Oct 28

Taking Jesus into Your Neighborhood

Christian Life, Missional Living, Northshore Baptist Church 2 Comments »

Recently Jon and Pat Sween, who serve on The Navigators staff in the Seattle area and are a part of the Northshore family, sent me this story on what it has means for them to take Jesus into their neighborhood. The Sween’s wrote:

What does it mean to live in your neighborhood?  In this age of garage door openers, fences to separate houses and a hectic lifestyle, how do we live in our neighborhoods in such a way that our neighbors get a complete picture of the good news of Jesus?  Is it just a matter of getting them to our church so they can hear a message from the Bible?  Is it bringing them to a crusade at a stadium event?  These may be very good things if the timing and the setting is right.

We’ve lived in our neighborhood for 23 years.  We’ve received an education from our neighbors on what it means to live and relate as friends.  Our very imperfect family has tried to live the gospel of the kingdom with friends in the neighborhood that we really want to experience the good news of Jesus.  Yes we’ve invited them to a variety of things including our very good local church with some good results.  We’ve also had a neighborhood book club for 20 years that has created a relational environment to get to know our neighbors.  But I’ve often wondered if anything about our faith has flowed naturally and relationally to our friends that we care deeply about.

A few weeks ago I had lunch with the husband of one of the kids that grew up just across the street from us.  He is a follower of Jesus and works as an engineer in a city close to where we live.  We had a great time at lunch and chatted about him going with me to Kazakhstan or India to teach at a secular university on servant leadership.  His wife, the girl who grew up across the street from us for 15 years is now a follower of Jesus also.

A few days later I received an email from his wife, let’s call her Susan.  Susan wrote to say thank you for meeting her husband and how helpful the time had been.  Then she described what it was like growing up across the street from our family.

“I grew up across the street from Jon and his family.  He and his wife and his daughters were instrumental in drawing me to Jesus.  They modeled what it means to live life as followers of Christ, and they showed me how a Christian home can truly look.”

I was stunned but encouraged by Susan’s gracious comments.  As I said previously, we have struggled in our family and our marriage to reflect Biblical values so please understand that out of our brokenness God did something good.

As I have reflected on Susan’s comments the Lord brought several things to mind on living and relating in our neighborhood.   Some of those reflections are the following;

  • God takes our brokenness and uses it for the kingdom beyond what we could imagine
  • The gospel can flow naturally and relationally if we take the initiative to love our neighbors
  • Living and relating in the neighborhood takes lots of time and prayer
  • People, even little kids, are watching how a Christian family lives and relates
  • The good news of Jesus has to be incarnated in close proximity to where people live

Let me close with John 1.14 in The Message:  “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood…”

Has Jesus moved into your neighborhood through your marriage and your family?

Jon & Pat Sween are passionate about the advancement of the gospel via the workplace, neighborhood and networks around Seattle.  Their heart is to plant the idea virus of “right where you are God is at work.”  They have three grown daughters, two awesome son-in-laws, and six great grand kids (one on the way in March). They’ve been on The Navigators Staff and have partnered with Northshore for 23 years.

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Oct 21

Divide & Conquer

Church Planting, Missional Living, Northshore Baptist Church No Comments »

Today the Northsound Church Planting Network (part of Converge Northwest & Converge Worldwide) gathered with Dr. Jerry Sheveland, Converge Worldwide President, to talk about the state of church planting nationally and internationally in and through our movement of churches. Dr. Sheveland shared with us a passage from 2 Samuel 10:9-12.

Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans. But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you.” (2 Samuel 10:9-11)

The armies of Israel were being attacked from the front and the rear. So commander Joab selected “choice men” to fight the battle at the front and “choice men” to battle at the rear. And his “conquer and divide” battle speech in v. is epic…

Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight. (2 Samuel 10:12)

This is the call of Jesus’ mission through multiplying churches and church planting movements. The battle of light vs. dark is being fought on all sides, so we take “choice men” and send them toward the battle.  Then we take other “choice men” and send them to battle on other fronts.  We are fighting for the “cities of our God.” We have been strategically placed in our local communities to love and serve them with the kingdom heart of God… and to proclaim the gospel truth of Jesus.  We are to fight for the cities of our God with the great gospel of Jesus.

Northshore is committed to the mission of multiplying followers, leaders, churches, and church-planting movements. Will you join the battle?

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Oct 18

The Receptive Heart

Gospel of Mark, Sermons No Comments »

This is the 3rd post of 3 on the Parable of the Sower

The receptive heart receives Jesus and responds by sowing the seeds of the gospel. This is where the whole Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20 goes. Jesus is asking you where your heart is. Will you joyfully receive and welcome the gospel of His kingdom. And will you respond by going out and sowing the seeds of His gospel in your world? Why is Jesus sharing this parable with His followers? He’s not only asking them to evaluate their own hearts, but He’s also training them to recognize the hearts they’ll encounter as they sow the seeds of the gospel themselves. And implicit is the reality that servant-hearted, kingdom-minded people are constantly sowing the seeds of the gospel in our world.

When I was in college, I took a class called “Soil Science” (yes… soil science). As a part of the curriculum, we learned to do soil analysis. We learned how to evaluate the health of a soil and how to identify what needed to be changed to restore health to the soil. We understood the quality of the soil determines the quality of the crop. Think specifically about a person in your life who needs Jesus. What’s the soil condition of their heart? Where are they looking for salvation? Pray for that person? Pray for the “soil preparation.” Ask Jesus for insight and wisdom on how to sow the seed of His gospel and His kingdom into their life. And then go sow that seed. Share the gospel with them. And when we respond to Jesus in this way, we’ve got those hearts of good soil, a life that is servant-hearted and kingdom-minded. We have a heart that receives the seed of Jesus great gospel… a heart that bears a beautiful and bountiful crop for His kingdom.

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Oct 18

Soils & Saviors

Gospel of Mark, Sermons No Comments »

This is the 2nd post of 3 on the Parable of the Sower

As I read through the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20, the soil of the human heart is really about what “saviors” we look to for satisfaction, significance, and salvation. The saviors we look to determines the heart of the harvest.

Savior #1: Myself. Savior #1 corresponds to Soil #1, the heart that is ultimately indifferent to the seed of Jesus’ gospel. In the context of Mark’s Gospel, the Pharisees are looking to their own self-righteousness and good works for salvation. They think that they’re good works can build a bridge to God. They’re looking to themselves. In our culture, this is the soil of many hearts. In an ABC News Poll, a random sampling of over 1000 American adults revealed that 89% of people believed in heaven and 85% percent of those people believed they were going there, and 60% believe that both Christians and non-Christians get in. The implication is that 60% of the people who believe in heaven believe that they’ll go to heaven because they’re good people. They’re looking to themselves for salvation.

Savior #2: Comfort. Savior #2 corresponds with Soil #2, the heart that looks for an easy spirituality because the savior here is comfort. This heart is not looking for anything too extreme. This heart says, “I want Jesus to be my Savior but not my Lord… because if He’s really my Lord and I really need to do and be what He’s calling me to do and be, it will mean being uncomfortable and being comfortable is my highest value. I don’t really want to have my boat rocked… I like life the way it is.” And just for the record, Jesus is not this kind of savior.

Savior #3: Pleasure. Savior #3 corresponds to Soil #3, the heart that’s looking for a balanced spiritual life… a little bit of Jesus is what I need in my life. But let’s be honest, when we have this kind of attitude, much like the savior of comfort, we’re often looking for pleasure to give us meaning and significance. Jesus defined it in v. 19 as the “cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.” It’s the savior of pleasure. Notice that the plant in the parable sprung up but it ultimately bore no fruit because other things choked it out. We look to pleasure to provide meaning and happiness in our lives. I posted this quote on Facebook this week: “We sin because in that moment we desire, treasure, delight in, long for, fear, worship, glorify or want something more than we desire God.” In short, we sin and we choke out Jesus’ work in our lives because we desire something or someone more than we desire Jesus… it’s the savior of pleasure.

Savior #4: Jesus. The last soil, the human heart that is all about kingdom spirituality, is looking solely to Jesus as Savior and Lord. This human heart receives and welcomes Jesus, responding fully to His gospel and kingdom work as it transforms our lives and our world.

What Savior(s) are you looking to in your life?

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Oct 18

Soils of the Heart & Seeds of the Gospel

Gospel of Mark, Sermons 1 Comment »

This is the 1st post of 3 on the Parable of the Sower

I received my college degree in Horticulture… a very “useful” degree for pastoral ministry because I understand Jesus’ agriculture parables. I took a class called “Soil Science” where we learned that the quality of the soil determines the quality of the crop. Good soil = good crop. Bad soil = bad crop. Pretty simple. Jesus’ point in the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20 is the same. If the soil of heart is receptive, we bear much fruit. If the soil of our heart is not receptive, we bear no fruit. Here’s what Jesus has to say about the four soils of the heart and their responsiveness to the seed of the gospel.

Soil #1: Indifferent Spirituality. I would call this soil “indifferent spirituality” because it is indifferent or even hostile to the things of Jesus. The Pharisees in the Gospel of Mark would fall into this category because they are indifferent and even hostile towards the word and gospel Jesus shares. And because they’re hearts are hardened, just like the soil of the pathway, the seed of the gospel finds no place to root. In our world atheism and agnosticism are part of an indifferent spirituality. Atheism is completely indifferent and even hostile towards anything spiritual, especially the gospel. And agnosticism, while appearing as a search for truth, is ultimately indifferent to clarifying anything about God.

Soil #2: Easy Spirituality. This is the heart that wants following Jesus to be easy. This is the soil of the human heart that cannot handle rejection, persecution, and suffering. When the going gets tough, which it invariably does in following Jesus, the person of “easy spirituality” leaves Jesus and discipleship behind because they won’t count the cost of discipleship. They want Jesus’ cross to pay for their sin, but they won’t want to pick up their own.

Soil #3: Balanced Spirituality. This is the soil of the human heart that wants life to go on as normal but adds a little Jesus to the mix. We want a life in “balance.” Here’s my relationships… here’s my job… here’s my free-time… here’s my physical health… and here’s my spiritual health and I’ll fit Jesus into that category. The problem with that is that “balance” is not a biblical concept because in following Jesus, our whole lives are to be under the Lordship of Jesus. He gets it all. And Jesus knows that the in a “balanced heart,” the concerns of all the other categories overcome and overwhelm the small part we’ve put Jesus into. The cares of the world, the delight and deceitfulness of riches and wealth, and the desire for other things choke out Jesus and distract us from truly following Him.

Soil #4: Kingdom Spirituality. Finally, we get to the good soil… the soil of the human heart that longs for Jesus and His kingdom… the human heart that is all about kingdom spirituality. This kind of heart receives and welcomes Jesus’ word immediately, so it’s not snatched away by Satan. This kind of heart receives and welcomes Jesus’ word deeply, so it doesn’t wither. This kind of heart receives and welcomes Jesus’ word exclusively, so it’s not chocked out and distracted by all of the other things in life and the world. Remember, the quality of the soil determines the quality of the harvest. It’s interesting that when Jesus says that they bear fruit thirty, sixty, and one hundred fold that the average harvest for grain crops was about ten fold. For each seed planted in good soil, you’d harvest about 10 grain seeds. So when Jesus’ word is planted deeply within a heart that desires Jesus and His kingdom above all else, the fruit that is born is supernatural and miraculous.

So where is the soil of your heart these days? Where would you honestly put yourself in these four soils? And what do you need to do to prepare your heart to receive Jesus’ word so that it can bear His gospel and kingdom fruit in and through your life?

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Sep 08

The Gospel of Mark

Gospel of Mark, Northshore Baptist Church 2 Comments »


“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” ~ Mark 1:1

With these words the Gospel writer Mark invites us into a new adventure… a new beginning with the greatest news the world has ever heard… the good news that God has come through Jesus Christ to bring His perfect rule and reign to earth. And God’s rule and reign calls us to be and transforms us into people who are servant-hearted & kingdom-minded.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for man” (Mark 10:45). This is the key verse in the Gospel of Mark. This is the verse that gives us a vision of the mission of Jesus Christ, the God-Man. Matthew’s Gospel shines the light on Christ as Messiah King. Luke’s Gospel shows Jesus as the compassionate Savior to all. John’s lofty gospel focuses on proving to the whole world that Jesus is fully God.  But Mark’s picture of Jesus is earthy… focusing on Jesus as the Servant, the Son of Man, who came to give His life as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53).

The shortest of the four Gospels, Mark’s style is quick and compact. His style focuses on the action taking place in the stories of call, confrontation, and change. But as we get to chapter 11, it all goes into slow-motion as he fixates on the Passion Week and the Cross… the ultimate place of call, confrontation, and change… the place where the Son of Man, the Servant of God does away with sin and death and gives all of earthy humanity the opportunity to join God in His great kingdom mission… the kingdom where the first are last and the last are first.

Ultimately, Mark’s great Gospel is a call and challenge to be servant-hearted & kingdom-minded. Will you answer the call and live in the challenge?

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Sep 01

The Life I Planned vs. The Life I Needed

Book Reviews, Literature, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

One of my favorite summer reads was Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited.  It captures the conversation of two characters: Black and White. Black is a recovered addict and former inmate who found Jesus, and White is an atheist professor who tries to kill himself. The whole book is a conversation in Black’s kitchen after he’s rescued White from a failed suicide attempt. The conversation ultimately is a theological one that centers on the hope or hopelessness with or without God in the equation of life. And it’s written in McCarthy’s terse, sparse language that gets straight to the heart.

Here’s one of my favorite points of dialogue:

Black: If this ain’t the life you had in mind, what was?

White: I don’t know. Not this. Is your life the one you’d planned?

Black: No, it ain’t. I got what I needed instead of what I wanted and that’s just about the best kind of luck you can have.

So often we try to define and control what we want life to look like… the life we’d plan for ourselves. But for some reason, it doesn’t turn out that way. And there’s a tension in perspective here. In McCarthy’s story, White didn’t get the life he’d planned so he gave up. Yet Black, shaped by a far different perspective, sees the grace of God in giving him the life he needed. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). And in the abundance of life that Jesus gives, it’s always the life we truly need but not always the life we’d plan for ourselves. Such a marvelous mystery in the adventure of faith.

(P.S. Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones will star in the HBO debut of The Sunset Limited in February 2011)

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Aug 08

Spending Your Life & Time on Purpose

Bible, Ecclesiastes: Meaning of Life, Sermons, Theological Musings 2 Comments »

If reality says “life is brief” (read Ecclesiastes 1:1-11), and the gospel says that Jesus can bring meaning and purpose into every life, every aspect of our lives, and every moment, then a crucial question is “Am I spending my life and time on purpose?” If life is brief, then how we spend our time and energies is crucial to avoid “chasing the wind.”  This calls us to wise “life” time management.  In my last post “Ultimate Meaning” we addressed life values and vision.  And now we have to take those values and vision, the things that are most important and ensure that we are using our time to live those out.  If you tell me a relationship is important, but you spend little to no time with that person, I’d ask you how important that relationship really is.  If something is important, we’ll invest our time.

Here’s an clarifying exercise:

1. Record how you spend your time over a week (and even two or three if you want an accurate snapshot).

2. Put each activity into a category and then assign a percentage of how much of your week is spent on that activity.

3. Is there a “gap” between your time and your values?

4. What can you change to ensure that you’re spending your time in alignment with your values?

Americans watch more than 200 Billion hours of TV each and every year. Clearly, we collectively have more time than we think we have. We just use it on other things.  We will always find time and money to do what is important to us.

How we spend our time reflects what we value most. If we value other things more than we value Jesus Christ, His gospel, and His mission, we will not live with ultimate meaning and purpose.  We’ll wonder where life went.  Remember, we can’t ultimately fix what we originally broke – only Jesus can.  And there’s a world of people around us who need to hear that from us and see us live that out.  So our prayer becomes what is written in Psalm 90:12 – “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

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Aug 01

Ultimate Meaning

Ecclesiastes: Meaning of Life, Sermons, Theological Musings No Comments »

Here’s a life-changing question: “what do you want said about you at your memorial service and then live life backwards?” I think this is the question Solomon is inadvertently asking and shaping the answer to as he pens the ancient book of Ecclesiastes.  So what do you want said about your life… that dash between your date of birth and date of death on the service program? And how can you begin to live life now so those things are said?

Here’s the Johnny Cash cover of “Hurt” I showed during Sunday’s message from Ecclesiastes 12:1-14… in a sense, how NOT to get to the end of life and say, “If I could start again, a million miles away. I would keep myself. I would find a way.”

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Maybe the best way to NOT get to the end and have to say “If I could start again…” would be to determine what is most important in your life right now? What are the qualities and values you want to define your life? How does the gospel of Jesus Christ inform and shape those values? How are you living them out right now? When you think of a “preferred” future, what do you see? And how do you live life in light of Jesus Christ, with every moment and aspect of your life lived in joyful obedience and worship?  Seek the answers to these kinds of questions through the leading of the Holy Spirit, and you will have the things you want said about you at your memorial service.

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Jun 17

Impacting our Community

Missional Living, Northshore Baptist Church 1 Comment »

 

By Kate Jones, Northshore’s Local Mission Coordinator 

Our third annual CommunitySERVE Day is August 21st and it’s bigger than ever. What started as a simple desire to share the love of Jesus with our neighbors has mushroomed into an event that is unifying churches and impacting our community with the Gospel of Christ. This year we are partnering with seven churches to bring a variety of service projects to our schools, local organizations, and cities.

Hundreds of volunteers will be working in twelve different schools—eight in the Northshore School District and four in the Lake Washington District—where budget cuts have left a major opportunity for us to step in and serve. Our teams will help teachers prepare their classrooms for the fall by making nametags, building bulletin boards, cutting out and prepping curriculum, and various other projects. We’ll also work throughout the schools to clean libraries and classrooms, weed, spread bark, paint, and attend to other projects affected by budget cuts.

Last year we were overwhelmed by the response from school faculty and staff who expressed their appreciation for our help and the positive impact it had on the start of their school year. Curtis Anderson, principal at Alexander Graham Bell Elementary said, “More than the actual work done, it was amazing to feel the support of our community.” A librarian stated, “I can’t begin to tell you what a joy it was to walk in last week and find a spotless library—I just kept looking around in amazement. Your help has given me the time to really make the beginning of the year go smoother and I’m planning some new and better things for my students.”

The letters, emails, and phone calls received were a confirmation that our schools need our support and help. CommunitySERVE Day for our local schools is an opportunity to show the love and example of Christ, “for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.”

In addition to schools, we’ll have various projects within the cities of Bothell and Kirkland, helping to fill some gaps that budget cuts have created. Last year we were able to clean up and restore three different properties to pristine condition. One property was owned by a hoarder who had passed away and his daughter was working on cleaning things up in order to sell the property, a task which seemed overwhelming. But when a team of 60+ people from the local church showed up to help clear out the junk, pull out blackberry bushes, mow the yard, among other jobs completed that day, the burden was lifted.

Along with all the projects this year, we have a special opportunity to help with the framing of a building for a local organization called Vision House. Vision House Jacob’s Well provides transitional housing and a phenomenal program for homeless families. They have a 93% success rate in southern King County for helping families transition into permanent housing and achieving sustained income and hope to bring this same success to families in North King and Snohomish County. Much of Vision House’s original funding to build apartments and a childcare facility in the Kenmore/Shoreline area was lost when the economy turned two years ago. They are currently relying on local churches to partner with them so they can expand their program. You can go to http://www.youtube.com/user/visionhouse1 to watch a video showing the impact they are making for homeless families.

God has opened many doors for CommunitySERVE Day 2010, but no matter how many doors God opens we need you to walk through them in order for the impact to happen. We hope you will join us to make a difference. Visit CommunitySERVEDay.org to register. Invite your small group, neighbors, coworkers, family and friends to come and serve along side of you on August 21st.

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