02/24/2025
The Best Kind of Trouble-maker
While working on this last week’s sermon I was looking through Phillip Yancey’s excellent book—The Jesus I Never Knew—when I came across a section that I found profound. It didn’t quite fit my sermon, but it caught my eye enough that I copied it down.
“Jesus was “the man for others,” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s fine phrase. He kept himself free — free for the other person. He would accept almost anybody’s invitation to dinner, and as a result no public figure had a more diverse list of friends, ranging from rich people, Roman centurions, and Pharisees to tax collectors, prostitutes, and leprosy victims. People liked being with Jesus; where he was, joy was. And yet, for all these qualities that point toward what psychologists like to call self-actualization, Jesus broke the mold. As C. S. Lewis puts it, “He was not at all like the psychologist’s picture of the integrated, balanced, adjusted, happily married, employed, popular citizen. You can’t really be very well ‘adjusted’ to your world if it says you ‘have a devil’ and ends by nailing you up naked to a stake of wood.”
Jesus was a man for others and people enjoyed being with him, but he was also someone who would not compromise the message he’d been given by God—he was someone who stayed true to his mission and purpose. Was he “well adjusted”? In one sense, he was the most adjusted person who ever lived. In another sense, he was adjusted to the world—the way that God designed it, the way that it was intended to be. Unfortunately, that got him in trouble with all kinds of people. When I read words like these I think that it’s okay if I am upset or disturbed over state, national, or international relations. It’s okay to take a stand against cynicism and hypocrisy. As a follower of Jesus I am actually encouraged to resist conforming to the world as it is.
I want to be a man for others and I want to enjoy the people God has put in my life (as I hope that they might enjoy me), but I also know being faithful to Jesus’ vision for our world and for our relationships with one another is going to stir up some trouble. I suppose you can’t emulate a crucified King without expecting a little pushback every now and then. Thank God we don’t have to face that pushback alone.
Archived Posts
The Best Kind of Trouble-maker
While working on this last week’s sermon I was looking through Phillip Yancey’s excellent book—The Jesus I Never Knew—when I came across a section that I found profound. It didn’t quite fit my sermon, but it caught my eye enough that I copied it down.
Practical Tips To Avoid Judging Others
When I research a sermon, such as Sunday’s message on judgmentalism, I always try to think through some practical steps or tips in how to implement God’s desire for our lives. I rustled together a herd of ideas this week and I offer them to you.
The Shepherd, the King, and the Rescuer
God has got a long list of names, but some of those names are better than others. There is a small child who thought God’s name was Harold since the Lord’s Prayer includes the phrase “Hallowed be thy name.” When you think of all the scriptures that are most likely to be memorized you would have to include Psalm 23, The Lord’s Prayer, and John 3:16. The danger for us is our tendency to focus on the wrong thing.
Old Jokes Are The Best Jokes
Sunday morning, we took a look at Jesus’ command to make our enemies into neighbors and loving our neighbors as ourselves. One of the obstacles to doing this is our growing sense of tribalism—whether it’s a political, socio-economic, or even theological tribe.
Public and Private Sin
All Was Fair Game for John the Baptist and for Christians Today
Sunday, we looked at the way John the Baptist was uncompromising about sin wherever he saw it at work. We in the church have tended to focus mostly on private or personal holiness and have ignored prophetic judgment against public behaviors. We didn’t have time Sunday, but I’d originally included examples of what would have been public sins back in the time of John and Jesus...
Let’s Not Overlook Joseph of Nazareth
I asked my research assistant—a certain ChatGPT—what the most interesting facet of Joseph’s life might be. She shared a couple of things that didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon but you might still find inspirational...
Key Takeaway from Sunday
If I had to identify a specific take away from
Sunday’s sermon it would probably be this: