M.O.D. - Order

I've received much feed back about people's interest in my recent posting about coaching discipleship as "living W.O.R.S.H.I.P.", so I've promised to write separate posts on each of the marks of discipleship in the acronym. This week's post is on the mark of order.

Order all of your resources to do so (i.e. to worship the living Lord always and everywhere).

If we take Jesus' empty tomb with the utmost seriousness, then his call to follow him claims all that we are and all that we do. We hear this good news. We celebrate it. But the question is, how do we appropriate it?

So often, we operate with the mindset of consumers. This is our culture, after all. And so the challenge for Jesus' disciples is to appropriate the news of his resurrection into our lives such that we're no longer consumers when it comes to being church. We're not looking for the best religious deal. We are not always right, as customers are. Rather, we serve Jesus as our Lord and seek to follow him 24/7/365.

Professor Mark Allan Powell has an excellent article in the most recent Lutheran about stewardship. Read it if you haven't already. He says that we can give of our selves according to what Jesus asks of us, and when we take this leap of faith in our actions then our hearts will follow.

This is the basic concept behind the coaching covenant for disciples, i.e. we commit to the actions we hear Jesus calling us to make so that our hearts are transformed. But in our covenant for stewardship, we mean much more than giving of our money. We talk about ordering all the resources God has given to us for the purpose of participating in Jesus' mission. As my friend and colleague, Karyn Huffman, says: stewardship is discipleship. It's everything we do in our lives after we say 'yes' to the good news of Jesus' resurrection.

So when coaching the mark of 'order' to young disciples, we don't ask them to give us their money. If they feel called to grow in their financial stewardship, then we guide them in prioritizing their money according to whatever service lights their passion. Maybe this is their own congregation; maybe it isn't. The point is not to preserve the institution (or prolong its dying). The point is to give to Jesus' ministry in the world in ways they feel called.

Many disciples feel called to grow in the mark of 'order' with regard to resources other than money, such as time, relationships, leadership, empowerment, intellect, etc. The list goes on. So for example, in cutting the covenant, "where I am now" might be that I want to lead others in helping people in need. Then "one step further for me", may be to take on a leadership responsibility in my service organization like scouts, national honor society, key club, etc.

In thinking of the mark of 'order', ask yourself the question of appropriating Jesus' mission as priority number one: If I took the news of Jesus' resurrection with the utmost seriousness, what would my:

• bank statement
• web history
• phone bill
• weekly schedule
• organization associations
• family relationships
• friendships
• attitude toward enemies

. . . look like?