"Under the Influence"

What is the primary influencer in your life: job, money, sex, vacations, food, alcohol, recognition, education, friends or sports? All of us are under the influence of something. The question is never, are we being influenced; the question is what is influencing us. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

In Acts 2: 1-8, we read of how, ten days after Jesus’ ascension, the waiting for the disciples is over, and they come under the influence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

In verse 1 the disciples of Christ are in one place, perhaps in the upper room or even the Temple. It is the day of Pentecost. Pentecost literally means the “50^th” and it is the 50th day after Passover. Of the great feasts in Jewish religious tradition, this is the greatest. Pentecost is also called the “Feast of Weeks” because of the passing of 7 weeks from Passover and the “Feast of the First Fruits” because it marked the giving of the grain harvest as an offering.

In verse 5, we read that there were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. This would refer to the diversity of people from the Greco-Roman world present for this festival. This is what we call the Diaspora, a Greek word referring to the scattering of the Jews over their history due to foreign invaders. It’s amazing to me to step back from the details of an individual text and see how God has been weaving his grand story through human history.

When the Holy Spirit comes

Three miraculous things occur when the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost. In verse 2 there is a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. In verse 3 they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, and in verse 4 they were filled with the Holy Spirit enabling them to speak in other tongues.

Before we look at each of these individually, let’s look at the word “suddenly” in verse 2. The Holy Spirit came without warning. The Holy Spirit is an equal member of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God and is not some kind of “rabbit’s foot” that we rub hoping that something awesome and powerful happens. The Holy Spirit chooses to act or respond in a manner that is consistent with his character and the divine will of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit cannot be controlled or manipulated.

They experienced a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. They did not necessarily feel a wind, but the best understanding of what occurred is a strong wind. Wind sounds like the word used for Holy Spirit in the Greek language, Pneuma. So the Spirit is like the wind. We don’t know when the wind will blow and how strong it will be. We can’t see it, but we feel its effects. But the Spirit is not wind. An Old Testament parallel to what occurs at Pentecost is found in Ezekiel 37:9-10 when Ezekiel prophesied, and from the winds a breath breathed life into dry bones. The idea of Pneuma in the New Testament, like the story in Ezekiel, is about new life birthed out of the power of God.

The second manifestation of the Holy Spirit looked like tongues of fire splitting apart and resting on each of them. Again, this is not necessarily literal fire, but what appeared to look like fire. Fire is often associated in the Scriptures with purity. We see this in the purification of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6:6-7. How we need the purification of the Spirit in our life! Unconfessed sin in our life is the greatest barrier to the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes to purify us; to convict us of sin, as Jesus emphasized in John 16:8.

For the third manifestation of the Spirit we step back thousands of years from Pentecost to Genesis 11.

In that chapter, the people of Babel wanted to put their name on the marquee of life. They wanted to make a name for themselves so that all the world would say, “Wow! Look at that city! Look at the tower!” It probably looked much like a Ziggurat, which is basically a pyramid with stairs. They wanted to make a name for themselves. The word Babel has multiple meanings, one of them being “the gate to the gods”. If you want to get God’s attention in a negative way, then let your own pride and personal glory drive your life. He can’t stand it and he won’t be around it. The other reason the tower is called Babel is because it is the place of confusion. God saw their pride and took away from them their greatest strength.

Pentecost was the anti-Babel. These disciples waited on God and many believe they spent those 10 days praying in anticipation of the power that Christ promised. And the Holy Spirit came suddenly, reversing the curse of Babel. One language and one power that clearly pointed, not to the skills of the disciples, but to the power of God.

This is what we call glossolalia. In Acts, it is the God-given ability to speak in recognizable languages. The speakers of this language were Galileans with a reputation for being uncultured, having a difficult time pronouncing gutturals and having a habit of swallowing syllables when speaking. These disciples were clearly not expert linguists; just regular folks waiting on the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a deliberate and dramatic reversal of the curse of Babel. There are other examples of tongues or glossolalia in the Scriptures, specifically in 1 Corinthians. Both are the same in essence but different in purpose. The glossolalia in Corinthians is about worship and edification as believers in Jesus Christ. The clear purpose of this manifestation of the Spirit in Acts was to begin a new and powerful work of God. It was about a spiritual harvest; to proclaim to this diversified crowd of people from many nations and many languages the hope and healing of Jesus Christ. In

Acts 2, tongues were all about the advance of the gospel. And in verse 41, after Peter spoke to the crowd, 3,000 people accepted the message and were baptized in one day. When this kind of power comes from the Holy Spirit, it comes for a harvest of those who would follow Christ.

Filling of the Holy Spirit

Think of Pentecost as the first ever revival, but not the last. Though historically, Pentecost is unique, the power and communication and harvest of God are as necessary today as they were 2,000 years ago. The words of Jesus in John 15:5 are clear that apart from him we can do nothing. Jesus was building on the words in Psalm 127:1, that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. We are in desperate need of the power of the Holy Spirit in our life and in our church community. Pastor and theologian, A.W. Tozer wrote, “Where adequate power is present almost any means will suffice, but where the power is absent not all the means in the world can secure the desired end.”

It’s helpful to make a clear distinction between baptism of the Holy Spirit and a filling of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is what occurs when each of us crosses over from death to life and enters into the adventure of following Jesus Christ all of our days. We see this in Acts 11:15-16 and Romans 6:3.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is when we are being overwhelmed with the greatness of God. This is what each of us who calls Christ, “Lord,” desperately needs. In Ephesians 5:18 we read, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

In this verse, the abuse of alcohol has overridden a person’s normal abilities and actions. Such a person is under the influence. We are also to be under the influence but not of alcohol, or drugs, or any other controlling force of life: food, work, exercise, shopping, popularity, or success. We are to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit in our life overrides any sinful tendencies on our part, to live, as the Scripture says, “according the flesh.” “Filling” is to have the dominant quality of my life be the Holy Spirit’s power. It occurs as we empty ourselves of our pride and wait on God, inviting the Spirit to powerfully fill us.

History is sprinkled with great revivals, powerful movings of the Spirit. One of the prayers of the great Welsh revival of 1904 was, “Fill me, Holy Spirit, fill me, More than fullness I would know: I am smallest of Thy vessels, Yet I much can overflow”.

We must be open to the filling of the Spirit regularly as humble, submissive and anticipatory followers of Jesus Christ. We are to be under the influence of the Spirit.

“O Thou who camest from above the pure celestial fire to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart! Jesus, confirm my heart's desire to work, and speak, and think for Thee; Still let me guard the holy fire, and still stir up Thy gift in me.” — John Wesley

Jason Esposito

Lead Pastor,

CrossWay Church

www.crosswaygt.org

Winter Reading List

image: hawarden.lib.ia.us/archive/2012/212/winterread12

In this blog post, I thought I'd share with you 11 books that impacted me in 2013. Leave the frosty, chilly, January cold outside, and curl up indoors with one, two, or all of them. Enjoy and do share comments if any of them impacted you, too!

*Encouragement: the Key to Caring by Larry Crabb & Dan B. Allendder 

The key to caring

*Finding Common Ground by Tim Downs 

How to communicate with those outside the Christian community...while we still can 

*While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks: Rediscovering Biblical Leadership by Timothy S. Laniak 

Forty daily reflections on biblical leadership 

*Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and being Ridiculously in Charge by Henry Cloud 

Why some people get results and other don't 

*Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley 

Breaking free from the four emotions that control you

*The Rule of St. Benedict by St. Benedict 

One of the most relevant and valuable monastic rules 

*The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster 

The path to spiritual growth 

*Touching Others with Your Words by Charles Swindoll 

The art and practice of successful speaking 

*The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good by Peter Greer, Anna Haggard, and Brian Fikkert

Doing good has a dark side 

*Seven Deadly Spirits by T. Scott Daniels 

The message of Revelation's letters for today's church 

*Romans by R. Kent Hughes

A practical and powerful commentary on the book of Romans 

Jason Esposito

Lead Pastor 

CrossWay Church 

www.crosswaygt.org

Join the Christmas Party!

The two big highlights of my childhood occurred annually on Christmas day and Flag Day. Christmas, because of the many presents under the tree, and Flag Day because that’s my birthday. I love having birthday parties and I really loved getting birthday presents at my birthday parties. I will never forget getting a Mongoose California BMX bike for my 13^th Birthday; it was so cool! As a kid, there was nothing better than birthday parties, birthday hats, cake, presents and party games!

Christmas is the traditional day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. It is a day of celebration because God loves us humans so much that that he took on the condition of humanity. He left the glory of heaven and freely chose to become like us, fully human and in the mystery of what we call the Incarnation, fully God. Christmas is the Birthday of love becoming human! The disciple John understood, perhaps more than most, how love is the central theme of the Christmas Birthday.

1 John 4:16

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

God is love, and Christ, being God, is love in human form. Earlier, John is clear that real love, authentic love, is what God did when he became man. He was born in Bethlehem but he didn’t stay in Bethlehem. He grew first in that small town, then in exile in Egypt, and finally as an adult in Nazareth and the surrounding region. And this man/God Jesus, this author of love, was put to death on a cross so that we could have life, forgiveness, and an eternity with him. That sacrifice is love.

1 John 4:10

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

If God is love and it is perfectly experienced in Christ, then Christmas is the ultimate celebration of love’s Birthday. And if our birthdays typically have cake and presents, what is present at the Birthday of love?

In Luke 2:8-12, Dr. Luke records what is at this party.

An angel announces the good news of the birth of Jesus in Luke. This would be like watching your favorite Christmas special and the broadcast getting interrupted by an unplanned presidential statement. You would take notice. No one would interrupt It’s a Wonderful Life unless it was of crucial importance. For the Shepherds, the good news was all about the most important of announcements. Take notice, pay attention, shepherds! Everything will change because of this news report.

The shepherds know immediately that the good news is positive as the angel exclaims that this is news of great joy! Joy is so elusive in our day. Joy is the experience of faith in Christ, when we understand that joy is authored in Christ, joy is possible because of Christ, and that Christ is the focal point of our joy. When we get this, we get Christ. From a prison cell the Apostle Paul writes, “I will say it again: Rejoice!” Joy that is anchored in Jesus Christ is tireless. One author writes, “It’s like a little child squealing, ‘Do it again, Daddy!’ to which our heavenly Daddy replies heartily, ‘Yes, let’s do it again! And again and again!’” Because of Christ, that kind of Joy is possible.

And the angel doesn’t stop there. In verse 11, this angel proclaims, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.” Connecting David with Savior was significant for these shepherds. David was the greatest king that Israel had ever had. When the shepherds heard stories of the golden years, they would have been referring to the reign of King David. He rescued them from their enemies and established a secure kingdom. This Savior, at least from the perspective of the shepherds would, like David, rescue them from the oppression and occupation of the Roman Empire that had been ruling their land. This truly was some good news.

Yet this Jesus was so much more because the angel does not end with the word Savior. He is also Christ. Jesus was a common name in those days but Christ was all about the anointed one, the chosen one. The Messiah. This was the person whom all the ancient writers pointed to, the one who was sent by God to culminate God’s plans for the Jewish people. Nothing would ever be the same again.

This savior Christ is the Lord, the Supreme Authority. The current king of the land, Herod, was not the supreme authority. The supreme ruler of the vast Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus, was not the supreme authority. No – it was this baby surrounded by family and animals; he was the Supreme Authority over all lands.

The shepherds could not fully grasp all that the angel was saying. This was not some mere mortal. This was God becoming man, offering humanity the way of love. The love of a God who provided the way of life, of healing, and of relationship. This was the way that the Creator of all things would provide a way for each of us to be in relationship with Jesus Christ and to see his Kingdom and his purposes be birthed in our life and in the world. That is the party we are invited to. As I tell my kids on Christmas morning, we give gifts at Christmas because God gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. And because of the gift of Jesus Christ, we have purpose in our life; we have forgiveness of all our sins (all the garbage in our life). In this gift of love, Jesus, we can experience God’s incredible heavenly reality now and into forever. That is all possible because God loved us so much to send us his son Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate on Christmas day!

Who can come to that kind of party? You would think just a few chosen people. But this birthday was for all people. This act of love was for all humanity. I have been passed over, by-passed and skipped when it comes to party invitations. We all know what that feels like, especially as a small child realizing that everybody else in the class was invited, but not you. Truly devastating. God doesn’t do that. He never forgets, never skips you. Everyone, no matter their past, ethnicity, economic status; everyone, no matter the choices you have made or are making in life. Everyone - no exception - is invited to the party. Is invited to be in relationship with the God of Love!

If we are all invited, how do we come to this party? How can we be in relationship with the God of all Creation? We must identify with the shepherds. God could have chosen to first announce the birth of his son Jesus Christ to kings, leaders, rulers, priests, centurions and Caesars. But instead, God chose this greatest of news to be revealed to a class of people one step above the lowest class. Shepherds were despised, and considered religiously unclean and outsiders in their day.

When we, no matter our position in society, identify with the shepherds, we are welcome to come to Jesus, to come to the party. God does not come to the self-sufficient. The message of Christ is for those who know they need Jesus. If you are in need, you are welcome to come to Jesus. Jesus said:

Matt 11:28

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

John 6:29

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

If this Christmas you are not sure that you are part of God’s party; if you are not sure that you truly know Jesus Christ, and if you sense your need for him, you are welcome to enter the party. Come to him and he will give you rest, believe in Him and find life. Trust Him and find a love that will last forever.

Jason Esposito,

Lead Pastor, Crossway Church, www.crosswaygt.org  

Christianity Is Not For Spectators

In Hebrew, a disciple is called a talmid, which means student or learner. When a group of talmid followed a rabbi, it would be called talmidim, the process of making disciples. The objective of the disciple was to be like the rabbi. A disciple did not follow a rabbi alone but was part of a larger group, a learning community called yeshiva. It was in the context of the yeshiva community that a disciple would be formed. A disciple would engage in life’s activities along with the rabbi (we see this with Jesus and his disciples throughout the gospels) with keen observance of how the rabbi lived out the interpretation of the Scriptures. Out of this teaching method a well-known saying emerged, “covering yourself in his dust.” You should follow the rabbi so closely as he lived and taught that the dust of his sandals would stick to your body. Brady Young observes:

In rabbinic literature the disciples of the sages neglect their business and sacrifice much to acquire Torah learning. The disciple is expected to serve his master teacher in caring for personal needs. By serving the master the disciple learns how to conduct his affairs in everyday life situations. He listens to his master’s teaching while doing menial chores to assist his mentor. Because a disciple should have broad knowledge, he would usually study with one rabbi for a number of years and then go study under another sage. The master teacher was a mentor whose purpose was to raise up disciples who would not only memorize his teaching but also to live out the teachings in practical ways.[1]

Walking with the rabbi was not just about literally following him, though it was that too; “your walk” refers to the totality of your lifestyle becoming like the rabbi who was interpreting the Torah in word and deed.[2] For a disciple, to be accepted by a rabbi meant they agreed to follow the rabbi, submit fully to the rabbi’s authority and become like him. This included not just his teaching but also imitating how the rabbi ate, his mannerisms, preferences and prejudices. A disciple was eager to endure any hardship for the sake of learning from the rabbi. One did not commit to be a disciple unless the commitment was made to literally be like the rabbi. The choice to become a disciple of Rabbi Jesus was one that required self-sacrifice, difficulty, and risk. When it came to the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-23, he was not willing to go all the way in his followership of Jesus:

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

His wealth was his personal barrier to truly being a disciple of the Rabbi Jesus. The commitment of a disciple to his rabbi was so great that the love of parents seemed like hatred, comparatively. This is in part what Jesus was saying in Luke 14:26:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”

A rabbi-and-disciple relationship was a clear mimetic relationship on every level.

Understanding the Hebrew view of knowledge is of great importance to break with the Hellenistic thinking of our modern-day discipleship models. In modern society, knowledge is generally understood to be information that is cognitively known. You “know” a person in society if you can tell someone their name, address, vocation, family size and what kind of car they drive. If we “know” the Bible, we assume that means we can articulate the 66 books, 4 gospels and find the location of the flood narrative. However, in Hebrew thinking, to “know” something was to experience it, not just to intellectualize it. To “know” someone was to share in an intimate relationship with them. The Hebrew word yada, “to know,” means to encounter, experience, and share in an intimate way.[3] When the Bible says that a man may know a woman, it is speaking about sexual intercourse, not just cognitive information. To know something is fully experiential and highly intimate (though not necessarily sexual).

“We think of knowledge in terms of facts – used towards proving or disproving. That sort of knowledge runs into problems quickly in Scripture. There is no concern with disproving or proving the fact of – or the existence of God. God simply is. The Bible’s concern is with relationship – knowing God deeply – even intimately. 'The Hebrew view is that “knowledge of God” (da’at elohim) is having a life in relationship with him.'”[4]           

The Hebrew understanding of knowing intersects with the philosophy of rabbi and disciple. The word yada, on seven occasions, is translated “to teach,” “to instruct,” or “to lead.” In the Old Testament, on two occasions, the word yada is specifically connected to the physical actions of flailing and using or playing a musical instrument.[5] It would not even be considered that a disciple just intellectually knew what the rabbi knew and therefore was “a disciple.” Learning, being, and doing for the disciple are always fused together in the intimate experiential relationship between rabbi, disciple and the yeshiva.

If we are going to be authentic disciples of Jesus Christ, then our relationship with Christ must permeate every aspect of our life from our finances, to our relationships, to our time; how we perform our vocation and entertain ourselves on the weekends. To be Christian is to put every aspect of our lives into the hands of our Rabbi Jesus.

Jason Esposito,

Lead Pastor

            [1] Brad H. Young, Meet the Rabbis, 30.

            [2] Lois Tverberg, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 28.

            [3] Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham, 287-288.

            [4] Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, Listening to the Language of the Bible. (Holland, MI: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004), 5.

            [5] Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham, 288.

Vision or Culture

One of the misguided emphases in many of our churches has been the obsession over vision. As a lead pastor, I have often been asked the question, “What is your vision for the church?” I understand why this question is asked as vision has been the buzzword in corporate America and corporate church leadership for several decades. Vision is important, and if you have heard any pastor discuss vision, invariably Proverbs 29:18 is quoted that when vision is absent, the people perish. Building a robust theology about vision off one verse and a singular Hebrew word (chazon) that can be translated several different ways is suspect. A clear and compelling vision is central to driving any form of corporate change; but the emphasis on church vision, apart from church culture, is misguided.

Churches need a vision, and yet the overarching vision for any biblically-informed church has already been given. When Jesus charged the disciples, past and present, to go into the entire world and make disciples, the vision for the Church was established for all time. As a church, we are to go into the world and make disciples. Disciples are followers; and specifically in the Christian context, followers of Jesus. That is the vision of every church, a vision given to us by Christ himself. How that vision is articulated is as diverse as the number of individual congregations on Planet Earth. And, the “how” is a much more interesting and important discussion as it engages the culture of a given church. Regardless of how the church vision is stated, when broken down, it must be about going into the world and making disciples, as Jesus commanded us to do.

The vision of the church that I was raised in (G.E.L.C) was the same vision as that of CrossWay Church. G.E.L.C. would not have talked vision language, but if you had asked the pastor what the church was about, he would have answered, “The Great Commission.” CrossWay has a vision statement that reads: Intersecting Lives with Christ. This is our vision, but it is just a modern way of stating the Great Commission given to us by Jesus, to go into the entire world and make disciples. We cannot choose a vision for the church as it has been chosen for us. Despite having the same vision, G.E.L.C. and CrossWay Church could not be more different. The difference does not emerge from diametrically opposed visions, but from a radically different culture. It is culture that eventually becomes the driver of any church community, and not the vision. It is the culture that will ultimately determine if a particular church is fulfilling the Christ-commanded vision of making disciples.

The culture I experienced in church drove many in the congregation to talk the same, look the same, and do the same things. Though this culture was unhealthy and viral when it came to reaching people outside the church, it did illustrate the power of culture to influence a larger group. That you could be an authentic Christian and not theologically hold to their specific beliefs, was rarely questioned. Walking into church without your Sunday best on would inevitably ostracize you from the masses, and if you didn’t comply with the culture of formal Sunday dress, your time at church would be short-lived.

The power of culture can be measured in companies like IBM, which nearly perished because of a culture of inflexibility. Under CEO Jack Welch, General Electric became a culture of differentiation and training; if you landed in the lower percentage of efficiency in the company, you were let go. Facebook and Google have cultures of innovation, casualness, and intensity. My first formal introduction to the power of culture was when I read a study done by business author, Jim Collins, who researched what he calls “cult-like” cultures in companies that have been successful for at least a hundred years. As I read about corporate culture, I reflected on the power of culture in my own family. My identity as a first-generation Italian American established a specific family culture that valued everything Italian, at times to the detriment of other cultures. My father’s early vision for our family would have been for us to get good grades, graduate, go to college, get married and make a lot of money. That is also the vision of many American families, but it was the Italian culture woven into those elements that was very defining in our early formation.

The vision for every Christ-centered, biblically-based church has already been given, so the question should not be, “What is our vision?” but, “What is the culture we are called to create to fulfill the vision?” It is the culture that will drive the church, draw a particular kind of person to the church, and determine the kingdom impact of the church. When it comes to being a church culture that progressively reaches today’s North American society, we need church cultures for the curious. We need many people, all part of the body of Christ, yet with many distinctions, unified in their mutual love for Christ, each other, and the world; people who have dedicated their lives to imitate the Rabbi, Jesus Christ, holistically in their lives. It is such people who will create a cultural reality in which un-churched, curious people will find the freedom to explore Christ, and Christ-followers will find opportunity to grow as curious Christians, exploring the vastness of the Christian story. Jesus has given us the vision and now we have the opportunity to create a culture for the curious, fulfilling His vision.

On the Journey Together,

Jason Esposito

Embracing Modern Wisdom from the Rule of St Benedict

Benedict of Nursia (480 - 542AD) grew up on a wealthy estate in Italy that was occupied by Ostrogoths. He studied the Roman classics and enrolled in a school of liberal sciences.[1] After several years of study, at the age of twenty, he realized he had little in common with his classmates who indulged in a cycle of study and drunken partying. Eventually, he left school and found his way to a cave 30 miles east of Rome, where he lived alone. He was determined to devote himself alone to the Lord. He desired no contact with anyone, having a monk deliver food to him by lowering a rope with a bell on it to the top of his cave. Over time, people heard about Benedict and sought him out for wise, godly counsel.

Ultimately, some monks visited him from a nearby monastery. Their abbot had recently died and they wanted Benedict to become their abbot. He refused but they continued to beg him, and eventually he relented. These young monks disliked his rules so much that eventually they tried to kill him by poisoning his wine. As the story goes, Benedict was praying over his cup of wine and when he made the sign of the cross over it, the cup shattered. At that moment he realized that his monks had attempted to kill him. Benedict turned to the monks who were filled with fear and said, “Almighty God of His mercy forgive you, Brethren, why have you dealt thus with me? Did not I foretell you that my manner of life and yours would not agree? Go, and seek a Superior to your liking; for you can have me no longer with you.”[2]

With that he left happy to live alone. Word quickly spread that he was again alone and many made their way to see him. Finally, Benedict realized that he must house and care for these spiritual seekers. This began his second attempt at a communal lifestyle at Monte Cassino, a place so remote that pagans still used a sacred grove of trees there as a location for worship. He destroyed the trees and pagan altars and built a monastery. He built twelve monasteries with twelve individuals in each and took on his own group of thirteen. From this he developed his Rule, now known as “The Rule of St. Benedict,” which became the standard rules for western monastic living.

His monasteries prevailed, in part, because his Rule provided stability and order. “The Rule strikes a balance between severity and moderation, structure and flexibility, general principles and specific rules, and it uses Scriptures throughout the entire document to support the guidelines it lays out.”[3] In addition, he added a vow to the traditional monastic vows. This vow of stability provided a long period called "novitiate" to determine if the person was serious about being in a monastery, and once an affirmative commitment was made, he gave them a lifelong placement. The stable monastic communities built on Benedict’s Rule contributed significantly to the spread and growth of Christianity during the Middle Ages. His Rule is a supremely helpful document to bridge New Testament discipleship to modern-day disciple making.

Listening

In the prologue of The Rule of St Benedict, he begins by positioning the monks (the learners) in the same place that a New Testament disciple would be in.

"Listen, my son, and with your heart hear the principles of your Master. Readily accept and fitfully follow the advice of a loving Father, so that through the labor of obedience you may return to him from who you have withdrawn because of the laziness of disobedience. My words are meant for you, whoever you are, who laying aside your own will, take up the fight under the true King, The Lord Jesus Christ."[4]

Without listening, there is no discipleship. At the heart of being a disciple is to fully submit your mind, heart and body to the one directing you toward God. To listen is central to the understanding and application of Scripture as it is to following our earthly rabbis (leaders), who in turn, as Paul wrote, are following The Rabbi, Jesus Christ. It is in listening that we can hear the voice of God, the voice of community and the voice in our self. This listening is closely associated to 2 Corinthians 3:18 and the question Francis of Assisi asked, “Who are you Lord, and who am I?”

^“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

The dynamics of formation as a disciple of Christ will only occur in the context of communal presence, intra/inter-personal presence and devotional presence (listening to community, listening to self, listening to God).[5] This trilateral of listening is woven into the Benedictine Rule fleshed out in communal monastic living. It is in listening that we become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Jason Esposito

Lead Pastor

            [1] Pope Gregory the Great, The Life of Our Most Holy Father Saint Benedict. Translated by Paul de Ferrariis. (Ignacio Hills Press, 1959), Kindle location 71-72.

            [2] Pope Gregory the Great, The Life of Our Most Holy Father Saint Benedict. Translated by Paul de Ferrariis. (Ignacio Hills Press, 1959), Kindle location 137-146.

            [3] Gerald L. Sittser, Water from a Deep Well. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007),106-107.

            [4] St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict. Translated by Anthony Meisel and M.L. del Mastro. (New York: Image Book, 1943), Kindle location 593.

            [5] Corne J Bekker Lecture SP 890 Bethel University, 2013.