Creating WONDER

You light a sparkler on the 4th of July and adults yawn, but small children squeal in delight. There is something about pyrotechnics that creates wonder in the eyes of the young. 

I remember sitting in a large, dark theatre when I was around five or six. The air was heavy with the smell of Milk Duds and popcorn. My five-year old legs could barely sit still; they were so excited. That little punched ticket in my hand was going to bring about my first experience of the big screen; we were watching a version of Pinocchio. All that I saw and breathed in during the next 90 minutes filled my young frame with wonder.

As we get older it seems that it is harder to create wonder. It may take more glitz and glam just to stir a part of us to that memory of wonder. 

When I was months away from receiving my first call as a pastor, God used a most amazing insight to spark some wonder in my 30-year-old frame. It was a sermon; a sermon preached by a Michigan pastor in the Chicago suburbs on the topic of discipleship. I walked away from that message with wide-eyed wonder and a desire to learn more from this book [the Bible] that I thought I knew. Had I missed something in my childhood spiritual training? Had the message of Matthew 28, “go make disciples,” been so generalized that I never saw the wonder? I wasn’t sure. But I wanted to find out for myself and for the many others I would soon begin to shepherd.

This month and into February we are going to explore the topic of discipleship; I’m praying already for all of our hearts and minds to be stirred by wonder.

This week’s message will revolve around these words: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

It was this verse, as well as others we will reference in this series, that got me thinking about a distinction Jesus raises between being a Christian and being a disciple. 

There were certain Jews who were believing in Jesus already. Their faith was evident in the words of verse 31—in the English and, especially, in the Greek. The Greek emphasizes that they were believers in the past and were still believing as he spoke. Then Jesus catches their attention and says, “if.” “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” That seems to imply that there is something about being a disciple that is, at least slightly, different from being a believer.

“But Jesus,” my Lutheran heart screams, “they already believe, so that makes them disciples! Aren’t they one and the same?” And our Lutheran theology clicks a reply: this is sanctified living. Once you are a believer, discipleship defines how you live.

The text and the Greek in front of us clearly draw a line that is, at least, meant to grab our attention and point to the importance of being a believer who is deeply “abiding in [Jesus’] words.” So the first question for all of us who are believing in this Savior of the world is this: Am I abiding in the Words of Jesus? Are we living in his Words—finding shelter and protection in them, or is our abode more like a rickety structure destined for the scrap heap? Are we living in Jesus’ teachings, or are they something that we step into only when it is convenient? Is the Word of Jesus only for Sunday morning consumption? Do we leave it on the left or right of our life? Do we isolate it only for small group Bible study, or is it a structure that both defines us and protects us? And isn’t it OK to be abiding in something else the rest of the week? We are busy people.

Jesus knows our busyness and our needs; he draws the line for discipleship at the point of living in the Words of Jesus. When I sat and pondered this truth for a moment, it did spark wonder and a desire to go for broke on this discipleship concept. For the last twenty years, despite all the family twists and turns, despite adding parenting and pastoring to my newlywed status, I also had this nagging longing to find out for myself what being a disciple of Jesus meant.

So the search began with the book of John. He has two other passages (John 13:34-35 and John 15:7-8) that talk about the distinction of discipleship as well. What I discovered along the dusty trail was that much of my Christian upbringing had spoken of the concepts, but I simply had not noted them or highlighted them in nice, tidy little boxes for later exploration. We were rehearsing the words in Catechism and sharing the discipleship stories throughout the school year and in the youth group curriculum, but either I had never connected the dots before or the picture had been missed. Either way, I was not going to lose this chance to drink deeply from the well. This teaching is everything that Jesus tells us in Matthew 28, the Great Commission. And it's more; it is filled with WONDER as you and I open up its well-crafted tools:

  • W(ORD OF GOD) - Abide in the Word

  • O(SMOSIS) - Soak up the Word

  • N(EED) - Understand our need to love and be loved

  • D(ISCUSS) - Talk about the Word with other believers

  • E(XPERIENCE) - Try out what you’ve learned

  • R(ELAY) - Pass on what you’ve learned

Please join with me in praying for a greater understanding of this concept of discipleship. It sparked 1st century growth during some extremely difficult times. My sense is that we could use some of that same growth today, however you choose to label these times.

Blessings as you enter the New Year and may God’s Words provide you shelter, fill you with wonder, and create a new and living determination to be a disciple of Jesus.

In Christ,
Pastor Al

Allen Schleusener#Wonder, #CreatingWonder, #Discipleship