When my youngest daughter, Sidney, was six she decided she was ready to be on her own. The rules at Prison George apparently were too strict, so she was going to take freedom into her own hands. I can’t even recall what she was upset about. I do remember that we were still picking out her clothes for her at that age and she was much more particular than her older sister. I’m not saying her temper was out of control concerning fashion, but we may or may not have used the phrase the devil wears Prada.
Whatever the issue was, she threw a fit sufficient to be sent to her room. She stewed around in there as we stood outside her door wondering what to do next. Lorrie and I found that the “Go to your room” directive was more for us than for our kids. It allowed us time to strategize. “What should we do?” “I don’t know. I was hoping you’d know!”
As a pastor I should know these things, right? But as I often tell people, the Bible is filled with a lot of bad parenting. Isaac blessed the wrong kid, Jacob told his sons that Joseph was his favorite, and Mary and Joseph left Jesus in Jerusalem and didn’t realize it for three days!
Fortunately God redeemed all those things, so we prayed that God would redeem our family situation too. While we were plotting our next move, we noticed it grew quiet behind her door. The tantrum had ended. Was this the calm before the storm? It was at this point we saw a handwritten note sliding out from under the door. I was hoping for a letter of apology, but expected it to be a list of demands. Instead it read:
I am running away from home. You have been mean to me my whole life. I will miss you. Love, Sidney
The letter was sad, sweet, alarming, and a bit funny. She’d had six hard years and that was enough. But she would miss us. The best part was the P.S.
P.S. I’ll be at the Youngs’.
The Youngs were neighbors of ours. I was thrilled she had a plan. I was elated it was with people we knew. But I was most touched by the sentiment behind the admission of revealing where she would be. “I’m running away from home, but here’s where I’ll be. Please come and get me!”
Sidney never left home, and the story has been with us ever since.
Her thoughts are our thoughts as well. We get mad at people, we get frustrated with our family, and our co-workers drive us crazy. But in most cases we beg them not to leave us alone. “Please come and get me.”
It’s been said that the fear that’s worse than death is the fear of dying alone. We all want to be in a warm bed surrounded by loved ones as they help us exit this world into the next. We want others to help us reach home.
From This Life to the Next
Dallas Willard once said that since life is just a series of experiences, we may not even know we are dead until a while after we have passed. We’ll just be having new experiences. He goes on to say that since life is a collection of experiences, the definition of intimacy is to share an experience. We want to share the experience of going home with others . . . until we can share the next experience with Jesus.1
Living a life “better together” is more than just a pursuit so we can cope with the reality of this life. It is also a method that allows us to get to our final destination—our eternal home in heaven.
In the letter to the Hebrews, the book we keep returning to, the author is concerned that his church may stray from the course. They’ve endured hardship and faced difficulty. Their faith has been challenged in ways most of us will never understand. Most of us will never lose our job, our family, or our freedom because of our faith. They did. Yet the author pushes them to something bigger.
Look at the words he uses:
Persevere
Don’t shrink back
Hold the confidence we had at first firmly till the end
Enter in with confidence
Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess
The goal is more than day-to-day. It is a lifetime of faithful service and communion with the Lord and His body.
We understand this goal. We don’t want our loved ones to “shrink back.” We want our children to “persevere.” But how do they (and we) do that all alone? How can we help others who are far from us? How do we “make every effort”?
Could it be that our clear-cut method, preventing us from backsliding or from wavering from the faith, is to do life together? Could it be that it’s not enough to say, “It’s just Jesus and me”?
Reaching Back
Chapter 11 of Hebrews highlights a long list of people who have gone on before us. These people had extraordinary faith and that faith motivated the next generation to keep their faith. This ripple effect carried on and on. From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph, faith was able to overcome even in the lives of the most imperfect individuals. We are reminded of Moses and his parents, and the faith that helped them to brave the evil culture of their day, eventually enabling Moses to lead God’s people out of slavery.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
I used to think that the great cloud of witnesses was the world. The witnesses were those watching to see if we were truly followers of Jesus or just hypocrites. Now I see it differently. I believe the author is calling our attention to the grandstands of faithful people in heaven who are cheering us on.
When you feel alone, remember what David said when he was hiding from Saul: “I put my trust in you, God.” When you are betrayed, remember Joseph who languished in a prison cell for a crime he didn’t commit. When you feel like your best days are behind you, remember that old shepherd named Moses who went on to take down the great Egyptian Empire. Sometimes being together is remembering whose family you are in. We are all children of the same God. We all benefit from His presence. We all benefit from being a part of the same family of believers.
Reaching Forward
Toward the end of chapter 11, the author of Hebrews offers a somewhat strange observation. After listing names like Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets he makes this statement: “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised” (Hebrews 11:39).
Why was God’s promise yet to be fulfilled for them? What’s He waiting for? Isn’t that what we all wonder as we wait for our heavenly home?
Maybe God isn’t waiting at all. Have you considered that time itself came into being at creation? God stands outside of time, but He put boundaries around our existence, calling them day and night. If He can see everything at once, He sees beyond us and behind us. From His perspective there is no past and no future, as there is for us. And together the entire story makes sense, even when it doesn’t make sense to us in the chapter we are living in.
My wife, Lorrie, was driving in downtown Los Angeles and got lost. My wife is wonderful, even if a bit directionally challenged. We can’t be perfect, after all. Rather than using the on-screen navigation or even her phone apps, she called me to ask, “How do I get home?”
I quickly located her by using the location app on her phone, and from my vantage point I could see exactly where she was, where she was headed, and where she needed to be. I calmly directed her down the streets, to the freeway, and got her on the road leading home. It was easier for me because I could see the whole scene from above. She only saw the immediate, where she was at the moment.
For the people mentioned in Hebrews, God had something in mind and it involved other faithful followers of God: “For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us” (Hebrews 11:40).
How did believers in the first century AD have anything to do with Moses, or Rahab, or Enoch? It was something they’d all been a part of—the coming of Jesus. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection the true fulfillment of all God’s promises had been provided. Abraham was now the father of many nations. Moses’ people could now be led out of spiritual slavery. And Rahab was now a relative of the King of Kings. Those who were martyred and tortured for their prophecies were now justified. What they had spoken of before it happened was now a reality.
Jesus and His kingdom made sense of all the directions God had been giving before He came. The strange twists and turns throughout the history of Israel and the world all led to Calvary. Jesus’ resurrection and the establishing of His kingdom now brought clarity to past events. It’s similar to how (on a much smaller scale) I directed my wife home by means of what seemed to her strange turns and confusing streets. None of it made sense to her until she reached her destination.
Ultimately, God’s way to save the world involved people . . . lots of people. It began with Abraham hearing from God that he would be the father of many nations and “blessed to be a blessing.” (See Genesis 12:1–3.) As his nation grew they encountered slavery, exile, abandonment, genocide, and near extinction, but they remained a testimony to God’s faithfulness.
From that remnant came Jesus, who ushered in the kingdom of God. In salvation it was never God’s intention for us to see it as “just Jesus and me.” Instead, God’s intention was that His kingdom would be Jesus and His community of believers. His body, His church.
Just as the Son of God existed in community, we must live in community as well. Once the veil in the temple was torn in two, all of us were welcomed into this great rescue mission for the world called the kingdom of God. And we are all blessed—not just to pray for more blessings, not just to tweet pictures of ourselves on the beach and #blessed—but to be a blessing. As Paul said to the Ephesians: “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10).
God is showing us that His kingdom will be made up of the most unique collection of ragamuffins and vagabonds imaginable. It will be led by the simple and upheld by the weak. It will be a band of misfits and broken vessels, but it will declare His wisdom and show off His genius and power.
Being better together will not only get us through the day-to-day challenges of life but will also take us home. We are united with the patriarchs and the heroes of the past as well as the missionaries, teachers, and leaders of the future. We are part of the kingdom of God. And embracing that fact makes us better together.
More than Jesus
John was a guy who only needed Jesus. He wanted Him as a rabbi. Back in Jesus’ day, you didn’t pick a school, you picked a teacher. And if they chose you, you would follow them, learn from them, become like them.
So when Jesus chose John to be one of His disciples, John was thrilled. Jesus chose twelve to follow Him and learn from Him. Among these twelve guys, there were three that Jesus was especially close to: Peter, James, and John. And among those three, Jesus loved John like a kid brother.
Everyone was thrilled to be along for the ride, but John eclipsed them all. He liked the other guys, but he focused his attention and devotion on Jesus. John witnessed all the miracles, heard all the teachings, was involved in all the campfire discussions, and went to church with Jesus for three years.
When He was preparing for the Last Supper, Jesus asked John to help get the room ready. When He went out to the garden to pray before being crucified, John was with Him. And when Jesus was arrested, John was there. He saw the flogging and witnessed the crucifixion. He was so close to the action that he stood by Jesus’ mother at the foot of the cross and heard Jesus say, “John, take care of my mom.” John experienced the agony of losing his best friend. All he ever wanted and needed was Jesus. Now He was gone.
Three days later John hears that He’s alive. He runs to the tomb to look in—and sure enough, Jesus’ body is not there. It wouldn’t be long after this that John sees his Lord. They eat together. They spend weeks together. Everything will be fine now, he figures. Jesus is back, and all John needs is Jesus. But then he has to say good-bye to Him again. This time it was less painful, but still bittersweet. His Lord was leaving.
John will now dedicate the rest of his life to telling people about Jesus—traveling, teaching, healing, and writing. His message is clear: “All you need is Jesus.” In the years after Jesus left, John and the other disciples recklessly spread the news about who Jesus was—God come to earth—and assured everyone that they could find new life in Him. The church grew and grew and grew. “All you need is Jesus.”
At the time, the Roman government didn’t care who met together or who worshiped what, as long as you declared that Caesar was Lord. But the church refused to do that. They declared Jesus as the King of Kings. The Romans let the Jews slide when it came to their loyalty because the Jewish religion predated them. At first, Christianity seemed to be enough like Judaism not to raise any suspicion, but eventually the Romans began to figure it out. This new upstart religion, which no longer identified with the Jewish one, was not loyal to Caesar as Lord. So it came under suspicion.
During this time a ruler named Nero arose. And you could say he was insane. He killed his own family members. He even tried to burn down Rome so he could rebuild the city in his honor. The Roman citizens weren’t too happy about this, so Nero blamed the fire on the Christians, turning everyone against the growing group of Jesus followers.
Over the next few years, persecution broke out and Christians died in horrific ways. They were thrown to the lions, drawn and quartered, and even covered in tar, affixed to poles, lit on fire, and used to light Nero’s parties at night.
It was during these persecutions that the other disciples lost their lives. John was boiled alive, rescued before death, and then exiled to the island of Patmos, forty miles off the coast of Turkey.
This is where he is at the beginning of his book called the Revelation. He’s broken, tired, and alone, and he’s got to be thinking, Have I joined the losing team?
We’ve all felt that way before. Start going to church and things seem to get worse. Start providing boundaries for your kids and they barrel over them. Begin to tithe and you lose your job. Recently I had coffee with a friend who said, “Four years ago I decided to get serious about my faith, and since that time I’ve had a steady decline in revenue at work.” He concluded hopefully, stating it as a question, “I’m assuming God has a plan?”
John is alone. John is broken. But John is with Jesus!
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
Revelation 1:9–13 NIV
Even in exile, John was still having a church service, even though the attendance was just one. But in the middle of this worship experience, the attendance grows to two . . . Jesus shows up.
What happens next is nothing short of amazing. Jesus will take John on a tour of heaven that will leave the church trying to make sense of it for the rest of the church age. But the first thing Jesus does is turn John’s attention to the seven churches scattered across Asia Minor at this time.
We might wonder, Why was it so important that John be shown what was happening in these churches? Wouldn’t he rather see a tour of heaven, or just spend time with Jesus? I know many Sundays I would prefer to attend Bedside Baptist. Or go play golf with Jesus. Yet this was first on the agenda for Him: to take John to church.
I’m sure John had questions he’d like to ask his Lord. “Where have you been? Why haven’t you returned for your church yet? We’ve been waiting, you know. We’ve done all you said to do, so why are we being persecuted? We may be destroyed by Nero. We need you to sweep in and save the day!”
If nothing else, John would have had plenty to catch up on with his best friend. It had probably been thirty years since he’d seen his Lord and Master. John had been entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother. Wouldn’t He want an update on that?
But Jesus doesn’t even entertain those issues. He takes John to church. And in doing that, He highlights an important concept: “Yes, John, I AM enough. But you need the church too. You are better together.”
So as John writes these seven letters to the seven churches, his mind will turn to them and he’ll focus not on his own issues but on theirs. He will lift them up in prayer and process their pain. He will admonish them, challenge them, and even rebuke them. Something about this experience will lift John’s spirits and cause him to not lose hope. Jesus knows that we need people to help us make it home.
What’s fascinating to me is that John’s gospel is written by John after his experience on the island. He is later released from this prison camp—probably due to old age—and it is then that he sits down to write his memoir of his time with Jesus—the gospel of John.
When he tells us about the Last Supper, he gives us more detail than any of the other gospel writers. While most condense the event to what equates to one chapter, John gives us five chapters about it. Nearly 25 percent of his gospel, in fact, is dedicated to that event. He even lets us know his place there—he’s the one seated next to Jesus. But the thing that always brings a lump to my throat is how he describes himself. He’s “the one Jesus loved” (John 20:2 NIV).
I could understand it if he’d written the account a few days after the event. He got to sit next to Jesus. They were close friends. He had been invited to see the transfiguration, pray with Jesus, and even take care of His mother. But this was written after years of persecution, years spent on a prison island away from everyone who loved him. This comes at the end of John’s life, and he still feels loved by Jesus. He’s “the one Jesus loved.” I wonder if it has anything to do with Jesus’ taking John to church.
It is the way chosen by Jesus to lead John home. And it’s the way Jesus leads us home. Together.
How to Be Together . . . Better
Be like Jesus so others see Jesus till we meet Him
I remember the first time I met Sherry. She was sitting outside our church building waiting for the bus. She was a very unassuming woman who appeared to have seen hard times. Her clothes looked secondhand, her hair was thinning, and her eyes were glazed over from glaucoma. But her smile was so real and genuine, you could tell she knew Jesus.
We spoke briefly. She complimented me on my sermon that morning, and I thanked her for her kind words. But I would be seeing more of Sherry. She began faithfully serving on our prayer team. Many times I’d walk off the platform and she’d be sitting there behind it having prayed for me the entire time I was preaching. She also led a women’s group. She’d find ways to meet with women and teach the Bible, letting them share their lives with her while she shared hers with them.
What I later learned was that Sherry lived by herself in a convalescent home. She was losing her eyesight. And she took the bus everywhere she went. Serving others and meeting with people might have seemed like a lot of hassle to some people, but in her mind it was a blessing. She was grateful to God for helping her break an addiction to alcohol and for the years she’d been given. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer, it didn’t slow her down. She continued to serve and pray. I’d get notes and phone calls from her, sharing her prayers for the church and for me.
When her struggle with cancer hospitalized her, she was visited by one of our pastors. We worried this unassuming, quiet woman might be all alone. But when he asked for her room number, the receptionist said, “Follow the smell of flowers. It’s been a steady stream of visitors, flowers, and cards to her room!” Apparently, even though Sherry was quiet and unassuming, she was also consistent, even heroic in her own way. And people recognized how her prayers had helped pull them through.
When Sherry finally went home to be with her Lord, people came from all over to honor her and tell her story. She was Jesus to others, she saw Jesus in others, and they held her hand until she met Jesus face-to-face.
The hope of heaven is often what we say will help us to stay the course in our faith. But as Jesus reminded John, as the author of Hebrews reminded his church, and as we are reminded throughout Scripture, we do not sojourn alone. We travel in our faith walk in community. And it is when we are Jesus to others that we see Jesus in them, and they see Jesus in us. One day we’ll all meet Him together and then we’ll know: We’re better together.
Discussion Questions