Necessary Traumas Recap

Over the past several weeks, I’ve advanced the idea that growing up comes with a series of what I’ve called “Necessary Traumas.”
What I mean by that is that development, actual growth, it requires a measure of pain.

It doesn’t necessarily HAVE to, we’ve talked about that

Touch the Burner/Don’t touch the burner

But I think most people, at heart, are burner touchers

So, it stands to reason that, merely by living life, you’re going to get funneled into these deep awarenesses that you really need to successfully navigate life.
My premise is this – Growing up in the Christian Way is going to lead you to these moments.

Moments of deep learning.
They may be, in fact they will be, painful.
But you will emerge from them changed, and changed for the better.

So, what’ve we talked about.

Well, I told you about my Underoos experience

I learned to learn that sometimes, when I want to blame others, I need to realize that the problem is actually me.

Then I told you about Ms. Barksdale, how she made me go back to first grade to work on my writing?

I used that to show us how, even once you’re in the Christian faith, you can get sloppy and undisciplined pretty quick.

Last week, I told you about a difficult lesson I had to learn about forgiveness, namely, that you actually have to do it to bless both your community and yourself.

This week, I want to talk about what I should’ve called, “The Scandal of Service.”

What do I mean by that? Well, have you just taken in the air of the world right now?
People today are seduced by this idea of passive income

What’s that?
Simply put, it’s money that you spend to create largely “work free income”

One basic method would be to accumulate dividend stocks, that’s passive income
Owning rental units, that’s passive income

And believe me, there’s no problem with this. Well, maybe a few but that’s a story for another day.

But we need to recognize something. There may be PASSIVE INCOME in the world, but there should NEVER BE PASSIVE CHRISTIANITY.

Simply stated, the Christian walk is one populated with SERVICE TO OTHERS.
So let me tell you a story…

Duke Divinity School Story

As many of you know, I went to Duke Divinity.
It sounds majorly expensive and it can be.
Thankfully though, there’s tons of work-study money and, get this, it’s provided largely by churches.
When I got to Duke though, I couldn’t work at a church in paid Duke network one because I was driving home to Charlotte to be with my wife on the weekend.
I ended up working with this social justice group called “The Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham.”

They were some well-meaning folks but they were terribly disorganized.

Add me to the mix, things didn’t get much better right?

Well, anyway, I’d worked in the service industry for years by this point and was looking forward to doing some MENTAL WORK.
Being on these committees, well, it was actually quite cushy work.

You talk, you think, you don’t really get much done but you still manage to go home and think pretty highly of yourself.

Long story short, we were coming up on the biggest conference the group did all year.

I was looking forward to being a speaker, a leader, one of the eggheads, right?

Until they group figured out that nobody had actually BOOKED A CATERER

We were 3 days out with 200 people coming.

Guess what the Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham knew?
I used to be a caterer

Man, was I bummed.

200 people is no joke – it’s a lot of work and I knew I was going to have to do all of the advance work and most of the actual prep work myself.
I was BUMMED

It seemed to me at the time a real DEMOTION.
Like, anybody can cook, right? What the Coalition for a NONVIOLENT Durham needed was my precious mind.

But I did the job
Here’s what I discovered

I connected with more people
The feelings of satisfaction were much deeper and much more long lasting.

Now let’s think a little more about Jesus.

Jesus the Servant

We read a passage this morning from Isaiah.
Called the Suffering Servant section, the book of Isaiah prophetically TELLS US ABOUT JESUS AHEAD OF TIME.

That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? God told us about Jesus long before He came so that, when He did COME the faithful would recognize Him.

But the language is stark

This Man of God is to be a servant and a suffering one at that?

IS there any other kind, I wonder?

Really, probably not. All service requires you to sacrifice a personal good in exchange for a shared one.

I take my time that I could use for myself and instead dedicate my thought and effort to doing something that ultimately benefits someone else than it does myself.

In a nutshell, that’s service.

And what does the Bible tell us about Jesus?

That at his core, at a foundational level, He was and IS a SERVANT!

Now wow, that’s an easy thing to say but I want you to just take a moment and think about what that MEANS.

Cause here’s what the Bible tells us about Jesus ON TOP OF THE FACT that He was a Savior and a Servant. Listen to this reading from Colossians.

Colossians 1:15-20 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.  For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and  through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Let me work that through with you a bit.

Here, in Colossians, we hear that Jesus is the co-creator of the whole deal

Makes sense right, trinity and all that.

But what does that mean about the universe?

That it was created by a Creature of Infinite power, wisdom and authority who is IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS BEING A SERVANT

Boom, that’s the special sauce when it comes to this deal.

The foundational awareness that the reality we live in was created as a GIFT IN ORDER TO BLESS US.

Wow – Mind blowing.

Think about how that reverses things.
You begin to understand EXACTLY WHAT JESUS SAID when he told us this

John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Jesus makes us realize something

Wired into CREATION ITSELF is the aim of giving instead of taking

Really, sometime today, allow that awareness to deeply penetrate your mind before the Chiefs play the Niners.

Notice something about the EARTH – it GIVES US THINGS

In a rudimentary way that we need to be careful in our understanding of, creation is a gift which reflects the heart of our creator – it gives, it serves.

Now realize this, wired into you is the same effect.

Genesis 1 and all that – you are made in the image of your creator who was, is and always shall me, a servant.

Now, look at your life?
ARE YOU MAXIMALLY IN A POSITION TO SERVE OTHERS?