Christian Life ...

Christian Life ...
Christian life is meant to be a life of bearing much fruit. What does that look like? How do we get there? This blog will record thoughts and meditations about living a life striving to be a fruitful branch.

Friday, July 20, 2018

The Towel or the Crown

“Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." -John 13:12b-18 (ESV)
Foot washing is an intimate and disgusting business. There are many times when I am hesitant to wash my own feet much less someone else's. Feet get stinky and gross quicker that other parts of the body. I'd rather pass.

This past Sunday, July 15th, 2018, Matt Anderson, new Associate Pastor of Discipleship and Local Mission at Resurrection MPLS, in Minneapolis, MN spoke and in his message, which should up loaded for listening on sound cloud if you follow Resurrection MPLS, he talked about a major problem in the church: a lack of discipleship.

Matt referenced Dallas Willard who calls this folly in the church the Great Omission, referring to the how missing the mark on discipleship goes directly against the great commission after all Christ called his disciples to make disciples of all nations.

Do what does it mean to be a disciple of Christ. Pastor Anderson opened the question up to the congregation and the answers were, student, following, or devoted follower. He defined a disciple as an apprentice.

That to me is an interesting angle. An apprentice follows around a master of a craft and learns from them by following what they do. If we are to also be disciples of Christ what does this passage say about how we should posture ourselves.

As Christians in this day and age we have to be aware of the different influences we have around us. We have influences of our surrounding culture and psychology that effects the way that we behave. On major force in our culture and its psychology is the enlightenment and it's emphasis on knowledge. For that reason, this era in the church is all about studying deeply and feeding the spiritual intellect. With our subconscious guiding our focus to knowledge, we can lose sight of the mission and heart of the matter. In seeking after knowledge we align ourselves more as a disciples of the Pharisees who Jesus sparred with than Christ himself.

In John 13, Jesus washes his disciples feet and they are completely stunned. He uses it as an example of how they should be too. He tells them to serve others to pick up a towel. There's tons of commentary and thought about his passage of scripture, regarding Peter's response and what Jesus was saying to his disciples for this this purpose right how, I just what to apply this to what it means to be a follower of Christ today.

At the Project Timothy conference I wrote my last post about, a leader talked about choosing to reach for a towel instead of a crown. So much of the time when we are striving for knowledge we are really seeking recognition. Or we get turned off to the nudgings of the spirit because they don't seem to be the great things we feel called to do. Seeing a crown is seeking recognition or seeking self elevation, and Christ has none of that. When he picks up a towel and moves to wash his disciples feet he's doing the work of a lowly servant and he explicitly calls his disciples to do that same workIf we are to be disciples called to disciple others we must actually practice doing what Jesus does. That's what an apprentice does. They watch what the master does and then they work on their craft until they figure it out. A lot of the time we find the spirit calling us to do something, start a ministry, pray for a person, help this person with what they need, and we miss it. Maybe it feels like too much of a hassle or it would disrupt our schedules. Maybe we're afraid that we'll look foolish or the experience will be awkward. It's as if we are so special that we cannot be bothered by the problems of the other. Instead of reaching to take  action we reach up to adjust the crown on our heads that may have been knocked crooked by suggestion that we should alter our course.

I know I'm guilty of that.

Christ did not for one minute think about his own good, instead he always looked to the Father for direction which always lead to look to the other first. We must practice reaching for a towel instead of a crown. We have to be okay with letting our plans get changed when there's work to be done and people the spirit prods us to serve. We can't allow the awkwardness or the fact that we may not be well received turn us away. That's just stinky feet. It's part of the business.

Lastly, as apprentices, we are not masters and when we are called to create disciples I hit a bit of a barrier because it seems pretty evident that we are looking at the blind leading the blind situation if I step up to action. Leave room in your practice for grace. We learn from scripture that church leaders are not perfect. Paul literally murdered Christians and admitted to a thorny hindrance that bothered him until death. Peter denied Christ three times and had numerous experiences where he totally misunderstood the scope of the mission of Christ. As apprentices of Christ we are never done learning. Paul says,"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1), and that should be our aim as disciples that make disciples. While we seek Christ we seek to look to others to lead them to Christ.

So in our everyday life let us remember that practicing our faith is truly all that we can do. We must look to Christ and the Spirit within us to alert us to a moment when we have the option to reach for a towel or a crown. Let us follow Christ, and lead others to him by acting sacrificially, wrapping the towel around us, humbly stepping into the role of a servant, and, though it may be stinky, doing the dirty and personal work like washing feet.

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