Introduction

As in the first two books, the essential narratives for an apprentice have to do with identity and location. As Christ-followers we are people in whom Christ dwells. This is our fundamental identity. It is not up for grabs; it is not subject to change, regardless of our behavior. The essential idea here is that our identity should shape our behavior, but we live in a world where that is reversed: behavior determines identity in this world. But we do not belong to this world. It is not our home. We set our hearts and minds on another world (Colossians 3:1-2). I recently was awakened to a beautiful phrase that describes our truest identity. It comes from Eugene Peterson, who notes that we are a “splendid, never-to-be-duplicated story of grace.”

As a person Christ dwells in and delights in, as a splendid story of grace, I am sacred, set apart for God, special and empowered by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 6:3-4). I am sacred and I am strong, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). This awareness is essential for those who are striving to live as apprentices of Jesus in a world that has rejected Jesus and his values. But there is more good news. Even though I live in a fallen, broken world, I am also living under the strength, protection and provision of the kingdom of God. It is ever-present and available now.

What does this mean for how we live in community? How does this affect our ability to love, forgive and serve others? It means every-
thing. We can only love, forgive, serve, bless, give, encourage, unite and have patience because we know who we are and where we live. We can do these things because Messiah Jesus has done them. We are empowered by not only his example but his life and strength. We do what he did because we are learning how to be with him in order to become like him—all through the strength he provides. The following verses are only a small portion (as you will see when you go through this book) of the many passages in the New Testament that describe how the Christ-in-us transforms the world:

Jesus, then, is both the model and the means of the compassion. I can live, love, serve and accept others because Jesus does those things for me. I am giving what I have, not what I lack.

This is crucial in the discussion of spiritual formation and community service. It is the way piety and action are united. Christ-in-me must be cultivated in personal exercises such as solitude, lectio divina, prayer, slowing down and so on. But that same Christ-in-me propels me to love others, accept them and make sacrifices of myself for them. I hope that this becomes even clearer as you read and work through this book. If not, there is a danger that our acts of service will become self-focused and ultimately self-righteous. We love, serve, forgive and care for others because God first loved, served, forgave and cared for us. The life with God we are now living is simply spilling onto everyone we meet.

Author and speaker Tony Campolo shared with me the reason for his dedication to caring for the poor. He told me that each day he sets aside time to “set his mind” on Jesus, to become aware that Christ is with him, indeed, that Christ is within him (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27).

He offers us a brilliant description of the relationship between personal piety and social action, which shows us why we offer compassion and prevents us from doing it for the wrong reasons.

On an average day I wake up and greet my wife and son, help my daughter get ready for school, order food from the drive-thru at McDonald’s (okay, I am not the perfect dad who cooks breakfast, and my wife leaves for work before the sun gets up, so go easy on me), encounter others in traffic, wave to other parents dropping off their kids at school, greet colleagues coming into work, teach students in the classroom, see friends at lunch, interact in meetings with colleagues and supervisors, oversee the fine work of my administrative assistant, work out next to fifty people at the gym, come home and have dinner with family or friends, help kids do homework, write, kiss my wife and family goodnight, and fall asleep. I get up and do it all over again tomorrow, with little variation.

On an average day, then, my personal kingdom will come into contact with the kingdoms and queendoms of over one hundred people, at a deeper level of engagement with some of them, at a lesser one with others. My wife and children and I know each other at the deepest relational level—called family. The lady taking my money at McDonald’s does not know my name, nor I hers, but we still interact. My kingdom and her queendom (that is, what we each have say over) are briefly intertwined. The same is true with every other person on the list—colleagues, students, fellow sweaty people and fellow drivers. I may not know them well, but I live among them.

As an apprentice of Jesus the question becomes, how shall I—as a person Christ dwells in and who lives in the kingdom of God—then live among them? The family is the first place we live out our lives as apprentices of Jesus. It is also usually the most difficult place to do so. That is because of the depth of the relationship and the weight that goes with it. The family is the primary arena for us to practice kingdom living, but the second place for many people is the workplace. The average person spends 7.6 hours a day at work, which is the single largest block of our time at any one place. Naturally, we will have ample opportunity to live out our apprenticeship in the workplace.

Next in terms of time is our involvement in clubs or organizations, where we spend a lot of time interacting with others (such as the PTA, church, aerobic classes). And we cannot neglect the importance of our encounters with others in the general public—at the mall, the grocery store, the movie theater, the post office and the DMV (a very challenging place to be kind and patient!). In these places we are placed in proximity to others and thus our behavior and theirs becomes important.

Though these people are all different, they all have one thing in common: they are people whose kingdoms and queendoms have encountered mine. Sometimes they collide (fender-benders) and sometimes they gently connect (“My name is Rodney, and I will be your server. Can I get you something to drink, sir?”). Sometimes they tear down (“I don’t want to be your friend anymore”) and sometimes they build up (“I love you”). These kingdom encounters are an essential aspect of human life. They can hurt or they can help; they can curse or they can bless.

Finding success in our relationships has a lot to do with our inner condition. That is why this is the third book, and not the first, in the series. If we have grown in intimacy with the God Jesus is and reveals, our life will begin to change for the good (The Good and Beautiful God). If we have made strides in our struggle with lying or anger or worry, we will find that our ability to be in relationship with others will be enhanced (The Good and Beautiful Life). But the opposite is also true: if we are still ruled by anger, for example, learning how to love, forgive and serve others will be more challenging. I am not saying that unless you have mastered the first two books you ought not attempt this one. Sometimes we learn how to love by loving, how to forgive by forgiving and how to serve by serving. I am, however, pointing out the truth that Jesus stated: good trees bear good fruit, or the inside is what leads to the outside (Matthew 7:16-20).

Our daily encounters with others are the arenas in which our relationship with God becomes incarnate. Most of us need a little help in this area. I know I do. That is why I am writing this book—I need guidance. You are not reading the words of an expert in human relations. You are reading the journal of a novice who is sharing his struggles and insights into how we live as apprentices of Jesus in the many relationships we find ourselves. Fortunately, I have a lot of great people around me who are teaching me about this important area. This book, like the first two, is birthed in community, where the experiences of others have been an invaluable teacher.

I need to be reminded that as a follower of Jesus I am peculiar, in the best sense of that word. Peculiar, that is, to the world around me that does not live by the teachings of Jesus. My life is rooted in the eternal and strong kingdom of God; the roots of my life are in the future, safe and secure, which gives me the strength to live unselfishly, to strive for unity in the midst of diversity, to forgive even when it is not easy, to set my standards high, to live generously, to long to be worshiping in the house of the Lord and to be a witness of new life to a dying world. I need to be reminded and I need a community around me to help me remember who and whose I am, and what that means for my daily life.

This book will try to offer ways we can become blessings to the world around us. To do so, we will have to look at the reasons why we often are not, or why it is so hard to have healthy relationships with the people we meet each day. As in the first two books, a lot of failures in these areas are due to false narratives. And as in the first two books, the solution will involve correcting those false narratives by replacing them with true narratives (which are found in the Bible) as well as engaging in spiritual exercises that are aimed at embedding the right narratives into our bodies and souls.

I am hopeful that this book can contribute in some way to the badly needed balance between personal spiritual formation and community engagement. As an introvert and a contemplative by nature, I have no business writing a book that deals with community and service. Though they do not come easy for me, I have labored for years, under the leading of the Spirit, to grow in these areas. My friend and coworker Matt Johnson, who is well versed in both community and service, said to me, “Jim, I think you are actually the perfect person to write this book. You are not an expert, but a fellow learner. And you know how hard it is to enter community and engage in service, whereas some of us forget about that struggle because it is easy for us. Also, you have been taking small steps through the years, and your experience will connect to more people, because most who write about social action are living too far from where most people are.”

This might have been a polite way of saying, “Your lack of skill and expertise might not be a bad thing!” But I will take it as an affirmation. You will not find in these pages the words of a saint calling you to the highest level of sacrifice. (You can read books like that, and they might be what you are ready for.) Rather, you will be reading the words of a struggling straggler who is stumbling toward the light. My own failures, and occasional successes, are offered as an encouragement as we labor to love our neighbor. Our ultimate teacher is the Holy Spirit, who I trust will lead us into all truth, correct us when we steer off course, and infuse us with energy and encouragement as we run the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). May the blessings of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be upon you as you labor to live the good and beautiful life in your good and beautiful communities.