Luke 6: 12-19 A Tool For Disciples

Jesus’s big plan to renew the earth revolved around disciples. It’s not a term we seem to use much these days, but you and I are disciples. We are followers of Jesus. We are people who are trying to live the Jesus way in 2018. Dallas Willard defined discipleship this way: “Discipleship is learning from Jesus how to live like Jesus.” This is exactly what we see the twelve disciples doing in the gospels. By being with Jesus, they learned from Jesus how to think, act, and live like he did. That’s what communion is all about – we take Jesus into our beings that he might transform our lives and draw the best out of our lives. The twelve disciples watched Jesus, imitated Jesus, and invited others to imitate Jesus by imitating them. That started a movement that spread around the world

There may be many different pictures of what discipleship might look like but one helpful tool is what I call the discipleship triangle. This helps us remember there are three key dimensions to the Jesus life style.
UP

IN                                           OUT

Dimension 1: Up – Jesus connected with God. For Jesus there was a presence that was bigger than him in the world and through practices like prayer, worship, meditation and stillness he connected with this presence. In the synagogue, in the quiet of the hills, in the traditions of his faith, in allowing the stories of scripture to speak, in conversations with others Jesus connected, listened deeply, intentionally allowed his life to be shaped by this presence we call God. Disciples all through the ages have followed suit and found practices that enhanced this connecting with god we call the UP dimension in their lives. Model always have limitations and one here is that the UP may be looking deeply within!

Dimension 2: In— Jesus spent time very intentionally with a small group. He gathered others around him. They knew one another, served one another, and loved one another. They engaged together like family. They helped one another to an amazing degree that we struggle to understand in our individualized western world but this community aspect of discipleship has always been important. There’s a little quote I think is really important. Jesus left no written documents behind rather he left a community of ‘nobody’ human beings. This community of nobodies was to be salt to flavor the whole and yeast in the bread. They were to be an example, a light on a hill in the way they cared, learned, encouraged, and made a difference. Paul talked often of the community being like a body where different parts have different skills but working together we are to give witness to a new way of living.

Dimension 3: Out- Jesus was a man with a mission. That mission was to bring a new earth into being. He healed the sick, touched the lepers and engaged with outsiders, he fed the hungry, and opened blind eyes and deaf ears. He talked of a love that accepted and valued all of life. He said he was here to proclaim the Kingdom of God on earth, inviting people to engage with the living God and join the new movement to transform life on this planet. The revolution and transformation goes on as we modern disciples engage with Jesus in our own time and context and seek to bring true life into being.
Up-In–and-Out was the way Jesus lived with his disciples. As present day followers we are called to have those same dimensions in our lives. If you are like me you’ll probably notice that one or two of these dimensions is stronger. That’s normal because hopefully we are balanced out as part of a community. Serious imbalances though need to be looked at.
And that is also where some people suggest and I agree that actually there is another dimension that is really important, and that is OF. We are actually part of a bigger whole than just our little congregation. We are part of the Alpine Presbytery, and part of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, and part of the reformed group of churches worldwide, and part of all the churches. This OF is actually really important because it anchors us in a tradition and a stream that isn’t just us. Without the OF there would be no scriptures, no songs to sing, no patterns of worship passed on, and no bullets to fire at the terrible Presbytery! On a personal level the OF also encapsulates the reality that our faith has often been passed on and nurtured by others and of course it also encapsulates the call to pass on the faith to others. So our simple triangle might be better pictured as an arrow.
UP (through participating in the life of God)

(as part of the whole body) OF      —————————– OUT (bringing life to the world)

IN (through fellowship in the congregation)

The Of-Up-In-Out arrow helps us be intentional about our call to be a disciple of Jesus. We can use it to evaluate our own walk with Jesus. Do we have all four dimensions in our walk? That’s something for you to ponder.

But this little picture of our life as a disciple isn’t just helpful for individuals. It can also helps us evaluate groups, ministries, and even our congregation. Do our groups and ministries exhibit characteristics of all four dimensions? Healthy church groups are about all four…of/up/in/out…. A balance of all four dimensions will help our groups function as groups that honour God and radiate the presence of Jesus in our context and in our time.
Our Mission Discernment Group has spent some time looking at that and you’ll see in the Annual Report some of our discussion. I need to say we did this as a challenge to ourselves and not as a group telling others what to do. In the end our challenge to ourselves was so what can we do about it, and how can we help groups in our congregation develop a more balanced approach to our activities. One thing we noticed was that many of our groups and activities are not strong in the UP department. They are clearly motivated by a desire to share the gift of love, but Jesus and God are often not acknowledged in any way, and the participation of God in the activity is not openly expressed. We function often as atheists – as if God is absent. We could be just another service club that does good things.
So for example when we looked at our great little foot clinic which is a magnificent outreach activity for seniors who have difficulty cutting their toenails we noted there was some tremendous connecting within the group and with those who come. Compassion flows in abundance and people leave foot clinic not only with toenails clipped but feeling good about life and feeling loved. Wonderful. There is lots of IN and OUT. We also noted there was a collection of foot clinics in Christchurch in all sorts of churches and some linking for purposes of training and support. Some OF. We wondered if we could enhance the UP by maybe offering a short prayer of blessing for each client, or possibly giving them a card with a blessing for them on it.

Our website has IN, UP, and OUT aspects. The UP has recently been strengthened with the addition of sermons. IN could be strengthened by promoting the website as a place for information about what’s on in the congregations life, and both IN/OUT/UP could be strengthened with some small video interviews of members talking about life and faith – maybe some of our members talking about their faith and journey as a disciple of Jesus. You all have amazing stories to share. More OF linkages could be made highlighting the work of the wider church.

I hope you get the picture, and see how this little model might work. The real value is that together we might ask the questions and maybe get our creative juices running. That we might experiment with some ideas to help balance and strengthen the OF/UP/OF/OUT dimensions of what we do together..

In groups we spend time looking at the question: What do you see as the strengths using the UP/IN/OF/OUT model of the groups in our congregation with which you are familiar? Can you suggest ways we might strengthen the dimensions that are weakest? (or even the stronger ones…)

Jesus learned from an early age that we human beings are a little like a car. How it runs depends on who is driving and what juice is in the tank. One of our neighbours recently put diesel in his van instead of petrol. It wasn’t a good move. He did drain most of the diesel out and put petrol back in but the poor old van has been sounding very sick as it drives past our place spluttering and misfiring badly as he tried to burn off the residue of diesel in the system. His van needs petrol to run well.

To get us going well we need to be aware of our inner life and what voices within are fuelling us and driving us. Jesus taught that true and fruitful life would come as we incorporate a process of reflection in our living, and look carefully what we are trying to run on. To do this Jesus found it important to turn off the music and noise in our lives, to stop the activity and spend time alone in solitude. One place he headed frequently was a quiet place where he could turn inward and look inward at what was fuelling his life. Was it ego juice and a desire to promote self and be noticed by others or was it God juice and a higher desire to serve something beyond self.

I wonder if you ever look within and examine what fuel is in your tank. I know I’m better off when I do. Someone challenged me the other day about something I said and I caught myself immediately jumping to the defence of my view. Instead of listening and really hearing what the other person was saying I wanted to tell them I was right and they were wrong. Where did that come from? What was driving that response? Or the other evening I was a little tired and was working at sending some emails and my computer did some things that computers do and I lost something I had been working on. I found myself getting quite angry with a little bit of plastic technology and ….. It really wasn’t that important and my reaction was over the top. But where did that come from. What was driving that? Or I was out my bike and saw a young fellow up ahead on his bike and I thought I can bike faster than him and set about really pumping the legs. Why did I do that? What was driving my actions?

Taking time to look within is an interesting process. Making space to be aware of what is driving your actions and your words is an insightful thing to do. It’s something Jesus encouraged us all to do. One place I know some of do this work of reflection is coming to church Sunday by Sunday.

A place of solitude is where the everyday stuff that keeps us running around in circles doesn’t happen anymore. It’s a place where we no longer mow lawns, cook fancy meals, head off to work, worry about the kids, because in the solitude none of these things matter anymore. There isn’t lots of stimuli, no TV, no streaming music, no internet, no smart phones, and no incoming messages. There is silence, a landscape paired back to bare simplicity, and in this space life can be examined. In such an environment you begin to notice what is happening inside yourself.

Our scriptures tell us that Jesus before he set out on his public ministry spent time in the desert. I think he spent a lot of time in the desert, specifically in the Judean desert an area between the Dead Sea and the city of Jerusalem. It’s not desert like the Sahara full of sand, but is a rocky hilly desert with ravines cut into it by water, the result of sudden downpours. It’s a harsh empty environment, and yet there is life tucked away if you know where to find it. People have always found such places good places to become aware of what is going on within.

There I think Jesus listened and observed what was going on inside. Why did he react to that critical voice with such defensive vehemence? What was that niggling anger or frustration all about? What voices could he encourage that brought life into his being? What happenings in his life brought a deep joy to and peace to him. What demons needed to be faced? What life bringing angels needed to be nurtured? Our forefather John Calvin talked of human beings as being like horses who need a rider and that rider can either be God or the Devil. I don’t see things quite in those terms, but I do see there is a power at work in my life, a self seeking power, a greedy power, a me first power that I call my ego speaking. This voice promises much under the guise of success but ultimately delivers no peace and no deep joy. But in the stillness I am aware of another voice. Some call it the true self, or the God spirit and this voice whispers of other things…. The importance of serving and using your gifts for the common good, the need to listen well, the joy of anchoring your life in what is true and not what is popular, and a grace that sees everything in life is gift. Which one do we feed, and which one do we starve.

Once upon a time, there was a Navajo grandfather, who told his grandson, “Grandson, there are two wolves inside of me. One wolf is, good and altruistic, generous and kind, compassionate, and the other wolf is selfish, mean and greedy, violent and angry. The two wolves are in a constant fight within me.” The grandson, with wide eyes, says, “But which one will win, grandpa?” And the grandfather says, “The one which I feed.”
We come today to feed on Jesus. We come to take his life into ours that we might be transformed as people from the inside out.

I can’t remember a time in my life when Jesus wasn’t influencing my life a feeding me with patterns of behaviour and ways of thinking and seeing. Many of these patterns were mediated by parents who tried to instil a sense of the importance of others, of serving rather than getting, of looking for the best in others, and looking deep within self to determine what was really driving your actions. There were other important people too who I looked up to and saw compassion in action.

But there were other influences too. I remember well long walks home from school through the town belt in Dunedin. These were times of solitude and I learned the importance of silence and the importance of looking within. In stillness you can start to see some of the demons within us all and start to notice how many of our actions are motivated by our ego and the desire to push ahead of others. You need solitude and stillness in your life, a place where you can examine what’s driving things.

And you need the example of Jesus. As I read and re read the stories, and heard his sayings something gripped my heart even as a youngster. His words and actions seemed to speak to me as no other. In those early days I think I was motivated by a desire to get to heaven and I still am. What’s changed is that heaven is no longer out beyond the clouds somewhere, but is here and now. What hasn’t changed is the message that God is a loving accepting God who seeks to shape our lives into something worthwhile. It’s all grounded in a love that will not let us go. It’s not about proving our success but about using what has been gifted to us. It’s not about being better than others but working together for the good of all. It’s not about winning but about loosing something.

Jesus is quite clear, religion that fails to transform hearts, the deep places within, is useless religion. Religion that fails to transform lives is not worth committing time and energy to. Religion that is just about appearances is worthless.
I come to this meal today to feed on Jesus and to be transformed by Jesus. I come to commit to a way of self reflection with Jesus as my guide. I invite you to join me.

Dugald Wilson September 2nd 2018

• What idea from today’s address caught your attention, challenged you, or encouraged you in some way.
• Pick ‘a significant encounter’ you have had in the past few days and reflect on your reactions and words. Honestly reflect on what was behind your responses? Did you seek to increase your prestige and power or to serve God?
• Examine yourself when you feel angry and ask what is driving this…