What Did Jesus Want us to Learn of Him?

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Scott Shaum

©Scott E. Shaum 2014

IMG_3480 - Version 2Latin: With God, Peace

Matthew 11:28-30 is a well know passage. It is Jesus’ invitation to take on an easy yoke and a light burden, to learn of him.

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

But what are we to learn of Jesus? I am not sure I have heard any specific explanations on this other than admonitions to take on the yoke, whatever that is in today’s practical terms.

I think the key to this is the verses immediately prior to this statement.

“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'”  Matthew 11:25-27

This brings tremendous light to what Jesus is inviting us to. He brings to bear a Trinitarian reality that is essential to this topic. One of  the realties the Father is taking great delight in revealing to those who are willing to stop and see is his heart and relationship with his Son. The only way anyone can know the Father is through the only one who has ever seen the Father (John 1:14) and the only one who knows the Father. That is Jesus, the Son of Father. The Father has committed all of his riches to Jesus (John 3:35) – love, life, authority, etc. This is the nature of our God. He is a Father who loves to lavish abundantly on his Son. But he is not satisfied there. He then sends his Son to us that the Father may impart to us through the Son life and love as well. What is revealed to us through the Son is this Trinitarian communion. And this is what we are invited into. This is what we are to learn of Jesus – communion with the Triune God. This is what can provide rest for us in this wearisome world.

We are not invited into a morbid, lifeless religious system. We are not brought into a relationship with a God who is aloof, indifferent, cold, and vindictive. No, we are invited into the eternal communion of the Father and the Son. This is the yoke that is easy to bear. This is what brings rest to our souls. This world drives us on and on. Our fears and self-determination demands we work more and harder to justify our existence. This is a life of weariness, burden, and fear. Jesus says to learn of him. He is never driven by the needs around him. He is never exhausted from going and going and going. We never see Jesus rushing about overwhelmed by his schedule. He walks a steady pace of watching and listening to his Father. Jesus declared, “The world must learn that I love my Father and only do what he commands me (John 14:31).” Jesus’ eyes were fixed on his Father and his Father is not a hard driving master.

We are encouraged by Jesus to take our cues from him not from business or academic models nor a consumeristic culture that demands bigger and better, much and more. We are invited to learn from the Son how to listen to the Father before we say “yes” to the crying needs of the world.

What does this actually look like? Well, first it is relational, not a program to follow. And like any relationship, it takes time and focus. As I study the word, take walks to enjoy his presence amidst beauty and pray, read books, sit quietly to reflect with God what is coming and going in my life – all of these simple acts lived out in a relational posture toward God, my relationship with God grows. The truth is the Holy Spirit is ever extending an invitation to join in the eternal, loving communion of the Father and the Son. Here are some questions for you to ponder:Am I attentive and responsive to the invitation to commune with God? What simple practices will aid me to learn of Jesus on this matter?

Another consideration is that I am not asked to run out and build my own ministry model which I can manage on my own with a nod toward God for his “wisdom and strength.” I am invited to keep my gaze fixed on the Father and look for him to show we what needs and opportunities to respond to. This is not mere spiritual blather. This is literally what Jesus did and he is literally inviting us to learn from him how to live and work in this world like he did.  God is encouraging us to not exchange mystery in our world of work and relationships for mere self-determining management. This requires prayer, waiting, watching, listening, seeking counsel, and sitting with a spiritual mentor who can aid us to see and hear God. Sometimes this active waiting can be for periods of time longer than we like. We are not after a limited, “perfect” will of God – as if there is just one right decision for every choice in life and I mess it up I miss it. But it is determining to not follow business or consumer models of living life and ministry.  One way Jesus’ burden is light is that it is not all up to me. To take on his yoke and light burden is to watch him more than the screaming needs around us. Being responsive to God and not reactionary to the demands of the world is what makes for “rest in our souls” as we go about life.

What further applications do you see to this truth? How is God inviting you to learn of the Son and grow in attentiveness to the Trinitarian pattern for life and ministry? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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How Personal Risk Deeply Reflects God’s Nature

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Scott Shaum

© Scott E. Shaum 2014

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Was it worth it?

In 2005 I had been in remote Cambodia providing some much needed pastoral care and counsel to a multi-national church planting team. The small city where they were working clung to the banks of the Mekong River not too far from the Viet Nam border.  While there, I contracted Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever, which is a mosquito born virus similar to malaria. It took me 14 months to fully regain my strength.

Two years later I was back in Cambodia. On the way home I began to manifest some strong flu-like symptoms. Within 5 days of being home I was in the hospital. In the ER I had some sort of episode that was similar to cardiac arrest, but that is not what happened. It would take a year of tests and medical specialists and finally Mayo Clinic before I had any kind of “answers”. There I learned what likely happened is that I had contracted some unknown Asian virus that had “made the leap” into my nervous system. This virus, following so soon after Dengue, compromised my auto-immune system. I now manifest symptoms that land me within the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome spectrum. I will likely live with this for the rest of my life. God has not healed me despite many prayers and various traditional and non-traditional attempts.

Is it unwise to take such risks? Is it foolish for medical workers to travel to West Africa to provide needed care in the Ebola crisis? Is it too risky to go against the US State Department warnings and locate oneself along the Turkey/Syria/Iraq border to care for the flood of traumatized refugees while ISIS bears down? Is it too high a cost to step into relational messiness in an attempt to facilitate reconciliation?  It is true each of these are costly and risky. But cost and risk is not to be our prime concern. If it is, we will be more concerned with our own well-being than that of others. And that self-concern is most unlike our God.

When we take risks that place us in possible harm’s way for the benefits of others, we are mimicking one of the core characteristics of God’s nature. You see, our God is Father. He desires sons and daughters to pour his life and love into. So much so that he has sought us out at great personal cost. The Son of God on the cross is the greatest display of God’s character, because it shows the self-sacrificing, self-giving nature of his love. And he desires other sons and daughters who will mimic him. That is how the glory of God’s love is displayed – He pours into us at personal cost and we are given the privileged opportunity to draw others into this relationship too. And sometimes that comes at great personal cost.  Yes, we must seek counsel and be prudent in our choices. But the priority question is not ‘ought I risk’. The question is, ‘what opportunities has God placed before me to carry his love to those who need it the greatest’. To live in a self-giving, self-sacrificing manner for others’ benefit is to be most like our Father in heaven. Sure there may be fear and turmoil. That is normative. Even Jesus experienced this in the hours before the cross (see John 12:27-33  and Mark 14:32-36). Each act of risk for another is a deliberate act of love.

I know that I did not fully grasp all these truths during those early visits to Cambodia. The Father was simply guiding me in truths I did not yet understand. Now that I do grasp these realities better, they make for challenging choices. The willingness to risk for others well being is the courageous work of shepherding – to lay one’s life down for the sheep.

And, yes, it was and is worth it.

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Addressing a Huge Gap and the Primary Reason for Pastoral Care

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Scott Shaum

© Scott E. Shaum 2014

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Michael Reeves Delighting in the Trinity is one of those if-you-have-a-pulse-you-gotta-read-this-book reads. It is the most significant book I have read in the past 5 years or so. Reeves is a British historical theologian which may sound like the stuff of boredom and you will be pleasantly surprised. Reeves writes of deep and neglected truths in an endearing, engaging, witty manner. I have read and reread portions of this book so many times I have lost count. It costs a pittance for your Kindle. Buy it. Ingest it. It is essential reading for your walk with God and for how you care for others. This is not a book about pastoral ministry. But its ramifications are profound on the work of shepherds. Why? Let me throw this out which I will build upon in other entries:

We do not shepherd others for effectiveness nor productivity nor for maturation nor personal well-being. These are all corollary dynamics that are desirable for sure. However, we shepherd for one primary reason, one alone. That purpose is to facilitate the Spirit’s work in the other’s life to be aware and attentive and responsive to the constant invitation to join the eternal communion that is the Father and the Son. Period. It is all about relationship – God with us and our response to God in turn. If we care for others for any other primary objective – no matter how good or biblical, then we miss a crucial element of the shepherding work.

Be encouraged to obtain this book and allow it to address your own walk with the Father and the Son. Shepherding ramifications will follow. And if you have or do read it, please comment on it.

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Joining in on the Good Shepherd’s Work

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Scott Shaum

“I am the Good Shepherd.”

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Jesus is the Shepherd. We do not ever replace him.  He kept Peter in reigns when he commissioned him to “tend my sheep” (John 21: ).  These sheep are his sheep.  They are never “my staff” nor “my team” nor “my flock.” They are his, purchased with his blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9-10).  Our insistence on this point is not being legalistic, but rather its being specific. Being particular with our verbiage is wise, for it protects.

First, it protects the sheep from possessive and heavy-handed leaders and other influencers (like shepherds).  Second, it protects the leader from the unhealthy tendencies that seep from the open wound of possessiveness.  Further, we are reminded who we primarily serve.  We do not take over Jesus’ work, we continue it in utter dependence on him. Jesus’ work was to love his Father by doing whatever his Father told him (John 5:19-20, 30; 14:31).  We are to continue this work. This has profound implications in the everyday practice of our work. For we are not to respond to needs around us, we are to love G0d and do whatever he tells us (John 14-16). How do you experience the Father’s personal love for you – no, I mean really experience it? How does that reality direct your daily decisions? This is not mere spiritualistic chatter. This is the ultimate reality. We will wrestle with a Trinitarian model of this shepherding work often.

This blog will seek to present practical tools, solid thinking, wise self-care and development practices all based on an applied theology of shepherding that is Trinitarian, Christo-centric, Word-based and contextualized for the unique work of the international shepherding of cross-cultural workers.  That’s a mouth full. Tune in regularly.

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