Did “Hank” Tell You That?
My kids have a friend that we will call “Hank”. After hanging out with “Hank” they will come home and tell us some outlandish story that is obviously not true. We’ll ask some clarifying questions about where they heard this, and they’ll often say,
“‘Hank’ told us”.
We all know a “Hank”
We all grew up with a “Hank”.
We may have been “Hank”.
We may be “Hank”.
I don’t think “Hank” is trying to tell lies or lead people astray intentionally…I think he wants to fit in, he wants to be accepted, he wants to prove a point, or appear a certain way. As we all know, even if it is unintentional, telling lies, misleading others, and manipulating things so we appear in the best light will take a toll on us.
This past year, the Kansas City Chiefs played in the Super Bowl. If you’ve been around our family, you know that we’ve loved the Chiefs long before Taylor did, so it has been a really fun last several years. When they won the Super Bowl on February 11th, 2024 (sorry to those of you that are behind and wanting to binge last football season this week…I should have said “spoiler alert”) we let our kids stay up. They stayed up to watch the win, they stayed up to watch the celebration, they stayed up to watch the commentary, they stayed up as we got on a group video call with all our friends across the country who all are Chiefs fans…except one family, they’re Taylor fans…but they’re kind of one in the same now…
My kids stayed up super late.
During the school year, we normally go to be early and get up early.
But not February 11th and 12th.
So I told the boys, we will let them sleep in since it was a late night and I would take them to school when everyone was up and ready.
I knew I would have to walk in and sign them in at school because they were going to be tardy.
I would have to face the music about how I had chosen a celebration over punctuality.
What I didn’t anticipate was, a terrible set of storms rolled in on Monday morning. On February 12th we woke up to lots of rain.
So when I walked in to check my son in to his school, the amazing front desk lady said,
“Storms were pretty bad this morning. I guess that’s why you’re late.”
I just smiled. Thinking I had escaped being shamed for making my kids tardy because I was celebrating, and was now being shown understanding and compassion for being a wise and cautious parent on the roads with the storms.
After a few moments of me smiling…my son spoke up…
“No, we stayed up late to watch the Super Bowl.”
Well dang. My son was given a free pass…and he had to go and be all honest…unnecessarily honest.
I quickly spoke up and talked about how we were big KC Chiefs fans…and that’s why…but it didn’t matter at that point…the truth had been revealed by a preteen…and not by his adult father who is a pastor.
In that moment, my son looked a whole lot more like Jesus than me.
As people of faith, we should want to be more like Jesus.
He was fully God.
He was fully man.
He lived a perfect life and gave us the example of what it looks like to live out the Kingdom of God.
Years ago I heard a professor share about how he was visiting with his philosophy class about how a person becomes better. Of course their response was,
“Well, depending on what your definition of ‘better’ is, you find someone who is great in that area and spend time with them, learn what they know, do what they did.”
You want to be better at tennis? Find a great tennis player and learn from them.
You want to be better at parenting? Find a great parent and learn from them.
You want to write better papers? Have ChatGPT do it…oh wait…don’t do that…
Want to be a better grammarian? Find someone who had do grammar good and learned they’re ways.
What to be a great scientist? Find a great scientist and learn from them.
Then he said,
“Okay. What if you want to be the greatest, you wanted to be the best possible person, you wanted to get as close to perfect as possible. How do you do that?”
They responded with,
“Well, I guess you would have to find a perfect person, who lived a perfect life, and you would follow them.”
He responded,
“Wouldn’t that be great if we could know that person.”
There are a lot of people who say all sorts of outlandish things. I don’t think they’re always intentionally trying to tell lies or lead people astray…I think they want to fit in, they want to be accepted, they want to prove a point, or appear a certain way.
As we all know, even if it is unintentional, telling lies, misleading others, and manipulating things so we appear in, what we think is, the best light has taken a toll on us, on our faith, on our witness, and on the church. Followers of Jesus are no longer associated with Jesus, but with political agendas and ideology, associated with hurtful and unhelpful words and ways, associated with out of context and not based in Biblical thought or theologically shortsighted practices with no regard to ramifications, and associated with ways that are antithetical to the ways of Jesus.
“Hank” told us…
I said this on Sunday, but the name Christian means “little Christ” and actually comes from people insulting the followers of Jesus because they were acting just like him, they were becoming little Christs in the world.
If people looked at the way we act, the way we treat one another, the way we live and speak about others, and spend our money and how we vote and what we prioritize and care about…what kind of Jesus would we be reflecting?
Would it look more like our news outlet of choice or social media algorithm or the kind of people we work with…or would it look like Jesus in the Bible?
The greater question is, do we even know the difference?
If we want to be more like Jesus, we should follow him and do what he did.
As a community of faith here at The Chapel our mission is to help people follow Jesus and be formed by him by; Abiding in him, being Changed by him, and Embodying his ways for the glory of God and the good of others.
That means, we are called to live out the Kingdom of God by practicing the ways of Jesus together for the transformation of the world.
If you were with us over the past several weeks, we’ve been journeying through what The Chapel sees for our people, what we prioritize and value.
We talked about making an About F.A.C.E. from our ways to follow after Jesus.
We talked about Wrestling with Scripture Faithfully.
We talked about Community and Complicated Relationships.
We talked about Living Out the Kingdom of God by being Missional by Nature.
We talked about Practicing the Ways of Jesus.
If you missed any of these, I invite you to check out The Chapel at Seaside podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream. These are listed under the series title, Priority.
There are a variety of books that unpack the ways of being more like Jesus by taking on Spiritual Disciplines as a part of that journey. Here are a few I recommend you check out. As always, I don’t always agree 100% with every book all the time, but the following have supplemented my journey of faith. Our friends at Sundog Books often carries these and if not, they are happy to order them for you.
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Sarah and I got this book from a friend right about the time we got married. It has the least exciting title you’ve ever seen, but it is rich with great thoughts and insights.
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. He is one of the great voices of the last century on life, faith, philosophy, and where those collide in living a life formed in the ways of Jesus. Also, fun fact. He’s from Missouri.
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. The early followers of Jesus were people called The Way, because they lived the way of Jesus. So to practice the way of Jesus roots us in Jesus’ teachings, his way of life, and those that have followed after him for the past 2000 years. This is probably the easiest read out of the 3 listed here.
There are lots of other great books and resources on becoming more like Jesus out there. The biggest thing is…it’s hard to be like someone you don’t know anything about. So let go of your assumptions and start to get to know the historical Jesus. He was a real person, who really lived in history, and his life, death, and resurrection changed everything.
Don’t settle for what “Hank” tells you. Get to know the real story and the real Jesus.
On this journey you will either end up looking more like Jesus or less like him.
That choice is yours.
Spend time getting to know the man who lived perfectly.
Who honored a weekly sabbath to rest and be reminded of identity in God
Who regularly prayed in public and in private bold and simple prayers.
Who fasted from food to clear the distractions while wholly relying on God.
Who spent extended times in silence and solitude to listen to and be centered in God.
Who practiced generosity regularly giving away everything he had for the sake of others.
Who faithfully wrestled with scriptures by memorizing them, living them out and helping others to know them.
Who was involved in community sharing meals with people in his inner circle and those who were outsiders or marginalized, with powerful people of influence, and people who could offer him nothing.
Who gave his life in service to others by healing the sick, caring for the poor, and providing food for the hungry.
Whose life was a witness as he proclaimed good news through word and actions in every situation.
Let’s get to know that guy and follow after him.
A few quick announcements you need to know…
- Bible studies are back and up and going. Our Men’s Study on Wednesday meets from 8am-9am, remember the new time. And the Women’s Study on Wednesday meets 9:30am-10:30/11am. We will study the book of Exodus in both of those Wednesday studies. Our young adult/20’s and 30’s group meets on Thursday mornings 8am-9:15am. They are also studying Exodus. Both groups will meet this week, September 4th and 5th, but we will not meet next week, September 11th and 12th.
- We are excited to share we have a new addition to our sermon podcast called “Chapel Study Notes”. It will be a Bible Study Recap led by me and Sarah team teaching what we covered in the previous week’s Bible Study. We have two episodes up so far. The newest episode is accessible on Spotify here, Apple Podcast here, or wherever you stream.
- This Sunday we are excited to have Branden Campbell preaching. Branden and his wife Katie are involved here at The Chapel and she leads the 30A Prays ministry and our Tuesday prayer hour. Branden regularly fills in for me and is a gifted preacher and all around great guy. I look forward to you getting to hear from him this Sunday.
- Parking around here can be a challenge, but here are a few thoughts to make it as easy as possible. Seaside is generously offering free parking for us for worship on Sunday mornings around the Lyceum on Smolian Circle. This is such a gift and a blessing to our community. If for some reason that area is full, here are a few other options.
- Free parking is available at Seaside/Watercolor Public Parking Lot on the west end of Seaside and east end of Watercolor just off of 30A. 20 Western Lake Dr, Santa Rosa Beach, FL. It is just a short walk away from the beach or The Chapel.
- On 30A there are some free spots on the Northside of the road and likely will have room early in the day.
- Seaside also offers a shuttle service that picks up on 331 near The Bay restaurant. For more info on the shuttle, click here.
- Of course walking, biking, riding with friends and family are all great options on Sunday if you can make those work.
- Please do not park in places that say “No Parking”, in front of people’s home, or in places that require a permit. We do not want you to get a ticket or get one of those lovely yellow scallops that look like a giant Hungry Howie box. It is no fun leaving worship and finding one of those on your car. Finally, we all want to be great neighbors in our community.
- If you are out of town, under the weather, or just need to worship from home, you can watch our live-stream on our website, thechapelatseaside.com, on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside and our Vimeo page, Vimeo.com/thechapelatseaside.
Other upcoming things.
- Thursday, September 19th – Third Thursday Event for our Next Gen Ministry. Grill out and games. Contact [email protected] for more info.
- Sunday, September 22nd – Ice Cream Social in the late afternoon.
- Sunday, October 6th – Beach Bonfire
- Sunday, October 20th – Chapel Lunch following worship
- Sunday, November 10th – Night of Worship led by Daniel Pratt and friends
Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you this week as we all try to follow after Jesus together.
Blessings.
Andrew