Admirer or Disciple?

One of the people whose works and writings have profoundly affected my view of God, or of following Jesus, and who still inspire me is Clarence Jordan. Clarence was a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Agriculture, then went on to Southern Seminary and earned a Masters and Doctorate. He was a farmer and a New Testament scholar. In the early 1940's Jordan and his wife found a piece of property in Sumter County near Americus Georgia and founded "Koinonia Farm", an experiment in Christian community that crossed the racial boundaries that so characterized the South of that time.

During this time Clarence approached his brother Robert Jordan, later state senator and justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, asking him to represent Koinonia Farm legally. His brother replied, “Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.” 

“We might lose everything, too, Bob,” Clarence reminded him. 

Jordan continued, “I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”

“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point,” Robert replied.

“Could that point be…the cross?” asked Clarence pointedly.

“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”

Clarence said, “Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”

Ouch!

But isn't that true of more of us than we'd like to admit? We get squeezed between our professed love for Jesus and "the real world" of work, of money, of family, of status, of class, of rank, of whatever, and that old tempter starts whispering sweet nothings in our ear. And we listen, especially when we're hard pressed. Instead of setting our faces like flint, we gradually turn away from the hard path, the tough places thinking that movement away will bring the comfort and blessings we really want and believe we deserve.

29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,30 will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”

Luke 18:29-30 (NLT)

When are we going to learn that we cannot out give God? When will we realize that the way "forward" means leaving the values of this world behind? When will we follow Jesus past "that point"?

Lots of people are stuck because they use the wrong standard of measurement. Are you faithfully following Jesus? Then let no one keep you from continuing.

But if you are not... if you are primarily interested in how you benefit... if it's always about YOU.

Then go back in repentance to the church you belong to and tell them you are sorry and that you want to be a follower, not an admirer.

Chew On This A While

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on school desegregation, Clarence Jordan got into serious trouble with racists and members of the Ku Klux Klan when he tried to assist two African-American students in their application to a formerly segregated business college. This led to shooting, bombings, and vandalism against the Koinonia Farm. But Jordan steadfastly refused to leave. He spoke of these adversaries as people "with their personalities twisted and warped by prejudice and hate . . . If there is any balm in Gilead; if there is any healing in God's wings; if there is any hope — shall we go off and leave people without hope? We have too many enemies to leave them. The redemptive love of God must somehow break through. If it costs us our lives, if we must be hung on the cross to redeem our brothers and sisters in the flesh, so let it be. It will be well worth it. To move away would be to deny the redemptive process of God."

What's your initial response to pain and suffering?

It's not what you just read, is it?

When people hurt us, when trials and suffering comes, we tend to turn away - to cut people off.

And yet Jordan's words track with what I've learned over the years - "Hurt people... hurt people."

Was eating lunch with a good friend yesterday who has known me for many years now. He brought up an incident many years ago at New Hope where an acerbic member came to the church one burning hot Saturday afternoon and found me cutting the grass. She then proceeded to tell me I was doing it wrong.

I can laugh at it now, but at the time it was just another sniper's bullet in the war that was raging between me and a group who opposed changes I believed God would have us make as a church to reach more people who were far from God. That was a tough period of time. Some very hurtful actions and words were thrown at me and even my wife.

I confess I didn't practice what Clarence Jordan did. I moved away and minimized my contact with her and those engaged in the war. Forgiveness is something I have learned to give people who hurt me, but opportunities to hurt again?

Not so much.

A work in progress,I am.

What about you? Are you able to stand in the place of pain and be God's person of peace?

Pray with me for grace sufficient to be who Jesus wants us to be.

A Demonstration Plot For the Kingdom of God

It had to be from God.

There's just no way anyone sets out to live this way. There's no way that a community founded on living out the New Testament makes it 68 years.

And yet this "demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God" is still existing and still drawing people into the experiment - and toward the Way of Jesus. Just received their newsletter in the mail recently and it was bursting forth with what was happening on the farm and really around the world as a result of the vision of Clarence Jordan and those who have followed in his steps.

When you ride through the fields of the South, if you are observant, you'll frequently see signs set out at the edges of the fields that tell you what variety of seed is planted there. Often after harvest, you'll also see signs telling you what the yield per acre was. The other thing you will notice is funny shaped plastic "cups" that collect insects. The farmer will then work to control those insects by means of aerial crop spraying. It's all done to try to get the best outcome from the work and the investment they've put into that field.

I'd say that God received and receives to the present day a wonderful return on His investment at Koinonia Farm. The signs are planted all over the world. Habitat for Humanity was birthed here as Jordan and Millard Fillmore saw a need to mobilize people to construct housing for the poor. Today they test sustainable agriculture, seek green ways of living, and work among their neighbors in service. I thank God for the work of His people at Koinonia.

May they continue to grow and demonstrate God's love. One of the days I really want to make a trip there and spend some time walking the fields Clarence Jordan loved so much, and learning more about what "risky" Christian community really is all about.

If you would like to support their work, not only can you donate online, but they also have some wonderful products made at the farm as well as fair trade products produced elsewhere. Copies of Clarence Jordan's writings, sermons, and his "Cotton Patch Gospel" are also available. Check them out.

This Sunday's Text

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others.* The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.*
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye* when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend,* ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy.* Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Mt 7:1-6

"Don’t preach just to keep from being preached to. For the same sermon you preach will be applied to you, and the stuff you dish out to others will be dished up to you. Why examine the splinter in your brother’s eye, and take no notice of the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Bud, hold still while I pick that splinter out of your eye,’ when there is a plank in yours? Listen, you phony, first pull the plank from your eye and then you’ll be able to see better to get the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

"‘Don’t throw your valuables to the dogs,
And don’t spread your pearls before the hogs;
Or they will trample them under their feet
And even turn and bite you.’
- Clarence Jordan, Matthew, The Cotton Patch Gospels

1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

6"Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you're only being cute and inviting sacrilege. The Message - Eugene Peterson

I read passages like this and it causes me to love Jesus more. There's such a disconnect between many of those who are called Christians and Jesus.

Who are God's people, really?

5:1-12 When Jesus saw the large crowd, he went up the hill and sat down. His students gathered around him, and he began teaching them. This is what he said:

"The spiritually humble are God's people, for they are citizens of his new order.
"They who are deeply concerned are God's people, for they will see their ideas become reality.
"They who are gentle are his people, for they will be his partners across the land.
"They who have an unsatisfied appetite for the right are God's people, for they will be given plenty to chew on.
"The generous are God's people, for they will be treated generously.
"Those whose motives are pure are God's people, for they will have spiritual insight.
"Men of peace and good will are God's people, for they will be known throughout the land as his children.
"Those who have endured much for what's right are God's people; they are citizens of his new order.
"You all are God's people when others call you names, and harass you and tell all kinds of false tales on you just because you follow me. Be cheerful and good-humored, because your spiritual advantage is great. For that's the way they treated men of conscience in the past.

Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Gospels

We've been looking at the "red letters" for the last few weeks at New Hope, and I think Clarence Jordan would approve. He was famous for writing about "Jesus' Doings' and Sayings'"

I was wondering a little while ago about the effect on a person who knew nothing about Christianity, Jesus, or the church if you were to give them this as a guideline as to what a person who wanted to relate rightly to God would find themselves doing.

Would they turn out as the typical person who joins the church does?