I remember playing dodgeball in middle school and never being really great because I had the muscle strength of a 3rd grader. I was agile but not a threat which made me get really good at avoiding lots of fast approaching balls at once. This tactic often caused me to get out quickly. Getting out first in dodgeball was like coming in last for a race. Something I would say to myself is that the "last will be first and the first will be last".
As I was reading Matthew's account of Jesus' teaching about the first being last I had a total paradigm shift. Maybe I haven't been reading the passage close enough but I realized that when Jesus says "the last will be first, and the first last" it is a statement of equality. If you grew up like me you always interpretted the scripture as an instruction to be ok with being the last one to get food, or the last one to get a gift. My interpretation of this saying was infused with years of hearing it out of context and so I thought I needed to be ok with finishing last which a lot of times is just an excuse to not strive as hard. Shame on me(can I get a witness or at least someone who is with me). And how was this statement logical? If the last will be first what happens when the last gets to the first position. According to the saying the "first will be last" so there is this tragic cycle of never being able to be first and so it seems first should be avoided.
When Jesus wants to explain what this first last business means he tells a parable about a master of a house who went out early to hire people to work for his vineyard for him. Going through the market place he hired people who needed work and agreed to pay them a days wage. The problem was that this master payed everyone the same wage no matter when He hired them. So at the end of the day, the laborers who worked the whole day were upset that they received the same pay as those who had only worked an hour. The workers who had worked all day approached the master angrily saying "you have made them equal to us ". The reply of the master uncovers a great truth about God's Kingdom that is true today. The master replies:
Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” -Matthew 20
The first will be last is not a trading of positions but a promise of God that no matter when you choose to follow Him and do the everlasting work of laboring in His kingdom, he will give you just as much as he does those who you see as "Jesus Superstars". The first will be last means that the pew is just as sacred as the pulpit, the children's minister is just as critical as the executive pastor, the student leader is just as valued as the campus minister and the faithful neighbor just as important as the civil rights icon. In God's kingdom he rewards us for our faithfulness no matter how long we've been laboring. This is good news for us who have chosen to give our lives as missionaries. And I am talking about the everyday missionaries who have chosen to be intentional at their jobs, in school, in their homes and in their neighborhoods. This is good news for those who are thinking about following the call of Jesus to start something that God has called them to. You may feel that you are "last" in someways. Know that you are first in an eternal way.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Denial, Submission, and the Pursuasion
In order to come after Jesus we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross DAILY and follow him. Not my words. Those are Jesus' words as told by Luke. This scripture is one of the most difficult scriptures I've read. On first read it seems to be the worst recruitment I've ever seen. When I think of asking someone to be like me, I wouldn't think to ask them to forget who they are. But this is Jesus' first request. His second request seems to be an even crazier. Take up a cross. Take up a crude torture device and live with it on your back. Live as if you are willing to die for the one you are walking after at a moments notice.
This is such a pressurized moment. In reading this Jesus asked his disciples to forget themselves and be willing to suffer and die for the one who told them to forget. This is Jesus' persuasion.
And it is this persuasion that has caused a history of disciples to deny themselves and be willing to die for Him. What?
This is a reality that we almost have no way to connect to. It is partially because if we began to let our parents, pastors, friends, mentors, and family know that we are willing to die for God's call on our life to the campus, office, classroom or whatever place we feel called, we would possibly be admitted. To die for Jesus is not the "in" thing anymore. But reality is that, among Christians, it never really was the in thing. It was what came with carrying a cross. To the early church Peter wrote:
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
To this community enduring persecution, this would have been hard words to live out. But this is not the full view of Paul's heart. In Acts 4, Peter and John are advised by the rulers, elders and scribes to discontinue teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them,“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
In this case Peter himself denies the religious institution and this causes the rulers, elders, and scribes to look for a way to punish them(even though they couldn't). But there are those who are our ancient predecessors, our spiritual heroes and family, who died because of these kinds of stances. They were persecuted not because they were looking for it, but because they carried a cross on their backs and there were those willing to kill them for it. This is complete self denial; a willingness to take on the burdens, abuse, misunderstanding and suffering that come not because of who they have denied themselves in order to gain Jesus. We can imitate this, whether here in America or in a hostile country.
And if we do, we enter into space where walking on water and calming storms are part of the deal. It is in this space, where we totally deny our hopes, dreams, aspirations and loves, and allow God to give us his hopes, dreams, aspirations and love for us. And when he does this, we find that we were made to serve. We were made to be fully submitted to the needs of others. We find that who we were made to be is eternally intertwined with a historic community of believers and a special group of people Jesus calls us to serve. It is here that we find ourselves and we don't even care as much about finding ourselves as we do for those we are called to. This is the persuasion of Jesus. Joy in knowing who you are while being overwhelmed by how He uses your "broken self" to love those around you. And this can only be found in Him. And when we submit to that truth, we begin to understand that Jesus was right when he said that "there are some who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God" and, while on this earth, we enter this kingdom with a crosses on our back.
This is such a pressurized moment. In reading this Jesus asked his disciples to forget themselves and be willing to suffer and die for the one who told them to forget. This is Jesus' persuasion.
And it is this persuasion that has caused a history of disciples to deny themselves and be willing to die for Him. What?
This is a reality that we almost have no way to connect to. It is partially because if we began to let our parents, pastors, friends, mentors, and family know that we are willing to die for God's call on our life to the campus, office, classroom or whatever place we feel called, we would possibly be admitted. To die for Jesus is not the "in" thing anymore. But reality is that, among Christians, it never really was the in thing. It was what came with carrying a cross. To the early church Peter wrote:
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
To this community enduring persecution, this would have been hard words to live out. But this is not the full view of Paul's heart. In Acts 4, Peter and John are advised by the rulers, elders and scribes to discontinue teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them,“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
In this case Peter himself denies the religious institution and this causes the rulers, elders, and scribes to look for a way to punish them(even though they couldn't). But there are those who are our ancient predecessors, our spiritual heroes and family, who died because of these kinds of stances. They were persecuted not because they were looking for it, but because they carried a cross on their backs and there were those willing to kill them for it. This is complete self denial; a willingness to take on the burdens, abuse, misunderstanding and suffering that come not because of who they have denied themselves in order to gain Jesus. We can imitate this, whether here in America or in a hostile country.
And if we do, we enter into space where walking on water and calming storms are part of the deal. It is in this space, where we totally deny our hopes, dreams, aspirations and loves, and allow God to give us his hopes, dreams, aspirations and love for us. And when he does this, we find that we were made to serve. We were made to be fully submitted to the needs of others. We find that who we were made to be is eternally intertwined with a historic community of believers and a special group of people Jesus calls us to serve. It is here that we find ourselves and we don't even care as much about finding ourselves as we do for those we are called to. This is the persuasion of Jesus. Joy in knowing who you are while being overwhelmed by how He uses your "broken self" to love those around you. And this can only be found in Him. And when we submit to that truth, we begin to understand that Jesus was right when he said that "there are some who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God" and, while on this earth, we enter this kingdom with a crosses on our back.
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