May 02


The Jesus Creed, Part II


Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to Him, “Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:59-60 (NKJV)

“No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off til tomorrow. Seize the day!"

Luke 9:62 (The Message)


In this ninth chapter of Luke, Jesus shows us what it means to love God wholeheartedly. Jesus often asked people to come along, to join Him, and in this passage a seemingly willing disciple asks to be excused to bury his father first. This sounds reasonable, because burying one’s father properly was honoring that dad in a way that was acceptable to Torah: “Honor your father and your mother.” This is a good thing, right? And, really, it was unheard of NOT to fulfill the burial requirements. But as we better understand the burial process, we appreciate Jesus’ point. For in those days, there were two parts to the burial process. Part one occurred when the dead body was put in a casket and placed in a tomb. The family then sat for seven days and mourned (shiva) the person's passing. The body then remained in the tomb for a year and decayed. At the end of one year, part two of the burial process began. The body was exhumed and the family placed the bones in an ossuary (a box). The bones were then buried permanently. According to Scot McKnight, this was the accepted thing to do, and it is likely this man had already fulfilled part one for his father. So, it could be up to eleven or twelve months before he has to bury his father the second time.

Burying one’s dead family members is an honorable thing to do, no doubt, but many honorable things become excuses for not doing God’s will right now. So, here we see a new order. Jesus says, in essence, love God by following Me. The man wants to honor Torah. He is torn. If he loves God, he will love and live the Torah. Won’t he? But Jesus is direct. Jesus says, “No. Follow Me. Let the dead bury the dead.” So, the Jesus Creed has a second part to it.

Do you see this second part? We not only love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength as well as love our neighbor as ourselves, we show our love for God by following Jesus—the Living Word!

Billy Graham understands this concept and takes it a step further. He quotes John 8:31, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed.” He then says the following:

“ A disciple in Jesus’ time was someone who followed a teacher or philosopher. A disciple was both a learner and a follower—believing the teacher’s message and then putting it into practice.

“Jesus gave the word disciple added meaning however, because His disciples also went out to tell others about Him. A disciple of Jesus, therefore, is someone who has committed his or her life to Jesus and seeks each day to learn, to follow Jesus, and to share Him with others. Does this describe you?”

Billy goes on to observe, “the first disciples weren’t perfect, and neither are we.” But like them, we need to learn more, follow more, and share more. “We can’t physically spend time with Jesus, but we can learn from Him by reading His Word, we can follow Him by obeying His will. And we can share Him with a world that desperately needs to be saved.”

Jesus was very clear, we love God by following Jesus and by obeying Him. Now His creed calls us to love God and others and show that love by following Him. And now, this quest is in my heart: to follow Him—wherever He may lead....


Father, give me Your Word, show me Your way. Amen.

May 01


The Jesus Creed


Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

Jesus answered him, “The first commandment of all commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:31 (NKJV)


I have been sitting at my kitchen table enjoying the sun coming through the window behind me. It is cold and clear. Most of the clouds have finally disappeared, and the frost on the ground is melting under blue, blue skies. It is peaceful and quiet outside, but inside of me is a rumbling excitement about what I have read, and how I am being challenged. I would like to share it with you.

I am reading The Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight. This scholarly author, Professor of Religious Studies at North Park University, offers us rich, soul food in straightforward fashion. Listen to his opening words in Chapter 1:

“Jesus knows what life is all about. Thomas a Kempis knows: he wants to converse with God constantly. John Woolman knows: he strives to do what is right in every situation. J.I. Packer knows: he longs to be fixed with holy zeal for God. Richard Foster knows: he craves the grace of inner transformation through the spiritual disciplines. Dallas Willard knows: he hungers in this physical existence of ours, to be like Christ. John Ortberg knows: he pines to morph into the image of Christ. Rick Warren knows: he thirsts for a life driven by God’s purposes.

"What makes these spiritual masters attractive to us today is this: They know what they mean when they discuss ‘spiritual formation.’”

...

“Did Jesus ever express his view of spiritual formation? Yes. And he does so by transforming a creed. I call it the Jesus Creed and the Jesus Creed becomes clear (on nearly every page of the Gospels) when we recall the Jewish context of Jesus.”

So, what is this creed McKnight refers to and where did it come from? In its purest form the Jesus Creed is an amendment to the Jewish Shema (hear) found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart....”

McKnight cites an expert of Jewish devotion as saying, it is the first ‘prayer’ Jewish kids learn to pray. It is the ultimate expression of the most basic and foundational truth in Judaism. It is their life—their spiritual life—important and fundamental to their spiritual formation. It is this: to Israel, YHWH alone is God. Israel is chosen by God and must love God wholeheartedly. For the person who lives the Shema, there is the promise of rich blessing from God as well.

In Mark 12, Jesus is answering questions and giving the crowd excellent instruction from Torah (the Jewish law or lifestyle for spiritual formation). Another teacher is impressed and asks a question, a very basic question—a gimme. He asks, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus gives the standard answer—the one everyone expects, but then he does something absolutely amazing. He amends the Shema! Remember, this is the creed the faithful would recite every morning and every evening and throughout their day. Their centuries old creed is suddenly transformed into something more. McKnight likens this to someone standing up in church to recite the Apostles’ Creed and then adding something to it after "life everlasting" ... like “and be sure to tithe the full amount every time.” In other words, this gets noticed. Jesus, though, is not changing Judaism, just the primary creed these people have followed for years. You see, Jesus sees the Shema as good, but incomplete. Jesus amends their creed, the one He has recited since He was a boy, and in doing so, He takes a good creed and makes it great. He takes Scripture everyone knows so well (Deut 6:4-9) and then attaches this obscure quote from Leviticus 19:18—“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Understand this: loving others is central to Judaism, but not part of the Jewish creed, the Shema. Jesus then spins their Jewish world on its head and creates his own creed, the Jesus Creed. This is an important point: by adding loving others to the creed, Jesus sees loving others as central to spiritual formation.

This new creed can be seen throughout the Gospels, and, no doubt, His followers are now reciting the Jesus Creed in place of the Shema. The Jesus Creed then is central to what Jesus teaches and offers to us.

This is earth breaking, exciting news, and what was good for the early disciples is good for today’s Christ-followers too. I want to commit myself to the Jesus Creed, and I want to challenge you to it as well. Are you with me? First thing in the morning, throughout my day and at night before bed, I will recall and recite the Jesus Creed. and I will live it.

This excites me, and I would be thrilled if others would join me in this. So, will you? Will you do this with me and experience the life-transforming work He will do in us? I hope so. Here it is in the NIV:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is no commandment greater than these.

As I sit at my kitchen table, it is a beautiful day. It is peaceful and quiet outside, but inside of me there is a rumbling....

Father, thank You for this simple, yet profound, insight. Transform us; let this truth work in us ... for Your glory. Amen.

April 30

Fixing Things

Don't look out for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.

Philippians 2:4 (NLT)


The subject came up again this morning: kitchen countertops. Honest, I have been thinking about it. You see, new countertops are a priority for my wife Kris, and I have been very open to discussing, looking, even getting estimates, but the figures seem a little more than expected. So, I've been slow to act.

I have to confess, I don't mind the tile countertops--they look nice ... I think. Kris disagrees. The grout discolors, the uneven surface is hard to clean, and it's not a functional countertop. So, though I'm fine with the way our kitchen looks, I know my heart has not been set on finding an answer and a fix for Kris, and I'm sorry.

It's time to make the call. It's time for Corian--Kris' dream come true. As a follower of Christ and a husband who wants to show love, it's the least I can do.


Father, help me find a way to make this work. Surprise us, and bless Kris with her new kitchen. Amen.

April 29


The Life and Love of Christ


The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.

Mark 12:31 (NLT)


With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3 (NAS)


If Jesus was a revolutionary then the Apostle Paul was an extremist in that revolution. Or so it would seem.

Jesus preached love in a new way—don't just love God, but love others as well. And living for God was not something to be shown in ritual and Temple sacrifices and in Synagogue attendance alone. It was more than an annual pilgrimage. To Jesus, living Torah meant a daily devotion that looked beyond oneself and considered the needs of others: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But Paul, it seems, took this to the extreme.

Not only love your neighbor, but love him or her more than yourself. Put their needs ahead of your own. It seems radical, especially in these days where nearly everyone practices “looking out for number one.” But this truth transcends, and Paul caught it. Paul looked at Jesus’ words and saw more. He saw Jesus’ life. He saw sacrifice, and he heard this: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) Paul saw Christ on the Cross as the greatest example of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And it motivated Paul to go beyond himself, far beyond, and he asks us to do the same. This ... is the life and love of Christ.


Father, motivate us, like Paul, to love our neighbors as Jesus loved His. Amen.

April 28


Jacksonville


Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice....

Romans 12:14-15a (NKJV)


“Dog meat! Dog meat!” the young man next to me kept it up, his voice hoarse and impassioned. My Florida Gators had just taken the field and he was giving it to 'em. I can’t remember what I did just then. Sitting high in the stadium, I probably looked away to the scoreboard—or did something, anything to distance myself from my friend, for he was my friend. Back then, Tommy was a cross between Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Star Wars' Han Solo. He was also a diehard Georgia Bulldog fan. Unfortunately, we were sitting smack dab in the middle of a sea of blue and orange. The Florida faithful surrounded us! Unlike me, these were seasoned veterans of the yearly ritual and only a little annoyed with Tommy.

It was 1971, and Tommy and I had driven up from St Petersburg, Florida to see the annual Georgia-Florida showdown. We met friends in Gainesville and continued our drive to Jacksonville, Florida—somewhat neutral territory for the grand event. As I recall, it was a disappointing day. Georgia played great that year. In fact, back in those days, Georgia was something of a powerhouse, and they beat us more times than I care to remember.

But this is a new era. Those days are long gone, and Florida has since won two national titles and beaten Georgia 15 of the last 17 meetings ... until this last weekend. This time Georgia fans rejoiced with a rare win over their longtime rivals.

As I read the newspaper account of Georgia's sound 42-30 victory, my friend's raucous voice fills my head again, and I smile. I have to. I don’t know why, but it gives me a little bit of pleasure to know Tommy is happy ... and probably gloating in some shiny, high-rise, office building in Atlanta.

All I can say is, Congratulations, Georgia fans, on a great game and a great win! And I promise, I won’t say a word about next year....


Lord, thank You for sports and games and the thrill of victory. Thanks, too, for the ability to appreciate someone else’s win—even at my expense. Amen.