Hi! Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, you host for the daily challenges. These daily challenges are meant to help people explore what it means to follow Jesus even during our busy commuting lifestyle. If you’ve never looked into what that means in the first place, I’d really encourage you, check out our Christianity 101 course first. You can take it live in-person or through our mobile app; great introduction to the basic concepts of what it means to follow Jesus that we try to build on in the Daily Challenges.

Every day and week, we follow a rhythm to help us, as one community, learn what it means to follow Jesus even when we’re not physically together. Every Monday,we introduce the idea for the week. Every Tuesday, we see what the Bible has to say. Every Wednesday, we allow ourselves to be challenged in our thoughts. Every Thursday, we try to apply it and live it out in our lives. Every Friday, we take time to pray and reflect on the topic. Saturday is a day for rest and then Sunday is a day for community. We’re going to start gathering together as one community soon. We just recently had a great baptism service and celebration where a number of our members came together in one place to worship God. We’re going to do that more and more often over this year. So, stay tuned for some of our upcoming gatherings.

We’re in a series right now called, “Reset.” We’re looking at how deciding to follow Jesus resets everything in our lives. We’ve looked at a number of areas that it impacts. This week we’re going to look at how following Jesus impacts our view of family.

What’s a family for?  Yes, there is a functional reality that families are a vehicle for providing food, shelter, etc. to our young.  But family can also be an end unto itself – lots of people see raising a family, or raising a certain size of family, or a perfect family, as their life goal.

I recently read a book by Kevin O’Leary book of Dragon’s Den fame, where he repeatedly spoke about developing a family dynasty.  The book opens with a story of divorce, where the husband had an affair and squandered his family dynasty because he didn’t realize the value of what he’d built up with his first wife.  Kevin bases his book on wanting people to see “value” in their family, which he considers a place to teach values about money, debt, hard work, etc.   But he never asks: why?

The problem when we see family as an end unto itself.  Families are made up of broken human beings, they regularly break down, and they don’t always start.  If we’re living for family, that’s very risky.

Jesus knew that Family can become an idol, or something we worship and pursue above all else, that could compete with his and God’s place in our hearts:

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:35-38)

We can worship family, but when family fails to happen (or happen perfectly), that leaves us with nothing to hold onto.  We need a purpose outside of this world, and Jesus fulfills that.

Much as people think Cxity is about promoting marriage and family values, that can’t be the whole story – Jesus and one of the church’s key leaders were single!

According to theologian Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University, Christianity was the very first religion or world-view that held up single adulthood as a viable way of life.

Pastor and Author Tim Keller says, “Nearly all religions and cultures made an absolute value of the family and of the bearing of children. There was no honor without family honor, and there was no real lasting significance or “legacy” without leaving heirs.”

That sounds like Kevin O’Leary’s religion, but Christianity stands in contrast to this!  Clearly Jesus and Paul were promoting a different vision of family in their own lives and teaching.

Question: What do you think a family is for?  What’s the point?  What makes a good family vs. a bad one?

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - June 27, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Influences

Sermon on the Mount

We're exploring who has influence on our spiritual lives. We've seen four tests to identify a negative spiritual influence. The good news is that Jesus is the one teacher who satisfies the tests he’s just laid out. Attractiveness. Long before his birth, Jesus was described in this way by the prophet Isaiah: He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. People chose to follow him because of his teachings, and his claims about himself, that were far from superficial. He taught with authority of his own, regularly hinted at his identity as God. This apparently had nothing to do with the way he looked, the tone of his voice, or the size of his hairdo. No one mentions it int he Bible. It has everything to do with the truth of his words. Consistency. He made bold claims, but Jesus was absolutely consistent in living them out. Scour the Sermon on the Mount, and see if you can find any occasion where he contradicts his words. He said to pray in secret. While praying to his Father, he went away, sometimes to a garden, to be alone. He said to turn the other cheek. While being arrested, told his friend to put down his sword and let it happen. He said, love your enemies. While hanging on a cross, said “Father forgive them”. His words were also consistent with God’s word throughout centuries. He told us in the Sermon on the Mount he was the fulfillment, not rejection, of the Old Testament law. God hadn’t changed his mind, God wasn’t wrong, God was fulfilling his purposes in Jesus. He regularly quoted the Old Testament law, and then got right to its core – the heart change that went beyond fearful obedience. His words are consistent with the lives of his followers. He never promised we’d be millionaires, drive Cadillacs, or never experience pain or sorrow in this life…like some false teachers will claim to get your money or devotion. He did promise that he’d bring about a kingdom far better, and invited us to follow him there, taking up a cross. He was definitely not short lived. He is still worshipped today. Jesus rose from the dead, and still lives today, both reigning over the universe and living in the hearts of those who follow him. 2000 yrs on, the words of the Sermon on teh Mount are revered the world over…and have brought life to those who’ve not just revered them, but lived by them. The Church exists because he and his teachings were not short lived, but of eternal value. By following him, our lives can be transformed Motives. After all his teaching and healing, he died on the cross for us. There was no benefit for himself, except that he would close the separation between us and God. He had our best interests at heart. If you have found teaching of false prophets lacking, urge you to test Jesus. Not just those who claim to represent him, for good or ill, but test Jesus himself. Read his words, if find him attractive not in a flashy superficial way, but rather find that he satisfies your deepest yearnings. Invite him to be your teacher, become his disciple. Then experience his risen, eternal life and its transformative power in your life, consistent with all he taught. If you've never experienced that, and you’ve been accepting less, then my hope is that you’ll try the real thing. Contact Ryan to learn about what that could look like in your life! Challenge: Who has been a positive spiritual influence in your life? You should spend more time together, set up coffee, phone call or lunch with them! Who can you influence in the same way? Set up time with them, too.

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