22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. / Acts 17:22-34 (NIV)
On this sixth Sunday of Easter, we’re observing what’s commonly known on the church calendar as “Rogation Sunday.”
If you just cocked your head and raised your eyebrows, rest assured–you’re not alone!
This past Sunday is known as Rogation Sunday because the following three days are often days of fasting and prayer. According to Bishop Alastair Redfern, “The word rogation comes from the Latin verb “rogare”, meaning ‘to ask’, which reflects the beseeching of God for protection from calamities. As the Book of Common Prayer puts it: ‘Rogation Days are the three days preceding Ascension Day, especially devoted to asking for God’s blessing on agriculture and industry.’”
What sticks out to me most in this week’s passage is the Athenians altar to “an unknown god” (v. 23). Paul says to those in the assembly – “you are ignorant of the very thing you worship!”
When I read Paul’s words here I often find myself chuckling and shaking my head – worshiping an unknown god? Building an idol to something/someone when you don’t even know their name? It seems so inconceivable. But it may not be too far from our very own experience.
Let me explain.
The purpose of Rogation Sunday – the week before Ascension Sunday – is prayer and fasting. The purpose of prayer and fasting is to draw us closer to the God we worship. I would argue that our ignorance of the Almighty God is not so far removed from the ignorance of the Athenians and their unknown god–because in order for us to know our God, our eyes must be opened that we may see and know Him. When we first set off on a discipleship journey following Jesus, He is, in so many ways, a mystery to us. Unknown, but not unknowable. Foreign to us, but knows us well.
The purpose of prayer and fasting, then, is to align our hearts, our bodies, and our minds to the will and the person of Jesus so that we may know Him, love Him, follow Him, and do the works He has sent us out to do.
So I want to encourage you this week – as you pray and fast, ask yourself these questions and commit to discovering the mysteries of God you’ve not yet known!
Questions for reflection during Rogation Week:
What assumptions have I made about God that may not be true?
How have I interpreted the truths of God through the lens of my culture? What might the Holy Spirit be telling me about this?
Has God tried to reveal Himself to me in a way I have not felt ready or willing to see or accept?
Is my heart positioned to discover the unknown things of God, and the reality that there are things about Him I will never know in this lifetime?
Do you want to take your team on the disciple-making journey together? The Discipleship Collective helps you mobilize other disciple makers. Take the Disciple Maker Quiz to discover the habits in which you are excelling and the growth points on which you need to focus. Then invite other members of your team to join you. It’s FREE and you can use it as often as you like!
What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?
When have you faced your fears and come through stronger on the other side? Perhaps you’ve experienced a moment when things didn’t go how you had hoped, and it required everything you could muster to push through the situation. But you did what was required of you! That’s courage.
It takes courage to be a Jesus follower. And to be a leader of Jesus followers who are on the same journey takes courage.
Here are 5 aspects of courage:
Strength in the Spirit
When you are with like-minded followers of Jesus, you can often detect a deep sense of connection which is manifested by the Holy Spirit.
There is something mystical about unity in the Spirit: you have sensed it, you know when it is present, you long for it when it is missing. Unity in the Spirit has a galvanizing effect.
Think of your best experiences when working with other Jesus followers. What made it so special?
Questions to assess and build your team’s spiritual unity:
What are the most meaningful, spiritually rich team experiences you have had?
What contributed to the spiritual unity you experienced?
How can you take what you learned and move it forward for your current teams?
Strength in Conviction
It is exciting when you’re a part of something bigger than yourself and share the same resolve with others on your team.
When you are a part of something bigger than yourself you must involve others. But not just anyone: the people the Lord has prepared for the particular mission of your team will have a set of shared convictions that will outlast the challenges and difficulties ahead.
It is thrilling to look back after difficult moments have passed and see the way the Lord has helped your team come together when it mattered most. It can also be humbling to look at the “grit” required. The sense of camaraderie and “sticktoitiveness” builds confidence for the next project, and the next, and the next.
Questions to assess and build your team’s resolve:
What task are you and your team undertaking that will require high commitment?
What can you do to free-up your time to give this more attention?
What is one thing you can do to increase clarity for you and your team?
Strength in the Vision
If mission clarifies, vision motivates.
Churchill made one of the most epic speeches in history when he stated: “This was their finest hour.” It conveyed a message that was inspiring. It also displayed his ability to cast vision when Great Britain and the rest of the allied forces needed it most on 18 June 18, 1940, just over a month after he took over as Prime Minister and after France had sought an armistice on the evening of June 16.
Vision motivates. It describes the “why” behind the “what” and “how.” When you capture the essence of a vision and communicate it in a compelling manner, it can be magical!
Questions to assess and build your visioning capacity:
When have you communicated a compelling vision?
What made it so compelling?
How can you apply what you learned for your team(s) moving forward?
Strength in Unity
The unity you share with your team is so powerful that the strength you embody rubs off on others.
Unity is a powerful force! When your team members work in unison towards a common vision, it is energizing. People love being part of that type of team! Think of your team and how much fun it is when you are operating at your best.
Unity is contagious. When your team functions at its best, the individuals become more and more confident. Other teams take notice and before you know it, your team infects the others.
Questions to assess and build your unity:
What are the things that bind your team together?
What detracts from your team’s unity?
What are some ways to enhance team unity?
Strength in Numbers
When you surround yourself with ministry partners who share your passion, it strengthens the bond you share and gives you confidence that together, you can accomplish much!
Surround yourself with ministry partners who share the same passion! It is sometimes necessary to go it alone. Going solo can last for a season but, whenever possible, invite others into the mission.
Loneliness is a vicious enemy. You can manage these moments for a while, but over the long-term it can erode your confidence, increase anxiety, and result in a decrease of productivity. With a team you can feed off each other, celebrate success and share the struggle. Everything being equal, you will go further faster – resulting in greater fruitfulness.
Questions to assess and build your numbers:
What are the advantages of working with others?
Who has complimentary gifts that you like working with?
How can you bring them one step closer to become part of your team?
What strength can you draw from the courage of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Jason in the following passage?
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.[a] 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
7 Questions to Take Courage
Following are questions you can use personally (or if you are coaching a group of Jesus followers) to make more and better disciples.
What brings you the most joy?
In what areas are you gifted?
How does this match up with the way you spend your time?
What changes in priorities do you need to make?
What can you stop doing and no one will notice?
What can you delegate
If you could make these changes, how would this impact you and your ministry?
Do you want to take your team on the disciple-making journey together? The Discipleship Collective helps you mobilize other disciple makers. Take the Disciple Maker Quiz to discover the habits in which you are excelling and the growth points on which you need to focus. Then invite other members of your team to join you. It’s FREE and you can use it as often as you like!
How many times have you found yourself doing something, then a few minutes later doing something totally different than what you started out doing, unsure how you got there? In your ministry is it hard to stay focused?
It is easy to experience mission drift in the midst of a busy, fast-paced ministry. Today we’re reflecting on the unfolding Easter story in the sixth chapter of Acts and the founding of the church–and yes, missional focus and the church of Acts are related!
Spoiler Alert! The apostles faced the same tendency you face–to get involved in things outside their calling and gifting. What did they do? How did they deal with it? What can you learn from them?
Acts 6:1-9 (NIV)
Seven Men Chosen to Serve
1 But as the believersrapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
What to do when you suffer from mission drift?
The apostles went through a discernment process to refocus their energies on the things God had gifted and prepared them to accomplish: their mission. Here are the steps they went through:
Assess – they listened and observed what was going on
Reality Check – they realized people were being neglected
Production Capacity – they realized the movement had outgrown their team
Delegation – they identified people better suited to distribute food
Focus – they put their energies into the few things they were gifted to do
When you are suffering from mission drift it is one thing to recognize it, but it’s quite another to do something about it. Consider the following tips:
Assess
When you listen and look at what is going on around you, what do you see? What’s working? What forces are working against you and your mission? These insights will help you recognize, honor and strengthen the good and address the counter-productive, challenging growth points keeping you from moving your mission forward.
A sober analysis of the ministry will bring clarity. Understanding the true measures of success and having a means to evaluate the metrics is critical to the mission of your church, ministry or organization. Identify the metrics that matter, measure them regularly and make changes as needed.
The things that got you to where you are today may not be the same things that take you where you want to go in the future. Your structures might be a limiting factor. Or you may not have the right kind of leaders you need to take the church, ministry or organization to the next phase in its development. Whatever the limiting factors are, be aware that the organization you have today probably will not be the same organization 5 to 10 years down the road.
Coaching Questions:
How has our structure served us well?
What changes must we make to our structure to move into the new reality?
The genius behind the Apostles was their willingness to delegate the responsibility of food distribution to deacons who were passionate about this ministry. For this to work, you need to identify people who are gifted and passionate or else the ministry suffers. Do you have a way to identify people’s spiritual gifts, passions and/or behavioral style so that you can help them find the best fit for them? Once you have trained, released and coached them, move aside and let them lead.
Coaching Tip:
What areas can we delegate?
Who are the most capable, passionate, and gifted people to lead these areas?
Pruning allows leaders to see reality clearly. The more clearly you see your situation the better able you are to execute. Once you have a clear picture of where you are going, consider how this will impact others on your team.
Coaching Tip:
What good things are happening that don’t contribute to the results we are after?
What are the growth inhibiting activities that are hindering the outcomes we are after?
Do you want to take your team on the disciple-making journey together? The Discipleship Collective helps you mobilize other disciple makers. Take the Disciple Maker Quiz to discover the habits in which you are excelling and the growth points on which you need to focus. Then invite other members of your team to join you. It’s FREE and you can use it as often as you like!
Humility suggests that you realize that you don’t know everything. Humility causes you to remain curious, inquisitive and teachable. One sign of humility is that you put others before yourself. Today, we’re taking time to reflect on the unfolding Easter story in the second chapter of Acts and the founding of the church.
Acts 2:36-47 (NIV)
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Humility Rules
“They devoted themselves” is the spiritual posture of humility that forms the foundations of the church. The activities that follow flow from a humble heart. It is the governing principle of the early church. The posture of humility is as important as the activities themselves:
teaching
fellowship
eating
prayer
sharing
meeting
worship
evangelism
These activities were done in relationship with one another. Community is hard work. It requires humility.
Discipleship requires humility
Jesus was counter-cultural. In Matthew 5:11-12, He identifies those who will be blessed – which is diametrically opposed to the celebrity culture in our society today. Humility rules!
In our society we are encouraged to be the best, be different, be a person of influence. The Kingdom of God turns that thinking on its head.
Who is comforted?
Who inherits the earth?
Who will be fed?
Who will be shown mercy?
Who will see God?
Who will be called children of God?
Who will inherit the Kingdom of God?
As a leader who empowers others, you assume the posture of a servant. Leadership requires humility. Church history is founded on these humble roots.
As a disciple, you realize the importance of humility. Making disciples is a humbling task.
5 Questions to Stay Humble
Following are questions you can use personally (or if you are coaching a group of Jesus followers) to make more and better disciples.
How have you felt humbled recently?
What was your response?
What would Jesus advise you to do in your next spiritual season?
How can you grow from this moment?
How do you plan to move the action forward in your spiritual journey?
Do you want to take your team on the disciple making journey together? The Discipleship Collective helps you mobilize other disciple makers. Take the Disciple Maker Quiz to discover the habits you are excelling at – and the growth points you need to focus on. Then, invite other members of your team to join you. It’s FREE and you can use it as often as you like!
We celebrated Easter a little over a week ago, but did you know that Easter actually lasts for 50 days?! The season of Easter–or Eastertide, as it’s commonly known–is the period from Resurrection Sunday to Ascension Sunday. It’s a time of celebration, hope and discovery. During this season, Jesus appeared to his followers, revealed his plan and commissioned them for the ministry he had empowered them to fulfill. He promised a Helper in the person of the Holy Spirit to guide them for the work ahead.
Reflect on the book of Acts as the apostles leaned into their mission. How must they have felt after spending this season with their risen Savior? Envision how they might have responded to Jesus’ commission. What spiritual postures can you identify with and employ in your own spiritual work?
Peter Addresses the Crowd
After Jesus’ ascension, his apostles went out to preach the gospel, gathering thousands of followers. Acts 2:22-32 shared Peter’s words as he speaks to a gathered crowd:
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. (Acts 2:22-32 NIV)
The defining moment in His story
Can you imagine the emotions the disciples experienced at the realization of Jesus’s resurrection? Imagine the joy they had when they realized Jesus returned from the dead? Or the fear, curiosity and wonder His resurrected body elicited? What about the sense of adventure and excitement the mission He was commissioning them to pursue produced?
It is helpful to understand the context for Peter’s sermon above. His audience were first century Jews who were in Jerusalem for the festival of Shavu’ot (a Hebrew word meaning “weeks,” a Jewish harvest festival, also known in the first century as Pentecost). Thus, when Peter uses the plural form of “you” in this speech, “you crucified,” (verse 23), he is speaking to the Jews of his day in Jerusalem. Luke lays a share of the culpability for Jesus’ death at the feet of Jesus’ own people. Not a popular point he is making!
Acts records the activities of the Apostles. It is one of the most thrilling accounts of disciple making in church history and is the foundation that we build our faith on today. Imagine if we did not have the book of Acts. We would struggle to put the pieces together. Thanks to Luke, we have the historical account of what transpired after Jesus’s return. It is too easy to blow by Easter and forget what followed.
I invite you to explore afresh what you can learn from the earliest record of disciple-making movements and the spiritual posture the Apostles demonstrated, so that you may adopt a similar posture to experience that same challenge, excitement, and fruit in your life.
What Spiritual Posture can you adopt from this passage?
Following are questions you can use personally (or if you are coaching a group of Jesus followers) to make more and better disciples.
How have you demonstrated faith in Jesus during your spiritual journey?
Where have you doubted His activity in your life?
What can you learn from those moments?
What do you notice about Peter’s spiritual posture in his account of Jesus’s death and resurrection?
What was Peter expecting from this message?
What are you anticipating as you connect with people far from God?
What is your spiritual work right now?
Arrived!
Our latest book, Christian Coaching Essentials is now available for purchase on Amazon! This book is truly as titled—the essentials you need to learn to become a quality Christian Coach. It’s laid out to help you learn and includes bonus links to dozens of resources to help you get started. We are really excited about it and can’t wait to get the resource in your hands! Please pick-up a copy, do the self study guide online, and consider participating in a Christian Coaching Essentials cohort.
It’s now Monday morning and I’m sure most of you are reflecting on all of the fun and special moments you had yesterday during your Easter celebrations. Whether it was with your family, friends, your church… it was a day worth celebrating. But as we start a new week, let’s not stop reflecting on the reason for our celebration, Jesus Christ’s resurrection and triumph over death!
Welcome, everyone, to the final week of Lent. I am so thankful for all our friends who have followed this journey with InFocus. With Easter Sunday just around the corner, and the season of Lent at an end, it is a good time to reflect on the experience of this Lenten season as a whole, as well as a time to look toward the significance of Holy Week and Easter Sunday itself. The reason we choose to observe Lent is for the yearly reminder of Jesus’s sacrifice for us, but it’s also a time for contemplation about our own spiritual path and how we choose to live our life. The season of Lent allows us to slow down, to become more aware of our unhealthy habits and to develop better practices, it gives us room to focus on our spiritual well-being. It is a transformative time. In this final week, consider how this season has affected you…
Have you taken the time to slow down and reflect?
What did you gain from this opportunity?
What would you like to do with your final week of this season?
The Lenten season is meant to kindle a “bright sadness” within our hearts. Its aim is precisely the remembrance of Christ, a longing for a relationship with God that has been lost. Lent offers the time and place for recovery of this relationship. The darkness of Lent allows the flame of the Holy Spirit to burn within our hearts until we are led to the brilliance of the Resurrection.
Here at InFocus, we have been following the Stations of the Cross, focusing each week on one of the most essential moments in Jesus’ journey toward his crucifixion. This final week, appropriately, we are looking at Jesus being laid in the tomb.
Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
“As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.” (Matthew 27:57-61 NLT)
This moment signifies both endings and beginnings. It is the end of Jesus’ life and his suffering. It signifies the completion and success of his mission on earth. It is also the beginning of our salvation. The start of a new hope to light the path of followers of God. It is the end of a mortal life, and the beginning of life eternal.
For those around Jesus as he died, it was a time of deep grief. Not only had they lost a beloved friend, but must have felt like they lost their greatest hope. If their savior was dead…what could that mean for their faith? As modern Christians, we can feel their grief and hopelessness. Grief is a vital element of the season of Lent; we are meant to mourn with our Christian forbearers, as we remember Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice. But, we should feel hope in places of hopelessness. We know that Easter is around the corner and that our grief will be replaced with joy and everlasting hope.
Easter is a celebration; the greatest celebration for Christians. It is a time for joy and gratitude. With our final week of Lent, take time for both grief and joy. While reflecting on the history of our faith or what is happening in your own life, allow yourself to feel both the pain and the love that surrounds you; to feel both is to be as God created us.
I realize in my own journey the importance of grieving a loss. It is a sacred time. Jesus’ family grieved. His disciples grieved. His followers grieved. In this, I am comforted to know that I, too, must grieve.
I’ll close with a quote from Julian of Norwich (1343-1416):
“The best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God, knowing that that goodness can reach down to our lowest depths of need.”
Questions for reflection:
What was your major take away from Lent this year?
What is ending and what is beginning in your life?
What are you grieving in life and what are you celebrating?
Arrived!
Our latest book, Christian Coaching Essentials is now available for purchase on Amazon! This book is truly as titled—the essentials you need to learn to become a quality Christian Coach. It’s laid out to help you learn and includes bonus links to dozens of resources to help you get started. We are really excited about it and can’t wait to get the resource in your hands! Please pick-up a copy, do the self study guide online, and consider participating in a Christian Coaching Essentials cohort.
*I want to thank Cecelia Meserve for her contributions throughout the Lent series.
We are now entering the sixth week of Lent, commonly known as Holy Week. The week began with Palm Sunday yesterday, a day where Jesus’ welcome into Jerusalem is an invitation for us to invite Him into our hearts. The crowd cried “Hosanna” as Jesus rode His donkey through the city, a word that in Hebrew indicates praise and highest adoration. It seems almost ironic that within such a short time, Jesus would be persecuted, humiliated and sentenced to death.
“Hosanna” also has another meaning beyond praise and joy. It is related closely to the Aramaic word “Oshana” meaning “save” or “rescue.” In scripture, the word is also used as a cry for divine help. It can change the way we think about the journey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; their cries were both in celebration of Jesus and in desperation to be saved. It must have been a powerful and sobering moment for Jesus, who knew the cost of salvation, and knew the time for his sacrifice was coming soon.
This week’s solemn and heartbreaking station of the cross is in stark contrast to Palm Sunday; mockery and pain in the place of awe and admiration. Yet when we consider the latter meaning of the word “Hosanna” – save or rescue – we see that Jesus has finally delivered the salvation for which we have pleaded.
The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” (Matthew 27:34-37 NLT)
This is the moment upon which our faith hinges. We have all been born into sin, we are deeply flawed. We are the people who would have celebrated and worshiped Jesus in Jerusalem and we are those who would have advocated for his execution. None of us can earn salvation without the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us. Jesus came to us knowing the price it would cost–knowing that the same people who would celebrate him would also turn on him–but his love for us all allowed him to persevere until the end. Jesus even refused wine which could have dulled the pain. He was determined to sacrifice everything so we could be saved.
Over the last four weeks I have tried to gently and gradually introduce a variety of ideas and resources to integrate spiritually formative activities into your life. Below is an example of the spiritual disciplines that have been handed down through the ages. As you peruse them, I would encourage you to have these questions in your mind:
Which disciplines do you already have experience with?
Which disciplines are you curious about?
Which disciplines would you like to try out?
Here are some principal disciplines of engagement which have proven helpful to Christ followers over the centuries, as offered by Dallas Willard. This Spiritual Disciplines List features some primary disciplines for life in Christ with concise definitions for each. You will notice disciplines of engagement here. (In last week’s blog I presented disciplines of abstinence).
Disciplines of Engagement (Christ in Community)
These are ways of connecting with God and other people, conversing honestly with them in order to love and be loved.
Bible Reading: Trusting the Holy Spirit-inspired words of Scripture as our guide, wisdom, and strength for life. (Related disciplines include Bible study, Scripture meditation, and praying God’s Word.)
Worship: Praising God’s greatness, goodness, and beauty in words, music, ritual, or silence. (We can worship God privately or in community.)
Prayer: Conversing with God about what we’re experiencing and doing together. (As we see in the Lord’s Prayer the main thing we do in prayer is to make requests or intercessions to our Father for one another.)
Soul Friendship: Engaging fellow disciples of Jesus in prayerful conversation or other spiritual practices. (Related spiritual disciplines or practices include small groups, spiritual direction, and mentoring relationships.)
Personal Reflection: Paying attention to our inner self in order to grow in love for God, others, and self. (The Psalms in the Bible model this.)
Service: Humbly serving God by overflowing with his love and compassion to others, especially those in need. (Also tithing and giving.)
The beauty of the spiritual disciplines is that they help us connect, listen and discern the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The more diligent I have become at exercising my spiritual discernment “muscle,” the stronger I’ve become at discerning His voice. Here is a passage that depicts how Jesus partnered with the Father, which came from his time alone with God and Jesus’ ability to discern His activity in the world.
“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.” (John 5:19-20)
Questions for reflection:
How has the story of Jesus’s sacrifice changed for you over the years?
What sticks out to you this year?
How does this station of the cross inspire you to be a better disciple?
How do you want to approach the final week of Lent?
What do you need to make this week spiritually meaningful?
Arrived!
Our latest book, Christian Coaching Essentials, is now available for purchase on Amazon! This book is truly as titled—the essentials you need to learn to become a quality Christian Coach. It’s laid out to help you learn and includes bonus links to dozens of resources to help you get started. We are really excited about it and can’t wait to get the resource in your hands! Please pick-up a copy, do the self study guide online, and consider participating in a Christian Coaching Essentials cohort.
I chose the seventh station of the cross to look at during this fifth week of Lent. This is the moment in Jesus’ journey where he falls for the second time. Despite help from Simon of Cyrene, despite the presence of his mother, and despite the compassion shown by the stranger, Veronica, Jesus’ strength, both mentally and physically, was beginning to falter.
Though it may not seem unique, there is a difference between Jesus’s first fall (which we examined a few weeks ago), and his second. Most of us, especially in leadership positions, have become adept at overcoming frequent difficulties. We expect obstacles and setbacks in our work; in fact, they feel familiar. We’ve learned to cope with normal difficulties and disappointments in our lives.
However, there are moments where we are pushed past what we cope with. Life-altering changes like the death of a loved one, the separation from a partner, the loss of a job, are not merely obstacles to overcome–they are seasons of life. They can feel like a long trudge up a slippery hill, where we feel like we are sliding backwards more than pushing forward. There will be moments we believe we can’t go on, maybe even weeks or months of waking up feeling like it’s impossible to keep fighting. It is in these moments we can resonate most with Jesus’ second fall and the perseverance that our Savior had to keep on going.
More work needs to be done in the area of crisis prevention. Imagine if we could impact a critical dilemma in our society, like divorce. Roughly 50% of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce; sadly, that statistic is about the same within the church. With all the energy that goes into recovery ministries like Celebrate Recovery (addictive behavior is a major player behind the disintegration of marriage), divorce statistics have remained about the same over the last several decades. What if churches began to work more on the preventive end? What if more and more energy were focused on new and creative solutions to address the high percentage of marriages that end in divorce? If the church continues to do the same thing, expecting different results, the church must realize change is necessary.
One ancient-future suggestion is to help Jesus followers do the deep work of following Jesus before a crisis develops. The deep work of following Jesus is a lot like dealing with the root issues of a plant. This might require a larger pot, or watering it less frequently, or using a different fertilizer to enrich the soil (I once over-fertilized a beautiful Strawberry Tree that I literally burned from the inside out). The cause isn’t always immediately clear, and the solution isn’t always a quick fix.
Over the last four blogs I’ve gradually introduced various ideas and resources to integrate spiritually formative activities into your life. Below is an example of a few of the spiritual disciplines that have been handed down through the ages:
Here are some main disciplines of abstinence helpful to Christ-followers over the centuries as offered by Dallas Willard. This Spiritual Disciplines List features some main disciplines for life in Christ with concise definitions for each. You will notice disciplines of abstinence here and next blog, disciplines of engagement.
Disciplines of Abstinence (Self-Denial)
These are ways of denying ourselves something we want or need in order to make space to focus on and connect with God.
Solitude: Refraining from interacting with other people in order to be alone with God and be found by him. (Solitude is completed by silence.)
Silence: Not speaking in a quiet place in order to quiet our whole self and attend to God’s presence. Also, not speaking so that we can listen to others and bless them.
Fasting: Going without food (or something else like media) for a period of intensive prayer — the fast may be complete or partial.
Sabbath: Doing no work to rest in God’s person and provision; praying and playing with God and others. (God designed this for one day a week. We can practice it for shorter periods too.)
Secrecy: Not making our good deeds or qualities known to let God or others receive attention and to find our sufficiency in God alone (e.g., see Matthew 6).
Submission: Not asserting ourselves in order to come under the authority, wisdom, and power of Jesus Christ as our Lord, King, and Master. (If you think of this as submitting to a person as unto Christ, that is a discipline of engagement.)
Which disciplines do you already have experience with?
Which disciplines are you curious about?
Which disciplines would you like to try-out?
To develop the ability to discern God’s voice in your life you must exercise your discernment muscle much like you must exercise your physical muscles. And just like having a buddy when you exercise, having a spiritual director or a wise companion to come alongside you is beneficial. Take a moment right now and think who might be a good companion for you during this season.
Demonstrating perseverance means that, despite being pushed down again and again, we are choosing each time to get back up. It’s hard work, and nearly impossible to do without a deep, meaningful drive. Jesus knew that our eternal souls relied on his choice to get back on his feet. He knew it was his mission to endure this pain and humiliation, and to sacrifice himself for us. That was his drive.
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:12-14)
I’ll close with a quote from Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894):
“When you retreat into yourself, you should stand before the Lord and remain in His presence, not letting the eyes of the mind turn away from the Lord. This is the true wilderness —to stand face to face with the Lord.”
Questions for reflection:
Think back to the most difficult times in your life:
What led to this situation?
How did you feel in the midst of it?
Where did you feel God in these times?
Where did you struggle spiritually?
What drove you to keep persevering through these difficult moments? (It may be the same drive, or several different ones.)
Arrived!
Our latest book, Christian Coaching Essentials is now available for purchase on Amazon! This book is truly as titled—the essentials you need to learn to become a quality Christian Coach. It’s laid out to help you learn and includes bonus links to dozens of resources to help you get started. We are really excited about it and can’t wait to get the resource in your hands! Please pick-up a copy, do the self study guide online, and consider participating in a Christian Coaching Essentials cohort.
We are now over halfway through Lent. Before jumping into the sixth station of the cross–our focus for this week–I want to check in.
Halfway CheckPoint:
Has your experience of Lent this year been what you expected?
How has Lent been different this year in comparison to past years?
Have you found it easier or more difficult than past years?
What feelings or ideas have you found recurring as you’ve gone through the stations?
What are you hoping to gain from the final three weeks of Lent?
Discerning Resistance, Consolation, and Desolation in your spiritual formation
Lent is a solemn season. It is meant to give us the space and time for genuine reflection on our faith, ourselves and our relationships. Becoming aware of what is happening inside your soul at pivotal times throughout the day is the work of discernment. According to Larry Warner in Journey with Jesus,
Ignatius provided key insights for discernment for those who journey through the Exercises. He referred to this section as “rules for perceiving and knowing insome manner the different movements which are caused in the soul.”
Reflection can be painful; it can open our eyes to aspects of ourselves or our lives that we have been avoiding – points of resistance to the work of God in our lives. It can also be hopeful and beautiful as the quiet provides intentional time to be still, helps us make sense of the world around us, and reminds us of God’s love – moments of consolation where God is drawing near. And then those times where we feel isolated and alone – times that we’ve all experienced – are experiences of desolation.
What is missing?
When I reflect on my spiritual formation I find that it has been full of both rich and dry seasons. About 18 months ago I began studying, practicing and experiencing spiritual development in a cohort of doctoral students from Fuller Theological Seminary. I’ve shared bits and pieces from my journey during this Lenten blog series. One of the big discoveries I’ve had is that the pathways I was exposed to in my early spiritual formation were not sufficient.
Have you discovered that for yourself as well?
I think one thing the Protestant Reformation got wrong was throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Thus we–the evangelical stream of the Christian church–have been left wanting. As a result, some have reintroduced, revisited or reinvigorated various aspects of the ancient church into the current church context, such as symbols, creeds, liturgy, Lent (Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday) to provide anchors for our Faith. Embracing those practices have offered some encouragement, others a foundation, and still others frustration, or worse, ambivalence.
There is still more that Christians of the past have done that we can learn from. One major takeaway for me has been the language that people like Ignatius use. It gives me a way to articulate and identify with what is stirring in my soul. Paying attention to that stirring, and then discerning what the Lord is communicating to me, becomes more practical when I have language to articulate it.
The important point here is to remain open, curious and committed to learning with the aim of drawing closer to Jesus, engaging more in what it means to follow Him, and serving with greater clarity of what He wants to do in and through me. He gives the invitation to engage. What is your response?
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
The sixth station of the cross is where Veronica wipes the face of Jesus. If you are not familiar with this part of the story, as Jesus carries his cross towards his execution site, tormented by the crowd, a stranger steps into his path and wipes the blood and sweat from his face. She can’t do much more than this, but she does what she can to ease Jesus’ suffering.
The story of Veronica is not one that can be found in the Bible. Like many of the Stations of the Cross, the story is based on legend and speculation along with what can be gathered from other historical texts. There have been accounts passed down through the ages that claim a stranger did offer Jesus this kindness. Whether or not this story is true, it is the truth we wish to see in ourselves. It is what we long to be able to do for Jesus while reflecting on the story of his journey toward death.
The Easter story is about Jesus’ compassion for all of us. He loved us so much that he took compassion on us, even in the midst of our sin, and sacrificed his own life. At this station, Veronica can represent us, Jesus’ people, reflecting the compassion that God has shown us since our creation. We can also reflect on how Jesus may have felt, the compassion, how it may have given him strength to keep going. We can all remember a time when a little compassion given to us at a difficult time felt like a lifeline to hope.
I’ll close with a quote from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT)
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.“
Questions for reflection:
Think about a time in your past when you were shown compassion and how it helped reinvigorate you.
Who in your life could use compassion right now?
What are some small ways you could show greater compassion this week?
Arrived! Our latest book, Christian Coaching Essentials is now available for purchase on Amazon! This book is truly as titled—the essentials you need to learn to become a quality Christian Coach. It’s laid out to help you learn and includes bonus links to dozens of resources to help you get started. We are really excited about it and can’t wait to get the resource in your hands! Please pick-up a copy, do the self study guide online, and consider participating in a Christian Coaching Essentials cohort.
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