Rob Wegner: Blog Archive

What is Share the Well?

You’ve probably seen Michelle and I’s numerous tweets about the book we’re working on, Share the Well. 

What is the book about?  

Share the Well…

...will tell the compelling and inspiring story of GCC’s holistic church planting movement in India. This movement started with 15 followers of Jesus dreaming together in a room and has now blossomed to a movement of over 120,000 followers of Jesus gathering in over 950 churches transforming entire villages. We want to bring the story of what is happening in India back home.  More than that, we hope to inspire  people to dream about God unleashing that kind of movement right here, in our own backyard. 

...will take those big statistics and make them small by telling the stories of individuals who have been transformed. 15 stories of changed lives.

...will be fast paced, story-based, and a quick read.  The entire book will be approximately 150 pages including photography.  

...will be visually stunning. Share the Well will be laid out as a travel journal.  Color photography will be on every other page, accompanying each story with pictures of the people and places described.  Wait till you see the photos!   The photos capture the heart and essence of every story. 

...will have a “twist” ending.  No spoilers here. You’ll have to pick up a copy.  (Aren’t you curious?)

...will be a conversation starter among friends and an invitation to “Go!”

...will be a mutli-media experience.  The book will be accompanied by a documentary film.

…will raise funding for the movement in India.  All those involved – the authors, the photographers, the videographers, the editor, the design team – are donating their services.  Every cent of the proceeds goes directly to the field in India. Every book sold feeds the movement just a little bit more.

We can’t wait to Share the Well with you.  We’re hoping to have it available before Christmas.

What I Learned from a Chick Track

Luke 8:16-18 (NIV)
¹⁶ "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
¹⁷ For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
¹⁸ Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."

What do you think of when you read the “nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be…brought out in the open” part of this passage?

My mind jumps to a Chick Tract that made the rounds back in the seventies.  In that track, Judgment Day is pictured.  People are standing in the presence of God, undone in the blazing beacon of His holiness.  Each person is forced to watch all the despicable acts of their life as they unfold on a HUGE movie screen that is floating in space. No deleted scenes.   It’s all out there. As you can imagine, it’s quite an embarrassing moment for everyone involved, accept for God, who seems to relish making the people squirm.

Since those days, I have always associated this passage with secret sins.  In many moments of secret shame over the years, I’ve shuddered as I considered the idea of my sin being broadcast in 1080 on the big screen for all to see.  It’s amazing how that little track so firmly captured my boyhood imagination and afterwards, my interpretation of this passage.

This morning, a new light broke in as I listened to these words.

Surely light drives back darkness.   On Judgment Day, darkness and secret sin will be exposed and eliminated.  But, the ultimate goal of God’s light is illumination.  To look at the release of that illumination and equate it with the revealing of secret sins is myopic, at best.  In a moment, as I listened to these words again, I could see that the horizon expanding in front of me.  The illumination so much broader and wider than I imagined.

Jesus “always has the best information on everything and certainly on the things that matter most in human life.” (Dallas Willard)

Right now, I’m facing a situation where there is gridlock.  It involves someone I love more than words can say.  I’m concerned for a pattern that is developing in their life that I know will lead to so much pain, stress, and frustration. I’ve said all I know to say.   Many times.  It hasn’t seemed to help. 

I bet you’ve got a situation like that.  Let me remind both of us…

Jesus “always has the best information on everything and certainly on the things that matter most in human life.”

I keep praying, “Show me the way.”  

This morning I am reminded  HE DOES, INDEED, KNOW THE WAY.  “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed.”   Can you believe that?  How great is that? 

Limiting the illumination Jesus speaks of in this passage to my secret sins was like holding a teaspoon of the ocean and thinking, “I’ve got it all here.” The lamp Jesus is lifting over humanity is one that will bring knowledge to every area of life and every domain of society.  One day, all mysteries will be made known in Him.  The longing, the itch, the riddle, and the search will all be fulfilled in Jesus. How amazing is that? How exciting is that?

The light is dawning so we can see everything clearly.

Let these words from the Divine Conspiracy broaden your horizon.

At the literally mundane level, Jesus knew how to transform the molecular structure of water to make it wine. That knowledge also allowed Him to take a few pieces of bread and some little fish and feed thousands of people. He could create matter from the energy He knew how to access from the heavens right where He was. He knew how to transform the tissues of a human body from sickness to health, and from death to life. He knew how to suspend gravity, interrupt weather patterns, eliminate unfruitful trees without saw or axe.

He only needed a word. Surely He must be amused at what Nobel Prizes are awarded for today.

In the ethical domain He had an understanding of life that has influenced world thought more than any other. Death was not something imposed on Him by others. He explained to His followers in a moment of crisis, He could at any time call for 72,000 angels to do whatever He wanted. A mid sized angel or two would surely have been enough to take care of those who thought they were capturing and killing Him. He plainly said, Nobody takes my life. I lay it down by choice. I am in a position to lay it down and I am in a position to resume it. My Father and I have worked all this out. All these things show Jesus’ cognitive and practical mastery of every phase of reality— physical, moral, spiritual—He is Master only because He is maestro. Jesus is Lord can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate before saying Jesus is smart. He is not just nice. He is brilliant. He is the smartest man who ever lived. He is now supervising the entire course of world history while simultaneously preparing the rest of the universe for our future role in it. He always has the best information on everything and certainly on the things that matter most in human life.    Dallas Willard, Divine Conspiracy

I wonder how many other passages I’ve read and yet, not read? 

Many an object is not seen although it falls in the range of the visual eye. Henry David Thoreau

Tattoo

I met with a good friend of mine today, Brian.  We’ve been on a journey of friendship together for a couple years.  Last year, after many spiritual conversations, Brian surrendered his life to Jesus and declared his faith through the sacrament of baptism.  I had the honor of sharing that moment with him.  The last year of following Jesus has not been easy for him. 

Jesus never told us following him would be easy. In fact, often following Jesus makes like harder in terms of circumstances.  Why? We’re called to a counter-cultural lifestyle.  We’re called to fight for our holiness in every area of our lives – work, play, friendships, marriage, parenting, study – all of life. 

Following Jesus means rebooting every area of life.  We have to admit that our former life was running on the wrong operating system – self.  The new operating System is not a program, but a Person. God rolled out this new operating System through His Son Jesus. It’s even bigger news that Windows 7 or OS X Snow Leopard.  Yes, following Jesus is hard, but the good news is that this new operating System, called the Holy Spirit, gives ordinary people extraordinary power.  We are no longer on the “try harder to be a good person” program. Those who have their faith in Jesus receive the power of the Holy Spirit, our new operating system, which enables us to not just try harder to do the right things, but to become the right kind of person at the core of our being.

But, learning to how to run all the “programs” of your life on the new System, deciphering how the programs need to be rewritten or just plain deleted does not happen automatically.  How does it happen?

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-18 (NASB77)

We have to learn to listen.  Study the Scriptures.  Observe. Reflect. Process those insights with trusted friends who follow Jesus. Then ultimately, obey.

Brian and I had one of those listen-study-observe-reflect-obey conversations today.  At the end, he said, “I needed something to remind me every day that I belong to Jesus. I needed something that would remind me whose in charge of my life.”

He’s talking about learning to walk in the Spirit.

“So, I went out and got this.”

He rolled up his sleeve and showed me this tattoo.

Brian wanted a visual reminder to keep him in the flow with the Spirit – to remind him to listen and obey.  He began looking for the right symbol.  He looked at over 300 images on the internet, deciding on this one.  Get this – he shows up at the tattoo joint and explains his intent.  The tattoo artist says he’s got a book with religious symbols in it. He opens the book and points to an image, “How about this one?”

Guess which image it was?   The very one he had already picked out.

Some would question this kind of extreme step, “Isn’t that overboard.  Is he become a fanatic?”

I think he is in the flow of the Spirit.  Every day he looks at this and remembers Jesus words,  "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34 (NIV)  There it is etched right into his flesh.  That’s intense.

So, I’m wondering,

What helps you walk in the Spirit and work on the new operating System? 

What helps you stay in the flow? 

What symbols bring you back to center?

What practices do you build your life around that help you abide in the life of God in Christ?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Much Forgiven, Much Love

Our culture tells us, “In order to have a strong sense of value, you must think much of yourself.”

That’s the wrong target.  In order to have a strong sense of value, I must think much of Jesus.

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."       Luke 7: 36-38, 44-47

Much forgiven, much love.  Little forgiven, little love.

Our culture tells us we will find freedom when we make much of our strengths.  Playing to our strengths is important, but it is the second step, not the first.

The first step towards freedom is to make much of our weakness in the light of God’s grace. 

Much forgiven, much love. Little forgiven, little love.

The trick is realizing that we all fit in the “much forgiven” category.  Today as I read this passage, I was reminded that as I make progress in my faith, I too often turn that grace-started, grace-sustained progress into a sense of self-righteousness.   Subtly and subversively, my strength then becomes my weakness - when I forget that I am much forgiven – when I begin to believe in my own independent strength apart from grace. At that point, as I subconsciously slip into the “less forgiven” category, there’s no avoiding it - less love flows in my life.  I strangle the flow of God’s life and love.

Grace is not only the only means to salvation. Grace is the only means for transformation.

Much forgiven, much love. Little forgiven, little love.