March 4, 2007 - The Shoeless Jesus

These are my rough notes for this Sunday's message - again they are my NOTES - they are first meant for ME to understand... hopefully they aren't to difficult to decipher.

Please join the discussion (or help start it)... drop a comment, illustration, poetry, dissagreement, question or something... it's very helpful to me.

WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE ME?

• A foundational struggle in everyone’s life.
• Eddie is in ‘terrible two’s’ – he’s discovered his will and challenges us at every opportunity
• Hope’s first piece of chocolate
• Adults: governmental “rights” – speech, privacy, education

FUNDAMENTAL TO CHRISTIANS

• Is a life that is surrendered to God.
• A life that has exchanged one master (self) for another (God)
• The concept behind “LORD”

SLAVE / SERVANT – a good description of a Christian (Christ follower)

(not a popular description for Americans)

• New testament authors took the concept seriously.

• Watch how these authors begin their letters

Philippians1:1

James 1:1

2 Peter 1:1

Romans 6:12-22 – spends a good amount of time dealing with masters and slaves. – apparently, what or who masters us is important.

Jesus – equates the greatest in his kingdom to a slave! (Luke 22:26-27)

SLAVES / SERVANTS HAD NO RIGHTS

• Slaves were barefoot in the ancient world.
  

MOSES AT THE BURNING BUSH:

Told to take off his shoes – Holy Ground

- the significance was not lost on him – considering his former status in Egypt.

- He knew that going shoeless acknowledged that someone greater than he was in charge.

- Holy means “set apart” – going shoeless was a clear picture of being set apart from God – God being the highest, man being the created ones.

- Joshua also took off his sandals when told to by God

BOAZ –

• Took off his shoe while negotiating for Ruth (and the future of Isreal)…. As if he’s saying “… on my right as a free man, I’ll do this”
• Boaz was obeying old testament law (Deuteronomy 25:7-10) – had deep cultural meaning.

DAVID

• Walked barefoot out of Jerusalem
• He left with no “rights” – barefoot, humiliated… living out his former motto “The battle belongs to the Lord”

THE DISCIPLES:

• Went barefoot when Jesus sent out the 70
• They left as ones who would serve
• (again, we could miss the cultural significance)
• (Matt. 10:10)

THE HIGH PRIEST:

• Every garment was of great significance and was thought out in great detail.
• THERE WAS NO MENTION OF SHOES/SANDALS – (remember, holy ground)
• The priest wore no shoes when he entered the holy of holies.

JESUS HIMSELF

• Philippians 2:7 “…but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…”
• Was our high priest
• Walked barefoot to the cross
• Jesus gave up the following “rights” to accomplish his mission in obedience to the Father

Food (Matt 4:12)

Sleep (Luke 6:12)

Privacy (Mark 8:2)

Marriage (Eph. 5:25-27)

Home (Matt. 8:20)

Reputation (Phil. 2:7)

Possessions (John 19:24)

Right to live (Phil. 2:8)

To follow Jesus means that we follow ‘in his footsteps’ – to turn our lives over to HIS leadership… this means that we give up control of our lives.

WE GIVE UP TO GAIN

John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

WHO’S THE MOST QUALIFIED?

• Teenagers wrestle with this question… they are in the process of questioning who is the best qualified person to make decisions for their lives. Parent/teen dance – parents learning to give up some ‘power’ to allow the teen more and more opportunity to make own decisions.

We ask this question all the time, too.

• When we get mad at the person who cuts us off. “Who do they think they are?”

We answer this question all the time, too.

• When we don’t involve God in how we spend our money (we’re saying “I’m the best qualified person in my life to decide where I should spend my money”)
• When we don’t involve God in our choice of boyfriend or girlfriend
• When we are at the end of our rope, then we ask God to help ( a recognition that He’s the best qualified person to ‘rule’ or make decisions)

THE MOST QUALIFIED: GOD

1. The one with the most POWER… power to see all the angles, power to guide and protect.
2. The one who is the most JUST… can be perfectly just in all situations
3. The one with the most MERCY… mercy to bring life where there is death or pain.

NEW MATH:

Responsibility

- rights

______________

= Rewards of deeper relationship with God.

BASIC POINT TO THE MESSAGE:

We’re in a (loosely) series called “Survivor” – about surviving life. In week one we looked at THE BEST POSSIBLE LIFE – which starts with the recognition that Jesus IS the best way to live for now and eternity…. Can’t survive life with out this… also, Jesus wants us to do more than just ‘survive’ life.

So, with this message we dive a bit deeper into what it may mean to us or cost us to follow Jesus. We look at how things in his kingdom operate (so much different from the ‘worlds’ kingdom) – Becoming a ‘slave’ or ‘servant’ of God is actually a HUGE key to living the best possible life. We up the ante with the notion that we need to actually TRUST God to take care of us and lead us. We look at the issue of LORDSHIP from the angle of being barefoot.

MORE POSTS COMING SOON! until then...

Here's a short post - please comment at the end (or read the very first post to understand this experiment)

The next message is about "The Best Life Possible"

The basic premise is that Jesus said that He came to give "life to the full" (john 10:10)- in otherwords, the best life possible!

There are ways to live life that completely "miss the mark" (sin) and "fall short" of the best possible way.

Compassion is better than Selfishness
Generosity is better than Greed
Moderation is better than Hoarding
Love is better than Hate
Passion is better than Apathy
Contentment is better than synicism

Mercy is the new cool
Grace is the new cool
Being 'healthy' is the new cool
Giving to the poor is the new cool

We'll discuss God's intended way for Humans to live and uncover ways that people live that essentially become 'anti-human' - therefore anti-God...

Either following Jesus is the best possible way or He was a liar or worse - a deciever.

Drop a comment.

Dangerous People, Dangerous Church

A few of the main points to this Sunday's message at Kastner - I'd love to have some feedback as I'm still putting this together... leave a comment. This is a very rudimentary sketch... helpful comments would be: How is following Jesus 'dangerous' to US, our PRIDE, our INTELLECT, or our PLANS?

When you first encounter the Lion-god of Narnia, "meek and mild" will never enter your head. In fact, Narnian beavers warn the four human children that the mere sight of Aslan will cause their knees to knock so much they may be unable to stand.

"Then he isn't safe?" asks Lucy.

"Safe?" replies Mr. Beaver.

"Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

Not safe but good – a strange description for God. But over and over in these seven stories we learn just what this means. One example occurs in The Silver Chair when the schoolgirl Jill is alone and desperately thirsty in unknown woods. She comes upon a stream, but between her and the water sits the great Lion. Aslan tells her that she can drink, but the terrified girl wants assurance that she will not be eaten. When he refuses to promise, Jill determines to find another stream. But he tells her, "There is no other stream." The Lion of Narnia makes uncomfortable and sometimes extreme demands, and he cannot be manipulated or controlled or bent to anyone's will. "It's not as if he were a tame lion," explains the magician in The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader.'

What do we mean by Dangerous?
By dangerous we mean possible danger to your physical well being.
By dangerous we mean dangerous to the generally accepted way to do things.
By dangerous we mean challenging and confronting.
By dangerous we mean UNSAFE
By dangerous we mean risky

Historically speaking, Christianity has always been risky.

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
me will find it. Matthew 16:25"
"So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul- men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 15:25-27"

In 2,000 years 70 million Christians have been martyred

• Half died in the 20th century – approx 45 million
• That’s twice as many in once century than in the previous 19 centuries.

This year:

• 160,000 Christians will die because of their beliefs this year (450 people per day)

Today: Out of approx. 2 billion Christians, more than half live in a developing nation

• 600 million live under discrimination or legal repression of their faith
• 200 million daily live under threat of jail, torture or death
• In Sudan after 15 years of civil war approximately 1 million Christians have died – many starved to death – a fate that wouldn’t have happened expect for their beliefs

THIS IS MY OPINION:
The word CHRISTIAN has come to mean a system of belief - 80% of Americans call themselves christian and it's often watered down to.... lying, stealing and murder is bad... possibly Jesus was God's son and rose again on easter... it's just a cultural thing, with no major life impact

The word DISCIPLE is a word that I prefer lately, it's a step-up. It's about people who believe soooo much in Jesus that their whole life's pursuit is to become more like him and do what he did.

BEING A DISCIPLE IS DANGEROUS: (being a christian may not cost you must)

#1 – Dangerous to ME

"If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me. "But don't begin until you count the cost. Luke 14:26-28 NLT

Carry cross – like an electric chair – means a giving up of your whole life. Meant death sentence
Streets lined with Crosses – just a few years before Jesus spoke this

For most of the Christians in the world, it is dangerous to live out the teachings of Jesus.

#2 Dangerous to our PRIDE

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. Luke 5:1-2

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Luke 5:3-7

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Luke 5:8

hamartolos (ham-ar-to-los'); a sinner, less than the mark.

At many points in a journey with Jesus, we will encounter a confrontation with our “good enough”

• May be because of SIN (wrong doing)
• May be because you don’t believe/feel you are good enough to accomplish a task or a life lived for Jesus.
• May be because you actually aren’t good enough at something and you need God’s supernatural strength.

#3 DANGEROUS TO OUR INDEPENDENCE AND OUR INTELLECT

OBEY FIRST ASK QUESTIONS LATER:

"Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." Luke 5:4-5

Left to depend on his own intellect Peter would never have “let down the nets” again. Following God is often dangerous to our ways

“…Because you say so…” - you may not understand, but still obey – this is dangerous (or confronts) our independent spirit.

Someone hits you – the rabbi says “turn the other cheek”
Someone flips you off – the rabbi says to bless people and do not curse.
Someone asks for your shirt – jesus says to give them your coat too
Someone says go a mile – jesus said to go two
Jesus says to give and it will be given to you – you may not understand, but you do it because he says so.

Questions are OK – but don’t use that as an excuse not to obey today.

I love questions. If there were no room for questions, then there would be no room for me!
Questions lead to more questions than answers

#4 DANGEROUS TO OUR PLANS

So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:11

For the disciples this was a ‘no-brainer’ – the greatest rabbi, the son of God is calling them to join Him in what He’s doing in the world.

THERE WAS NOTHING THAT THE WORLD COULD OFFER THAT WAS BETTER THAN IMMEDIATE ABANDONMENT OF THE OLD LIFE TO EMBRACE THE NEW.

nothing back there was worth hanging on too!