A pastor was giving the children's message during the worship service. For this part of the service, he would gather all the children around him and give a brief bible lesson. He was using squirrels for an object lesson on the importance of planning ahead.
He started out by saying, "I'm going to describe something, and I want you to raise your hand when you know what it is."
The children nodded eagerly.
"This thing lives in trees -pause- and eats nuts." -pause-
No hands went up.
"And it is gray -pause-and has a long bushy tail." -pause-
The children were looking at each other, but still no hands raised.
"And it jumps from branch to branch." -pause-
"...and chatters and flips its tail when it's excited..." -pause-
Finally one little boy tentatively raised his hand. The pastor breathed a sigh of relief and called on him.
"Well," said the boy, "I KNOW the answer must be Jesus...but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!"
I share this fun little story with you this morning because being a disciple means to be Jesus-centered. And that makes sense since being a disciple means to be followers of Jesus. Jesus is the answer to life’s many questions.
During our season of Lent sermon series on the making of a disciple, we are looking at eight important aspects in what it means to Jesus’ disciples. We are halfway through this series and so far, we have seen that being a disciple means that we are growing in what it means to be hope-filled, generous, worshipful, and grace-filled.
And today’s focus is on the importance of being Jesus-centered. What does it mean to be Jesus-centered?
And for this, we turn to the Apostle Paul and this morning’s New Testament reading. Writing from a prison cell for his faith, Paul is addressing his letter to the Christians in Philippi. And to better appreciate what he writes in this part of his letter, it’s helpful to know a little of Paul’s background because he feels the need to bring it up here.
Paul had quite the religious pedigree. If anybody could boast about being a religious person, it would be Paul. Just listen to his religious bio. He offers it in this part of the letter as if he copied and pasted it from a resume. Paul is making the point that nobody is more Jewish than he is.
He writes that he was circumcised when he was just 8 days old just like it says you’re supposed to do in Leviticus chapter 12, verse 3. He is from the Tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes of Israel and probably thee most important of all of the twelve tribes because Benjamin was the only one of Jacob’s sons who was born in the Promised Land. And the the first King of Israel, Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. If you’re from the tribe of Benjamin, you will probably work that into the conversation somehow.
By the way, do you know how you can tell if somebody went to Harvard? … They’ll be sure to tell you.
How can you tell if someone is from the tribe of Benjamin? They’ll tell you, just like Paul does here in his letter.
Paul goes on by saying that he’s not just any Jew, he’s a Pharisee. Pharisees were known for their rigorous observance in following all of the biblical laws and commandments and applying them to their everyday lives.
In today’s world, if we were to write an impressive religious bio, we might include that in children’s Sunday School, we won 1st place in the Bible quiz bowl every year and then how we have a doctorate in biblical studies. Anything to show that we truly are very religious people!
Paul shares all of this information, not to show that he is more religious than anybody else, but to show that none of that means anything compared to his relationship with Jesus. It’s verse 7 where he makes this point when he writes, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.”
That’s how the New Revised Standard Version translates that verse which is what we use here in church. “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.”
I like how The Message translation which is a modern day paraphrase puts it. It says, “The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash – along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ.”
That translation might actually go too far because I don’t think that Paul is saying that those religious credentials in and of themselves are bad or wrong, but when you compare all of those impressive things in simply knowing Christ, there is no comparison.
And then Paul goes on to write, “More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And a couple of verses later he writes, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his suffering by becoming like him in his death.”
For Paul, the answer is always Jesus. Even with his impressive religious pedigree, for Paul, it is all about Jesus.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? It means being hope-filled, generous, worshipful, grace-filled, yes, all of these things, but at the heart of it all, is being Jesus-centered.
If you don’t know any bible verses by heart, that’s OK. Just remember to be Jesus-centered. If you can’t find the book of Zephaniah in the Old Testament or even knew there is a Book of Zephaniah in the Old Testament, that’s OK. Just remember to be Jesus-centered.
The biggest take-away for us during this 8-week series on the Making of a Disciple is that we will look at our faith, our interactions with others, and the experiences we encounter through the eyes of Jesus. The Bible can be a confusing book. Our faith can feel very complex at times. This is why it is so important that we remember to be Jesus-centered.
And to be Jesus-centered is to think about what Jesus did throughout his life, death, and resurrection. This is one of the reasons that it is very, very rare for us to not include a Gospel reading as one of our scripture readings on Sunday mornings, because the more we hear about Jesus, the more that we are able to put the other scriptures into perspective.
In today’s Gospel reading from John, chapter 12, we have the story of Jesus who came to the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And as Jesus was with them in their home, Mary took a pound of costly ointment which would have equaled a year’s wages and anointed Jesus’ feet. Judas protested this action because even though it was a nice gesture on Mary’s part, he felt that money could have been used in better ways.
Mary did this because she was Jesus-centered. She knew that money was no object in displaying her love and worship of Jesus.
I have a friend who was a pastor and sadly, ended up having a mental breakdown. The good news is that he ended up getting the help and therapy he needed but that whole process meant that he would be away from the church he was serving for the next six months.
He told me that what got him through that very dark time in his life was by remembering these four simple words, “Stay focused on Jesus.” And that’s what he did. He relied on Jesus to help him get well again.
For his first Sunday back with his congregation, he gave each church member a small business size card with the words, “Stay focused on Jesus.”
Sometimes, when I was at the same district or conference meeting as my friend and went to my car to leave and go home, I would find one of these cards under my windshield wiper. It was his way of reminding me to stay focused on Jesus.
I am thinking of him today as I preach this sermon. Even though he died several years ago, those words keep ringing in my ears, “Stay focused on Jesus. Stay focused on Jesus.”
Today, as we prepare to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we will actually receive the Risen Christ as we eat the bread and drink from the cup. That’s why we receive this Sacrament.
It’s what helps us to stay Jesus centered. It’s what helps us to stay focused on Jesus.
The Making of a Disciple: Jesus-Centered
Lord, Jesus, thank you for this 40 day season in which we are invited to follow you all the way to the cross and the empty tomb. We confess that we often lose our focus along this long journey. We don’t always keep up with your pace and we lose sight of where you are leading us. We forget your words to us when you first called us to be your disciples. You simply said, “Follow me.” O Lord, remind us again to follow you and to be the Jesus-centered disciples you call us to be. Amen.
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