Do I Need to Get My Mess Together?

I recently watched a movie called "The Judge." This movie stars Iron Man and Joseph Pulitzer from the 90s hit, "Newsies." And while the movie had good acting and a lot of dramatic themes, the thing that caught my attention was the very raw nature of the relationships being portrayed. The father-son tandem in the movie (played by Robert Duval and Robert Downey Jr.) are wading through the muck of a relationship that was filled with hatred, miscommunication, unmet expectations, rage, alcohol, vehicular manslaughter, divorce, death, handicapped siblings, and pain.

And as I was watching this movie unfold I began to realize that so many of us want so badly for the "Modern Family" relationship to look like what we see on ABC. And yet more often what it looks like is the family portrayed in this movie, "The Judge." And while many, I am sure, have not yet seen this movie, my guess is that many of us know exactly the kind of relationship dynamic I am describing.

Recently my sister wrote a blog describing how as followers of Jesus there is often an unwritten expectation on people's lives that says, "Get your mess together or get out." And how so often we have ignored a growing reality in the world around us. The reality that relationships are so much more messy than we are comfortable admitting. 

And while I do not want to rehash the content of my sister's blog, I do want to shed light on how we as followers of Jesus can turn the trajectory of our churches so that we are no longer running away from the reality of people's mess but are running toward it. Because what I think will happen as we start running toward people is we will begin to see the heart of Jesus forming, not only in them, but in all of us together. 

One of the things that is so hard about being a follower of Jesus is actually following him where he leads and who he leads us to. If you look at Jesus' life it is evident that Jesus attracted some of the most difficult people to himself. Over and over in scripture we see Jesus with people who were so hard to love. Jesus always seemed to attract the messiest people to himself. 

And this causes problems for us. Because if we believe Jesus is truly living inside us then we have to believe that the kinds of people who will be attracted to the presence of Jesus inside US are the same people who gravitated toward him in scripture....messy people. 

My first thought when watching a movie like "The Judge" that portrays people living in such dark places is to shake my head. I realize this is a completely human response where I am appalled that they would allow themselves to be overwhelmed with such hate, anger, bitterness, etc. And yet these people, with all their messy baggage, are the exact people Jesus was actively calling to himself. These were the people that Jesus attracted into his community. So what does that say about me? 

Following Jesus will inevitably lead us into uncomfortable situations with uncomfortable people. This is partially why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to live within us. Because Jesus knew that the more we pressed into him the more we would be led to places where our comfort would be shattered by the mess of people's lives. 

This is why in Colossians 3 Paul talks about clothing ourselves with humility, gentleness, kindness, compassion and patience. He says in Colossians 3:13, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord Forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity."

Jesus assumes that our lives would be intertwined with people who resemble the family from "The Judge." He assumes that the entirety of our lives would be lived in such a way that the most difficult people, the hardest to love, the messiest people would gravitate to us. Not because we are such amazing people on our own, but because the presence of the Divine is living in us. And He, Jesus, has the ability to heal broken hearts, to mend relationships, to form beautiful community out of the ashes of people's lives. 

Jesus never called people to "get their mess together." This is the single most important thing you can hear me say. Jesus doesn't want you because you have your mess together. Jesus wants you because you were born. Because you exist. He wants you because he made you, mess and all. Jesus laid his life down on the cross of our mess so we wouldn't have to. Your mess has been cleaned up. And the role of people following Jesus is to stand in the gap and call people to Jesus. It is to go where Jesus goes which is always into the hearts of people who need him most. And certainly Jesus doesn't always remove the mess from our lives. Rather, he repurposes everything about our lives, so that within the mess we bring him glory.

My sister's blog was difficult for me to read because so often I am the person she was describing. So often I have been the one standing above people judging them for the messy lives they live. And yet I  have often been the one living in the mess of my own reality and the bumps and bruises of my life that once brought pain have been repurposed for God's glory. I am no longer defined by my mess because I have been given identity in Jesus who has moved me beyond the past. I am choosing to press into the invitation and challenge of Jesus' grace for me. The invitation to accept the free gift of love and identity in Jesus, and the challenge to embrace humanity in all its quirky wonder and crazy mess. Because I believe this is where the heart of Jesus longs to be. The more we press into Jesus and run where he leads, the more Jesus' heart will replace ours and form a people living in the beauty Jesus intended for them all along. And the more I will begin to see the world around me not as some cancerous plague of ridiculous living, but rather as an opportunity for the fullness of God to display His wonder and begin to heal a world bruised and beaten. Let's embrace God and watch....because the mess of humanity will be healed. 

Let's Leave the Mountain

It seems that the longer I am a follower of Jesus and the longer I spend pursuing Him, the more I find myself amazed at how little I actually understand the working of God in this world. But isn't this true about most things in life? Scientists who study the universe are consistently baffled at the perplexity of life. Economists are able to understand market trends...that is, until, those trends begin to change and fluctuate. Historians are constantly unearthing artifacts, homes, ancient remains that speak to a level of understanding that was previously unattained. The more that we as humanity dig into the things we care most about the more we realize how much further and deeper our understanding and love can reach.

It is this pursuit of depth, in all things, that makes us so uniquely equipped to follow Jesus into the richness of his grace and love. And yet so often depth is the one thing in life that we avoid. When we dig deep into relationships we leave ourselves vulnerable to pain. When we dive deep into work or sports or another activities we often find that these things leave us dissatisfied.

So, often times, to combat the negative "feelings" we perceive from going deeper, we change our tactics and reach for the "Mountain Top" experience. That experience that gives us the feeling of ultimate satisfaction and joy.  This is why it is so easy to be a "bandwagon" fan in sports. Instead of sticking with a team through difficult years, we abandon our allegiance in favor of the team that will give us the mountain top experience of being a winner. It is why we often abandon relationships when they get difficult, rather than probing the depths and realizing how deep our love can reach. But ultimately the mountain top is a brief moment of satisfaction that quickly fades away and casts us back into the "valleys" of life where relationships are difficult to navigate and our feelings often gravitate toward recreating that one moment of ultimate satisfaction and joy.

Christians have been unable to escape the trap of Mountain Top aspirations. Following Jesus can be one of the most rewarding experiences imaginable but often times it is difficult and uncomfortable. So we look for the Mountain Top experience as way of escaping the uncomfortable reality of following Jesus into the depths of God's heart.

Growing up I attended Church camps and Youth events throughout the summers that could be defined as "Mountain Top" experiences for me. I would leave the summer filled to the brim with a feeling of ultimate satisfaction and joy. And yet the moment I stepped off the mountain and entered into the world of the mundane I would find myself longing to recapture the Jesus I met on the mountain. I was desperately afraid of finding Jesus in the depth of my humanity because I knew that he would not bring the feelings of joy that I felt in the summers. I was being sustained in the "valleys" of life by recalling the "mountain top" experience.

Throughout scripture God used mountain tops to reveal himself in powerful and dramatic ways. Moses went up to the mountain and received a great revelation of God's presence. Elijah heard the whisper of God's voice on the mountain. And Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain where a unique experience was given them. However, in all of these mountain top moments God calls his people to descend the mountain and enter the world of depth. If you read each of these moments you will see that God never intended for the mountain top to be the pinnacle moment for these men. It was never meant to be the bar by which their future encounters with God were measured. Rather, it is quite the opposite. God spoke and revealed himself in powerful ways from atop mountains so his people would leave the mountain and begin a journey of depth into the heart of God.

I have become convinced that mountain top experiences, although short lived, are a blessing provided by God to propel us into the depths of his richness. Hopefully we all have mountain top experiences with Jesus where he shows up in a powerful way revealing his majesty and glory. Where we feel connected to his Spirit and like we can conquer the world. However, if this is the only place we meet God, then we greatly short ourselves of the depth of love and grace we could experience in Jesus. The mountain was always meant to reveal God, not be the gold standard by which we measure the entirety of our relationship with him.

Each Sunday I go to a worship experience with nearly 2500 other followers of Jesus. This time of worship is a place where God shows up in a mighty way. Traditionally Sunday worship was used as the mountain top experience meant to sustain us through a week of being bombarded and beat up by the regular world around us. We took what we experienced on Sunday at the forefront of our minds as a way to help us think, "Only 3 more days and I will get back to the mountain." But what if Sunday worship was a reflection of the depth of our journey with Jesus throughout the week? What if we showed up on Sunday full of the depth of Jesus love and grace and used that to propel us into an experience with God? How would this change the way we worship on Sunday? I tend to believe it would dramatically increase our worship to create a true mountain top experience that would invite us to leave the mountain and probe the depths of God throughout the week.

Currently we live in Nashville and work at the Ethos Church as embedded Church Planters. We are in the process of building a team to help us plant churches in Seattle that will reveal the presence of God to that city. As I think about how to create moments where people can enter into the presence of God, I am realizing that the only way I could ever lead a movement of God in that city is to leave the mountain and enter into the depths of the richness of God's grace and love. This means probing the depths of my own humanity and uncovering the parts of my life that have been hidden from God's presence. Humanity has a desire for depth that has largely been untapped. I long to see Seattle experience the mountain top of God's beauty and presence so it can descend and begin a journey that will never be quenched and ultimately will lead into a never ceasing search for the depths of God's grace and love.