Wayne Jacobsen

I’m going to let you read over my shoulder again, this time through a recent email exchange over a couple of months with a couple in Canada. Their story represents what so many go through in this incredible process of moving outside the confines of religion and connecting again with the freshness of relationship with Jesus that they had before. They express so well the challenges and questions that many face in this process. They wanted their story to encourage others and when you see what their hearts hunger for at the end, I’m sure it will. I realize the choices God is asking you to make might be very different, but learning to follow him freely is critical to us growing in his life:

My response: No one who knows God and how he works would ever ask you NOT to follow your heart as you seek him. This man sounds like a real manipulator and has no power to hold you to a commitment you have since reconsidered. While we should never treat our word lightly, when we have made a commitment we realize to be in error, we are free to retract it and follow what God has put on your heart. Not taking a ministry position is like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. It only takes one vote not two. If it is not on your heart, follow God wherever he leads you.

My response: You have to realize that most religious institutions are about fitting in and going along. That’s what gains approval. Conversely, people who don’t do what they are told are often ‘punished’ by distance and exclusion. People will accuse them of being independent and rebellious. That’s what makes environments like this so destructive. Friendships only work as long as people are committed to the same task. It is really very sad. And your pastor’s ‘devastation’ is just another tool to manipulate you, like a young child pouting when they don’t get their way. Don’t think you have to satiate that attitude.

My response: You’re right! Others may exclude you, but that might also change in the future. Sometimes the people, who most punish us for getting out, are secretly hoping we’ll find life and grace outside. It is likely they are miserable too, but feel they have to stay in there. Don’t feel you have to convince or prove anything to anyone. Just do quietly and gracefully what God has asked you to do, keeping your heart open to all, but never forcing yourself on them. In time you will come to know who your real friends are there, and what others God might bring into your life.

And the moral of the story is simple: Follow the Lamb wherever he leads you. If he asks you to stay where you are, stay! If he is calling you out to know him in a deeper way, then go. But do not do what you do to gain the approval of friends or those who think themselves leaders, which will only lead to confusion and emptiness. Jesus can be trusted! That’s the great truth religion must obscure. You need us! You must follow us! You will whither up and die without us. Not true. Jesus can be trusted. He can gather his flock and lead them to safe pasture. (Ezekiel 34).

Sara and I are reading through Hebrews again in our morning prayers before she heads off for work. Something we read this morning really caught my eye. As the writer opens chapter 9 he talks about the old covenant and the temple and how all the facets of that system were just a shadow of a greater reality. They were not reality itself. Then he writes (and I quote from The Message:

My heart breaks for the brothers and sisters who only know the Christian life as a series of rituals or a battle to live by certain ethics. That’s the old covenant cloaking itself in new covenant terms. This life in Christ is so much better than fulfilling obligations and trying to live by the rules. It is an invitation into a relationship with him that shapes every day that we live and our lives to look like him in the world. Why would we settle for anything less?

Having just returned from six days in Washington State, I saw this contrast in so many places—people living in the reality of relationship and people living in the shadow of rituals and behavior. And this was a strange trip for me stateside. The first three days I spent with a leadership team of a seeker-sensitive congregation. This is not a usual venue for me, but I met some incredible people who are seeing beyond the programs to hunger for a full and free life in Jesus, both with him and in relationships to others. I talked about barriers to authentic relationships both with God and with each other. One man came up to me afterward and said, “I know I don’t look like it, but I feel 40 lbs lighter after this weekend.”

Then I spent the last three days with people who are living outside traditional congregational structures. Some were thriving in the freedom of this life in Christ, while others were just beginning to see the freedom beyond the religious bondage they have been captive to for so many years. (We even had a few who were still well embedded into religious ways of thinking and so filled with ambition and agenda that it was tough having a normal conversation with them. Hopefully we planted some seeds there too!)

I was even asked questions like “Is it OK to mow the lawn on the Sabbath?” (Absolutely as long as your conscience is free to! In the New Covenant the Sabbath is a life of rest in Father from our own labors, and the freedom to walk in his, rather than a day for rule-keeping!) And, “If I don’t submit to what my pastor is saying, am I stretching out my hand against God’s anointed?” (Absolutely not! The New Testament could never have conceived of a pastor-person like we have today as the center of body life. Nor did they affirm anyone who would ask people to violate their conscience in deference to their supposed leadership. Leaders help people follow Jesus, not stand in their way as they do it.)

The freshness of hunger and meeting more of those willing to take great risks to pursue the call to life that God has put within them always inspires me. On the last night I got to check in with some folks I’ve met before and to see how some of them have grown in greater freedom, evident even on their countenances, was also a real joy. You could literally see the life of Jesus that had liberated them. That’s the joy of this covenant. Rituals and behaviors are a cheap substitute indeed for the life that really is life!

Who cannot help but be touched by the incredible human tragedy unfolding in Mississippi and Louisiana? I was on the road when this all unfolded and have watched in grief since my return at the desperation of human need, the inability to get aid to the survivors. What a mess! I hope many of you who have some extra are finding ways to share the burden of those people. The Red Cross is of course a great place to give to deal with the practical needs of food, water, shelter and medical care.

Someone I know also recommended Mennonite Disaster Service. You can donate on-line and here’s what they said about these people as they arrived to help after Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida a few years ago:

May God make himself known in incredible ways in the face of such horrible tragedy. May he sustain those who suffer in the aftermath of this hurricane and give wisdom and courage to all those who are able to help in this time.

I got an email this weekend while I was traveling about Washington State from Adam, a 22-year-old who works with a campus ministry in Kentucky. I can’t tell you how much his words refreshed me personally and encouraged me to give my life afresh to what God has asked me to do. I hope you don’t mind me sharing it with you:

It amazes me how much strength and joy we can draw from a simple word of encouragement. Maybe that’s why the author of Hebrews told us to look for ways to encourage one another daily. Is there someone in your life who has had a profound impact on your own journey? Have you taken the time recently to tell them how much they have meant to you? You’ll never know how much they might gain from your simple words of affirmation from you. Why don’t you take some time and give them a call or write them an email today and let them know how Jesus has used them to touch and encourage you?

Sorry it’s been so quiet of late, but I’ve been on the road in the Seattle area for the past five days. I’ve been with a wide diversity of people and I wish I had time to tell you about it… But, I have to head for the airport in a few moments and have been in conversations with people almost nonstop. No time to write. Sorry! But I’ve met some fabulous folks at various stages of the journey, and now in the last couple of days with some old friends I have visited before.

Now it is home for two days and then I go again, but this time Sara goes with me, as do daughter Julie and granddaughter Aimee, so that will be fun. And I also understand the family will be over tonight. That’s why I love Flydays… I love getting back to those whom my heart loves so much. I wonder if dying some day will be like that. Just another Flyday to be near those my heart has loved so much. That would bee cool! Blessings on you all.

Our latest edition of The God Journey entitled Religion’s Antidote has just been posted on our sister website thegodjourney.com.

Why do passionate disciples of the Living God continue to get caught in the system of religious obligation? Because they have not understood that God has satisfied in himself all that he would ever require of us to have full and complete access to his presence. He did that in the cross of Jesus Christ, and if we understood the power of the cross, we would never fall victim again to the manipulations and appeals of religious obligation. In their latest podcast Brad and Wayne discuss what happened at the cross and how it frees us from the bondage of religion so that we can live together as Father’s family.

In the morning, I am off to Seattle and a weekend retreat there with a group from a nontraditional fellowship and then some time in the Tacoma and Port Orchard area with some old friends and some new ones…

It seems there is fresh interest these day from a number of people about Authentic Relationships, , especially the part about how our expectations of others destroy authenticity in those relationships

Here’s a question I got from Chris today:

Here was my response: Wanting people to respond rightly isn’t a problem. Demanding that they do, or treating them with disappointment when they don’t, is the problem. External conformity is never God’s goal anyway, but inner transformation that grows out of their relationship with him.

In that vain, all we have to do is love people! Take an interest in them. Serve them where you can, but never pushing our agenda on them. Servants never push anyway. They always are responding to what others are doing or desiring. I am having so much fun just loving people in their space and time, not thinking I love them by getting them to do what I think is best. It makes relationships so much more real and genuine and takes all the exploitation and manipulation out of it.

I hope that helps. That’s the way Jesus treats you after all. He loves you where you are. He invites you to better things if you’ll come, but he doesn’t badger you at every moment with his expectations or reject you when you disappoint him. Watching him do that with us, is the best tool to learning how to do it with others. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have wonderful desires for us. He does. But he realizes we can only experience them when we freely choose to come, not when we’re manipulated into it.

Another letter I got recently from Aida, might be helpful here as well:

In my own time in the Scriptures I am heading back into the life of Jesus, this time through Mark’s eyes. I always enjoy getting back to one of the Gospels and getting another chance to see more of the life, nature and character of Jesus. I am amazed not only by his teachings and miracles, but also by his person and the way he treated people. The other day, I ran across this definition of his family:

Religion teaches us that we belong to the family by making a confession of faith, saying a sinner’s prayer or observing the right obligations. Jesus says that membership in the family is a reality for those that do God’s will. Now that makes sense! It also explains why attempts at body life with some people can be so difficult.

You can’t experience real fellowship in this family with those who only claim to be followers of Christ, who are not actually following him. They might think they are, but in fact they are only doing what they do to satisfy their guilt or fulfill their spiritual aspirations. Trying to walk in fellowship with people like that is just impossible. It can also be exhausting. I don’t know about you but I find the most exhausting people to be around are those who are pushing some agenda—especially if they think it is for God.

Ultimately real body life isn’t rocket science. It’s the simplest thing in the world. When people come near each other who are looking to live by what Father wants, not what they want, fellowship is immediate, thrilling and life-changing. It’s not some thing we have to work at, but to enjoy. I can get off of airplanes and meet strangers at airports and find myself within a few moments enjoying the reality of Father’s family. That tells me I’ve found people who are seeking to do what God wants.

Yes, I know a religious mindset could pervert this into thinking we have to judge whether or not others are doing God’s will. How would we do that? It is not our place to judge others, but to love whomever God allows to cross our paths. With some that will lead to incredible fellowship. With others it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I don’t think I’m bright enough to account for the difference, but I do feel free to stop ‘working at’ fellowship. When it’s there, it’s there. When it’s not, no amount of work will change that reality.

And please don’t turn ‘doing God’s will’ into some perfectionist standard that seeks to earn our place in his life. It’s not our performance here that counts, but the desire of our hearts and our willingness to follow. Look at Jesus’ own disciples. They misunderstood a lot, argued with him, and even exhibited some fleshy motives at times. But they were learning to live in the Father’s desires. It doesn’t matter if you’re just at the starting line of that process, or far down the road. If you have a heart for Father’s will and look to follow him each day as best you see him, that is what Jesus is talking about. Those people experience the reality and joy of his family!

A quote making the rounds today is sure a good one. As far as I know, no one has been able to ascertain who first wrote or spoke this:

As long as we’re not talking about the burn-out due to human effort trying to accomplish God’s will, I embrace this point of view whole-heartedly. Whoever said life was about staying safe—doing only what serves my needs for comfort or convenience? What fun is that? This is an adventure with our older brother Jesus, as the kingdom of God makes itself known before the kingdoms of this world. Who wants to be on the sidelines watching that?

As I write this I have just been informed of a dear friend of mine who was airlifted out of a rural area to a hospital in New Guinea yesterday with a rampant infection in his left leg and a severe case of malaria in his lungs. This man is in his 60’s and could stay home with his children and grandchildren, but instead spends months at a time in some of the most difficult countries of our world to help people there live outside the box of organized religion. He’s in the game! Yes, he could be safer, but he couldn’t be freer! His name is Bob and I would invite you topray for him as God brings him to your mind.

One of the men who helped me write the current BodyLife article on the Tree of Life, sent this to following to me. He lives on Vancouver Island and does a bit of sailing. It resonated with my heart, and I wanted to pass it along to you:

Our latest edition of The God Journey entitled Looking for Real Body Life has just been posted on our sister website thegodjourney.com.

During my recent trip to South Africa I met with many brothers and sisters who are in various stages of transition from the system of religious obligation and sorting out what it means to live as God’s people outside of institutional approaches. My experiences there provided an excellent backdrop for Brad and I to discuss further the transitions many of us go through and how some are finding meaningful expressions of body life around the world.

We’re also introducing some new changes with this podcast and would appreciate any suggestions or thoughts you might have on those.