Jesus told us that “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” That being said, I’m anxious to really learn what that might look like. Here’s my plan: I want to tell my children the teachings and parables of Jesus, unfettered by my explanations, and see how little children seek to live out those teachings. The problem is, I’ve looked around, and I can’t find any children’s books that teach the challenging parables of Jesus.

I’ve looked and haven’t seen any “Love Your Enemies” passages in a single children’s book around. So, there are a couple of things I’m interested in doing:

1. I’m interested if anyone with children (3-6 or so) have ever read some of the parables of Jesus to their kids. And if so, what was their children’s reactions?
2. I’m wondering if anyone knows of children’s books with those types of stories that exist anywhere?
3. And this is the big one: I’d like to find a publisher, or self publish, a series of children’s books or just one book with those teachings in it.

Here’s some of the parables that I think we should be teaching our children and allowing them to respond:

• The Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus
• The Rich Fool
• Parable of the Pearl
• Parable of the Friend at Night

What other Parables can you think of that we tend not to read to our children, but should?

The church I attended in Nashville took a group on a short term missions trip to Brazil this past November. In discussing the topic of ‘Missions’ I was trying to think about the biblical precedent for ‘missions’ work as we consider it. I wrote this post on the church forum…

The oft referenced verse for Christian mission work is this:

We have called this the ‘Great Commission’, though neither Jesus, nor anyone else in scripture, ever gives it that title. Since it’s the last instruction Jesus gives before he departs we feel it deserves the weight of ‘great’ and I’d agree, except that it should also be seen in light of the entire life and teachings of Jesus as well.
The other important thing to note is that Jesus gives this command to the 12 disciples. We tend to think of it as a blanket calling to anyone who is a Christian, but it is possible Jesus was specifically commissioning his 12 disciples to ‘go’.

We see further precedent for this specific commissioning in the early church stories in the book of Acts.

Acts 9:15 “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings.”

If anything, I think we see clearly that there is a precedent for the commissioning and sending out of specific full-time missionaries.

What I also see in the stories of the early church, is a precedent for the role of home churches as supporters and commissioners of missionaries.

There are also plenty of passages in Paul’s letters, too big and out of context to quote, that acknowledge the support from the churches he’s writing to.

I am advocating that not everyone is called to a life of full-time ‘mission’ work. (I am also implying that Short term missions might not be so biblical either, though that’s a discussion for another topic thread). However, I am not advocating that, if you are not ‘called,’ you have permission to sit back and live a lavish ‘American’ lifestyle, feeling guilt free by sending your small missionary support check out each
month.
EVERY Christian is called to follow the teachings of Christ. We ‘Christians’ in the United States should be living radical lives, shedding materialism, and supporting our Christians brothers and sisters globally.

As I mentioned I wrote the above post on our church forum. It created a tiny bit of dialog, but I think was mostly seen as divisive. What I’ve been trying to do is look at scripture through an unbiased lens regarding what we typically call ‘missions.’ I feel like every time I’ve gone on short term missions trips (three in high school and then a YWAM outreach), there was almost no discussion regarding the Biblical basis for the missions work. We all just memorize and repeat that we are to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ I think what I’ve begun to see in scripture as that we as the Body of Christ are called to make disciples of ALL nations, however, I think that should probably look different than our multi-billion dollar short term missions business that we currently run.

I’m getting quite close to having a completed novel. I’m not set, but I believe the title is going to be “Giving Up.” I thought, as a devotional today, that I would post an excerpt from the book. Obviously, you don’t know the characters or context, but this dialog about the teachings of Christ should be interesting to you either way:

As the sun rose over the horizon and shined into the large windows in their living room, Carter opened the little book, ‘The Teachings of Christ.’ It was a new day and a new journey. Both Carter and Julie’s heart beat with excitement as they prepared themselves to follow the teachings of this great philosopher of old, regardless of how counter-cultural it may be.

The first words of Jesus’ teachings was his introduction, the reading of a poem of old:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

If there was one thing Carter had to acknowledge from the beginning, it was that the teachings where not necessarily directed to him. It wasn’t that the teachings of Christ weren’t for Julie and him, rather they were in a unique audience, not necessarily the primary audience. It didn’t take that much reflection to realize they were not poor, prisoners, blind, or oppressed. And, as Carter and Julie kept reading they realized the unique position they where in:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

“Well, that’s not a very encouraging way to start.” Said Carter, “I don’t consider us rich, or I hadn’t until it’s put in this contrast. We definitely aren’t poor or hungry so clearly he’s saying that we’ve got to watch out because we are rich and well fed. He’s just lucky I’m a committed person, because otherwise I’d drop this quick and before he even got to saying anything.”

“But Carter, I think his intention is just to be real and cast a new vision, different then the one you’ve been chasing. He’s got a whole speech after this, and it’s directed to everyone, regardless of if your being blessed or ‘woed.’ He’s giving us a clear warning, which I think is good. I mean, if a tornado was going to hit our house, you’d want someone to tell you right? If we’ve been living our lives chasing after false things, like riches our whole lives, it’s good we finally found someone who is going to tell it like it is.”

“Your right that it’s a new vision. I mean this is completely backwards to everything in our society, let alone all of history. Poor people rule the kingdom? And I’m the one that has to be careful cause I have too much stuff? This is a big paradigm shift.
I’ve got an idea.
This is way different then I’m used to normally thinking. You know, if I have a big wig coming to the office, I do a lot more to prepare for him then I would for say, the janitor in the building. Yet, if this is true, the ones we should be treating as royalty are the poor, not the rich. I was thinking, if we made a list of ‘important’ people, maybe we could better keep this in our minds through out the day.” And with that, Carter and Julie made a list of the poor and oppressed of their society:

Important People

* Minorities
* Women
* Children
* Immigrants
* Elderly

“You know,” Julie said, “what’s interesting, is that Jesus doesn’t make any qualifications on what type of poor people the kingdom belongs to. My tendency would be to say, ‘poor people who didn’t become that way by their own poor decision making.’ Like take the kids with us right now. They are poor, but then again, they are just kids, and I’ve already seen how few chances they’ve had. What I’ve also realized through spending time with them, is that minorities, both kids and adults, face a lot of obstacles I’d never realized or considered before. I know, you might not believe me when I say this, but just thinking about these kids lives, the stories they tell, and the little history I know about our country, it’s become so obvious to me how much our favoritism has oppressed minorities.”

It’s interesting that many of us start our year’s off with resolutions. In many ways I think it is a good idea, it being a very productive way to set our minds on the year ahead and what we hope to accomplish. At the same time, we all know the reputation of New Year’s Resolutions, they start great in January and they crash and burn by February.
I wonder if maybe it would be better to start off our year, by soberly looking back on the previous year and acknowledging the mistakes we’ve made, admitting them and then preparing to move on. There is something powerful in confession; acknowledging our shortcomings is a much more freeing experience then we ever give it credit for. For some reason, it is so difficult to admit when we are wrong, yet, when we do I think we connect with one another on a much deeper level. We take a step down from our high horse, we take of the mask that has been hiding are true character, we begin to see one another for who and what we really are.

I do have some big goals for this coming year, I’m anticipating some new and exciting opportunities, and I’m prepared to accomplish great things, but I first need to step back and acknowledge, that I had the same ambition last January. Last year I ambitiously set out to be a better person then I was the year before. In some ways I think I can say I accomplished that task, but in many others I fell short.
I wanted to be better and improve, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, creatively, financially, and relationally. There are victories that I’ve had this year in each of those categories, but if I’m honest, there are a lot of things I didn’t do. There are a lot of areas where I fully knew what it was I wanted to do, and I didn’t do it, in fact, sometimes I did the very opposite. I wanted to love my wife more this past year, but many times I seemed to communicate the exact opposite. We tried to follow a budget, but during the past few months we threw the budget to the wind. I intended to read more, and I had the time, but I squandered it. I fully intended to build and invest in my relationships, but I fell far short of being the friend I know I could be.
I’m not a perfect person, and don’t worry, I didn’t think I was. If I’m going to set out to accomplish some ambitious goals this year, I need to do it with a full awareness of myself. I rely on my own strength too much, I fail more often then not, I lack the integrity I pretend that I have and I love myself far more then I love others. My goal for this year:

“He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less.”

Connie sent me this great quote by G.K. Chesterton about Francis of Assisi. It says:

“it is utterly useless to study a great thing like the Franciscan movement while remaining in the modern mood that murmurs against gloomy asceticism. The whole point about St. Francis of Assisi is that he certainly was ascetical and he certainly was not gloomy…there was nothing negative about it; it was not a regimen or a stoical simplicity of life. It was not self-denial merely in the sense of self-control. It was as positive as a passion; it had all the air of being as positive as a pleasure. He devoured fasting as a man devours food. He plunged after poverty as men have dug madly for gold. And it is precisely the positive and passionate quality of this part of his personality that is a challenge to the modern mind in the whole problem of the pursuit of pleasure.”

I’ve been trying to figure out this whole thing. Trying to explain to myself and to others why I would be choosing the type of lifestyle for myself and my family that I’m trying to choose.

I’m definitely far from the ascetic that Assisi was, but I do desire to have the same passionate pursuit for the things of God that he had.

(Meant to post this Sunday, oh well)

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” -1 Corinthians 11:1

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” -Ephesians 5:1

“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6

A new reader, Jamie, mentioned teaching non-violence in church and it got me thinking. There is a definite alternative to this idea of placing armed guards in churches, and that is for a church to instead advocate, teach and promote an attitude of non-violence. I believe this is a deeply biblical and deeply spiritual issue and I figured I’d write a devotional thought regarding it.

I think there might be varying opinions on what the goal, motive or vision for a church should be, but everyone would have to agree it has something to do with teaching and modeling following Christ (being ‘Christian’). And, considering the vast majority of people that attend church regularly profess to already be ‘Christian’ and followers, it would seem we would take the verses above seriously.

If we are to imitate Christ in all that we do, how we respond to violence is one of those areas; and it is one we have a very clear example in. We as individual Christians and as collective church bodies should serve as an example to others, including would be perpetrators that we will not return evil with evil, “but overcome evil with good.”

You know how buildings sometimes have those signs at the front that say: “Weapons banned on premise” or something similar? What if churches had signs out front that said: “We practice non-violence.” They could have pamphlets about it inside for everyone to be informed, and they could even preach on it from the pulpit. There are plenty of Biblical examples.

Not only does Jesus preach on non-violence (love your enemy, etc), he exemplifies it in his death. The early church is full of examples of non-violence as well. Jesus, I think, makes it explicitly clear to us how to respond to the sort of violence we see in our society:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
-Matthew 10:28

If you didn’t know, I’m writing this book. Just a fun little project, a fiction piece, an attempt to articulate in a creative form my feelings on how it looks like to live out the faith, following the Gospel.

I’m realizing following the Gospel is dangerous. I’m also realizing that following the Gospel is so obvious. There are some things Jesus says that are confusing and quite stuck in the cultural context, however most of what he said is pretty plain. In the book I’ve set up the characters in a society that has no connection to our current society and it’s understanding of the Bible, Jesus, Christianity or organized religion in general.
As I write, I find myself having two very clear feelings:

1. My first reaction is to explain why I think the words of Jesus should be followed in the way that I suggest in my story. The thing is that I’m reacting to our current religion, where we say we follow Jesus, but aren’t really following a lot of what he says. Fortunately, I’m writing my own fiction book, so I don’t have to defend myself.

2. My second reaction is that reading Jesus’ words lately seems even more starkly obvious in what type of actions they require of us, particularly as it relates to stuff. How in the world do we miss this?

(It’s late, I have a feeling this didn’t make much sense. If not sorry.)

I wanted to lend a little more context to this passage that I have seen as we read through the sermon on the mount. The passage I’m talking about is:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:18-21

First of all you have to notice it’s a dichotomy. “Do Not…But…” If Jesus wanted to put a disclaimer in I think he would have, and if he wanted to say you could do both at the same time (treasures on earth and in heaven) he would have said it differently.
But, I’m still a little skeptical so some more context will help.

Jesus has already said some life changing, paradigm shifting, wealth challenging, irrational (by our logic), sacrifice-requiring types of stuff. And remember this is all in the same sermon…

“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. -Matt 5:42”

 

Love your Enemies and pray for those who persecute you. -Matt 5:44

“But when you give to the needy…” -Matt 6:3

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for your have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” -Luke 6:20,24,25

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. -Luke 6:31

 

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” -Luke 6:35

So, just to recap, you’ve got Jesus telling folks to give to anyone who asks, he even tells us to lend to our enemies (talk about an unwise investment). He exhorts you and I that are riches will be our only comfort, and points us to the poor who have been given the kingdom. This is the Jesus who says do not store up treasure on earth.
My bike has been stolen multiple times and every time I think of this passage, and I have to question whether I was storing up treasure on earth were at thieve DID break in and steal.

Oh, and just in case you think Jesus might not really be saying “Do not store up treasures on earth” read the next passage. In case your thinking, but obviously Jesus doesn’t want us to be irrational and not store up for this or that…

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?