Come, follow me

So Josh,

"Come, follow me". Three simple words. There's not much to them. They were said to two guys, Peter and Andrew, two brothers, ages and ages ago. Just three words. "Come follow me".

You see, three simple words are transformed into a daily invitation of adventure, power, meaning and transformation when we find out who says them. Let's read the passage:

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him." (Matthew 4:18-20)

• Jesus gives them this invitation when they were in the middle of their humdrum, day to day life. Jesus invites us to follow him when we're serving up fries at McDonalds, or working on the farm, or going to a friends party, or swimming in the pool. In the middle of our day to day life - Jesus is constantly whispering to us "Come, follow me"
• Jesus invites them while they were doing what was needed for them to survive. If they didn't fish, they wouldn't eat. If the catch wasn't big enough, they wouldn't eat. If they didn't put in the hours on the boat (at the office, in school etc) they wouldn't move on in life. In the middle of living in survival mode, Christ gives us a different option: "Come follow me".
  
• Jesus invites to leave what they find comfortable. Fishing made sense to them. They'd done it all their lives. They understood the ins and outs of handling a boat, mending a net, what fish to keep and which to throw away, how to gut a fish, how to preserve, what was a good price for the fish. This life made sense. But Jesus invited them out of what made sense, he invited them to leave their comfort zone...to do what? Follow him.
• Jesus is sometimes vague about the details. He didn't give them a 3 year plan, or tell them to get a degree first in healing or preaching or demon casting out. They passed or failed on one thing - would they follow him? To where? They didn't know. For how long? They didn't know. What would the accommodation be like? They had no idea. Did they know at this point that they would be laughed at, persecuted, tired, hungry, angry, hard done by? No. Did they know that they would be responsible for building the church, spreading the gospel, seeing thousands of people come to know Christ through them? No. All they knew what that Jesus said "Come follow me". And they did.

Sometimes we need to know all the details, sometimes we want God's plan to fit into our plan, sometimes we want to have it all figured out, make sure our health insurance is up to date, ensure we have a contingency plan..a plan B. We want God to give us a HUGE sign before we'll even take one tiny step. Have we packed our bug spray, our sun screen, our travel sickness pills?

Sometimes we think "I don't know enough...I'm not good enough...I'm not smart / funny / witty / good-looking / together enough". Still Jesus looks you in the eye and says "Come follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men". He will make you into the person He wants you to be. He knows you better than you know yourself. And He wants to use you. Right here. Right now.

Jesus always takes the first step in inviting us.
We just have to respond by taking one step, and then another, and then another. You see, when you put together a lifetime of taking one step at a time with Jesus - you have an entire lifetime of following Jesus. But all he's asking you for, right now, is the next step. Will you take it? Will you come and follow Him?

Remember the kids song:

"I will make you fishers of men if you follow me"

Perhaps there's more truth to this than we think...

Love you mate

Dan

Lessons from Herbal Essences (How to more than just survive the summer)

So Josh,

I think I'm going crazy. Or at least you will, when I tell you what I'm going to tell you...

Shampoo has started speaking to me. In the shower. This very morning.

I hope the church leaders don't read this.

Let me explain.

You see, I was there in the shower, still half asleep when I happened to glance ahead and read the label on my wife's shampoo bottle.

You can see it in the picture - it was talking to me. Her shampoo bottle has a voice, and it's trying to sell itself to whoever is unlucky enough to read it. My wife was one such person - sucked in by the dulcet tones and sales power of a shampoo bottle. Talking to her.

WHAT THE SHAMPOO SAID TO ME
"Your colour-treated hair will love my replenishing shampoo and conditioner marriage, fused with extracts of acai berries and satin. I'll help protect your colour-treated hair because I'm packed with conditioners to help keep your hair healthy looking and truly radiant. And that's a sign of happiness"

OK, so my wife's shampoo is promising to have my back as well as bringing me happiness. Firstly, Mrs (Mr?...Ms?..do shampoo bottles have genders? - I guess that since it's pink, and belongs to my wife, let's go for Mrs)...firstly, Mrs Shampoo Bottle, what the heck are acai berries and how do you fuse them with satin? According to wikipedia, satin is a material! That's like trying to fuse denim and strawberries. I guess if you threw strawberries really hard at a pair of jeans, they might leave a bit of a stain...but I can't see how you could squeeze that into a shampoo bottle (I can see the bottle now..."fused with extracts of strawberries and denim")

Anyways, let me return from my rant against a bottle of shampoo...

The thing is that the bottle of shampoo promises me lots of stuff. And I can look at it and believe that my hair colour will stay radiant. I can look at it and believe that it is indeed packed with conditioners. I can believe I indeed will love her "replenishing shampoo and conditioner marriage.

But until I obey the instructions to "make a lush lather, make your colour treated hair happy with it, rinse & repeat" (yes, that's actually what the bottle says!) then my hair's going to look at dull and lifeless as it did before the shower.

SHAMPOO SPIRITUALITY
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2: 12-13)

"Work hard"..."God is working in you"

I put the shampoo in my hair. The shampoo does what the bottle says it will.

I work hard. God works hard.

If I do all the work, it's legalism and not love (legalism is trying to make God love me by doing all the 'right' things) .
If God does all the work, it's laziness and not love (laziness is sitting around on your butt all day doing absolutely nothing...but I'm sure you know that!)

The key is trust.

We trust that the bottle of shampoo with make my hair radiant, and we show that trust by putting it on our hair and following the instructions.

The trust results in action.

We trust that God has my best interests at heart - that He wants to lead me into holiness (make me more like Him) and that's there's nothing I can do to make myself acceptable to him - I just have to accept His free gift.

COLOUR ME HAPPY
But I can't just look at that free gift - God's grace has to make contact with my life for it to make a difference (just as that shampoo has got to make contact with my hair for it to make a difference).

Many people sit in their pews Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday saying:

"I believe that the shampoo can make my hair clean. I believe it can make my hair truly radiant and healthy looking, perhaps even happy"

Well not really, what they say is:

"I believe that God can make me clean. I believe He has a purpose for my life and He can make me radiant and spiritually health, perhaps even happy"

But until they take the plunge and actually receive free God's gift of grace, it's all for nothing.

Perhaps you're not there yet. Perhaps you're questioning the label and saying:

"Come on, give me a break - I've heard this sales pitch before. I'm tired of hearing it - it's so disconnected my real life...my everyday pain, my everyday anxiety, my everday worry"

Tell God that. Ask Him if He's for real. Then take time to listen - see how he responds to you.

The wonderful thing is that after applying the shampoo, after choosing God to rule your life and heal you from your sin and your crap, God says this...

"I am working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases me"(Phil 2:13)

Not only does He give you the power to do what He's created you to do. He gives you the desire. He says He will give you the desire. He will do what's necessary to make you want to serve Him. You don't even have to worry about wanting to serve Him. You don't have to drum up a happy smile when inside you're falling apart. You don't have to "pull yourself together" and just do it. Just. Trust. God. Another way the Bible puts this is in Psalm 37:4-5:

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

It doesn't say "try your very best and He will give your the desires of your heart"
Just delight in Him.
It doesn't say "read your bible for half an hour every day"
Just delight in Him.
It doesn't say "Stop smoking, drinking, screwing around"
Just delight in Him.

As you delight in God, He will give you your hearts desire...Himself.
HE WILL GIVE YOU HIMSELF

I mean, it'd be pretty ridiculous to think you had to first clean your hair before using Herbal Essences. The whole point of Herbal Essences is to clean your hair.

It's just as ridiculous to think we have to clean up our act before coming to God. Come to Him with all your sin, your shame, your hopelessness, your habitual sin, your dirt and scum. And let Him work on you, not just to make you clean, but to make you radiant. Holy. Just like Him.

HE WILL GIVE YOU HIMSELF

Just open the bottle, make a lush lather and massage it into your hair. The shampoo does the rest...and once you've taken the plunge and tried the shampoo once, you'll keep on coming back to it day after day after day - and your hair will become even more radiant, until it looks just like Jesus Christ's...

Check out this video called "He Never Said" by one of my favourite artists, Martyn Joseph