Culture Coaching

Much has been said about Jesus’ way of discipleship. His shared life with The Twelve has figured into many messages on Small Groups. Sending the seventy out on mission has been used in support of short term mission trips.

But we know Jesus also had brief conversations with people. He taught in the temple. He fed people and healed them. He modeled prayer and submission to the Father. And he made points by challenging religious leaders.

A variety of methods.

But there was a consistency in his message: “The Kingdom of God is like…”

In this way, Jesus was a culture coach. And discipleship leaders should be like him. Whether we speak to thousands or meet with people one-to-one, we describe the Kingdom and help people adapt to its culture—not as tourists, but as immigrants. At times, it might be a light touch, like an episode of Rick Steves or Samantha Brown. Other times it might be a deep, immersive experience that’s more like sharing a home and life.

Whatever the approach, our message—as worship leaders, pastors, teachers, small group leaders, and counselors—begins with “The Kingdom of God is like…”

Without Comment

Let Colossians 3 tell us who we are, what we have been given, and what God's Kingdom is like:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Amen.

Another Roman Road

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

— Paul, in Romans 5 ESV

The 'Roman Road to Salvation' is a collection of verses from Romans—a helpful guide for explaining God's plan of salvation in Jesus.

There's another Roman Road found in the first few verses of Chapter 5—the Roman Road to Endurance, Character, and Hope. Paul lays out Sufferings, Endurance, Character, and Hope as a process—a sort of assembly line, where one thing produces the next thing.

What's noteworthy here is that the thing we all want and need—Hope—is connected to the very thing we try so hard to avoid—Suffering. No one welcomes persecution, the death of a family member, a serious illness or financial setback. But most of us also avoid smaller sufferings: failures, losses, delayed gratification, deferred purchases, exercise, hard conversations, rejection, stillness, even fasts.

Could it be that our avoidance of pain and discomfort, individually and as a society, is connected to poor endurance, questionable character, and a deficit of hope?

Paul gives us a vision for suffering. Even major suffering, while uninvited, can be fertile soil for growth. And those minor sufferings? Maybe we should take more risks, denying our flesh in small ways and allowing our pride to be bruised more often. Paul says this is the key to more endurance, better character, and an abundance of hope.