Wayne Jacobsen

As some of you know, this fall has been a ‘winter’ season for me in the parlance of In My Father’s Vineyard. God sent me into a season of rest so that he could prune away on things in my life and in how I live it with him. It has not all been easy and there are still many challenges to overcome, but obedience to him always leads to incredible fruit and I am so grateful for what he has done and will continue to do.

In the language of The Matrix and Alice in Wonderland I find myself today looking down a rabbit hole wondering just how deep this goes. I find his love more present than I could have ever dreamed. I find his involvement in the details of my life amazing, even though he doesn’t do anything like I think he should. And I find every response to him opens up new vistas into his nature and character that are breathtaking. These are not the exaggerations of a wordsmith; this has become my reality with him in ever-increasing measure.

In recent days I’ve been feasting in Colossians. The last bit of the first chapter and the first bit of the second say it as simply as it can be said. Here are some excerpts:

Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!

God’s life is not something you can study endlessly; it is something you live! If you don’t know how to live deeply in Christ, by all means find out! But don’t think you have to have it all figured out before you can live it. In fact you won’t figure it out until you do live it. Then you too can be awed by just how deep this rabbit hole goes. There are depths of love and heights of joy we have not even begun to explore in his incredible grace. I want so much for you to learn to live this way too and I find no greater joy in this age than helping folks do exactly that.

I got the following email last week about church discipline and thought that others might be interested in this topic as well. This is a blog, remember, so I’m not giving a definitive, this-will-fit-every-situation kind of answer. Rather, I’ll share some thoughts that may help you think through these kinds of situations when they arise.

I think this is an excellent example of how we have taken realities Paul lived in a relational context and try to apply them to an institutional one, and it just doesn’t work. Scripture never uses the term ‘excommunication’. That’s an institutional word not a relational one. What Paul asked the Corinthians to do was set a brother outside of the group who was persistently living in an immoral relationship and which the group was endorsing by their acceptance of it. His hope was this would cause repentance and it did. In 2 Corinthians Paul tells them that the brother has repented and ended the relationship so it was time to bring him back as a brother. The purpose of this was not to ostracize him and shame him; it was just to help him see the reality that his lifestyle was not acceptable in God’s family.

In one sense we are to have scorn for all sin—it diminishes who God made us to be and hurts others around us. So we can hate it as much as God does. However, feeling scorn for sin doesn’t translate into feeling scorn for sinners. For them we show compassion. We all know what it is to cave into sin and know how helpless we are to conquer it in ourselves. I’m glad you’ve still shown that kind of love to your friend and you’re right, God does not reject us in our failure, but invites us closer to him.

We had a similar situation in a group I met with once. I had a friend who was living in a gay relationship and they both wanted to join our group for fellowship. They had come to the conclusion that Scriptures used against homosexuality were being misinterpreted and that God accepted their relationship. Of course our group did not feel the same way. We had a long conversation about it and I told them that while I cared about them, I did not endorse their relationship and neither would others in the group. We couldn’t pretend to be on a journey together when they were seeking to justify something we thought the Scripture clearly defined as outside of God’s will. This would have been very different if they could have confessed it as sin and wanted us to help them find God’s healing and freedom. In any case, they could see that it wasn’t best to come and our friendship survived that. Having a friendship with someone struggling in the bondage of sin is very different from sharing the journey with them in the context of fellowship. I think that’s what Jesus meant when he said to put people out of the body who live in persistent sin. He said to treat them as tax-gatherers, the kind of people he was criticized for hanging out with. Cleary his desire was not to add shame to their lives, but simply let them live honestly the consequences of their choice. But if we don’t love folks like that, how will they come to know him?

The problem I have with what is often called ‘church discipline’ is that it usually only applies to sexual sins, when Paul’s list included far more: “You must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.” Sometimes the very people implementing such discipline are those who live greedy or gossiping lives. If we’re going to take this seriously, let’s do it for all in this list and not just for sexual sins. But notice what Paul is really driving at here. It’s not the sin that causes the problem, but their attempts to pass themselves off as a brother or sister in that sin. He tells us not to avoid them in the world or treat them with contempt but to avoid the appearance that people are on the journey when they are not allowing Jesus to transform them into his image. The real dilemma is how do we love them without endorsing their point of view, which Jesus had no problem doing and when we learn to walk in compassion and truth we will find that freedom as well.

In your specific case, and assuming these are all the facts, this doesn’t seem to fit Paul’s teaching at all. To call an inappropriate conversation or even forbidden attraction ‘adultery’ is a gross misunderstanding of the Sermon on the Mount. Depending how deep it was it might have been a good idea to release him from leadership, but to ostracize him from fellowship for this kind of thing is really ridiculous. I think these are the kind of instances where Galatians 6 comes into play. When you find a brother or sister faltering, go rescue them with gentleness and tenderness knowing that any of us could fall into the same kind of trap. Body life is not a shared journey of those who are perfect, but of those growing to know him and passionate to be changed into his image, not find endorsement for our sin or failures. Until we get honest with the fact that we all struggle against various kinds of sins we’ll never find the depth of fellowship that God offers us. As long as we have to pretend to be better than we are to find fellowship, our fellowship will be false and ineffective. Paul points that out in so many ways in the totality of his writings.

When Paul tells the Ephesians that “there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality” among them, he is offering his hope, not the reality. You can’t read through the epistles and not see that sexual failure was an ongoing part of the struggles of those early Christians. Paul invited them to the greatest freedom imaginable in the life of Jesus. He didn’t tell them to reach that goal by kicking everyone out who struggles with sexual sin. Try to do that and you’ll just have a group of people who have learned to hide it better.

So, I hope those thoughts are helpful. The great thing about a blog is that others can weigh in on this important topic as well. So, agree or disagree, feel free to add your thoughts below and let’s see what we can all learn through this.

I got this question from someone recently regarding communion in the relational church and thought others might appreciate a bit of focus on this as well…

I’m working with a friend on a book about communion. His opening line in that book is, “For the first 300 years in the history of the life of the church no one ever conceived of sharing the Lord’s Table at any place other than the household dinning room table.” And he is a Methodist Pastor that believes in all that high church stuff!

Amazing, isn’t it? We can’t conceive of being served anywhere but in a ‘service,’ the early believers couldn’t imagine serving it anywhere but in a home around a table. Some think a shared meal with other believers is the Lord’s Table, not a cup of juice or bread. Some incorporate the cup and bread into the regular meal. That’s what Sara and I enjoy doing. Sometimes our home group will share it together and some time we just do it when believers have joined us for a meal and evening of fellowship.I’ve even had it at an Outback Restaurant once. I had stopped at the restaurant to meet some folks who wanted to talk with me about their own journey. As the ten of us got situated around the table our host asked the waitress to bring us a glass of red wine and a dinner roll, and we broke the bread and shared the cup before we ordered from the menu. It was so simple and helped us fix Jesus as the center of our evening and the conversation.

And when we celebrate his presence as his people, I enjoy seeing it a bit like a toast. We don’t need formal prayers or a specific liturgy. A brief prayer sanctifying our hearts to him and focusing on the meaning he invested in those elements in the first serving with his disciples is more than enough. Then I like it when someone lifts the cup, and says something that honors the one whom our souls love. Such as, “To the King of the Ages, in gratefulness for his work in us…”

Yesterday Aimee, our new granddaughter came over with her parents to visit. I got to feed her some supplement from a bottle and then she fell asleep on my shoulder (at left) for two and a half hours while I watched the Green Bay football game. What a special time! My heart was so filled with joy just to be near Aimee and watch her breathe, smirk and rest. She had one hand on my chest and the other around my side.

he’s pretty helpless, you know. She really can’t do a thing for herself and must depend on those around her to take care of her. Jesus encouraged us to the same kind of relationship with his Father. You don’t need to be anxious for anything because he will take care of you. Wouldn’t it be great to trust that? I’m learning to, even when he doesn’t ‘take care’ of me the way I want to be taken care of.

hile a group of us were together last week praying for my writing and travel schedule, one of the brothers prayed about this. He spoke of Aimee and her complete helplessness and prayed we would learn how to be helpless in the hands of our Father too. As he prayed I thought not only of how helpless Aimee is, but how much I delight at every thought of her. And then I wondered if God held that same delight for me. Theologically, I know God delights over us. Zechariah said so, but I’ve never seen his delight for me quite as real as my delight for Aimee before that moment.

t reminded me my reading in Song of Songs a few weeks ago. As the bridegroom delights over his lover, I wondered if that mirrors Jesus’ delight in his church. I know how I feel when I’ve been gone from Sara for a few days, and the ache in my heart just to be near her again and hold her in my arms. Could this be how God feels about me? The conclusion I’ve come to his delight is at least what I feel for Sara or for Aimee. His delight could be a billion times greater, with him being God and all, and having more love in his heart than I can possibly fathom.

And if I really knew he delighted in me like that, wouldn’t it be so much easier to rest in his certain arms, even in the places where I’m most broken and helpless? I want Jesus to make that more real in me with each passing day, and I pray the same for you too!

A friend from DC sent me this link today. I had never heard this song before, but as I listened to it this morning, my heart has been drawn to Jesus in a wonderful way and I have been more inspired to follow him wherever he leads. Here is the song, In Christ Alone.

The content of this link is a soldier in Iraq who listens to this every day. In his context it is incredibly appropriate. But so in mine today, and in yours. Wherever you are at risk today, be inspired in this reality. You are not alone. Your life is in the certain hands of an incredible Savior.

Enjoying a Moment in God’s Presence with IN CHRIST ALONE Read More »

For those who don’t know yet, a new issue of BodyLife, has just been posted at Lifestream.org. I like to bookmark a place on the blog so that others can interact on it as well. I don’t claim to have the definitive answers on any of these things, but I hope by writing about them it stimulates thought and conversation that draws us closer to Jesus and his work in the world. So feel free to struggle with its content if you like and let’s see what we all can learn.

The lead article in this issue is entitled The Church That Jesus Builds and is designed to help people on the search to discover the value of New Testament body life and encourage that undeniable hunger to find real relationships with others on the journey of being transformed into his likeness. Here’ is an excerpt:

This came across my desk today. I love it! What a reminder to keep ‘pressing on’ and not to settle down at any stage of the journey. This is an excerpt from The Journey by Robert Burnell:

What’s on the way can get in the way when it becomes the destination instead of a piece of the journey. This might be a good time to read Philippians 3:9-14 again.

You can read the rest of the story, as they say, by reading The Journey. What an inspirational story! The last paragraph is worth it all:

I usually take this space to encourage others who are on this incredible journey of living deeply in God’s life and learn to share that relationally with others. I want to use it today for a bit of personal reflection and to ask for your prayers.

As many of you know I’ve stayed a bit closer to home this fall, feeling like God wanted me to step back from the busyness and complications that this journey has become. I had no idea what he had in mind, but having never had the desire to travel I found it an easy obedience. Any day I don’t drive through LA traffic or have to endure an airport security line is a good one. As 2004 draws do an end so does our tenth year at Lifestream. During that time I’ve had the joy of spending time with brothers and sisters all over the world in various stages of this journey—from just seeing the light at the beginning of the tunnel, to those walking in maturity and grace that has taught me so much.

It has been incredible season. My relationship with God has been strengthened and deepened in ways I could not have imagined. He has freshly introduced me to living in his rest, which I didn’t even know I’d lost in all the travel and trying to maintain three websites. He has also been expanding the borders of my freedom in kicking out some old fences that have long constrained me on this journey. I am so grateful. If you want to hear more of that process, listen to our Teaching of the Month which was recorded this past Sunday and expresses my heart in more detail.

It has also been a time to lay at the Lord’s feet these things we call Lifestream and BridgeBuilders to see what his pleasure would be with both of them in days ahead. And while I hoped this season would also lead to some fresh direction for my life vocationally, it has led to far less. It seems Father is inviting me more and more to walk in the simplicity of each day, pursuing the passion he puts on my heart and watching as his work unfolds. Instead of coming away with a fresh vision for Lifestream or BridgeBuilders I come away knowing that those are only tools in his hands. He is not asking me to build up those things, but to stay flexible in him and only use them in ways that will help others live this journey as well.

And in some time this past weekend with those brothers and sisters who share these things with me most directly, Jess only affirmed that we are to aggressively give our lives away to help people know the Father as he really is and to equip them to live as his church in this age. He wants us even freer to follow wherever he leads and to be more dependent on his provision in the going. To that end we felt he asked us to release He Loves Me as a free PDF download so that its message can travel around the world unrestrained and people can have access to it free of charge.

We have also put 84 hours of my audio teaching in mp3 format into a new Lifestream SuperDisc so that people can have access to those resources for only $25.00 plus shipping. We hope that will help equip and inspire many to sort out with Father how he is asking them to live in him and share that life with others.

It also means I will pick up traveling again in the New Year. Books and CDs can only take people so far. Taking the time to help people more personally in small groups and in one-on-one encounters are the most significant way Jesus modeled for us to pass this life on to others. As much as God has used others to expand my heart and encourage my life in him, I want to continue to do that for others. I’m not sure how all of this will sort out. I sense there are some new doors around the corner that I can’t even conceive today. I am completely at rest knowing that he will make them clear in his time.

It’s amazing how God has already confirmed these things through a number of other people, including some from overseas who are delighted to have access to He Loves Me. We have no idea how God will provide for these things, but he has demonstrated his faithfulness to do so over these last ten years. Sara and I do covet your prayers, however, for the clarity of Father’s direction and the courage to follow him wherever he leads us. That is also our prayer for you.

A good friend from near Dublin sent me some reflections on the closing of Dublin’s most famous coffee house, Bewleys. Among the recollections of special times there with his Dad and even with an older brother in Christ who helped disciple him, was this paragraph:

I loved the line “from Bewleys to martyrdom, not for the tragedy it evokes but how the simplest expressions of fellowship can lead us to the greatest depths of his life. Simple fellowship borne of hearts on a common journey can have the most profound impacts on our journey.

Some days it comes together very nicely. I began a fresh read through Philippians today, again in The Message, and came across an interesting point in chapter one. “There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.” Is this not an amazing view of suffering? How can it be as much a gift as those moments when he wins our trust?

To live that way one has to have his or her eye set far beyond our temporal comfort or convenience. It has to be set so deeply in God, that we recognize in those moments of extremity that God is all we have, and having him we have far more than enough. Paul just didn’t talk that way he lived it.

A few moments later I was reading in That They May All Be One, Even as We Are One, an outstanding transcript of some talks T. Austin-Sparks gave at the end of his journey to some believers in the Philippines. Here’s what I read this morning:

When Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, he wrote it from prison. As we have said, he was waiting for the sentence of death. He was no longer able to travel about the world preaching. He was no longer able to visit his beloved people in all parts of the world. A lot of his friends had left him. There was not much that he could do in a public way now. All that is at an end. So that it was not the churches and it was not the works; it was the Lord Jesus. Paul’s life was not just his work. It was not just his traveling about all over the world preaching. When all those things were taken away, he says, ‘I am still going on.’

‘This one thing I do, I press on. Take away my work, I am going on with the Lord. Take away my friends, I am going on with the Lord. Take away my liberty, I am still going on with the Lord.’

How great a Lord he must be!

So what else is there? In overwhelming joy and debilitating pain, let us go on with the Lord. When God provides tons of incredible fellowship, or none, let us go on with the Lord. Whether we are in times of refreshing or times of intense struggle, let us go on with the Lord. When we have lots of opportunity to share his life or none at all, let us go on with the Lord.

Even in the face of certain death, Paul found no greater joy than his longing to know the Lord and even admitted that it was far better for him to finally see him face-to-face than to continue to live on in this age. When the Lord Jesus becomes our sole reason for being, there is only life in him today, and greater life in him to come.