In a Line Drawing World, Draw Circles

Summary

Discover how God’s love disrupts and transforms lives, guiding us toward spiritual growth and a kingdom-focused life

Transcript

The idea that God is doing a new thing, not to add to or take away from scripture, but it can be a little bit misleading if we are not careful, because what really the scriptures are meaning, that God is doing a new thing, is not that God is doing a never-done-before thing, but that God is doing what is actually the most ancient of things, arriving in the presence of human beings, mending their hearts, filling them with his spirit, and leading them ever further in the path of God's kingdom. That's the promise that God is doing in our lives and in our church, and we pray that we would be responsive to that as we seek God's action in our lives, in this day, in this moment, right here, right now. Last week, on January 6th, we celebrated, whether you recognized it or not, the Day of Epiphany. Epiphany is a day on the church calendar that is set aside but not often recognized to commemorate the moments when the three wise men in the story of Jesus came and visited him. And I found this painting, I think it comes from the 1500s, so you have to give it a little bit of grace, perhaps. But I feel really bad for baby Jesus as this wise man kneels down and kind of scares him down there. But it's a picture that kind of captures, to me, the presence of Jesus, the newborn king, in the world in a simple and humble way, but also the major disruption that Jesus's birth caused.

In the story of Jesus, there is the king of the area, Herod. Herod was a power-hungry tyrant who was threatened by the birth of Jesus because he perceived that the birth of Jesus would threaten his power. And then you have these three kings and their entourage that traveled from afar, that saw a sign in the sky and came from miles and miles and miles away to figure out what the stars were pointing to, what the signs in the skies were leading them to, and it led them to Jesus. How we respond to major disruptions in our lives oftentimes has a great deal of significance for our direction and our trajectory. In my house, at eight o'clock, our children go to bed, or at least our youngest children do, and after the clock strikes eight, it is known as time for mom and dad to do whatever it is that mom and dad want to do, right? Sometimes that's talking and enjoying each other's company.

Sometimes that's watching TV. Sometimes it's doing chores or catching up on whatever it is that we have to do. Whatever it looks like, the only thing is that that is our time, and it's not time for the kids to be asking for things, at least in theory, because our kids oftentimes disrupt that with their needs. Sometimes their needs are really silly and insignificant, like I need water, I am hot, I'm cold, I can't go to sleep. Sometimes it's a little more involved, like I'm scared or I'm about to get sick, and that's a little bit of a different disruption. As a dad, sometimes I'm filled with grace, and I'll get them a cup of water, and I'll help them, I'll read them, sit there with them for a minute, pat them on the back, whatever it is that needs to do. Sometimes as a dad, I respond with utter frustration, and say perhaps a little louder than I should, this is my time, I have done everything for you today that I could possibly do, leave me alone.

How you respond to disruptions is significant for how the future unfolds. The tyrant Herod responded to the disruption of Jesus by committing infanticide. The kings, the three kings that bowed down to Jesus, responded to the disruption by journeying to him, bowing down, but also by going home in a different way, the scriptures tell us. Because had they gone home the way that they came, arrived, then Herod would have been able to determine who Jesus was and commit infanticide towards him. And as we think about this story and these disruptions and how these involved in the story of Jesus responded, we realize that in our lives as well, Jesus causes a disruption. For most of us, if not all of us, I hope that at one point, whatever trajectory your life was on, you had an encounter with Jesus and it disrupted wherever it was that you were headed in that moment, right? You were headed on one path, Jesus showed up in your life, and in response, you began down a new way, a new path.

I'm sure if you are like me, I'll say it so no one else has to, there have been times when Jesus has sought to disrupt my life and I have done the opposite of what he has called me to do and have been in need of repentance. But how we respond to the disruption that Jesus offers in our lives is significant for the future. Jesus is Lord, and if there is a Lord, there can only be one. And if Jesus is Lord, we are not, if Jesus is Lord, whatever president or king or governor or dictator or whatever other kinds of leadership there are in this world, if Jesus is Lord, then no one else can be. And if we believe that Jesus is Lord, then oftentimes we will have to journey home on a different route. We cannot keep things the same and live the same way and expect different results. One of the hardest things for us in the Western church, if you've grown up in the church, if you're new to church, you can tune out for a moment, but if you've grown up in the church, I want you to really lean and listen at this point, lean in and listen.

One of the hardest things for church-going folks to understand is what seems to lie at the center of what Jesus taught us, but most of us, because of the focus in recent decades of the church, that we tend to believe that Christianity is the sole focus of Christianity is our soul going to heaven when we die. Now, what happens after we die is important. It's something that Jesus talked about. It's something that we should consider, but it is not the point of following Jesus.

It is part of the equation. It's not the answer to the equation. And what's interesting is that on the opposite side, this is what many people who don't follow Jesus disbelieve most, is what happens when you die. But both of those ideas that the purpose of Christianity is what happens to us after we die, or disbelieving that, both of those ideas have a wrong understanding of what does it mean to follow Jesus, because what Jesus taught us is that the kingdom of heaven is coming to earth. When we pray the Lord's prayer, when we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, how does it begin? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. If Jesus would have wanted our soul focus to be what happens when we die, then he would not have talked about God's kingdom of heaven coming to this earth. And the reason why this is important is because sometimes as followers of Jesus, we can live and make decisions and choices as if the choices and decisions that we make are for an entrance exam into the place we want to go for when we die. But what is much more beautiful and significant and pertinent to this moment is that the things that we do and the way that we live and the actions that we make, they testify through our lives and by our prayers that God's kingdom is here and it is in root. Jesus is returning in our lives on a moment by moment basis, filling us with his spirit. Jesus is returning in the world around us, ultimately at some point to erase the brokenness that continually captures the human race.

But until then, the work that we do here in this moment is testifying that Jesus's kingdom is both here but not fully. Think of the implications that that has for us. As we lamented earlier about the divisions that have gripped our country, we think about that as followers of Jesus, we, Jesus was asked, what is the most important commandment, right? What is the most important commandment? Many of us in the church live our lives as if Jesus said, the most important commandment is go to church and pay your tithe and smile when you feel good, right? But that's not what Jesus said. What Jesus said is love the Lord, your God, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

This is not my idea about what Jesus said, that is what Jesus said. And so as the people who are seeking for the kingdom of heaven to be our marching orders here on earth, we have to love the Lord, our God and love our neighbor as ourselves. And if you say, well, Jonathan, you don't know my neighbor, they have all kinds of things that you would be distraught over, maybe that's true. But just to make sure we got the full picture of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus told us to not just love our neighbors, but to also pray for our enemies. So anytime we point blame on people, any type of person or suggest that someone somehow that we do not have to love them or pray for them, we are doing so at the expense of our allegiance to the kingdom of heaven.

As we seek to live in response to this disruption of God in our lives, and to be faithful, to live faithful lives, to live faithfully as a testimony to the way of Jesus, we begin to recognize that God is a God who draws circles around us and around our neighbors. God encircles us. The triune God, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit is not somewhere third star and to the right, is not off in a perch, overlooking the world, wishing us well. God is near, God is with us, God encircles us, surrounds us. And as we begin this new year of 2026, we are here at Journey going to be focusing on the recognition of this circle-drawing God in contrast to people's tendency to draw lines. It is often our tendency to draw lines and God is a God who draws circles. Now, sometimes in life, it is important for us to have, actually all the time in life, it is important for us to have healthy boundaries, right?

Sometimes we have to make hard decisions to create boundaries for ourselves. And that is in just things in life, but also in dealing with people. And we have to seek the Spirit's discernment in that to lead us in a way that fulfills our commitment to the kingdom of heaven. But I think it's also right to say that oftentimes we are far too comfortable in our line drawing, if not personally, then collectively as a whole. And so as we seek to follow Jesus, one thing that is, I think, really important is that we open ourselves up to God leading us to where God desires us to go, rather than just going by what makes sense to us, or what fulfills us, or what we think is the right path for us. There's a poem by the German poet named Maria Rilke, and the poem is called Widening Circles. It's a pretty short poem.

I'm not gonna read the whole thing. You can find it when you get home if you want to. But the beginning of this poem says this, I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.

Life is circular, right? If you live long enough, you will go out of the world, much like you came into the world, right? You will need the care of others, just as you did when you were born. Life is circular in each day, right? The sun rises and sets, the earth rotates and spins, and over a period of a year, we know all of the ways in which life happens to be circular. But life is circular in that for us as Christians, the center of our lives is the kingdom of heaven, is the way of Jesus, what Jesus has taught us. And we rotate around that center.

And for some of us, for some of us, we think that we are rotating around the center of Jesus, but actually what we have done is we have become so wrapped up in ideas that sound like they are of the way of God, that maybe have hints of the way of God, but they are not fully pursuing the way of God. And so we have to learn that God stretches and grows us, that God leads us to trust him more. And as we pass around each time, this center, our circle becomes more and more wide. It becomes more and more wide in depth of understanding of God's love. It becomes more and more wide in receiving God's love. It becomes more and more wide as we learn to love our neighbors. It becomes more and more wide as we seek to serve one another and live according to God's ways. And we recognize this God who encircles us, who draws circles around us, has called us to also learn to draw circles around one another as a worshiping community, and also collectively drawing circles around those in our neighborhoods. And so that's what we are going to focus on here at Journey this year, is drawing circles, drawing circles of community, community here within ourselves, within our fellowship and whomever else wants to join us, but also circles in the world around us.

But what does it mean, practically speaking, for us to live our lives in widening circles? Well, first, and it's first because it's the order in which Jesus talks about it, but it's also first, I think, because sometimes it's the most difficult

to live our lives in a widening circle begins with us recognizing that God has encircled us at his table. Sometimes the hardest person to convince to sit down at the table is ourselves. And so with that in mind, I wanna read to you what Jesus says about you, what Jesus says about us. John 15, verse nine, "'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. "'Now remain in my love. "'If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, "'just as I have kept my Father's commands "'and remain in his love. "'I have told you this so that my joy may be in you "'and that your joy may be complete.

"'My command is this, "'love each other as I have loved you. "'Greater love has no one than this, "'to lay down one's life for one's friends.

"'You are my friends.'" You are my friends, if you do what I command. "'I no longer call you servants, "'because a servant does not know his master's business. "'Instead, I have called you friends. "'For everything that I learned from my Father, "'I have made known to you. "'You did not choose me, but I chose you "'and appointed you so that you may go "'and bear fruit, fruit that will last. "'And so that whatever you ask in my name, "'the Father will give you.

"'This is my command, love each other.'" God chose you. God has reserved a seat at his table for you. Occasionally, I have the feelings and desire to plan something that's a little bit romantic than normal life for my wife. And we do this for each other, probably need to do it more than what we actually do. And that's not a critique on her, that's a critique on me. But oftentimes, whenever I'm feeling like we wanna break up the monotony and do something that's a little bit more fun for date night than what we typically do, I'll consult my favorite Discover Dallas websites or magazines or whatever.

And a couple of years ago, this story I recalled popped out to me. I was reading in an article about a Gatsby-inspired restaurant in Dallas. I tried to find the name. I wasn't for sure which one it was, so I won't say that. But it looked like a really fun opportunity for us. We could get dressed up and theme and go and have a fancy dinner, at least more fancy than what we normally would do. And so I really got inspired towards this and went on their reservation line to set a reservation.

And I was a few days in advance. It was like a Tuesday and we were going out Friday. So it wasn't like last minute. But when I tried to put in our information, it said that the date you have reserved has no tables available for you. And I thought, okay, well, maybe I'll just call over there. I'm one of those weird people who does that instead of always just using the reservation line. So I picked up the phone and I called and I said, hey, my wife and I were trying to get out for dinner on Friday.

Do you have any space available? And she kind of giggled and said, we normally are booked out at least three or four weeks. So the answer to your question is no, we do not have any space for you here at our restaurant. It's interesting that when we find something that is unique and exclusive and alluring, we like to draw lines around it, right? We draw lines that say there is this opportunity at this point is not for you. But that is never true in the kingdom of heaven. At Jesus's table, you don't have to wait in line.

At Jesus's table, there is always one more seat available. And as we seek to live our lives in widening circles, it begins with us, with you and me, sitting and dining with Jesus at his table. And so for us, for 2026, I wanna encourage us to rest in the friendship of Jesus. So many times we think, Jesus, how can we serve you? So many times we think, Jesus, I wanna do something great for you. Have you ever prayed that prayer or thought that thought? And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but Jesus doesn't need anything from you.

Jesus has given himself for you and just simply invites you to be his friend. And so my prayer is let us rest in this friendship of Jesus this year. God, we are so thankful that you first loved us, not the made up versions of ourselves or the well put together versions of ourselves or the false ideas of perfection and self-sufficiency, but our actual self that is us. You loved us and desired to be in friendship with us. Yes, you are our Lord. Yes, we follow your commands. Yes, we serve you as in serving our neighbors, but that is in tandem with your friendship in our lives.

So Lord, in those moments where we doubt that we have anything to offer you, would you remind us that just simply responding to your friendship request is enough? When we feel as if we have failed and perhaps this failure is going to send us into drawing lines, you drawing lines for us, may we know that you are always the God who draws circles around us. And would we rest this year in your friendship to the glory of your kingdom and to the testimony of your goodness for the world around us. We ask these things today, Jesus, in your name and for your sake, amen.