Follow Jesus as a Lifelong Learner
As John 6:60-69 shows, the words of Jesus give us answers and life. Accept his life-giving words. Follow Jesus as a Lifelong Learner. September 6, 2009.
Think of all the information you currently hold in your memory bank. Passwords, famous phrases, the recipe for the world’s best pancakes, the names of people, the location of places, and those invincible moves on your video game system. You have this information memorized because you need it. It’s useful or meaningful or both. And you continue to retrieve and store new information every day. It’s called lifelong learning. One educational expert wrote, “All adults want to make sense of their world, find meaning, and be effective at what they value. This fuels their motivation to learn … to be competent in matters they hold important” (Wlodkowski, Raymond J. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1999). Are you as competent at knowing the differences between the twelve disciples as you are at knowing the tendencies of the twelve players on your fantasy football team? Have I learned as much from the Bible the past month as I have from the internet? Parents jump through hoops to get their kids to play practice and swimming lessons and around the table for supper; do we make similar efforts to keep them active in their Christian faith? I think we’d all agree that the Word of God is very important to us, but we could improve our learning of it and living it. Today is Christian education Sunday at Grace and the intent is to help each of us better Follow Jesus as a Lifelong Learner.
Accept his life-giving words
Ronnie is a new friend of mine who lives under a bridge. He stands under I-43 at the McKinley on ramp with a sign that says, “Hungry. Please help.” When I can, I pull into the lane nearest him, roll down my window and talk to Ronnie. He gladly takes handouts, and sometimes I don’t give him anything but we just talk about various topics. Recently he told me that he wants me to tell him more about Jesus. Ronnie’s a learner. Albert is a homeless man who has made a few appearances here at Grace, and on Thursday he came to the Grace Center. When I tried to talk to Albert about Jesus he began grumbling that church people aren’t loving. Albert won’t accept what is truly life-giving. He’s not a learner. And neither were some of Jesus’ followers as he explained to them he’s not just a miracle worker who can feed their tummies and can defend them against Roman imperialism. Some from a larger group of loyal followers (they’d even earned the label “disciples”) grumbled, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Jesus knew that his life-giving words tripped them up like the violent gust of a harsh wind pushing a person off balance. “If you think I’m only an earthbound revolutionist and philanthropist with deep pockets,” Jesus said, “wait till I rise from the dead and ascend to my real home in heaven!” Like Albert, some of Jesus’ followers weren’t interested because they simply had other things on their mind.
What’s on your mind? Is your tummy hungry or budget hurting? Does your heart long for attention or affection? Is your head spinning like a roulette wheel hoping to land on the jackpot answer to a few nagging problems? Or maybe you just can’t decide on a major or whether to switch cell phone plans. These are all valid earthly concerns and they take time and effort to research and retrieve data, to analyze it and come to a decision. And sometimes, they stress us out so much and occupy so much brain power that we don’t focus on the life-giving words of Jesus. And then we’re okay with that. “Not a problem,” we think, “I was confirmed at St. George’s by Pastor Gustaf who taught me everything I need to know about the Bible.” As if we get to the point when we know it all spiritually, while the Bible says that even the angels long to learn more. “The flesh counts for nothing,” Jesus warns. Memorizing a group of facts about God is good but is worthless if not accompanied by the desire to learn and grow from the life-giving words of Jesus. “The greatest enemy of learning is knowing,” says Christian leadership expert John Maxwell (Maxwell, John, Talent is Never Enough, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2007, p. 184). By thinking we know it all, we prove that we don’t. The harsh winds of the world’s deceptive words and the devil’s poisonous whispers push us off balance. Or worse.
Jesus knows better. We want our minds to grow and bodies to remain active, and Jesus may grant that desire, but Jesus always gives us a growing and active spirit. We look for answers in a confusing world, and Jesus may give them to us, but Jesus always gives us life. “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life,” Jesus promises. Like the graphed spaces of a crossword puzzle waiting for words, life without Jesus’ words is just a bunch of empty boxes waiting to be filled. We can feel clever enough to devise some great sounding clues but that’s all we find in worldly wisdom – clues. The words of Jesus fill our minds and our spirits. The words of Jesus give us answers and life. Accept his life-giving words. Follow Jesus as a Lifelong Learner.
Don’t leave his life-changing love
Some of the disciples still didn’t believe. Then we’re told, “Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him … From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Do you think that includes Judas? Judas is still part of the Twelve even in the upper room the night before Jesus died, yet in his heart and soul it’s very possible that Judas now turns away. And Jesus knew it. He knew right at this moment that Judas would be a traitor. Jesus knew even a few years ago when he was deciding whether or not to call Judas as a disciple that Judas would betray him. And still, Jesus chose him. Still, Jesus loved him. We want to scream out to Jesus, “He’s not worth saving!” but Jesus knew that about Judas, and knows that about us. Jesus knows I will betray him again with my sins, and he still loves me. I’m not worth saving. You’re not worth saving. Jesus knows that. But he loves us anyway. He never gave up on Judas, even to the end, and Jesus will never give up on you. So don’t leave his life-changing love. Don’t turn away from his call to discipleship no matter how difficult. Don’t give up learning about him and from him so that you can better follow him.
“You do not want to leave me too, do you?” Jesus asks. Never, Lord. Never let me leave you. Always help me learn from you and follow you. “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” We are drawn to Jesus by the guiding hand of the Father’s grace, and by faith we know of nowhere else to go for life-changing forgiveness, life-changing answers to prayer, life-changing mercy, life-changing gifts and opportunities and relationships that help us grow.
Today the Bible told us about Moses, that “when he had grown up [he] refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin … He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value … by faith he left Egypt” (Hebrews 11:24-27). This past Thursday I met that person. He didn’t grow up until after he gave up the sinful pleasures of alcohol abuse that made him lost his wife and two children. After AA meetings he refused to be that person any more. Problem was, he didn’t believe in God. He didn’t want to rely on a god for anything and made a living playing songs and telling jokes in bars, but God kept him near. So near that he lived next to a WELS pastor. They became friends. They talked about life and about Jesus. And through the life-giving, life-changing words of Jesus this man became a Christian. He moved to New Orleans, found a new job, found a WELS church, and then Katrina wreaked her havoc. In the recovery this man found his greatest joy not in working as a financial agent and not in owning a condo but in being a follower of Jesus. He quit his job, sold his condo, and took his songwriting and performance skills on a journey of faith. He left New Orleans, recorded a CD, and started sharing his story with churches around the country about a life-giving, life-changing Jesus. His name is Chris Driesbach and he performed at the Grace Place Coffee Shop on Thursday. His story of amazing grace is enough to fill a performance but it’s not enough for him, because he’s a lifelong learner. Chris’s journey is not just to sing but to explore, to grow, and to learn. He loves to meet people, hear their stories, learn the names of the pastors at the 402 WELS churches where he’s performed, and discuss how Jesus can change his life even more. I could close with a push for all of you – and me – to do better at Bible learning. I could announce the new Bible study schedule and urge you to read your Bibles more at home. Instead I’ll simply suggest – through a couple of verses of a song that Chris Dreisbach wrote – that you come again to the words of Jesus to learn:
- So many other things we do - are just a waste of time / Worryin’ about this, fearful of that, angry about my place in line / Always runnin’ here and there and never getting through / You might be someone just wastin’ your precious time, too / I’ve got a better idea for you …
- The bible is always new, evergreen, evermore / It’s always fresh and topical, the very words of the Lord / It’s like this is the church of what is happenin’ right now / Every thing that’s goin’ on - Everything in my life somehow / It’s not a mystery, not pretend, it’s real …
- Why don’t you come? Why don’t you come? / We’re celebratin’ life and singin’ about truth / Everything else is something worse to do / Compared to Christian freedom and perfect love, too – I’m comin’- why don’t you? (Driesbach, Chris, “Why Don’t You Come?” After the Storm, 2006, available at http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10418&productID=344096). Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on September 6, 2009
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