people’s choices, are at work. This is the mystery of divine sovereignty, a core biblical doctrine. Wherever we are, he foreknew it, and has already prepared the way for us to know him, learn from him, and serve him there.

That sense of mystery and wonder that we feel on Christmas Eve? I think we are meant to feel that same mystery and wonder on the eve of every moment of every day. I think that’s what it’s supposed to be like when we follow Jesus.

Once we grasp this “broad” way in which Jesus leads us, then we can pay attention to the more narrow ways he attempts to guide us. Through his Spirit, he guides our responses to the circumstances that he in his sovereignty has led us to. This “inner leading” is our response, or better “co-response,” to his “outer leading.” Because Jesus is Lord over all that’s happening, we can relax a bit, and “grace and peace [can be ours] in abundance in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord” ( I Peter 1:2 — today’s epistle reading). Amazingly, this Jesus who is Lord of heaven and earth offers us his personal yoke as we walk into these “preordained” circumstances together. We may be surprised at what’s happening, but he’s not. We may be afraid, but he’s not. By our being yoked together, Jesus hopes that his lack of fear will rub off on us. “Follow me. It’s okay, I know where we’re going. There are great opportunities waiting for us. I’ve prepared them myself.”

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! The Lord is near.”

The journey we are calling *28 has begun. Some of us are getting an earlier start than others. Maybe a few of you woke up in the night, remembering what day it was and wondering what the journey will bring.  As Sharon and I prayed in our advent-decorated living room last night, I sensed him calling, saying it was time.

“Following Jesus, wherever he leads us, whatever the cost…for love.” Thank you, Jesus, for this amazing opportunity. I pray for manna to be given to each of my companions at this the beginning of our journey together. Give each of us the direction and sustenance we need to fellowship with you, learn from you, and serve your purposes in everyone’s life we meet today. You are so awesome to allow us to travel with you like this. We love you.

People who were at worship yesterday morning heard about *28 (Star 28), which is the code name for a journey that I’m inviting people to join me on for 28 days, beginning this next Sunday. (If you didn’t hear the sermon, I encourage you to listen to the podcast. You can get there through this link.) The focus of this journey will be revolving our whole lives around Jesus Christ.

The * represents the star which the Magi followed to find Jesus. These “wise men” hardly knew anything about him, and yet they made this quest the focal point of their lives (for what I’m quite sure was a lot longer than 28 days.) They weren’t “Christians,” nor do you have to be to join us on this journey. This journey isn’t about Christianity; it’s about Jesus, and experimenting with allowing him to be the Lord of our lives. Twenty-eight days of following Jesus without having to be certain, without having to entertain our doubts (we can do that after the 28 days), without holding ourselves back because we’re afraid of being wrong or foolish or giving up too much. The worst that can happen is that we waste 28 days and offend or confuse some of our family and friends. Most of us can afford that. I’m pretty sure that  all of us can.

The number 28 is symbolically important because it’s the total for 7×4. Seven and four are richly symbolic numbers in the Bible, and are even more potent when brought together. Seven symbolizes “completion,” especially from a divine perspective. Jesus is the complete deal. He is not only the Son of God, he is God the Son. He is not only Lord, he is the Lord of all.

The number four symbolizes the earth (e.g. the four “corners” of the earth, the four winds, the four elements). This 28 day journey is about learning how to bring the Jesus who is Lord of all into all of our earthly life — wherever we live, work, play or learn. We want our motives, thoughts, responses and desires to be around Jesus. We won’t do it perfectly, nor probably even very well. But we want to try to do it with everything we’ve got, and when we forget, to rouse ourselves and try again.

Trust is going to be a huge part of this journey. We don’t want to spend time during our 28 days worrying. (We can go back to worrying after the 28 days.) We want to give this our best shot. We want to trust him completely, listen for his Spirit, and throw ourselves into what we think we’re hearing. Some of the time we’re probably not going to hear correctly. That’s okay. We learn by doing. Like the old hymn says, “Trust and obey, there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Let me tell you one thing this 28 day journey is not. It’s NOT a 28 day journey to spiritual maturity. You can’t become spiritually mature in 28 days. The most we can hope for is our being able to root our lives as firmly as possible in Jesus Christ. If we can do that, and stay there, the fruit will eventually come. This 28 days is a time for planting, for planting our lives in Jesus.

So the number 28 is symbolically important because seven and four are important. But the numbers two and eight are also symbolic. The number two symbolizes the Great Commandment, which is actually two commandments. Jesus summarized the whole law with the command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Then he tagged on another: Love your neighbor as yourself. I’m really hoping that we can fall in love with Jesus during these 28 days, and that this will spill over into loving others more.

The number eight symbolizes the 8th day of creation. That’s the day Jesus rose from the dead — the beginning of a new age and a new world. I’m hoping that this will be the beginning of a new life for many of us. Maybe we’ll even feel like we’ve been born again.

I’ve encouraged people to use this next week to make their decision, to make plans and to gather provisions. In yesterday’s sermon notes I suggested some possibilities (and I emphasize that these are just possibilities) for helping us connect and stay connected to Jesus. I encourage you to make up your own list, even if it includes only two or three items and none of the possibilities I mention. You may want to write out a covenant with God that includes these exercises or activities. That’s up to you. Here are some possibilities:

• Spend time with God every morning reading the Bible and praying (and whatever else you find helpful).
• Set the hourly chime on your watch to “reJesus” your attention.
• Keep a journal and carry it with you so that you can record any messages or questions that come to you.
• Read all four Gospels — one per week.
• Keep up with the BRC blog (which will make *28 its focus).
• Memorize and practice the five “reverbs” as ways to reJesus (remember, return, refresh, reinterpret, renew).
• Find a partner or two for this journey.
• Commit to having spiritual conversations with your spouse or children.
• Have family devotions.
• Volunteer at the City Mission, SICM Food Pantry or Bethesda House.
• Come to Celebrate Recovery.
• Read a book from our library.
• Contact Rich or Sharon if you run into any snags.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was the motto that I’m suggesting for this journey. It’s one I mentioned the previous week and modified a bit based upon what we learned from Jesus’ message to the church in Ephesus:

“Following Jesus, wherever he leads us, whatever the cost…for love.”

*28. I hope you’ll consider joining us.