JOHN MARK COMER TEACHINGSHOSTED BYPRACTICING THE WAY
The teachings of Jesus lead us to a better, fuller life. This was true in the ancient world where Jesus first taught, and it’s still true today. But what does it mean to actually practice the way of Jesus in today’s complex, secular world? In this podcast by Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer responds to that important question through his teachings at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. Join us as John Mark provides practical insight on how you can be with Jesus, become like Him and do what He did wherever you are today.
Welcome to the John Matt Comer teachings podcast. I'm Strawn Coleman, your host, and part of the teaching team here at practicing the way. Each week here on the show, we share a teaching from John Mark or other trusted voices in the formation space. Today, we're continuing our series in partnership with Bridgestown Church on 9 practices for a rule of life. In this teaching, Tyler Staten is joined by Tim Mackie, co founder and teacher of the Bible Project as they explore the practice of scripture. If you're someone who struggles to read and reckon with scripture and all its complexity and challenge, this teaching is for you. As you listen, why not consider the question? What are my biggest challenges with the Bible? Here's Tim and Tyler. Psalm 1, verse 1 through 3. Bless is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked. Or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but as delight is in the law of the lord, And on his law, he meditates day night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season. And whose leaf does not wither whatever he does, prospers. This is the word of the lord. A man. So, lord, we ask that you would take this picture that is painted in your word and that you would bring it to life in us. I pray that, the reflections that we offer on this beautiful Psalm would be like seeds planted in the inner lives of all of those who have gathered here.
Peace that comes from the communion of God who is perfect love that drives out fear or peace that surpasses understanding. So how do we become people marked by the perfect love that breeds peace and not the fear or the of fear that breeds anxiety? Pray and pray consistently. On good days and on bad days, on a, in the Monday morning grind and on a slow Saturday, in the midst of a pivotal decision and in the monotony of another mid winter week. Pray in every situation, less like a prescription and more like a daily vitamin. A life of prayer starts with a committed daily set aside time to practice conversation with God. You cannot create intimacy. You can only make room for it, and that holds whether you're talking about a marriage or a friendship or about God. Prayer can happen anytime, anywhere. Can happen while you're commuting or grocery shopping or at the gym or cooking dinner. Prayer can happen anytime, anywhere, but multitasking also tends to kill intimacy. If the only time a husband and wife ever spoke is while they were quickly passing or in the midst of doing something else, the ceiling on their intimacy would be kept pretty low. You can't know the God who is perfect love on the fly. So start with a daily set aside time and place for prayer. For most people it happens first thing in the morning, but there's nothing magic about first thing in the morning, except that, we tend to be able to put things in that don't get crowded out by other circumstances or interruptions of the day first thing in the morning. So every morning, I make a cup of coffee and I sit in a chair on my front porch and I set a timer on my phone for 10 minutes and then I hold open my hands and I pray, come Holy Spirit, and then I wait. And usually first, the many distractions and to do's and work tasks, all the dust part
Them. When the Pharisees saw this they said to him, look your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. The Pharisees go on from here to criticize Jesus' disciples for snacking on a bit of grain on a slow Sabbath stroll through this field and then to criticize Jesus for miraculously healing a healing a man in the synagogue on a day when by their narrow understanding, he was meant to be resting, not healing. Jesus' point in response to all this is something like, you are following the rules of Sabbath to perfection, but it's all making you less restful, peaceful and loving, not more. Sabbath is making you controlling, anal and off putting to the very people that are most in need of rest. So according to Jesus, there's a way to go about spiritual formation that dots every I crosses every t and seems to be lived with pinpoint accuracy and yet misses the mark entirely. Like a New Year's resolution that you successfully practice, but never experienced the life that that practice was aimed at in the first place. Or like a disciplined rhythm of solitude that you think is curbing you in a slow attentive way until you realize suddenly and painfully, that you are keeping the practices, but you're far from the life. The earliest communities of Jesus followers were called followers of the way, meaning they so embodied the narrow way of Jesus' lifestyle that they were identified by it in the surrounding world. Jesus's modern followers are far from the ancients. The church of our time has become infamous for being a people of alternative beliefs, but a nearly indistinguishable lifestyle from the surrounding world. And sure, maybe in the very worst cases that's because of an intentionally ego driven spirituality, but the vast majority of the time it's just really good sincere people trying to follow Jesus in the complexity of their everyday lives, but living with a mysterious gap, between my best intention and my
Itself. 4, and here's a quote from the old testament, he has put everything under his feet. Now there's short discourses in Pentate Theology we don't have time for. Now when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear this does not include God himself who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him. And I love this last God may be All in all. That's the future for you, for humanity, for the world. So that God may be all in all. So for Paul, the resurrection, the story of Easter, it's not just hope for Jesus. It's not just hope for you. It's hope for your body. It's not just hope for life after death. It's hope for life after life after death. It's hope for all of humanity. It's hope for the planet itself, for the universe. It's hope for everything in reality. There is coming a day where there will be no more missile tests in North Korea, no more drone strikes in Pakistan, no more protests in Washington, DC. Portlanders will have nothing to do on a weekend. Just nothing at all. No more chemical weapons attack in Syria. No more suicide in Gresham. None of it. All of it wiped clean. And all of creation will come back under the rule and the reign of God the father as it was in the beginning. My friend Mark Sayers, a writer and cultural commentator from Australia, he puts it like this, Jesus' life on earth points us toward the future. His actions are clues showing us how the story of creation will continue in the future. Jesus' healing in the disabled points toward a time when humans will be healed physically and mentally. Jesus' deliverance of those possessed by evil demons points to a future when evil will be expelled from our world. Jesus' feeding of those without food is a glimpse of a future world where there will be no hunger, poverty, or starvation.
Formation. Mandela was a product of spiritual formation. All of us have been, are being and will be spiritually formed. Spiritual formation is not optional. The problem is that most of our formation is unintentional. So have you ever met anyone in your whole life who 21 years old, 18 years old, upon grad My son is about to graduate from high school. We just took his senior photos. By that, I mean, we had a friend take his senior photos the moment I found out how much it cost to take senior photos. And, have you ever met an 18 year old who you said, what do you want to do with your life? He's getting that question all the time right now. By the way, never ask that to an 18 year old, unless if they're really driven. Just don't do that to them. Alright? But, he's getting asked that a lot. Have you ever met an 18 year old who said, I just wanna become an addict? Or I just wanna become chronically anxious. I wanna become so anxious that I begin to to bend my shoulders. By the time I'm old, I'm hunched over, or I just wanna let resentment settle so deeply in my body, but at that time I'm in my fifties, you see a permanent scowl etched into my face. Or I wanna get married one day, and then I wanna have that marriage end in disaster. And then after that, I'd like to be estranged for my children. Never heard anybody say this, but yet this happens, and it happens all the time. Nobody sets out to become anxious, bitter, angry, a disaster, a hypocrite, but it happens, and it happens all the time simply by living a normal life. The truth of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament and certainly of the great wisdom traditions of the Christian way.
