Looking for Something More?

The following is an adaptation of a letter I sent to a few friends today about a new Apprentice Group that we are starting. Some of you reading this have already been through the experience. If so, please consider leaving a comment below and share your thoughts on Apprentice. If you haven't been in a group, you live in the Midland area, and this sounds like something you'd like to do, email me.

Over the past two years, the best thing I have been involved with in ministry has been participating in and leading others through Apprentice Groups. I've never been a part of anything else that's as effective at helping people grow in their relationship with Christ, regardless of where they are in their spiritual life or how long they've been a Christian.

Some of us who have gone through the experience together so far came into it feeling spiritually stuck; we had been active Christians for decades, but had even become numb to how lifelessness had crept in to the most important relationship in our lives.

Others have come into these groups as a way of taking their first spiritual steps as Christians; regardless of how rough our pasts may have been, or how opposed to Christianity we may have been in the past, some of us have gotten very solid footing for our first Christian steps through these groups. When asked how the experience had changed their relationship with God, one participant simply said, "Now there is one."

Still others have come into these groups already growing spiritually, and have found in our experiences together reliable guidance for how to continue growing and satisfying their desire to know God in a real, practical way, as we learn to actually live as Jesus' disciples (apprentices).

Our experiences in Apprentice Groups are based upon coming to realize that we do not change by simply gritting our teeth and deciding to do better next time. This is true from small things, like trying to lose 10 pounds and keep it off, to larger things such as becoming the kind of person God created us to be and experiencing the fulness of life that Jesus said he came to give us. When we're talking about our lives in Christ with the Holy Spirit involved in the process, there is a way in which change happens naturally, even easily, though it always requires our cooperation. The brief version is that change happens in us when the Holy Spirit works and we tweak these three factors:

• Our thoughts: In Apprentice Groups, we specifically look at this question: Is the way that we think about God aligned with or contrary to the way that Jesus thought about God, and the way that God is revealed in the Scriptures? This makes a huge difference in the course of our lives. Regardless of how long we've been Christians, or how many Bible studies we've done, every one of us in these groups has had our thinking challenged by the way that Scripture instructs us to think about God. A big part of how we seek to modify our thinking in these groups is through memorizing full passages of Scripture together.
• Our habits: Most of the advice we've been given as Christians on how to shape our lives often comes down to two things: pray and read your Bible. While we can't overstate the necessity of those two things, they do not form a life that we actually live as we follow Jesus. Rather, along with many other habits, for apprentices of Jesus they should be part of an overall lifestyle arranged around our desire to learn from him. Therefore, during each week in between each of our Apprentice Group meetings, we have one Soul-Training Exercise to engage in. Some are things we usually associate with our spiritual lives, like specific ways to pray and read the Scriptures, but others are ways to more generally shape our overall lives to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's work in us. (For example, the first week's exercise is sleep!) In other words, the goal of these exercises isn't so much to add things to your already-too-full to-do list, but rather to train us in arranging the lives that we already live around our apprenticeship to Jesus.
• Our relationships: Although we're tempted to think that this is the least important of these three factors, by the end of our previous groups, participants have said that this was the most impacting aspect of the entire experience. One participant summed it up by saying, "I've come to realize that I don't spur myself on to holiness. I need other people to do that for me." To put it another way, we cannot be spiritually healthy Christians apart from spiritually healthy community, and many of us are unknowingly desperate for this kind of community in our lives. This is precisely what John Wesley meant when he said: "There is no holiness without social holiness."

The material for Apprentice Groups comes from three books by James Bryan Smith, with each one emphasizing one of the three factors above:

• The Good and Beautiful God deals primarily with comparing our thoughts about God to those of Jesus and how God is revealed in the Scriptures.
• The Good and Beautiful Life is based on the Sermon on the Mount and deals with the habits that make up our lives, and if arranged according to the teaching of Jesus, can actually lead to us becoming people who live lives free of greed, lying, lust, worry, etc., and who live in ways where we become people who do the things that Jesus taught and did, such as blessing people who curse us.
• The Good and Beautiful Community addresses our relationships and the things we do together in our life with God, such as forgiving, worshipping, serving and living generously. Although each book has its specific emphasis, the group's experience is designed to affect each of the three areas from the beginning of the group until its end.

Some of you reading this have already been in an Apprentice group with me or someone else in our church. The rest of you should! But- I realize that some places where I've had readers in the last month (like Atlanta and Kenya) are legitimately too far to travel to Midland each week to meet with us. So, regardless of whether it's with us or with someone else (or starting your own), here are the normal commitments for Apprentice Groups.

• Make being there a priority. Some groups commit to 25 weeks together, and state right off the bat that none of the participants will miss more than three of the sessions.
• Read one chapter from the book each week. Whether you spend a lot of time in books, or they're a completely new concept to you, you can do this. The chapters are very readable, not too long, and well-written (no pictures, but you do get some good stories).
• Do the Soul-Training Exercise for each week. Like anything else, the more you put into this, the more you'll get out of it. Some require time and planning, others don't.
• Memorize Scripture together. We take nine weeks to memorize Colossians 3:1-17, two verses at a time. Regardless of what you're thinking, you can do this. It's something that I've come to believe God is tremendously in favor of, and therefore helps us to accomplish.

Again, if you're near Midland and this sounds interesting, email me. If you live somewhere else, you can check this partial list of churches with Apprentice Groups, or look into starting one at your own church. If you've already been in an Apprentice group, leave a comment and describe it for yourself.

Top Posts for July 2011

Unfortunately I didn't post much in July, but for consistency's sake, here are the 10 most-read posts from last month:

1. Big Changes in My Work Roles
2. If You Really Knew Me, You Would Know My Father As Well
3. Completely Unhelpful Thoughts I've Shared with My Son
4. A Parable of What We're Doing Here
5. Wesley's Sermon 16: The Means of Grace
6. A Prayer for the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)
7. Why I Almost Lost it Over a Spam Sandwich
8. How to Not Get Kicked Out of My Parents' House
9. Completely Unhelpful Things to Say to Someone in Grief, Part 3
10. A Prayer for the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

A Prayer for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.] Living, loving Father,

We call upon You, because we have found that You answer us. Incline Your ear to us and hear these words that we pray.

You save those who seek refuge in You, and we pray that just as Your love has always been steadfast toward us, that You would show it to all those who seek You today.

Although we have striven with You and sought to have our own way, You have blessed us. We deserve Your condemnation, yet in Your mercy, instead of condemning, You have given us Yourself.

Your loving faithfulness is not new to us, but for thousands of years You have been working in Your people to bring about good in this world.

This loving work of Yours came to a climax in the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus. He showed us that although we may feel unable to do Your work in the lives of others around us, all things are possible with You. You are able to take what we have to offer, bless it and multiply it for the good of others. So it is as students of Him who fed the crowds with five loaves of bread, and who abundantly gives us all that we need to live fully in You, that we pray again in the way that He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done,  on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

Depending on which system of ordering one pays attention to, this Sunday can also be referred to as Proper 13, or (in 2011) the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Regardless of the system, the readings are the same. So, the readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

• Genesis 32:22-31: The eleventh of thirteen possible consecutive readings after Pentecost from Genesis, and the fourth of six on the life of Jacob. This passage is the account of Jacob wrestling with God, during his return to face his brother, Esau, whom he had wronged, after leaving his father-in-law, Laban, who had wronged him. In this passage, God informs Jacob that his name will be changed to Israel.
• Psalm 17:1-7, 15: A bold prayer to God for deliverance, which concludes with an echo of Jacob's experience, "As for me, I shall behold your face... when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness."
• Romans 9:1-5: The ninth of sixteen possible consecutive readings after Pentecost from Romans. This passage represents a shift, as Paul moves from an explanation of the Christian way to exploring the implications of Israel rejecting it.
• Matthew 14:13-21: All of the gospel readings after Pentecost in Year A come from Matthew. In this passage, Jesus feeds 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves and bread and two fish.

A Prayer for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, Loving Father,

We give thanks to You, O Lord, and we call upon Your name today. We sing praises to You, we glory in Your holy name, and we cannot help but to speak of the wonderful things You have done. We seek You, O Lord, and Your strength. Today, as always, we seek Your presence.

You have been faithful to us, even when we have been unfaithful to You. Even if we have tried to make deals with You, perhaps deceiving ourselves and others in doing so, You have never acted as we do, returning deception for deception, but You have always only been loving and faithful to us.

Although others surely fail us, regardless of the things that happen, the good and the bad, when we look back upon them, we can see that, incredibly, You have managed to use them all for our good. Indeed, the very worst that people can to do us cannot separate us from the love that You have shown us so clearly in the life of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus.

It was He who showed us most fully what Your love is like. It was He who taught us about life in Your kingdom, and how it is easily worth any price we may have to pay. And it was He who taught us how to pray, so again today we join together as His students, praying the prayer that he taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done,  on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

Depending on which system of ordering one pays attention to, this Sunday can also be referred to as Proper 12, or (in 2011) the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. Regardless of the system, the readings are the same. So, the readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

• Genesis 29:15-28: The tenth of thirteen possible consecutive readings after Pentecost from Genesis, and the third of five on the life of Jacob. In this passage, Jacob, who has been a deceiver of his father and brother, now becomes the deceived by his father-in-law, Laban.
• Psalm 105:1-11, 45b: A portion of this psalm, which recounts God's acts in the history of Israel, which recalls how God worked through the first families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in faithfulness to his promises to them.
• Romans 8:26-39: The ninth of sixteen possible consecutive readings after Pentecost from Romans, and the third of three consecutive readings from the great passages of Romans 8. In this passage, Paul concludes a major section of his argument and description of the Christian way with the strong declaration that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
• Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52: All of the gospel readings after Pentecost in Year A come from Matthew, and this is the third of three consecutive readings of Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13. This passage actually includes five short parables about the kingdom of heaven: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, ...yeast, ...treasure hidden in a field, ...a merchant in search of fine pearls, ...a net that was thrown into the sea."

A Parable of What We're Doing Here

Situation One:

Imagine that you are going on a tour of an automobile manufacturing plant. On this particular day, employees from all levels of the company are there, and you have a chance to visit with several of them. Some of them work on the manufacturing lines, others are managers, some are in marketing, and you even have a chance to visit with a board member and the CEO.

In making conversation with the first couple of workers, both of whom work on the manufacturing lines, you happen to ask the same question to each of them. It catches your attention that their answers were very different from one another. If the question had been something like, "What is your name?" you might expect different answers, but not for the question that you asked them: "So, what is it you that you make here?"

The first person described something like this:

But, strangely, the second person described something more like this:

You were sure that both of those things couldn't be manufactured in this one plant, so, being intrigued, you decide to ask the question of every worker you could talk with. To your amazement, you received a huge variety of answers from people at every level of the company. You asked nine more people the same question, and each one described something still different:

Situation Two:

On another tour of a similar plant, you had similar conversations and asked the same question. This time, everyone gave the same answer, describing the same product. What was incredible to you, though, was that the product everyone claimed to be making was this:

while the product that you actually saw coming off the assembly line was this:

Situation Three:

On yet another similar tour, again with similar conversations and the same question, you noticed that everyone gave the same answer, and this time the product they claimed to be making was the same as was coming off the assembly lines:

What puzzled you this time, though, was that you were at a plant whose building and signs said that it made fire engines, so they should have been making this:

Application:

Most churches today have some kind of mission statement, which is a good thing. And many of those mission statements, including that of my entire denomination, will have something like this in them: "To make disciples of Jesus Christ." This is also a very good thing.

Situation One: Problems arise, however, when we don't know what a disciple is, and are very unclear on what it would actually be like to live as one. Regardless of what the mission statements say, if leaders themselves aren't even clear on this, teaching others the meaning of and way into discipleship is certainly impossible. The result is that no unified idea of what we're doing here exists, so everyone has their own ideas. If anything identifiable actually ends up being produced, it's mostly by accident.

Situation Two: Thankfully, increasing numbers of church leaders are too learned and capable in organizational leadership to let such confusion exist, and are very effective at communicating the church's purpose to everyone involved. Many times, though, in the desire for Jesus' gospel to be mass-produced it is first reduced, resulting in a product that is far below what was promised. Instead of "life to the full" that Jesus described, we end up with "things will be really good after you die."

Situation Three: Because of the difficulty of Situation Two, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the original mission handed down to us wasn't realistic; therefore it isn't what Jesus really wants us to be doing, and we should redefine the project altogether. Because of how we misconceive what a life of discipleship is like when we aren't living it, other strategies can seem very appealing in the name of realism, since we'll have serious doubts about how many people would ever actually sign up for how awful we think a life of full-throttle discipleship would be.

If you, like me, would like for your community to steer clear of any of these three options, Dallas Willard offers a simple alternative in part of his masterful final chapter of Renovation of the Heart:

"A simple goal for the leaders of a particular group would be to bring all those in attendance to understand clearly what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and be solidly committed to discipleship in their whole life. That is, when asked who they are, the first words out of their mouth would be, 'I am an apprentice of Jesus Christ.' This goal would have to be approached very gently and lovingly and patiently with existing groups, where the people involved have not understood this to be a part of their membership commitment" (p. 244).

Caution: Before you think I'm encouraging you to start blaming your church or its leaders for being off-track, does the above paragraph describe you? I've recently become convinced that, although we are quick to place the blame on others, the biggest hurdle in the way of our churches being more effective is much closer than we'd like to think.

Wesley's Sermon 26: Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 6

[This is a post on one of John Wesley's Sermons as part of the Getting to Know John series. See the other posts here.] This is the sixth of John Wesley's thirteen sermons on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7). In this message, Wesley moves into chapter 6 of Matthew, which he says represents Jesus' shift from describing characteristics of true inward religion to now teaching us how we can make all of our outward actions holy: by having "pure and holy intentions."

This message covers Matthew 6:1-15, where Jesus warns not to give or pray like the hypocrites do, but that we should do all things to please God alone, rather than seeking to be seen by others. After describing how not to pray, Jesus gives a model of how we should pray, which we have come to call The Lord's Prayer.

Wesley's sermon is basically a verse-by-verse exploration of this passage. So, even if you're not a strange one like me who would normally read all of the way through one of his sermons, this would be a good one to print and have in your Bible as you do your own study and reflection on this passage (either the full text or the outline- both are linked below). Wesley's explanation of The Lord's Prayer will certainly add depth to your own practice of praying it, whether alone or together in worship.

To dig in further to this message:

• Download the pdf outline of the sermon
• Read the full text on your e-reading device with this ePub file
• Read the entire sermon online at the Wesley Center for Applied Theology

If You Really Knew Me, You Would Know My Father As Well

[This is one of the posts telling a story from the life of my Dad. Click here to see the others.]

When my Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, I couldn't handle it. I had faced some difficult things before, but that was the first situation where my honest feeling was that I had no idea how to get through it.

The most difficult implications of his diagnosis to accept were 1) how badly I would miss him, and 2) that my kids would grow up without knowing him. That second thought literally felt gut-wrenching.

This was especially true for my son. He is named after my Dad, and one of the biggest joys I had during the first year and a half after he was born was seeing how much fun the two of them had together. It was very difficult for me to face the reality that he wouldn't grow up spending time with his grandfather on the ranch, getting to know him first-hand, but that his memories of their times together would mostly be constructed by looking at pictures and video clips.

Part of the routine we go through each night at our house in getting the kids ready for bed is that my son and I say some of the verses from John 14. Chapters 14-17 of John tell the story of a lengthy conversation between Jesus and his disciples on his last night with them, after having washed their feet and before his arrest. Near the beginning of that conversation, Jesus says this to his friends:

"...If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

The connections between Jesus' situation and mine may be a bit of a stretch, but the similarities and differences have caught my attention:

I was fearful of what life would be like for my son as he would grow without being able to be in my Dad's presence; Jesus was trying to assure his fearful friends that life would be good (even that it would be better) after they would no longer see him.

Jesus' concern and mine were both that people whom we love dearly would be able to know our fathers, whom we adore.

Jesus understood something I didn't (which I think has also been the case a few other times). He knew that his friends could, in a very real way, know his Father, because of the life that he and his Father shared. His Father's character, thoughts, emotions, desires, were also his own, so he could say confidently to his misfit group of followers, in essence, "By knowing me and seeing me, you have known him and seen him."

The months since my Dad's death have been a surprising journey of my life becoming more like his in a lot of ways. We already shared quite a bit of the same character on the inside, and it has been profoundly good for me to also take on more of his outward life by managing his business, using his tools, working at his desk, and doing more of the things that he did. (Plus I grew a beard.)

And although I would have loved for my son to have had more first-hand memories with my Dad, I've noticed that the fear of him growing up without knowing his grandfather has faded away. He will know him, because he knows me.