Embracing the Everyday
People often ask why we talk about “the everyday” or “the ordinary” so often at Sojourn. So, I would like to give a bit of a robust explanation.
You see, the fact is that life is not comprised of extraordinary events with the occasional opportunity to do something ordinary appearing every now and then. On the contrary, life is comprised of rather ordinary events with the occasional opportunity appearing on the horizon to experience something extraordinary. Of course, we would prefer the former be true rather than the latter. We all want to do something big, significant, and meaningful with our lives. We all want to make a difference in the world, which isn’t a bad thing to want. The issue is that we often want to be a part of something extraordinary so much that we minimize the importance of the ordinary. And, empirical evidence proves that most of our lives won’t be lived in the extraordinary, but the ordinary. Yet, despite the evidence, we still hold on to the notion that we are going to be presented with an opportunity so big and so radical, that we change the world. Again, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make a difference in the world. The issue is that by looking to make a difference in the world, we often neglect to make a difference in our world. We look to a day in the future when we will do something great, and in so doing, we become blind to our opportunity to do something great in our everyday circumstances.
But, is this really the way to view the Christian life? Is this what Jesus had in mind when He called His disciples to follow Him? Was it a call for every believer to abandon the normal rhythms of society and pursue ministry in the realm of the spectacular? Was Jesus envisioning a church that was always on mission to experience the extraordinary? Probably not. So, let’s talk.
We often read the pages of the Bible with all of it’s illuminating statements, miraculous happenings, and faithful characters, and we think to ourselves, “If I’m really following God, I should be experiencing this kind of stuff, shouldn’t I?” We read about mighty men of God like Joshua or the Apostle Paul, or faith-filled women like Ruth, and we can’t help but think, “Why isn’t my life congruent with these men and women? I mean, wasn’t the Bible written to give us an example of what the Christian life was meant to look like?”
And, therein lies the first problem with how we think about the everyday Christian life. The dilemma is that somewhere, somehow, we have bought into the contemporary Christian propaganda that a faithful follower of Christ is supposed to lead a life filled with radical and risky stories of sacrifice and struggle. Everywhere young evangelicals have surrendered to the call of a few eloquent, and no doubt, gifted communicators to “give more, serve more, do more, and ultimately to find the most difficult place in the world to go and do it.” These extremely public, wildly popular, and larger than life pastors, have often highlighted the most difficult passages in the Bible, sometimes alienating them from their context or original meaning, and have perhaps, unintentionally raised the bar to an un-Biblical standard for what it means to be a faithful disciple of Christ. Often times using stories like the rich young ruler who was told to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, or stories of miraculous conversion and healing from the book of Acts, these pastors have urged young people to never settle for the status quo of the average American life.
They have used statistics, illustrations, videos, and just about everything imaginable to get their message across, and the message is simple… “What would Jesus do in a world with so much need? I bet He wouldn’t be holed up in a cubicle everyday, pushing paper around!”
The message is generally infused with a guilt-based, sometimes poverty driven theology, that calls people to examine their lack of whole-hearted participation in God’s global mission to the most impoverished and unreached places on the planet.
Although this movement cites Biblical examples, it lacks a holistic understanding of the mission of God and it is sorely absent of theological integrity. It extracts God from working in and through the normal rhythms of Christian’s lives in American society, and emphasizes the need to go and minister to others “out there,” rather than seeing the opportunity to minister to others “right here.” This has led to a discontent generation of young Christians who are missing the crux of the Biblical narrative. What do I mean by that?
Well, despite contemporary notions, the Bible wasn’t written to show us how radical we ought to be in our pursuit to know God and make Him known. It was written to reveal how radical God is in His pursuit of us. And He has demonstrated His pursuit of us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If there is one thing the cross of Christ reveals about God’s love for us, it is that He is a prodigious God. Thus, the point of the Bible is not about little people doing big things for God. It’s about a big God doing big things for little people.
Now, there is no doubt many radical things that following Christ will demand of us. According to Jesus Himself, He demands our entire life (Matthew 16:24-25). So in light of the call to lay down everything, even our lives, I think it is safe to say that following Jesus will be a radical endeavor and an extraordinary calling.
But let’s not forget, the most extraordinary thing has already been done for us, not by us.
In order to understand why it is important to learn to make much of Jesus in the midst of everyday life, we have to understand that the Christian life is not about what we do for God, but what He has done for us. When we read the Bible and interpret the stories as good examples to follow in our own lives, we fail to see that the Bible was written to testify about the faithfulness and righteousness of Jesus, not the faithfulness and righteousness of mortal men (John 5:39-40). We are not the point. Jesus is.
So what does this have to do with “the everyday” or “the ordinary?” Absolutely everything! You see, the Bible was uniquely written to testify about Jesus Christ and the unfolding Story of God to redeem a people unto Himself, a people to whom He would reveal His glory, and a people through whom He would display His glory to the World. We call this group of people, the church. And, the Scriptures make it clear that Jesus came to die for the church, the Holy Spirit was given to empower the church, and one day Jesus will return to rescue the church from the presence of sin in the Earth. Just as the Scriptures are all about Jesus, Jesus is all about His Church. And the church is a community of ordinary people, living extraordinary lives, embedded in the everyday rhythms of society.
We cannot read the Scriptures as if everything that happened to individual men and women of God at one point in history is going to happen to us again, today. The story of the Bible isn’t about faith-filled individuals doing great things for God in the first place. As I’ve already said, the story of the Bible is about Jesus, redeeming a people to Himself and renewing the world through that people. So it shouldn’t surprise us that the mission of God today isn’t about individuals doing great things for God. It is about Jesus working in and through His people - the local church!
We may never part an ocean, call down fire from Heaven, raise someone from the dead, or start a worldwide revival. It would be cool if we did, but we may not. Furthermore, we may never set the glory of God on display by taking part in something spectacular. But we can and should display His glory in the what we call the mundane routines of life.
Millions of Christians die everyday without ever being a part of something of such a miraculous proportion that it becomes a catalyst for cultural transformation. Many faithful saints have died having done little more in their life than graduating High School, getting a job, getting married, raising their kids, and faithfully volunteering at their local church. Their legacy isn’t one of starting non-profits, preaching to thousands, moving to the 10/40 Window, writing books, or speaking at conferences. Their legacy is one of faithful, everyday obedience to make much of Jesus in their local community.
The problem with many young people today, is that we simply don’t want to live our life in the margins. We want to be known. We want to be special. We want to be radical. We want to be someone that everyone else wants to be. We despise the thought of following Jesus in the midst of the mundane and we fail to see is that Jesus has called us to give Him glory in all that we do (Colossians 3:17). We have become ignorant of the reality that Jesus isn’t about our story. He is about His story. And His story is all about His glory being revealed through a community of forgiven sinners in the local church.
So, given the fact that our walk with Jesus is to be interwoven with the lives of other brothers and sisters in the local church, let’s talk about doing what is most commonly demonstrated to us in the New Testament, which is to repent of our sins, put our trust in Christ, be baptized, join a local body of believers, submit to spiritual leadership, build up our brothers and sisters in Christ, give generously of our resources, care for the poor and needy, share our faith, and of course, make disciples.
Notice that nothing on that list is necessarily radical or extraordinary. Yet, this is the context into which two-thirds of the New Testament was written. Outside of the Old Testament miracles, the ministry of Jesus, and the supernatural birth of the church in the book of Acts, the Bible was written to congregations of men and women who were struggling to live out their faith in the context of “everyday life.” And it was in the context of the everyday that the New Testament writers labored to ensure that believers applied their faith to the rhythms of communal life together (See: Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st & 2nd Thessalonians, 1st & 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1st & 2nd Peter, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, and Jude).
As we survey the condition of the New Testament church, it appears that the focus isn’t on doing radical things with zeal, power, and tenacity, but on doing ordinary things with grace, love, and mercy. To make a disclaimer that is likely to be overlooked, it’s true that men and women in the Bible were doing some pretty radical things to see the gospel advanced in those times, and men and women should still continue to do such things today. However, my point is this: not everyone is going to be an apostolic missionary that pioneers churches in the 10/40 window. Not everyone is going sell all they have and give it to the poor. And, not everyone is going to start a non-profit organization that will contribute to the end of global issues like human trafficking, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and genocide.
To put it plainly, not everyone is going to do something extraordinary. As a matter of fact, if everyone did something extraordinary, it would become ordinary, and it would cease to be extraordinary.
If we are ever going to move past what I would consider to be an overemphasis on the radical and the spectacular, we have to embrace the fact that some people will not sell all of their possessions and move across the globe. We have to embrace the fact that some people will work in a cubicle and create spreadsheets. Some people will build oil and gas pipelines. Some people will brew and serve coffee. Some will raise children at home. Some will teach 1st graders. Some will work in a law office. Some will work overseas. Some will be pastors. Some will be entrepreneurs. And, all, yes all, will do it for the purpose of making much of Jesus in the context of everyday life.
So, as a pastor, I make no apologies for calling our church to embrace the ordinary rather than overlook it. I call us to make much of Jesus in the rhythms of everyday life, not just isolated events that merit great deal of attention. I call us to serve others, even when no one is looking. I call us to do ordinary things, with extraordinary purpose, and that is to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
We need more young Christians to see that perhaps the most radical thing they could do is get a job, join a church, settle down, raise a family, and make disciples in the context that God has placed them in rather than dreaming about being somewhere else. Thus, I think it would be more radical to see our generation stay committed to a single job, city, or church for more than 9 months.
The young people in our nation have become opportunists rather than builders, consumers rather than cultivators, and tourists rather than missionaries. All primarily because we are constantly looking for the next big thing.
So, my call is simple. Embrace the Everyday. Who knows? God might use you to do something extraordinary in an ordinary way.
