It seems like I’ve had some of the best conversations lately. It started with this post, which asks if Christianity is a system of belief or a way of life.  And then it extended to this post, which asks if denying God is wrestling with God.  And within these conversations seems to be common thread.  What is a follower of Jesus? What is the true essence, the stripped down version of being a follower? In other words, did Jesus come to establish complexity or simplicity?

I ask this because of a recent conversation I had with a friend who said that he has a bunch of friends who are willing to practice love, which is arguably the basis of what it means to follow Jesus, but who are completely unwilling to set foot into the church.  In other words, they dig what Jesus is saying but they are unwilling to add on all of the religious jargon associated with Christianity.  And for them its not just about social justice, but about engaging a deeper form of what it means to be human.

And it seems like so many people I meet and talk to are wrestling with this strange notion of what it means to strip away the religious connotations, in order to get to following.  We all want the real thing.  And this desire is not limited to Christians.  It’s deeper than that.  Its extends to human beings (who are created in the image of God anyway).  Jesus even said, “You will know them by their fruit.”  And can’t we make the assumption that love is the greatest fruit, and the essence of Jesus’ intention for spiritual formation?

So I would ask if you think one can be a follower of Jesus, and not set foot in the church or participate in traditional forms of worship?  Can one be a follower of Jesus simply by practicing love. And this doesn’t mean not participating in community because so many of my friends already have tribes that are asking these deeper questions, and they aren’t taking place in churches.

Do we have an intrinsic mobilizing story that compels us to follow?

This video by Francis Chan is interesting for several reasons.  Francis talks about how we’re attracted to Jesus but not really willing to follow Jesus. We like what Jesus did, but we’re not willing to see Jesus as an action role model to emulate. The subtle tension is that our lack of action reveals a roadblock to following.  Yet what is that roadblock?  I would offer that it’s the way we approach the word “must”.

Francis shares Jesus’ own words that we “must” walk as Jesus did.  I would suggest that “must” is true in the sense that we cannot realize the life of Jesus unless we actually follow.  But the tension for me is seeing it as something we have to do in order to make grace true in a cosmic sense.  This is the subtle tension I have with focusing on “must”.  Its easy to hear “must” and walk away thinking, “If I’m not doing it God must be disgusted with me.”  We can easily create a roadblock to experiencing life.

The question for me is where does our motivation reside.  Do we follow because it’s the right thing to do?  Or do we follow because its the most valuable life to live?  It’s really easy to see following as an extrinsic cosmic rule isn’t it?  In other words, its easy to develop a extrinsic story that has no personal motivating value in our lives.   We assume we’re supposed to follow because it’s the “right” thing to do.  We even agree that its right as though it sits on a shelf waiting to be picked up at some point in our lives.  And suddenly we’re sixty and its still sitting there.

The question is then what would make us pick up that call to follow?

I would offer that we need to shape our stories as something intrinsically valuable.  To follow is to live.  We don’t have to follow in order to be loved.  God loves us before we were born.  But we do have to follow in order to experience that love.  See the difference.  One is a conditional requirement that makes it true in a cosmic sense, or from God’s perspective.  One is conditional requirement that makes it true in a personal sense, or from our perspective. Legalism continually focuses on the former, where I think Jesus saw it as the latter.  We follow to realize the love of God in our own lives, not make it true in God’s perspective.

We need intrinsic mobilizing stories.  We need to see that God’s love is not something we earn by doing the right thing, which is an external motivator.  God’s love is something that is simply true, but can only be experienced by following. The difference is light years apart. I see so many people wanting to love God but their stories are deeply shaped by something they have to do “in order to” receive love.  I’m suggesting that we reframe our stories based on something we “get to” in order to intrinsically experience God’s love.

Matt Carter // Missional Small Groups from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

I so wish every pastor in the world would watch this video.  Chips and dip, a living room and the Bible do not make a missional community. I really was amazed at Matt’s honesty about the process.  And it is that honesty that I believe has transformed his community.  When the leader gets honest, s/he gives permission to the people to be honest.

Matt asked a really good question.  “What is it in life that actually builds authentic community…that you see occurring in Scripture?”  His answer came in the context of military units.  A bond is created through significant mission. I’ve interviewed many veterans and I would add perseverance through conflict.

If you are a pastor really working through the questions in this video and how to create missional community within your church, I want to introduce you to a unique process called Thrive.  Check us out.  We’ve been wrestling through these questions and answering them for over seven years.

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a friend about spiritual maturity. A friend of his is part of a small group and they are hitting the proverbial wall and the community is somewhat stagnant. They aren’t taking risks, instead settling into the easy right answer routine. I know that feeling. I know what it’s like to reach a place where it’s no longer about the info, but something else.

And this conversation made me think. What is spiritual maturity? Is it simply a theological ascendancy to a set of beliefs. Is this what Jesus and Paul were after. Because what I have found is that theological brilliance typically leads to arrogance. And yet so much of our current small group formats are based on simple downloading the right information. And the assumption is that the right answer creates right action. And I just don’t buy that.

One of the fundamental problems I see is that we’ve relegated truth to the chalkboard, without ever taking it out on the field. It’s the right answer to learn, not the real answer to live. And in doing so we’ve created a world of theological misfits who don’t know how to practice what they preach. They know the right answer but it has very little value in the every day world because they can’t apply it. I should know because that was me for so long.

Now I’m not doubting or calling out the value of truth. It has been incredibly valuable in my life. But I recognize that at 40, I believe very differently than I did at 25 when I became a Christ follower. And at 25, I thought I had it all correct. But up until that point I had spent 20 years of my life learning the right answer, but it produced little more than a pious religiosity that was crippling me in guilt and fear.

And over time, I am beginning to realize that spiritual maturity is the capacity to love, which is founded in truth. It’s the right answer put into practice in the real world. This is why Missio Dei was so important to me. It gave me a context for the truth. It gave me a purpose other than just theological brilliance (as if) that led me to being the smarter guy in the room no one wanted to know. Because at some point, the basic answers no longer provide intellectual stimulation and what’s left is an ad nauseum, esoteric debate about the subjective. And it leads to division, which leaves the enemy laughing.

Spiritual maturity is engaging the truth. And the truth is that He loves us. He establishes us as His beloved creation. He gives us His Spirit. And with that Spirit, we can live like Jesus. That is the Good News. And living the truth is to love in a world that so desperately needs it. It’s being loved as much as it is loving people. It’s learning that I am loved and letting go of the baggage that is essentially a suitcase full of lies. It means embracing my own dignity and taking responsibility to grow into love, to meet the Holy Spirit at exactly the right moment He is calling me to.

Spiritual maturity is learning to forgive the unforgivable, not because I have to but because I need to. In forgiveness I find the love that restores my own heart as I let go of the justice that longs to come back and haunt me. In reconciliation I can participate in a larger mission of restoration than brings the best to the world, not my worst.

I long for spiritual maturity, the capacity to engage truth in love. I long to realize what God has created me to be, unencumbered by the wounds of my past. I long for the capacity to be love to the world around me. I long to be whole. That is spiritual maturity.