“Jesus told them, ‘you’re all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it’s my fault.’” (Mark 14:27 MSG)

Ever feel that way?  Like the closer you get to God, the more chaos it brings? Not exactly a great church-marketing strategy.  But the reality is our western, capitalistic church mindset wrongly equates God’s peace with ease, and His blessing with comfort, wealth, and the fulfillment of our personal, self-promoting dreams and desires.

The closer Jesus got to fulfilling his ultimate purpose, the less circumstances made sense to those around Him. And we see this reality unfold with uncomfortable clarity through Jesus’ disciples.

These men invested three years following this fascinating, controversial figure.  He added purpose to their normal, everyday lives, set them up with a new life trajectory, with meaning.  And then just as it seemed all their visions and desires were about to be fulfilled, He’s arrested, tried, and crucified. He died.

Chaos. And it almost seemed as if that’s what He wanted, like He willfully allowed it to happen (um, because He did).

Jesus rocks our worldview. He shakes our assumptions and perspectives to the core.  We like power, control, comfort, predictability. Yet we find following Jesus (really following Him, not just making Him part of your culture or weekly schedule or to-do list check-off) requires us to give all that away.  He replaces it with indescribable peace, joy, and purpose, but the cost is everything.  Everything.

And most days I’m just not willing to pay it. Just being honest.

Have I just brought Jesus into the dialog to make my love of self more palatable, justifiable, culturally acceptable, easier to swallow? Or am I really willing to give up control, power, perspectives, my way of seeing the world?

Following Jesus is the most peacefully destabilizing decision you will ever make. He will undoubtedly make you feel like your world is falling apart, and that it’s all His fault.  And although something in you is begging to run away, to keep control, to stay in power, there’s another part of you that longs for the adventure, that wants desperately to surrender to His game plan, that knows stepping into the uncontrollable chaos is actually the way to real life.

Death.  Always a great way to start a blog when you want to build readership.  Bet you’ll be quick to forward this link to all your friends.  No better way to get invited to a party than to start throwing the death word around.

Yesterday was Easter, so I thought it would be good to dedicate my early morning to re-reading the Resurrection Story.  But it wasn’t only the empty tomb that grabbed my attention.  The last chapter of the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus conversation with his disciple Peter (if you don’t know the story, Peter had just vehemently and publicly denied knowing Jesus the morning of His death).

So Peter and Jesus were chatting, making things right, when Jesus said something that seems rather strange:  “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18).

Huh?  But then the Bible explains itself:

“Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’”

The kind of death?  By which He would glorify God?  I thought this was Easter?  Pastels.  Bunnies.  Eggs.  Death?  Why does it always require death to glorify God?

As much as we talk about the unconditional love of Christ, there should never be any doubt – accepting that love is free, a gift, but that’s just the beginning of a journey.  The cost of following Christ, truly following Christ, is high.  All but one of Jesus’ disciples was killed, the other exiled to live alone on an island.  Do we really understand what Jesus asks of us?

Death.  Dying.  To Self.  To our perspectives.  To our kingdoms.  To our plans for our lives.  To our safety.  Our comfort.  Our selfishness.

Death.  Only death brings life…real life.

I’m afraid of heights.  I get dizzy.  The world starts spinning.  Even hanging Christmas lights on a six foot house ladder makes me woozy.  Yeah…I definitely hate heights.

Unfortunately, following Jesus is more like cliff-diving than smooth-sailing.  We’re naturally wired to find balance…to find stability…to find calm (at least most of us…some of you are weirdos), but I have news for you if you’re a Christ-follower:  get ready to jump.  And once you’ve found the courage to jump once, get ready to jump again.

You see, God’s calling is to radical discipleship, not a safe, country-club, Christianity-as-a-subset-of-the-American-dream kind of discipleship.  We’re called to see life through His lens, and I’m learning that God’s perspective usually requires reckless abandon.  Sorry.  I don’t naturally like it either.

So if you want to follow Christ…I mean really follow Christ, get ready to risk.  And once you’ve found the courage to do it once, get ready to do it again.  If you’re searching for flat and easy terrain, this might not be for you.  But if you want to find life…real life…life at its fullest, swallow hard, fight the butterflies, nudge your toes right up to the edge, and embrace the free-fall.

Oh yeah, and when you’ve finally found the courage to leap, don’t get too proud of yourself. Suit up and get ready to do it again.  God is forever calling us further and further into Himself, and each part of the journey requires risking more and more of what we know.  It’s a wild ride, but this self-prescribed seeker of safety is finding there’s absolutely no greater way to live.

One of the topics I’ve seen flying around many of the blogs and feeds I follow is the question, “does the church need a new scorecard?“  It spawns a great, thought-provoking dialog, and one I’m very interested in since I’ve just co-planted a brand new church in downtown Indianapolis.  Last Monday morning, the day after our launch, the questions were predictable:

“How many showed up?”
“How much was in the offering?”
“How many salvations?”

It’s the typical stuff, and it’s not so much that it’s wrong to ask or that those issues aren’t important (or are they?).  It’s just that this checklist has become our scorecard and I think it may measure the wrong thing, or at best push things of lesser importance to the top of the list.  So how do we “keep score?”

This morning I met with one of my newest friends, Dr. Mike Elmore.  Mike has spent the past few years developing his passion and personal plan for mentoring people towards real & positive life-change.  He threw a couple of questions at me, things he looks for in those he’s mentoring, and it got me wondering if maybe these wouldn’t be the beginnings of a dialog that could lead to a better gauge for our “success” as a church.

• What does my spouse or significant other say about me to others (unsolicited)?
• What do I talk about?  Is the reality and activity of God in my life evident in the way I speak?
• Have I shown a shift from self-focused to others-focused?
• Have I shown a change in my attitude towards adversity in my life?
• Do I have a desire for solitude with God?
• Have I progressively shown more positive interaction in relationships with others?
• Do I have a passion to serve humanity?
• Have I displayed an increased submission to God in decisions that I make?

Honestly, these things can’t be quantified in a graph or Excel spreadsheet.  They’ll show up in relationships.  In dialog.  In real stories from real lives.  But at the end of the day, these questions dig into the things that really matter.  I’m not sure what it all means or what we do with it, but I know the church I’m called to co-lead needs a different filter.  A new scorecard.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

One of the great things about planting a new church is all the new people I get to meet.  A few weeks ago I got the chance to sit down with Geoff Wybrow and Jim Falk of LAM Ministries in Broad Ripple.  Geoff threw out a challenging analogy as we launch into these new church building waters:

God is calling you straight from “high school basketball” to the pros.  When you were in high school, you could get away with some handicaps…not dribbling well to your left, poor mechanics in your jump shot, being a little slow on defense.  But in the pros, those things will kill you.  You’ve got to fix them, spend some time on them, or you’ll never make it at this new level.

Same for all of us.  As God calls us higher, those little things we could easily compensate for as an “ameteur” become magnified issues we must confront and deal with.  Little insecurities, unbridled frustrations, masked selfishness, unchecked temptations.  No more letting those things go.  Time to cut them out.  Learn to play like a pro.

God’s call for all of us is radical discipleship.  That requires change…growth.  So what handicap have you been making excuses for?  Time to sharpen up.  The Pro is calling.