Achieving the Dream

A while back I shared a dream with our church. It was simple, and it was enormous. I want to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus — someone who lives like Jesus here on earth, because I have been with Him long enough to become like Him. That is the dream, and it is not just mine. I believe it is God's dream for you too.

Jesus came and announced something staggering: the kingdom of God, the real possibility of living life in the presence and power of God, is now available. Not someday. Not only in heaven. Today. Right now it is possible for the brokenhearted to be healed, for the poor to receive good news, for the sick to get well. And Jesus invites ordinary people to go into all the world and announce that this is possible.

But who can announce a kingdom they have never tasted? Only people who have been with Jesus until they became like Him. That is the whole vision God has given me for this church — to see everyday people become so much like Jesus that they carry His light, love, and life into every place they go. Imagine what your neighborhood, your workplace, or your family would look like if people who genuinely resembled Jesus kept showing up there. That is the dream.

When the Dream Becomes a Nightmare

Let me be honest about what happened after I first preached this. I had painted the picture: that someday the only way I would run my work, pastor this church, and even love my wife would not be my way or the way I was raised, but the Jesus way. It was a beautiful, anointed moment. And then, that very same day, I got into a small, ridiculous misunderstanding with my wife over something as ordinary as food. The dream I had just preached ran straight into the wall of my own life.

I tell you that because this is hard. Living like Jesus is one of the hardest things a human being will ever attempt, and if we are not careful the dream quietly curdles into a nightmare of guilt and failure. Part of the reason is that we read the Bible wrong — as a how-to manual, a rulebook of things we are supposed to pull off by willpower. But it is really a story book, the story of how God, in His love, dealt with all kinds of broken people, so that you would have hope that in your case, no matter how bad it looks, He is ready to meet you and work with you.

Consider this. The day Adam and Eve first sinned, they had just come from what was essentially a worship service with God Himself as the pastor. There is no greater anointing than that, and they still fell. Why? Because we consistently underestimate the battle in front of us. We overestimate ourselves and forget how deeply we need God, assuming Jesus was exaggerating when He said, plainly, that apart from Him we can do nothing.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

So how can this dream actually be achieved? Jesus said that not everyone will experience the kingdom before they die, but some will (Mark 9:1). I want to be one of those who does. I believe there are three ways of living that, if we truly commit to them, radically improve our chances of achieving the dream instead of living the nightmare. Each is simply a way of staying close to Jesus.

1. Living in Communion with Jesus

The first commitment is to constant communion with God through prayer. Most of us are not consistent or confident in prayer because we have quietly reduced it to a way of getting things from God. But the goal of prayer is not for you to get from God — it is for God to get you.

There is a well-known story about C.S. Lewis. When his wife was dying of cancer and the doctors returned with hopeful news, a friend suggested that God must have seen how hard Lewis had been praying and decided to answer. Lewis pushed back gently. That, he said, is not why I pray. I pray because I cannot help myself, because I am helpless, because the need simply flows out of me all the time. My prayer does not change God; it changes me.

That is what prayer really is — an ongoing dialogue with God about everything you are doing together with Him. But do not miss this: a dialogue runs both ways. When you pray, God is making a request of you as well. There are things completely beyond you that you will never change, and there is one thing God has chosen not to change without your cooperation — you. So the more you bring your life to Him in honest conversation, the more you find yourself being changed.

This is why the New Testament keeps pressing us, almost relentlessly, to pray.

• "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
• "Be constant in prayer." (Romans 12:12)
• "Praying at all times in the Spirit." (Ephesians 6:18)
• "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer... let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)

Why such persistent instruction? Because prayer is the secret place of alignment. Away from the eyes of others, God is reshaping our thoughts, desires, and will until they begin to resemble His own. It is only where we are being changed toward God that we come to experience His nearness and His answers in return. Here is one simple habit that helps me stay in that conversation all day. In any situation, I quietly ask, "Lord Jesus, what would you be doing right now if you were me?" Try it, even now, and see what He shows you.

2. Living in the Community of Jesus

The second commitment is to constant life together in the community of Jesus. Have you ever watched geese fly in a V formation? As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an updraft for the one behind it, so the whole flock travels dramatically farther than any single goose could manage alone.

For too long we have been sold a lie about church — that you join so you can get fed while you sit and receive. That is backwards. A goose joins the formation because its own effort lifts the bird behind it. In the same way, you become part of a church because you want to give to it. Joining is a covenant. It is you saying, "Because of what God has done for me, I am stepping into your life — you who are imperfect and flawed, just as I am — so that I can be to you what God has been to me. I will help you achieve the dream so that it does not become a nightmare."

But there is more happening in that formation than mutual lift, and each detail preaches.

• When a goose drops out of formation, it feels the drag of going it alone and hurries back in. If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay close to the people headed our direction — especially when we are tired and tempted to skip the prayer meeting or care group. You do not renew your strength in yourself; you renew it in the community, the way iron sharpens iron.
• When the lead goose tires, it rotates to the back and another takes the front. If we are wise, we will support our leaders and share the load. Burnout is one of the great dangers for a pastor, because it is dangerous to be out front alone for too long.
• And this one matters: when a goose is wounded and falls, two others go down with it and stay until it can fly again — or until it dies. If we had the sense of a goose, we would stand by one another like that.

It is amazing how limited any of us is on our own. Remember, part of why the enemy got the better of Adam and Eve is that they were not standing together — he approached the woman alone. So do not make your life an "I" race. Make it a "we," and help each other go farther and faster than any of us could ever go alone.

3. Living by the Commission from Jesus

The third commitment is to live by the commission of Jesus — and here is the surprising part. The only way you could ever fulfill His command to go into all the world and make disciples is to first become a disciple yourself. Only someone genuinely learning to be like Jesus can help anyone else decide to follow Him.

More than that, the alternative is quietly disastrous. Jesus once told the crowds that anyone building a tower had better sit down first and count the cost (Luke 14:28-33). Many of us are building our lives on our hard work, our education, our connections, our jobs — trying to win the battle of life with resources that were never going to be enough. And if you find, as we all eventually do, that those resources fall short, His invitation stands wide open. Abandon the striving that will never be enough, come learn from Him instead, and receive the vast, unending resources of God.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29

Some of us have been Christians for years and yet have had almost no discipleship. You may have learned a great deal from a pastor, from teachers, from ministers you respect. But how many of us could honestly say we have learned directly from Jesus — that we know what it means to sit at His feet and be shaped by Him? That is what discipleship is for, and there are simple, well-worn paths in our church designed to help you get there.

A Dream With a Plan

A dream without a plan is just a wish, and wishes decay into nightmares. But a dream with a plan is a goal — and goals get reached. So here is the plan, beautifully simple.

• Live in constant communion with God, in honest and unceasing prayer.
• Live constantly in the community of God, giving your life to the people around you.
• Live by the commission of God, learning from Jesus so you can help others follow Him too.

Do you want to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus? Do you want to join the people God is using to turn darkness into light? Do you want your life to truly count? Do you share the dream of someday living on this earth the way Jesus did? Then start here, with these three commitments. Do them, keep doing them, and you will find yourself well on your way to experiencing the kingdom of heaven right here, right now. The dream is real, and it is closer than you think. Come and learn from Him.