students of jesus

One of the smartest guys in history didn’t have a very high opinion of human wisdom. The Apostle Paul uttered the inspired phrase, “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom . . .”

So why are we still obsessed with man’s wisdom?

I know I am: in my work as a consultant I read the latest books of leadership and teamwork. I can’t resist articles that promise to reveal “7 Secrets of Lasting Change,” or “How to Get Your Way While People Think They Are Getting Theirs.” And don’t try to tell me you’re not a sucker for this stuff either. Instead of the radically foolish act of following Jesus, most of us hunger for the latest insights from Psychology Today, the Harvard Business Review, or Cosmo.

Yet in chapter after chapter, the story-rich message of scripture lifts up the example of fools following God.

• The “Father of nations” tried to kill his only son.
• God backed a deceitful schemer to carry the promise of blessing to the nations.
• In order to become the prime minister of Egypt, God engineered a career path of slavery and prison.

And we’re not even out of the first book of the Bible:

• Israel’s deliverer and lawgiver was slow of speech and apparently had a temper.
• The man after God’s own heart was an adulterer and murderer.
• To demonstrate God’s love, one prophet married a prostitute.

And when God decided to pay us a personal visit,

• He was smuggled to earth in the womb of teenage girl.
• He avoided all certification and authorization from the authorities.
• Considered his shameful and horrifying death the pinnacle of his mission.

I know: every one of these actions proved successful. But how many of us embrace them as our model for life? We celebrate their successes without celebrating the foolishness that paved the way.

One final example: in my years as a pastor I picked up a graduate degree along the way. I read many books by the learned and the wise among Christianity. Here, at last, I found the wisdom of God, right? Not so much, it turns out. Academics love the lofty, erudite preaching at Mars Hill, even though the scripture describes it as ineffective. The city of Corinth is described again and again in scholarly journals as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” (to steal a phrase), even though it became the birthplace of one of the largest churches in the first century. I never—not once—read a practical application of Paul’s view of wisdom found in 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 (go ahead and read it, I’ll wait).

What if part of the wood, hay, and stubble destined for destruction is the wisdom of the wise?

It’s been said that God’s Kingdom is an upside-down kingdom, but what if we are the ones standing on our heads? Romans 14:17 describes God’s kingdom as two-thirds relationship and one-third emotion. Where is rationality and the cunning of men?

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“The provision is in the promises.” ~ Derek Prince

“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.” ~ Annie Dillard

“Above all the grace and gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming ourselves.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi 

“Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.” ~ Watchman Nee

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~ Corrie ten Boom

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom

“There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” ~ J.S. Bach

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.” ~ Dallas Willard

“A carefully cultivated heart will, assisted by the grace of God, foresee, forestall, or transform most of the painful situations before which others stand like helpless children saying 'Why?'" ~ Dallas Willard

“I'm practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word.” ~ Dallas Willard

“Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.” ~ Dallas Willard

“When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God's work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight.” ~ Richard Foster

"The world upon whom grace is thrust as a bargain will grow tired of it . . .” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The preaching of grace can only be protected by the preaching of repentance." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Peace is first of all the art of being.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” ~ Frederick Buechner

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day's chalking.” ~ Frederick Buechner

“Only miracle is plain; it is in the ordinary that groans with the weight of glory.” ~ Robert Farrar Capon

“The Christian religion is not about the soul; it is about man, body and all, and about the world of things -with- which he was created, and -in- which he is redeemed. Don't knock materiality. God invented it.” ~ Robert Farrar Capon

“If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” ~ John Mark McMillan

“All sins are attempts to fill voids.” ~ Simone Weil

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” ~ Simone Weil

“A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.” ~ Dorothy L. Sayers

“To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has no other yardstick.” ~ Dorothy L. Sayers

"Educated Christians like myself expect God's grace to prefer people of greater natural ability, higher standards of behaviour, and superior education in the liberal arts. In fact God mocks my expectations." ~ Augustine of Hippo

"Heaven is important, but its not the end of the world" ~ N.T. Wright

"You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship." ~ N.T. Wright

"If you're a Christian you're just a shadow of your future self." ~ N.T. Wright

"I feel about John's gospel like I feel about my wife; I love her very much, but I wouldn't claim to understand her." ~ N.T. Wright

AND HELP ME, PLEASE: “Grace means that all your mistakes now serve a purpose instead of serving shame.” ~ I’d love to know who said this!

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Knowledge can become a terrible burden. The weight of information can bend the back of the strongest man. We are loaded down with so many shoulds we find ourselves paralyzed by the inability to apply what we know. We open up our web browser and ten thousand voices shout for our attention, each one urgent. Through our computers, radios, televisions, and even our friends urgent knowledge reaches out and tries to shake us into action.

Here are a dozen smooth stones with only one aim: to provide rest. These lessons do claim ultimate authority; they are not a call to action; they do not command obedience. They whisper simply, “Here . . .”

One dozen liberating life lessons

1). I don’t have to know the answer.

2). Just because I know an answer doesn’t mean I have to answer the question.

3). The answer is rarely as interesting as the person asking the question.

4). Knowing the answer sometimes keeps me from asking the right question.

5). Facts are never true. They are merely facts.

6). God’s presence is an observable, objective fact, and we can recognize his presence.

7). Faith, hope, and love are abiding, eternal things, and I can start cultivating them now.

8). Celebrity authenticates no one—but neither does it disqualify anyone from speaking the truth.

9). The wisdom of Yoda was not very deep, but it was interesting because he was small, green, and funny-looking.

10). If a picture is worth a thousand words, actually being there is worth a trillion.

11). The end of a matter is better than its beginning; patience is better than pride.

12). Lists convey a false sense of authority.

What about you? Do you have a collection of quiet truths, the kind that give you peace and rest? What gems have you picked up along the way?

One of the smartest guys in history didn’t have a very high opinion of human wisdom. The Apostle Paul uttered the inspired phrase, “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom . . .”

So why are we still obsessed with man’s wisdom?

I know I am: in my work as a consultant I read the latest books of leadership and teamwork. I can’t resist articles that promise to reveal “7 Secrets of Lasting Change,” or “How to Get Your Way While People Think They Are Getting Theirs.” And don’t try to tell me you’re not a sucker for this stuff either. Instead of the radically foolish act of following Jesus, most of us hunger for the latest insights from Psychology Today, the Harvard Business Review, or Cosmo.

Yet in chapter after chapter, the story-rich message of scripture lifts up the example of fools following God.

• The “Father of nations” tried to kill his only son.
• God backed a deceitful schemer to carry the promise of blessing to the nations.
• In order to become the prime minister of Egypt, God engineered a career path of slavery and prison.

And we’re not even out of the first book of the Bible:

• Israel’s deliverer and lawgiver was slow of speech and apparently had a temper.
• The man after God’s own heart was an adulterer and murderer.
• To demonstrate God’s love, one prophet married a prostitute.

And when God decided to pay us a personal visit,

• He was smuggled to earth in the womb of teenage girl.
• He avoided all certification and authorization from the authorities.
• Considered his shameful and horrifying death the pinnacle of his mission.

I know: every one of these actions proved successful. But how many of us embrace them as our model for life? We celebrate their successes without celebrating the foolishness that paved the way.

One final example: in my years as a pastor I picked up a graduate degree along the way. I read many books by the learned and the wise among Christianity. Here, at last, I found the wisdom of God, right? Not so much, it turns out. Academics love the lofty, erudite preaching at Mars Hill, even though the scripture describes it as ineffective. The city of Corinth is described again and again in scholarly journals as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” (to steal a phrase), even though it became the birthplace of one of the largest churches in the first century. I never—not once—read a practical application of Paul’s view of wisdom found in 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 (go ahead and read it, I’ll wait).

What if part of the wood, hay, and stubble destined for destruction is the wisdom of the wise?

It’s been said that God’s Kingdom is an upside-down kingdom, but what if we are the ones standing on our heads? Romans 14:17 describes God’s kingdom as two-thirds relationship and one-third emotion. Where is rationality and the cunning of men?

In my Clark Kent life I do some work as a consultant, sharing with small groups the meanings of leadership and teamwork. I discover more about leadership and teamwork each time I work with a group; I also discover more about myself, and more about the wisdom of Jesus. 

Jesus is God’s wisdom lived out in human life. He is the Master of Life—not just eternal life—but life here and now. Whether I am working with businesses, governments or non-profits, I discover again and again how the words of Jesus find application in very practical settings. I also repeatedly discover the powerful human tendency to twist his wisdom to our own purposes.

For example, I recently shared with a group of leaders a powerful tip from Colin Powell regarding how we see the world. Powell’s example is a reworking of the Lord’s wisdom. “Remove the beam from your own eye, then you can see to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7: 2-5) Powell used this metaphor: when things go wrong we can examine the results by using a piece of glass. One type of glass is a window. We look through the glass at others and examine their actions. Another type of glass is a mirror, which shows us ourselves. The wise leader reaches first for the mirror—“What have I done in this situation?” asks the leader. “How did I contribute to the problem?” The unwise leader reaches for the window-glass and looks at others. “What did they do? How could they have failed so badly?”

The mirror/window example is useful and true, and not particularly novel in leadership circles. Like the earlier saying of Jesus, it requires humility of heart and courage to face the truth. It benefits all who embrace its wisdom. But we are a frail lot, us sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. We can take the wisdom of God and twist it to our own devices. Here’s what happened next with this group of leaders.

After sharing the Colin Powell version of this principle with a leadership team, I gave the team an exercise: use 15 minutes and take a recent problem at your workplace. Apply the mirror, and report back what you learned. This team was a group of old-school leaders, the kind who believe leadership is about command and control, about telling others what to do. When they returned from their exercise, the spokesman suggested this use of the mirror: “We think it would be effective to use the mirror by turning it toward our employees. We would hold the mirror up to them and say, ‘Look at what you’ve done! It’s not very professional, is it?’” These leaders, in effect, recommended using the mirror as a tool of discipline instead of self-reflection. They came to a conclusion 180-degrees from the purpose of the exercise. Their conclusion reinforced their way of doing things and asserted their right as leaders to be the judge of others! (And yes, at that moment I quickly grabbed my own mirror and asked myself, “How could I have screwed up this concept so completely?!?”)

The lesson for Students of Jesus is a warning: it is not enough to know his principles. We must have his heart as well. We—all of us—have a powerful tendency to think his words are meant for someone else, and we are the chosen vessels to deliver his words. We are bent toward self-preservation and defensiveness, even when we hear words of life. If Jesus teaches us to first remove the beam from our own eye, we rush off to deliver his message to others before we have tried the remedy ourselves.

The world-changing power of Christ starts small and works outward, like ripples on a pond. Most of us are surprised, however, to discover the center of the circle looks like us.