"Driving Blind or Digging Deep?"
Lk.6:39-49 Feb.22/04
Intro to "40 Days of Purpose"
Driving Blind
It can be a scary experience to drive blind, as when it's so cold your windshield washer fluid freezes before your eyes, or you suddenly find yourself in dense fog. God did not mean us to drive blind through life, unsure of our course, drawn by deceptive and destructive forces beyond our control. Jesus came so we could find security and direction in Him, lasting purpose in becoming His followers. He said in Lk.6:39, "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” Jesus wasn't advocating the use of seeing eye dogs, wonderful as they are. He was warning us against being driven or drawn blindly by evil influences.
Even those with healthy eyes can be blind when it comes to God's truth, or knowing His roadmap for life. Thomas Huxley was a devoted disciple of Darwin. Huxley was a famous biologist, teacher, and author, defending the theory of evolution, a traveling lecturer and bold convincing self-avowed humanist. Chuck Swindoll tells of the time Huxley was in Dublin Ireland and had finished another series of public assaults against several truths Christians held sacred. The following morning, he was in a nurry to catch his train to the next city. He took one of Dublin's horse-drawn taxis. He assumed the driver had been told the destination by the hotel doorman, so when he got in all he said was, "Hurry, I'm almost late. Drive fast!" The horses lurched forward and galloped across Dublin at a furious pace. Huxley settled back with his eyes closed to rest for a few minutes. Before long, he glanced out the window and frowned as he realized they were going west, away from the sun, not toward it. Leaning forward, he shouted, "Do you know where you are going?" Without looking back, the driver yelled a classic line, not meant to be humorous: "No, your honour - but I am driving very fast!"
A blind man can lead another into a pit. An uninformed taxi driver can lead one far astray, relative to one's geographical destination. But a teacher of wrong doctrine can lead many astray eternally, such as evolution's consequence of materialistic despair.
"Who's driving your bus?" There are many things that can either draw us or drive us along a wrong path. In Lk.6:42-43 Jesus describes how pride and hypocrisy can drive us to be critical of others, pointing out their defects while oblivious to our own glaring blind spots. "How can you say to your brother, '...Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the the plank [NRSV: log] in your own eye?" The proud person feels a need to be in control, we think we know better than the next person, we unconsciously look down on someone else in order to shore up our own shaky self-worth.
V45 may refer to the appetites that lead us to the pit, or drive us compulsively. "The evil man brings forth evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart..." Our appetites can cause us to treasure or "store up" or hold precious what's ultimately poisonous: gluttony that taxes our heart, drunkenness that poisons our liver, greed for money or material things locks us up, the sex drive exercised wrongly can destroy us and nuke our relationships.
V49 represents a more subtle type of drivenness: Jesus refers to the person "who hears my words and does not put them into practice..." This is REBELLION driving us, whispering "I'm my own boss -- I don't need anyone telling me what to do". The current anarchy and killing in Haiti depict what results when people rebel against authority and fight to assert themselves at others' expense. Police flee or barricade themselves against well-equipped gunmen. A former death squad leader controls at least one city, and in another a former police chief has returned to carve out something for himself in a coup d'etat. Death and hunger walk the streets. An expert interviewed on CBC described Haiti as "on the edge of the deluge" - ie a flood of violence. What rebellion's doing in Haiti politically, it does in people spiritually when they reject Jesus' teaching. Like the man building a house without a foundation, "The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
Atheism doesn't just lead to meaninglessness and despair in this life; it stores up God's wrath against rebels in the next life. A pit awaits. Heb.10(26f) warns, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Life (day 3) identifies other things that people allow to drive them: guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism, or the need for approval. These have a blinding effect when we're caught up in them. Jesus still asks, "Can a blind man lead a blind man?" Sorry consequences await those who allow themselves to be drawn or driven by anything else than God's purpose for them.
When the fabulously wealthy Aristotle Onassis died, his super-rich friends all gathered together after the funeral, and naturally the main subject of conversation was how much he had and who got it. Someone asked, "How much did he leave?" The answer came: "Everything; he left everything." [- Peter Gomes]
The Master's Purposeful Steps
After the sober warning about not following a blind man into a pit, Jesus makes a statement that invites us on another path, with a better guide. Second half of v39: "A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Jesus is using the language of education, internships, training like a co-op student: when you "learn the ropes" you will be like your teacher, fully qualified and experienced like a regular full-time worker. Discipleship, learning to walk in the steps of maturity, is this training that shapes us to be like our Master. In John 13(15-17) Jesus said, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you...Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Our Lord challenges us to actively and intentionally put into practice His guidance for holy living.
So who's got the curriculum? One form of it can be found in the book published in 1995 by Rick Warren called The Purpose-Driven Church. It talks about "the five Biblical purposes of the church". On this basis Saddleback Church in California grew from one family to over 10,000 in just 15 years, while planting 26 other churches (and without owning a building!). Then in 2002 Rick Warren came out with The Purpose-Driven Life, a 40-day adaptation of the same 5 purposes as "a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century". We can see hints of these purposes in our passage from Luke 6, so I'd like to introduce these themes which will continue through the "40 Days of Purpose" in Lent starting this Wednesday.
[diagram: 5 Circles of Commitment] 30 years ago, as a youth pastor, Rick Warren developed a couple of diagrams which Saddleback still bases their programs around today. Each of the "5 Circles of Commitment" represents an increasing level of commitment, from very little - such as agreeing to attend services occasionally, what's called "Community" or "unchurched" - to very mature, such as using one's spiritual gifts in ministering to others, called the "Core" or "lay ministers". In between are the "Crowd - regular attenders", "Congregation - members", and "Committed - maturing members". The church's goal then is moving people from the outer (low commitment) circle to the inner circle.
[diagram: The Life Development Process] What the church does is depicted by this diagram in the shape of a baseball diamond. The run to first base is "Knowing Christ", with 1st being "Committed to Membership". The run to 2nd is "Growing in Christ", at which they're called "Committed to Maturity". En route to 3rd is "Serving Christ", with the base called "Committed to Ministry" - what Pastor Warren terms the "Core". The run to home plate is "Sharing Christ", with the plate itself called "Committed to Missions".
Unfortunately there are a couple of circles that don't really fit the baseball diamond; "Community / unchurched" and "Crowd / attenders" would be somewhere before 1st base. But, hey, it's American, so they love baseball!
[diagram: Explaining the Church's Purposes] The 5 purposes are tied in to both these diagrams through a chart, which lists the purpose on the left, and objective and target group in the middle. "Outreach" or mission is aimed at the Community. "Worship" or magnify - the Crowd. "Fellowship" or membership - the Congregation. "Discipleship" or maturity - the Committed. "Service" or ministry - the Core.
The main thing is the pattern: as people grow in their level of commitment, they explore and are trained in various aspects of God's purposes for them. The Christian life is rescued from being just an endless stagnant routine of coming to church week after week for the rest of your life. There's a process, a movement toward a goal; not as simple as earning your scarf-full of Scout badges, but an ongoing developing and enriching that's custom-tailored for each person based on God's unique gifting. What the book The Purpose-Driven Life does is to take one of these purposes or areas of developing maturity and dwell on it for a week at a time.
Let's adapt the Californian's model to our Canadian climate. Forget the baseball diamond and imagine instead a spiral staircase, carved out of hardwood maple (maybe like Jacob's ladder? Gen.28:12). There are 6 steps, each with a word that summarizes that stage of Christian development and that week of the 40 Days of Purpose.
1) CONVERT: The beginning of our Christian walk occurs when we discover God has a Purpose for our lives. We find a new focus in faith, we believe the reality of Jesus' death for us, His Resurrection, we're astounded to discover God forgives our sin and desires relationship with us. We come to "see life from God's view" as Day 5 puts it. In Biblical terms, this is "repentance" or "metanoia", a changed outlook, re-thinking our worldview. Receiving Christ as Lord and Saviour is an awakening, a conversion, turning our life over to His control and leading. Lk.6:42 says, "First take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly..." Repentance - admitting we were wrong - removes the plank of our rebellion against God.
2) COME: When we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we experience a desire to worship God, thanking Him for this wonderful gift of salvation and security in matters eternal. We start to come to church regularly, to be part of what Warren calls the "crowd". In worship we find we are renewed in our power for daily living, strengthened to face the week's trials. So week 2 / Purpose 1 talks about "the heart of worship" and "developing your friendship with God". In Lk.6:47-48 Jesus talks about the person "who COMES to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock." That's what we do in worship, incorporating God's teaching into our lives, digging deep and basing our life on what He says not what the world says. Then the floods that come won't shake us - we're anchored in something that outlasts the world (Lk.21:33).
3) CONNECT: Over time, as we keep coming to church, we begin to connect with the others in the congregation, we get to know one another and start to feel safe and appreciated. Fellowship is the focus here; people commit to becoming members, accepting the "church covenant", both for personal support and accountability. Week 3 / Purpose 2 talks about being formed for God's family, cultivating community, restoring fellowship. Jesus knew we would need others to help us "take the speck out of your eye" (Lk.6:42). Paul directs in Galatians 6(1-2), "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently...Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” In connecting with the church, we agree to become this friendly yet honest fellowship of speck-spotters and beam-bearers.
4) COMMIT: These are what Rick Warren describes as "maturing members", training seriously in discipleship, learning Christ's principles of conduct, ready to pay for their belief with their resources of time and money. The fourth week's discipleship is rephrased as "becoming like Christ", being transformed by truth, trouble, and temptation. Saddleback's maturity covenant card requires a commitment to 3 spiritual habits: having a daily quiet time, tithing 10% of one's income, and being active in a small group. By this point, your involvement is beyond just weekly entertainment to costing a significant daily and budgetary amount of your resources. Faith in practice. What Jesus describes in v40 a student becoming "like his teacher", "fully trained". The Greek verb can refer to mending of broken things like fishing nets; discipleship training "patches us up" like a reconditioned engine or rebuilt alternator, good for another 100,000 miles.
When you commit, you're beyond mere lipservice or outward show. Your love for Christ means so much that you're ready to make some real sacrifices. Speaking of guides, blind or otherwise...A tourist group was going through the ancient city of Rome. The Italian guide was having the time of his life as he had this international group with him. And they were just "ooing" and "aahing" over all sorts of things. He got a little carried away when he came to a pen full of chickens. He stepped back and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, these are very unusual and distinctive chickens. They happen to be descendants of that rooster that crowed the night Peter denied his Master, Jesus of Nazareth." Well, everyone pushed their nose up against the chicken wire and stared at these chickens. An Englishman in the group said, "My word! What a pedigree!" Typically, an American in the group immediately reached for his chequebook and asked the guide, "How much do they cost?" But also in the group was a Scottish fellow who had watched all that was going on. He quietly asked the guide, "These chickens -- do they lay any eggs?"
True commitment results in action. God's not impressed by our pedigree or by our net worth. Disciples "lay eggs", so to speak - they "make disciples" and bear fruit in many ways.
5) CO-OPERATE: For what Rick Warren calls the "core" group, ministry and serving are key words. These are the Sunday School teachers, deacons, musicians, youth workers,and so on. Rick Warren notes, "If I were to drop dead, Saddleback would continue to grow because of this base of 1500 lay ministers." Saddleback has them complete a "SHAPE" profile about their spiritual gifts, conducts a personal ministry interview, commissions them for a particular function, and provides monthly "core-only" training. So week 5 in Purpose-Driven Life says "you were shaped for serving God" and looks at ability, personality, gifts, and a servant attitude. Jesus hints at active ministry in v45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.." There's an outworking as a result of what God's been teaching us, we want to benefit others in a practical way, to co-operate and promote the church's overall mission.
6) CALL OTHERS: The final week of the 40 Days looks at evangelism and mission. In the Great Commission Jesus ordered His followers to call others, making disciples by baptizing and teaching. This returns us to the first step - Converts; and walking them through the process. When you've discovered Christ's abundant life it slips out, you want to share His comfort and real help with others. Lk.6:45b, "Out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks." Under the title "Made for a Mission" Warren gives pointers on sharing our Life Message (testimony, life lessons, godly passions, and the Good News); becoming a "world-class" Christian and thinking globally.
As you look down the "spiral staircase" from the top, you can see how the 6 steps fit into the Great Command and Great Commission: Convert and Come have to do with loving God totally; Connect and Commit are more people-oriented, loving our neighbour as ourself; and Co-operate and Call Others pertain to the Great Commission, making disciples.
A Lift for a Hitchhiker...Again
Disciple-making as an ongoing process, stepping believers through to increasing levels of commitment, is so important. Without a seeing guide's help, one can be waylaid by the Enemy into a pitfall. For Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, discipling others became the passion of his life. It happened like this. One day early in his ministry, Dawson was driving along and saw a young man walking down the street on his way to caddy at the golf course. Trotman often picked up hitchhikers, for it gave him a chance to witness. The hitchhiker on this day swore as he got into the car; Dawson reached into his pocket for a gospel tract and handed it to him. The man glanced at the tract, then looked at Dawson and said, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Dawson looked at hiim closely. As it turned out, the two men had met on the same road the previous year. Dawson had witnessed to him, led him to Christ, and had "sped on my merry way" confident that another soul had entered the kingdom. But now, a year later, there was no mmore evidence of the new birth in this young man than if he'd never heard the gospel. Dawson recalls, "After I met this boy the second time on the way to the golf course, I began to go back and find some of my 'converts'. I want to tell you, I was sick at heart."
Motivated by that experience, Dawson Trotman began working on follow-up, developing ways of mentoring those whom he was winning to Christ. He later said, "Before I had forgotten to follow up on the people God had reached through me.But from then on I began to spend time helping them...You can lead a soul to Christ in anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. But it takes from 20 weeks to a couple of years to get him on the road to maturity."
When we make ourselves available to the Lord to accompany people on this faith journey, it is most rewarding. May Jesus help us not just hear His word but put it into practice, so others can experience an overflowing heart. Let's pray.