Congruity with our Spiritual Orientation
Congruity with our Spiritual Orientation
At the heart of our entire journey through the Sermon on the Mount is this key thought: "Am I being the kind of person Jesus' illustrations are illustrations of?" (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 180)
As we approach Easter, and we are knee-deep in considering what discipleship is all about, and maybe participating in the Lenten disciplines of self-denial and/or introspection, this fundamental question needs to be answered. My private motives, thoughts, feelings, habits...do they reflect Jesus? Or am I trying to become a disciple by merely creating a set of New Testament rules to live by that ultimately bypasses my heart?
If I'm true to you and to myself, the answer is no, I'm not completely that kind of person; not yet. And for some of us, what we're learning causes us to simply throw our hands up and say it's impossible. But Jesus didn't preach this sermon to set you up to fail. He preached it as an invitation to a special life in His Kingdom. It just has to be possible. But clearly not easy.
For me, I confess that my simmering anger is one of the single biggest things in my way right now. I didn’t realize how much it lies under the surface of my being. It's rooted mostly in my will and thinking my way is the necessary, if not the best way. It could be my agenda getting busted in a day. It could be my desire for something not being met. Whatever it is, when my will doesn't get what it wants, anger, usually low and simmering, is just hanging below the surface. How does it manifest? For me, usually in the tone of my words, and sometimes in my actions (which usually means withdrawing and distancing myself).
Ok, not very pastorly, I know. But, I'm allowing this sermon series to pull back some layers and change me too. I wouldn't ask you to do anything I'm not willing to do. Jesus' first illustration for a Kingdom kind of righteousness was related to dealing with anger. That was purposeful. If we can't deal with our own self-will and the anger that results when we don't get our way, then all the rest of our struggles will only be exacerbated.
I want to be a disciple - someone who lives and loves like Jesus. I bet you do too. I want to be that winsome person that anyone can talk to. I want to be known for being the kind of person that would do the right thing with the right heart no matter what the circumstance. I want a lot of things - but that comes with being willing to let go of a lot of things. Not the least of those things is my need to do things my way, according to my understanding.
"Life in the Kingdom of God is not something we do, like investing in the stock market or learning Spanish, that allows us to reserve dominion over our own life and use the kingdom for our purposes. We have to surrender the inmost reality of the self to God as expressed in Jesus and his kingdom. We cannot "use" it while holding our inmost self back from it." (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 233)
What are you being challenged in your inmost self to let go of? To deal with? We've spent many weeks now laying out how to live a life in this Kingdom. We’ve got many more to go. The more we live into it, the more I believe God will meet us there. But, the more we'll be challenged with what we're willing to give up along the way. Could I be trusted, and empowered by God to serve on HIs behalf? I think God is showing me I've got some work to do. If you do to, that's ok. Join me on the journey!
Join me in our various activities this month as we live into this season of the Resurrection. Let's continue to let God have more of us and see what He wants to do with us as a result.
Blessings!
Pastor Scott