“The disciple whom Jesus loved”.

Now, we know that this references the Apostle John, one of Jesus’ closest/best friends, but John never actually names himself… I wonder why that is? And we’ll get to that at the end, but think about it for a minute…

What a pretentious title to give yourself.

Imagine if I walked around calling myself “The citizen whom the president loved”. And not because he ever specifically said, “I love you most”, but because I believed that I was really loved by him.

You would think I was crazy, arrogant, and stuck up!

But that is not what John intended at all.

John named himself this, because to him, to have been loved by Jesus at all, was such an honor, he wanted to make sure that people knew that Jesus loved even him. And perhaps his experience of being loved by the Lord was more precious to him than his name. It is almost as if when asked his name he might respond: “I am the one whom Jesus loves” instead of giving his name.

John became known as the Disciple of Love. It was in his first letter, he penned the lines “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God [...] This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

I was visiting my sister last weekend, and I went to church with her, and the pastor was talking about John in his late life:

John was the last surviving of the 12, and  he hit the point in his life where he couldn’t speak loud enough to be heard by the crowd, so instead he would speak a sentence or two to one person, and that person would stand up, and deliver those sentences, then lean over, and have John whisper the next bit to him.

The story goes that at the end of his life, the last sermon that John ever preached, was preached right before he died. He was laying there, and the man who was speaking for him leaned down and John said to him “God is love”. The man stood up, and said loudly to those gathered there “God is love.” Then he went back to John, and said “what else?” to which John replied “what else is there?”.

His last sermon. “God is love. What else is there?”

You see, to John, because he had known he was loved by God, he had no choice to preach that love! That is the greatest attribute of God! John, the disciple Jesus was closest to, his best friend, the one Jesus entrusted his mother to, the one who probably knew Jesus best, and therefore, knew God best, says that the greatest attribute of God, the most important thing for us to know, is that God is love.

And maybe, just maybe, John’s deeper purpose for not supplying the name of the beloved disciple is so that you will understand that the beloved disciple is YOU. You are the disciple whom Jesus loves. You are the one who reclines next to the Lord at the Last Supper (John 13:23). You are the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross to whom the Lord said, “Behold your mother” (John 19:26). You are the beloved disciple who runs to the tomb and comes to faith (John 20: 8). You are the beloved disciple who announces to others, “It is the Lord” (John 21:7).

Maybe John wanted you, me, all of us, to preach “God is love. What else is there?”

Now that I’ve been alive for 25 years, I guess I’ve learned a bit of wisdom I’d like to pass on…

If I could go back in time and tell myself something, I’d probably tell myself like to learn to like exercising and being active while young… But other than that, probably nothing else.

Why?

Because every mistake I’ve made has shaped me into who I am today. Am I proud of mistakes? Definitely not. But nor am I ashamed of them. They have shaped me, and even greater, they shaped my story, and they are a testimony to the power of God in my life. They didn’t shape me for me to talk about how I changed myself, they shaped my story as to how HE has changed me.

Don’t live life looking back with regret. But I’m also not saying “don’t look back”. It’s important to know where you’ve come from, how God has changed you, because your story is powerful.

It could literally change someone’s life.

“¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends … ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” ~ John 15:13, 15

So it’s Easter morning, and I’m sitting here trying to find something to say that isn’t cliche, but is still powerful and relevant to the celebration of today.

Then it hit me. But I want to look a this backwards, verse 15, then 13.

Jesus was our Lord, but also our friend. He says that we are no longer His servants, because HE HAS MADE KNOWN TO US EVERYTHING HE LEARNED FROM GOD!!! When we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, He makes God’s knowledge and wisdom available to us!

So with that understanding, that we are His friend, then now we see the greatest love that we could ever know: He gave up his life for us. He died for you. For me.

To save my life.

To save yours.

But the story doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end with his death.

It ends with his coming back to life. You see, Death could only be defeated if Death lost. If Jesus had stayed dead, Death would have won.

But oh the bliss of this glorious thought: that He didn’t stay dead! Instead he overcame death and by His resurrection, we have been washed clean and whole!

We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, we aren’t worthy if it. But that is why they call it GRACE!

So this morning, rest in the peace that passes understanding, knowing that there is no condemnation for you, for your sins, for your past.

Jesus died to take your sin upon himself.

And he rose from the dead to wash it away forever.

Amen.

Well, as you probably have noticed, I haven’t been blogging as much.

I’m sorry about that, but I have a very good reason for that.

Things are getting really busy.

When I said I was going to post on Tuesday and Thursday, I had nothing going on Monday or Wednesday night (when I would actually do my writing). Now monday I spend working on the documentary for Further Along The Road, and my time with that is going to increase in the next few weeks as we get out of clip watching and into writing, filming and editing interviews and putting it all together. And Wednesday is our men’s bible study group, which often goes late.

And on top of that, I have seen a huge increase in my role at work, and I have taken on a large leadership role at my church with our Sunday night service called “Deeper” as well as a leadership role in our Creative Arts Team at GCC.

On top of all that, I’ve started a business called FlyTraffic Media.

Needless to say, blogging is hard for me to find time to do while keeping my sanity.

But I do really enjoy it, and sometimes I need to do it to keep myself sane.

So I can’t say that I’m going to blog on a schedule anymore, because I don’t know that I can keep to a schedule. But I will blog as often as I can. If you would like to follow my postings, I would suggest subscribing using the RSS feed, or sign up to get the posts by email.

Thank you all for reading over the years, and for your support and understanding as I go through this season of change in my life. If you have any questions, or would like to leave a thought or encouragement or something, please feel free to do so in the comments!

“A man searches for something that will outlast his life. For immortality of a kind. For a way to change the world, to have his life matter” ~Orson Scott Card, Shadow Puppets

This morning, I just want to give you something to think about. What are you leaving behind that will outlast you?

Well, I’m pleased that people are starting to get it.

My brother-in-law, a math teacher, has created an app called WileDMath, which is an app in which students complete math problems to earn credits, which they can then spend to play games.

Do you get it? Todays kids don’t want to learn like everyone else. They don’t want cheesy games where, if you solve the problem correctly, the ball goes in the hoop and if you don’t, you miss. They want quality games that they can play for fun. So my brother-in-law has bridged that gap with excellence.

If you have an iPad, I encourage you to download the app, it’s free! Teacher & principals, take note, this is how you do education in todays day and age with the digital generation.

He starts off by talking about how as a Christian culture, we try so hard to be relevant, that we don’t want to be known as “prude”, because then we are afraid of becoming “out of touch”. But then he makes this point:

“Did Jesus say in Matthew 5:8, “Out-of-touch are the pure in heart,” or did He call them “Blessed”?

“Be wise as serpents, and as culture-savvy as the average viewer”? Or is it, “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”? (Matthew 10:16).”
~ Andrew Byers

“My point, rather, is that innocence is precious and preserving it is not a vice. It is OK for us to be offended by the offensive. We are not to be moralistic [one who teaches or promotes morality], but we are called to be moral. Scripture beckons us to purity (Matthew 5:8), to wholesome speech (Ephesians 4:29), to honoring the sanctity of the marriage bed (Hebrews 13:4), to discerning good and evil (Romans 12:2). Somehow, we need to learn how to be culture-savvy and yet also innocent as doves.” ~Andrew Byers

It’s ok for something we see on television to offend us, for us to want to turn away from watching something. We shouldn’t be ashamed of saying “I’m not going to watch this”. It’s scriptural. That isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it should be encouraged and we need to be ok with that.

But he acknowledges that everyone is different, and some people don’t have the same convictions as us…

“When it comes to appropriating culture, the lines can be fuzzy. Paul acknowledged that some Christians in Rome and Corinth could handle certain cultural elements that other Christians needed to avoid [...] For us to judge one another would be wrong.” ~ Andrew Byers

I’ve recently been struggling through this. Because there are a lot of things I watch or listen too that doesn’t bother me, but I know bothers other people. So on one hand, I really enjoy some of the shows I watch, on the other, I know that some people can’t handle it. So what do I do?

Some people struggle with different things. And that’s ok. What that means is that you need to be careful about what you recommend, or what you say if someone can’t watch something you do, or if they can watch something you find to be “immoral”. We shouldn’t let our fear of corruption, or our distaste for what might be ok for someone else to cause us to shelter ourselves from the world around us.

Andrew Byers closed with this thought, and I think it sums it all up nicely, so I’ll close with his thought too:

“When Jesus called his disciples to innocence in Matthew 10, the occasion was His sending them out into culture. Innocence is not a virtue we practice by extracting ourselves from society. It is a virtue practiced while embedded within it—for our culture’s own good” ~ Andrew Byers

Commenters: What are you thoughts on innocence and purity? (and I’m not just asking Christians, I’d love some other views too!)

⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his^[b] faith. ⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:4-8, NIV

Tonight at our guys bible study, we read through Romans 12. I had a note saved in my phone saying “We are all created different, and that is ok, even good”.

It got me thinking, as I look at my group of friends, I realized while we all have 2 really big things in common, a heart after God, and a love for adventure, after that, the similarities end, until you get to the really minor stuff.

For example, I’m a nerd, I love computers, filming, photography, websites, graphic design, etc. I have no interest in sports, boxing, or almost anything athletic (except ultimate frisbee, I am a beast at ultimate frisbee), I’m a creative, but I’m not good a coming up with new ideas, only refining ones already in existence, am a HUGE introvert, and I don’t like beer.

Then you have Cameron, my best friend. He likes video games, but that is about where his love for computers ends really, instead he is a musician, a worshiper, and creator of new things from scratch. He is also athletic and likes sports, especially soccer (and boxing, with a select few people, and is an introvert.

Then you have Tyler, he doesn’t really like video games at all, can’t sit still for too long, loves to run, play sports, hike, be outdoorsy, plays guitar, is very creative, but also very business minded, is a mix of introvert and extrovert, and likes most beers.

Or Jordan, is probably the biggest gamer of the group, but doesn’t really like computers beyond that, loves to work with people, is business minded, and is a major extrovert.

And Sticky, super athletic, loves tennis, soccer, skating, naturally good at every thing he puts his hand to, has a very good marketing mind, and likes most beer.

I could go on and on, list at least 3 more people who should be on this list, and talk about how most of us might have a few overlaps, but none of us majorly overlap, the closest being Cameron and I. But notice something…

All different.

But together strong.

But notice how our differences work together? If we were to start a ministry, we would have all the needed elements right there. Our friend Jonathan could speak, I would be the tech, Cameron would lead worship, Jordan & Tyler would handle the business side of things, Sticky and I would handle marketing (him on marketing & ideas for graphic design, me actually doing the creating)… All of our strengths cover each others weaknesses.

And this is how God created us to be. God made us to have to live in community if we are going to survive. My best friends aren’t going to be just like me, and despite all the differences, we are all pretty “alpha male”… Which means we are going to disagree, but we are also all strong in the other peoples weakness.

What about you? Who has God placed in your life that when you look at them, you can’t help but wonder why you are friends because you have so few things in common, but the few things you have in common are the strongest bonds/values in your lives?

“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.”

I saw this quote the other day and it struck me about the value of things. If you value money at the cost of all else, you lose sight of the things that are truly valuable in life.

As you are working, money is important to live, to eat, to put a roof over your head, but it is not the end/focus of life. Keep your focus on people, and your money will have so much more meaning.

<begin rant> When it comes down to it the only real issue we should have is “does this person know Jesus or not?”. Because that, in the end, is the only thing that will matter. Yes, salvation isn’t only about a ticket to heaven, it’s about a transformed life on earth too, but no issue about the transformational process that we are all on should divide us. We are all works in progress. None of us are perfect. So to judge someone else based on their sin is hypocritical of us and not the goal or mission of the church.

It doesn’t matter how you chose to take communion, or if you believe that you have to speak in tongues to have received the baptism of the holy spirit, or if christians are allowed to have a drink of alcohol. What matters is we are all being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that we are reaching out to those who don’t know Jesus so that they too may experience the awesome transforming power of Jesus. <end rant>