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Tag Archives: Mike Erre

Matthew 13:24-30

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
Matthew 13:24-30

Dear God, this can be a hard parable, but I heard someone talking about it on a podcast today, and one of his statements struck me so much I stopped to write it down as soon as I heard it. Here it is:

“Instead of trying to get rid of the root of evil—because evil will corrupt every instrument designed to remove it—why don’t you work instead for the good of the field.” Mike Erre, Voxology Podcast: Episode 441, 57:00

Another thing he pointed out was that the weeds were not the enemy. I’d never thought about that before. The evil growing around me isn’t the true enemy. It’s Satan. It’s the powers and principalities that I cannot see. The evil or mean person around me isn’t the enemy. She or he is my sister or brother going through life and, most of the time (just like me), making the best decisions they know how to make. I might see their work as evil, but what I need to be about doing is “work[ing] instead for the good of the field.” That’s a powerful thought to me. I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about that statement, but it certainly provoked something within me.

They said they have an entire podcast they did a few years ago dedicated completely to this parable. I’ve downloaded it and I’ll listen to it later tonight. But in the meantime, I want to really see this physical world with the eyes Jesus would see it with if he were here with me (which, of course, he is). I’m having dinner with someone tonight after work. Help me to see him completely with your eyes. I have a job to do today with people to work with and help. Help me to look at them and think of them as Jesus would think of them. As I pray for my friends, my enemies, my family, and strangers I don’t even know, help me to think of all of them as sojourners with me in this field of wheat and weeds. Help me to be the best wheat I can be so that the evil in them might be choked out and they can become your wheat as well. And thank you for the weeds that grow in this field. Who knows? Without them, I might never have found you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

1 Comment

Posted by John D. Willome on February 13, 2024 in Matthew

Tags: Mike Erre, Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, Voxology

Lament

14 Jan

Dear God, I prayed a couple of days ago about what you might have for me on this retreat. Now, it’s the last morning, and I think I’ve heard you. The word has been lament. I’ve described my life to others lately as largely good with this tremendous cloud of sorrow that is constantly on the horizon. And it’s amazing how the 90% that’s good can be impacted by the 10% that is incredibly sad, but it’s real and it’s there.

I listened to two different episodes of the Voxology Podcast that I downloaded before I came on the trip. They turned out to be divine appointments. The first episode was titled “The God Who Disappoints Everyone,” and the follow-up episode was called “The Only Way Out is Through.” The first episode talked about the myriad of biblical characters who had, by worldly standards either disappointing lives or, at best, real sorrows after they received your call for them. Moses was called to lead the people to the Promised Land, but wasn’t allowed to enter. David really wanted to build your Temple, but was denied. Mary certainly had heartache. Paul’s life would have turned out better from a worldly standpoint if he had remained a Pharisee. One point he made was that just about everyone who interacted with Jesus, except for the people who were healed or forgiven of their sin (Samaritan woman, woman caught in adultery, etc.), at some point was disappointed in how things were going. Even Jesus’s closest disciples were disillusioned at one time or another. So my life, although containing sorrow, certainly does not stand out amidst these biblical characters.

The next episode was a follow-up because the first one generated so much response from people. They read a couple of emails from people who were doing everything they knew to do, but they were still not experiencing the “God is good all the time,” “You have the victory in Jesus” life. The title of the podcast was their main message. They talked about being “oriented,” “disoriented,” and “reoriented.” Oriented is knowing and feeling who I am in you. Living it fully. Disoriented is losing that feeling in my heart and soul. I know it, but that knowledge isn’t doing anything for me because I still have sorrow and lament. Reoriented is the person who has been through the disorientation and come through the other side. Their advice was for the disoriented person to find an oriented or, preferably, a reoriented person to walk with you through the darkness. Mike talked about the Prince Caspian book from the Chronicles of Narnia series and how the youngest child, Lucy, was the one who could see Aslan while they were walking in a scary and confusing place. The others followed her, trusting she could see Aslan until they were ultimately able to see him for themselves. So Mike’s suggestion was to find someone who can see Jesus from where they are and follow them, putting your trust that Jesus is there, the Holy Spirit is there, you, the Father, are there, and keep following them to you until they themselves can see you.

I’m not saying I’m in a place where I can’t see you. I’ve certainly been there before, but I’m not there now. But I do have this ache and this lament that penetrates my soul. It hurts. It brings tears to my eyes, even as I type these words. And there are times when it doesn’t feel okay. But that is why community is important. In those moments, the people you put into my life—my wife, friends, or even podcasters—give my soul rest while I simply move through the forest. There is no helicopter that will get me out of it. The only way out is through.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you for meeting me here this weekend. I consider my life worth nothing to me. I only want to finish the race and complete the task you have given to me. The task of testifying to your grace.

I offer this prayer to you in the name of Jesus, my Lord,

Amen

How Would Jesus Fight the Culture War – Revisted

31 Aug

Dear God, I was in a culture war situation yesterday, so I thought it would be important for me to come back and look at the Holy Post Podcast Episode 532: How Would Jesus Fight the Culture War? I did a prayer journal on it last November, and I want to go back and be reminded of the things I learned then and see if there maybe isn’t something else you want to teach me this morning.

I just read through a lot of the prayer journal I did, and the thing you pointed out to me that I might have glossed over before is praying for those who concern me. Who worry me. Who I think are causing damage, maybe even in your name.

So Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I pray for the people who are on my heart this morning. I pray for their peace. I pray that they might find their peace in you. I pray that you will raise up voices in their lives that are from you that they can hear. That will speak with your authority to them. I pray that they might see the limits you placed on us as your ambassadors in the world: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. I pray that you will inspire them to take you into the world in a spirit of love. I pray that the fruits of your Holy Spirit will flow through them and out of them. I pray that you will create soil in their hearts that will help them to give your Spirit space to flourish. And lest I be self-righteous about this, I pray each of these things for myself too. I need your peace. I need to hear your voice through people around me. I need people who are from you to speak with authority into my life. I need to devote myself to prayer, service persuasion and suffering. I need to weed out the soil of my heart and give room for your Holy Spirit to grow your fruit in me. Jesus, thank you for your power and your example. Father, thank you for your ultimate love. And Holy Spirit, thank you for being with me now.

I pray all of this submitted to your authority in my life,

Amen

“How Would Jesus Fight the Culture War?” Mike Erre

06 Nov

Dear God, I listened to this interview a week ago on The Holy Post podcast. I was driving while it played so there were some things I wanted to go back to and spend some time with. It was with Mike Erre, who is a pastor at Journey Church in Nashville and has a podcast called The Voxology. I’ve been wanting to sit down with it and take notes, so I thought I would use my extra “fall back” hour this morning to do just that. So as I turn on the podcast here in a second, Holy Spirit, please speak to me. Show me what is on your heart for me as you make me consider my role in your world. [Note: if you go to the podcast, the interview starts at the 50-minute mark].

Here are my notes on the interview:

Should Christians engage in the Culture War?

Cancel culture is something your side always does and my side never does.

Phil Vischer question to Mike: How do you define culture wars? Answer: I don’t define culture war but ask the question, “What is the role of the church in the world?” The answer to that question answers the first question. Is the role of the church to transform society or is it to be transformed into the image of Jesus? The answer to that first question is clearly the latter.

Paul said, “Who am I to judge those outside the church? I judge those inside.”

There are 59 statements Paul makes that says the role of the church is to be transformed in community rather than be the agent of change for everyone else.

Rule & subdue command in Genesis is actually serving words (not standing over) to bring out the earth’s potential in ways that honor God and serving all.

We are ambassadors of a sovereignty that is greater than ours. We are property managers, not owners.

Making disciples of the nations is different than making nations disciples. (This one really struck me the other day)

There is something marvelous and fulfilling about following Jesus, and it is the best way to be human. I would highly recommend it.

Jesus invited people to be Christian, it wasn’t through guilt, shame, coercion or manipulation. It was simply love, service, and invitation. Loving the sinner before the sinner repents. The other is in direct contradiction to the way of Jesus.

We’ve gotten in our heads that the agenda of Jesus is more important than manifesting Jesus’s Spirit. We cease acting Christian in order to accomplish Christian goals. The way Jesus acts is manifested in his crucifixion.

Vischer (somewhat sarcastically): No, it’s manifested through flipping over tables and getting mad at Pharisees. Erre: Notice that he’s cleaning his own house, not the house of the Romans. He only engaged superficially with Herod and Pilate.

When the church looks out at the word from a posture of fear, anger, and threat we’ve ceased seeing the world the way the New Testament invites us to. Even in Revelation, the army of God is an army of martyrs. Even in Revelation, Jesus conquers by the sacrifice of himself and the manifestation that he is King of kings and Lord of lords.

The role of the church is to be transformed into the image of Jesus, thereby providing a counterculture of life in a culture that manifests the worship of death.

Vischer: Was William Wilberforce culture warring? Erre: It’s possible to be politically engaged in a way that is “cruciform” and Christ-like.

The kingdom of God does not operate on the “conservative-progressive” spectrum that the discussions come out of. The kingdom of God calls the entire spectrum into question.

Vischer: What is your posture toward people who are propagating evil against their fellow image-bearers? Erre: They are to be called out. They are to be resisted. They are to be loved, served, prayed for, and blessed. But we are to provide a counter community to demonstrate Jesus’s way. Jesus created an alternative and didn’t just critique.

People don’t come to church to have their assumptions challenged by the Bible. They come to have their assumptions affirmed. Good teaching should show that the discipleship we receive from culture, media, friends, etc., isn’t as beautiful as what the Gospel offers as an alternative. Church needs to be a place where we are working to embody the alternative.

The culture war we should be fighting is the culture of the church. That’s what Jesus was fighting.

There is real evil and injustice in the world that is to be resisted. There are reasons to be politically involved. But the available postures for us to take are defined by the actions of Jesus himself. Vischer (sarcastically): But what if that’s not as effective as showing up at a school board meeting and yelling and flamethrowing and doesn’t save my child from “drag queen story hour” at the library? Erre: I just want to say, read the New Testament. The invitation is to be faithful, not effective. Nowhere is the church called to do great things for God, and nowhere are people called to do great things for God. God does great things for God. We are blessed if He invites us into those great things. Apostle Paul: “Make it your ambition to be at peace with everyone, live a quiet life, and work with your hands.” We ignore the direct teachings of Jesus in order to remind ourselves of our importance. Jesus invites us into ruthless self-examination and repentance. When you do that well there isn’t much room for trying to control someone else.

When I approach the New Testament, I don’t approach it with anyone else in mind but me. It’s about my repentance and transformation.

People try to help the church thrive and unify by creating common enemies and fears. Group cohesion needs a struggle. But that cohesion limits our effectiveness in the world. It’s a violation of anything Jesus-like.

There is no biblical case for this tweet from a Christian nationalist author: “Yes, we are Christian nationalists. Yes, we are taking over the Republican party and the country. Yes, we are indoctrinating the next generation to follow in our footsteps. All for the glory of God. We can’t be stopped. Enjoy the show.” Jesus would critique that way of seeing the world as something anti-Christ. There is nothing more blasphemous or damaging in our world than that kind of thinking.

Vischer: Our children are in danger. People are coming for our children. I need to defend my kids. When do I abandon the way of Jesus for the sake of others? Erre: I live by three principles [I really like this when I heard it the first time. It’s what made me want to listen to this again and take notes]. 1.) Unless it acts like Jesus, it’s not Christian. 2.) It’s more important to be faithful than effective. 3.) There is nothing so urgent that I have to get off of my cross to make sure it happens.

Evangelism used to be pitched this way: Souls are at stake. If you don’t tell them, no one is going to, and they are going to burn in hell. That justified all kinds of Christian behavior around manipulation, guilt, etc.

What the New Testament seems to advocate is this joyful, gracious nonconformity that is willing to be persecuted, but does not have a martyrs complex. That simply rests in the fact that God is good and that I’m under not pressure to bring about the righteous ends for everybody else other than for me. For example, if there were a law made that children with Down’s Syndrome must be aborted, then I would agitate against that, but my agitation would be constricted by the way of Christ. If I think I have to disobey the command of Jesus to love my enemies in order to accomplish what I think the agenda of Jesus is then I have missed the agenda of Jesus altogether.

Vischer: What is your definition of culture war? Erre: It is a way of seeing the role of the church in the world that sees the gospel as under threat and any power over is legitimatized to keep the gospel safe, and given it’s rightful place in culture.

Vischer: How do you define the way of Jesus? Erre: The self-giving enemy love that does not use (Phil 2) rights and privileges to be exploited for more, but rather uses rights and privileges to be poured out for the sake of others. That’s cruciformity.

Father, please make me more and more in your image today.

I pray this through Jesus’s name,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on November 6, 2022 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

Tags: Culture War, Mike Erre, Phil Vischer, The Holy Post, The Voxology