Rock Climbing Discipleship

Some of you already know that flying is not one of my favorite pastimes. When I was traveling on business in my previous career, I flew frequently enough to graduate from a "white knuckle" flyer to a "sweaty palm" flyer.

What is really strange though, is that although I don’t like flying too much, I want to have a window seat as often as possible when I fly. Maybe it is a subconscious attempt at distracting my attention from the fact that I am hurtling along at an altitude of 30,000 feet, at a speed of 500 miles an hour, in a pressurized metal tube.

But I think another reason I enjoy window seats so much when I fly is that I love heights. My love of heights is probably one of the reasons rock climbing interests me, as well. I imagine standing on top of a mountain—any mountain or big hill with a great view will do—and just taking in the wonder of it all.

Of course, getting to that point tends to be an issue. Have you ever watched rock climbers? There are no escalators on those places they are climbing! Hey, there aren’t even any decent steps! Rock climbing takes strength, endurance, dedication, intelligence, and the willingness to take risks. Rock climbing can be both exciting and dangerous at the same time.

Come to think of it, this description sounds a lot like Christian discipleship, doesn’t it?

Jesus knew all of this and more about discipleship. That is why Jesus gave instructions to the 70 women and men whom he was sending to the towns to which he himself intended to go. Like Jesus sent these folks ahead to proclaim the kingdom of God before Jesus arrived, we who call ourselves Christians are called to proclaim the kingdom of God before Jesus returns. So what were these instructions of Jesus?

First, pray. Notice how prayer was the number one instruction? Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." In other words, there is more than enough for all of us to do, folks. Christian discipleship is not a spectator sport! Amen?

Jesus went on to say, "Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." We are supposed to be praying for one another , as well as for others to become disciples of Jesus Christ as well!

Next, travel light. You’ve heard this from previous sermons I have preached. Like rock climbers cannot make their ascents with a lot of extra gear, neither can we be successful disciples of Jesus Christ if we are carrying around a lot of unnecessary baggage.

Baggage takes a lot of forms, too. For example, jealousy is an extremely heavy (and worthless) item of baggage; jealousy about the gifts of other disciples that we do not share; jealousy about the leadership positions others have that we want; jealousy about the really fabulous programs and facilities of other churches.

All that baggage slows us down, folks. Let’s lose it and concentrate on the work God has for US, using and honoring the resources with which God has blessed US. Remember, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There is more than enough work to go around. Amen?

The next instruction was to focus. Jesus said, "Greet no one on the road." Jesus wasn’t saying the disciples should ignore others; Jesus was basically saying, "Don’t let anything or anyone distract you from your mission."

Distraction is a big challenge in today’s world. There is so much going on around us that it is easy for us to lose our way. Professional rock climbers would probably tell us that losing your focus on a climb could have deadly consequences.

What distracts us? The desire for more money? The desire for more power or prestige? The desire for a partner? These things are not evil in and of themselves; but if they distract us from the work that God has called us to do, they could spell spiritual disaster for us.

Let’s look even closer at Jesus’ instructions to the 70.

"Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!" "Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid." "Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’"

Basically, we are to approach our call to discipleship peacefully. Like Jesus, we are to meet people where they are; which means if we are talking to friends in a bar, we do not enter Bibles blazing and telling everyone there they are going to hell because they have not confessed Jesus Christ as Lord. Such heavy-handed approaches to evangelism have turned far more people away from Christ than they have brought people to Christ.

Christian discipleship also means presence, in whatever healthy forms that presence takes. For it is through that presence that God can work miraculous healing—in the lives of others, as well as in our own lives.

Finally—and this is the hard part—we are to proclaim the Kingdom of God both in our words AND through the examples of our lives. While Jesus did say to approach others with a greeting of peace, to meet others where they were, and to help others—named in this passage as curing the sick—Jesus also said to proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Jesus didn’t say to proclaim the Kingdom of God unless it offended others. Jesus didn’t say to proclaim the Kingdom of God unless it meant your offerings would go down. Jesus didn’t say to proclaim the Kingdom of God unless it meant upsetting denominational leaders. Jesus said to proclaim the Kingdom of God--period.

It’s that "proclamation of the Kingdom" part that gets us into trouble—at least it has gotten me into trouble. See, some folks don’t like to hear that the Kingdom of God is inclusive of people who are a lot different than them.

On the other hand, there are others who don’t like to hear that, while the Kingdom of God is full of inclusive love, there is judgment involved as well. That means God has standards, folks. The Kingdom of God is not "an anything goes" kind of place. As the old saying goes, "we don’t change the message—the message changes us."

So, while we don’t run into the bars or coffee shops, parties or classrooms with our Bibles blazing, we don’t change the inclusive, yet challenging message of the Word of God to make people comfortable, either—and some folks are not going to appreciate that one bit.

Jesus knew there would be those people who would reject the message of his disciples. The advice of Jesus then is just as solid today: "Move on." Rejection hurts, yes; but rejection is not fatal. Move on. There is actually a term for this type of moving on in rock climbing. Its called "fallure."

Fallure occurs when a climber falls onto his or her safety rope after using every physical, mental, and spiritual resource at his or her disposal. "Isn’t that failure?" we might ask. No, failure is when you give up and let go. The difference is subtle, but important.

Where are we accepting failure instead of fallure? Where is it in our lives that we are giving up and dropping, without using all the physical, mental, and spiritual resources with which God has blessed us? If we push for fallure, we may actually tap into more Godly power and opportunity than we ever thought possible!

Look at the 70! They returned after their mission excited beyond belief, even though I am positive at least some of them experienced some painful rejections!

One type of outreach program isn’t working for you? Pray and then try another one! The target group your leadership worked so hard to identify would rather eat glass than listen to you share the good news of Jesus Christ? Pray and then go back to the drawing board!

Sure, it would be great if everything we touched turned into discipleship gold! But sometimes it seems like everything we touch turns into something else—and here’s a hint: it makes great fertilizer! But guess what? What we think is just "fertilizer" can be the foundation of some amazing growth we never expected!

The lesson for today: Yes, discipleship is required of all Christians—not just clergy. Yes, discipleship is tough sometimes; not everyone is going to love us—in fact, some people may even hate us. And yes, we are going to fall sometimes.

The good news: We don’t have to worry about any of those things. Why not? Because if we strive for fallure, with Jesus Christ as our safety rope, there is no way that our discipleship climb will fail.

Think about it. Let us dare to imagine the view from the top.

Then, let us start climbing together.

Real Survivors

Does anyone else remember the "Survivor" series craze of a few years ago? Or am I so out of the loop that there is another series airing as I write this? Just in case, as a review, the premise of these shows went something like this: You take a diverse group of people, drop them in a challenging environment, and give them various tasks to do. In a show of true community spirit, the group slowly eliminates other members by vote each week. Catfights, backbiting, and drama ensue.

Somebody eventually wins the million-dollar prize, and we have a big group hug at the end of it all. All the contestants hit the talk show circuit for a time, and a year or so later, we have Survivor Reunions.

Just like real life, huh?

While I am poking fun at the whole Survivor series, I must admit I have no desire to attempt the challenges faced by these women and men, and absolutely no stomach for some of the things eaten on those shows. I do well to eat some of my own culinary experiments sometimes.
But while there are men and women out there who are very adept at surviving under some of the most extreme circumstances, we could all take a few lessons from the Desert Tortoise of the Mojave Desert. Deserts are harsh, ruthless, and unforgiving places. So it is especially fascinating to learn how a creature can not only survive, but thrive in such an environment.

Question: What do the Desert Tortoise, Elijah, and us have in common? A lot more than you might think.

First things first. How in the world does the Desert Tortoise of the Mojave manage to survive in such a harsh environment?

He gets plenty of sleep. The Desert Tortoise goes to sleep sometime in November, and awakens sometime in March. This routine probably reminds some of us of our school days in years past, huh?

She finds nourishment in unexpected places. The Desert Tortoise at times gets some of the minerals in its diet from gravel. This information could actually be used as a good excuse for those of us who experiment in the kitchen. Tastes like gravel? Hey, it’s full of minerals! It’s good for you!

Every year or so, it rains in the Mojave, causing plant life to spring forth. The tortoise eats the plants then stores the water from the plants, and reabsorbs it and recycles it into her body as it is needed until the next rain falls in a year or so. The tortoise is actually able to control its internal environment in the face of external and hostile conditions.

Elijah actually chose to head for the desert in today’s reading from 1 Kings 19, which says a lot about the hostility of his environment. At this particular time, Queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets, and the few that were left were in hiding. Baal was her god, and she had no patience for competing deities. So, silence the prophets, and you silence the deity.

But not this time.

In response to God’s call, Elijah confronts Jezebel’s husband, Ahab, the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and challenges the prophets of Baal to a show of ultimate divine power. In a show of mighty power, God silences the prophets of Baal, and puts to rest any question as to who is truly God.

This turn of events did not set well with Jezebel, and she sent word to Elijah that now he was on her hit list—and Elijah hits the road. Now, that is one hostile environment.
After journeying to the wilderness, it appears that Elijah has had enough. He sits beneath a broom tree, and tells God he’s had it, that he is no better than his ancestors, and that he just wants to die. Then, he rests.

Notice what Elijah does. He vents to God. He’s tired, he’s done what God wants him to do, and to say the least, the people in power weren’t impressed, and even the God-fearers weren’t coming to his defense. Then, he rests.

Notice what God does. God lets Elijah vent and God lets Elijah rest for a time. God does NOT annihilate Elijah for being tired and discouraged. God doesn’t replace Elijah with a younger prophet and give him a gold watch for faithful service.

The point, folks, is there are times in our lives when we are tired and discouraged. We may be doing the best we can for God, for our employers, for our families and friends. But stuff just happens; and sometimes a lot of stuff happens that just seems to pile up on us.

The good news is we can take it to God. If God is big enough to create the universe, God can surely deal with our telling Him about our problems.

Then, get some rest! Put yourself in timeout for a little while. It’s OK. The world will get along fine without us while we are resting. Just remember that there will come a time to continue our journeys.

After some rest, Elijah woke up and took nourishment prepared by an angel. Talk about finding nourishment in unexpected places! But then he does something we might think is a bit odd—he goes back to sleep! But then he wakes up again, takes more nourishment, then continues his journey.

Folks, we aren’t going to survive long on this journey called life without good spiritual nourishment. Where do we get our nourishment for the journey? From worship services? From Bible studies? Maybe we get some of our nourishment from friends who listen to us and give us good, healthy advice. Maybe we get nourishment from support groups or therapy.

Wait a minute! Nourishment from support groups or therapy? Isn’t that a little unusual? Think about it. Is it possible that "angels" come in many different forms?

There is one more lesson we can take from Elijah’s taking nourishment. It takes more than one meal to give us the strength we need to continue our journeys.

What that means is that it takes more than one worship service, one Bible study, one recovery group meeting, one session with our therapists, or one prayer to Almighty God to give us the strength we need to survive in an often hostile environment! Like the Desert Tortoise, what we don’t use today, we can always store for those dry periods in our lives that are sure to come our way.

Elijah continues his journey for 40 days and nights until he hides in a cave at Mount Horeb. He’s still running. But not for long.

God asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?" Elijah basically replies, "I’ve had it. Life stinks. Death is stalking me. Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me."

But God is having none of it. "Come out of the cave!" God commands Elijah. But even through wind, earthquake, and fire, Elijah didn’t move. Why not? Maybe it was because all those things were too much like what Elijah was experiencing in his life at that time—upheaval, turmoil, persecution, strife. Maybe Elijah just wanted some peace and quiet.

So peace and quiet is what he got—and it is exactly where Elijah found the presence of God. In that peaceful moment, even though Elijah still complained, he found a presence of God that assured Elijah that he mattered. Yes, life is harsh; but I am with you, and I have a job for you. Your life has meaning. In that moment, Elijah found the inner peace he needed to face the hostile conditions of his external environment.

Who needs the Desert Tortoise? Future generations, if the species is to survive. Who needed Elijah? A lot of folks! He was one of the few true prophets left to carry on God’s message to the children of Israel. They definitely needed Elijah to train other prophets if they were to survive.

So it is with us.

Each and every one of us matters to Almighty God. We may not always feel like that we matter; but we do. Who needs us?

Some of us have partners who need us—and we them. Some of us have children and other family members who need us. Most all of us have friends who need us. Our churches need us. Our community needs us to speak out for equality on behalf of those who feel they are silenced. All of us are needed to serve God in one capacity or another. Each and every life has meaning to God, and God has something for each and every one of us to do.

So, get your rest, get proper nourishment, and listen for that inner peace that only God can give. And for goodness sake, come out of that cave! We need you out here!

There’s no need to be afraid, either. After all, if God is for us, who is against us?