Friends with the CEO

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

— Jesus, in John 15:15 ESV

When I graduated from college, I went to work for a large multinational company. There, I had opportunities to meet the CEO but we didn't hang out together. I understood and respected his authority but I never had inside knowledge of his thoughts, and hopes, and dreams.

If not in real life, certainly on TV, we've seen people who are friends with the boss but who don't seem to contribute in any helpful way. Either they use the friendship to coast, or they abuse it for their own selfish purposes—sometimes at the boss's expense!

What a rare and wonderful privilege it is to be a friend, under authority. This is what Jesus invites us into. We have the opportunity to know his heart and to learn from him. But always with respect for his absolute authority over heaven and earth; respect the creature should have for his creator.

And as I think about the power of friendship + authority, I also wonder about a culture that increasingly rejects authority and is losing its understanding of friendship.

A personal trainer

In my last blog post I offered that it's best to know the people we disciple so we can introduce them to the right information and experiences at the right time and at the right pace. To do this, we generally sort people into categories.

But then we notice: within each category, we have a new set of categories. And within this new set, still more categories. Inevitably we get to individuals—every one unique. And that's overwhelming because we are limited in our capacity—we are finite.

Here's the game-changer: God is infinite. If a person's discipleship depends on us, we will be exhausted and the person will be short-changed. But if it depends on God, every person will receive exactly the training they need, when they need it.

The greatest training we can give people is to train them to be trained by Him. Train them to pray, to fast, to read and memorize Scripture, to observe God's work in others, to journal, to serve, to give, to step into places where they will certainly need God's help.

Don't train them to do these things 'because they should'. Train them to do these things because, in doing them, they will be trained by God. And it will be the most customized, most personalized training.

Survival of the weakest

“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

— Jesus, in Luke 14:12-14 ESV

A couple of years ago my wife and I were having some work done on our house. I was in the driveway talking with the builder about timelines and materials and I noticed I lost his attention. The builder took a few steps, bent over, picked up a worm that was creeping across the concrete, and tossed it in the grass. Without saying a word about it, we returned to our conversation.

To me, it was just a worm. Probably thousands of them would dry out that day on paved surfaces—in my neighborhood alone. But to my builder, that worm was a part of Creation he was given to tend. I am prone to think that saving a worm from desiccating on my driveway is a bit Buddhist or New Age. But my builder has Genesis 1 on his side.

If we're called to care for every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, then even more so God's children made in His image. From cover to cover, the Bible instructs us to care for the poor, the weak, and the less powerful. Jesus modeled this in His words, His life, and His death. And I must become like Him.