simple alignment

I’m not much for classical music. My preference is for 70’s classic rock. But I am familiar with quite a bit of classical music because of family influence. My parents and sister listen to a lot of classical music, and they often go to the local symphony performances over in the midwest cities where they live. So I grew up with that. And even though it is not my usual go-to playlist, I do recognize most of the major works that have stood the test of time for many years.

Here’s the impressive thing about symphony orchestras. The live show is always better than the recordings. I cant say the same for rock and roll. So often it still takes lots of technology to amplify and add effects to make a great rock concert. Sure, there are a handful of rock bands that can sit down with all acoustic instruments, no microphones, and put on an impressive show that is every bit or better than a recording—but those are few-and-far-between. Symphonies, though, are always an impressive live show. I think what makes a symphony orchestra great to see live and in person is the contributing effort of all the individual instrumentalists. There is no need for lights shows, fog machines, video screens, or loudspeakers. The spectacle of the orchestra itself creates the show.

I walk away from a symphony concert amazed that this vast and eclectic collection of different instruments and sounds can all be arranged and come together to work in unison on a single piece of music. It is just as impressive to see it as it is to hear it. Every person in that orchestra has their part. And when each one does their part together, it makes music. It seems to me that quite often, if you had the chance to listen to any individual member of an orchestra practice their part by themselves, it wouldn’t sound anything like the full piece of music when it is all played together. And also, there is that moment before the concert begins when all the instruments are on stage and warming up when everybody is running through and playing different little sections of the music on top of each other, all at the same time. And that doesn’t sound anything like music either—it just sounds like noise. The only thing that makes it work is the moment when the conductor leads all of the orchestra together to play in perfect harmony. And every instrumentalist in the group has their part.

There weren’t symphony orchestras back in Bible times. But the apostle Paul uses a different image to describe how this same concept works.

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 NIV

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Over the past few weeks we have been considering all the ways in which we make following Jesus more complicated and more overwhelming than it should be. We’ve been considering all the ways in which God has actually called us to a rather simple task of discipleship—but somehow we make it into something much more burdensome than intended. So, we’ve already looked at a simple blueprint plan. Last week we considered the idea of a simple direction. Today, let’s consider alignment. Sometimes we make discipleship so hard because somehow we all think that its our job to be soloists. And we’re all trying to play solos at the same time on top of each other. And the resulting spiritual mess just comes off as chaotic noise. Discipleship becomes so much simpler when we recognize that we are not all soloists. Our spiritual lives of following Jesus, in fact, work in harmony together as a symphony. And so, the way to achieve some level of simplicity in my life of discipleship is to gain some healthy alignment. I need to align my life of faith together with what God is doing through his church. There are a number of way that we can think about this and do this as followers of Jesus. Today we’re going to consider three things. This is not a comprehensive list. I am sure there is much more we could say. But let’s keep it simple, because simple is what we’re talking about.

Alignment with God’s Spirit

It is pretty essential to recognize that the first thing we need to do is align with God’s Spirit. Maybe that sounds obvious enough. But, let’s admit that so often we fail to actually do this. And I think it’s important for us to spend a moment here and seriously consider for each one of us what it is that leaves us in a place where we are failing to align with God’s Spirit. Because if we breeze over this one too quickly, if we assume that this is not an issue for me—of course I’m aligned with God’s Spirit—when, in fact, there is work to do here, then the rest of this wont matter and make one bit of difference.

Maybe some of us are not in alignment with God’s Spirit because we just plain have not made any time or effort to do so. Maybe we just have not even given it a single thought. There are two very important steps for this to happen. First, I cannot see or discern God’s Spirit in my life if I do not take time to read the Bible and know how he has revealed himself. You cannot be aligned with God’s Spirit apart from the Bible. Period. If the only Bible you get during the week is the one hour we are here in Church on Sunday, then your life is not in alignment with the Spirit of God. It takes some time and effort in the Word to be filling your own mind and your own heart with the mind and heart of God. And that comes from scripture. So, that’s the first thing.

Second. We live in a world of idols. Ever since the fall into sin in Genesis 3, the world has been full of idols. Idols mean that we live in a world that sets up other things as our gods. When it comes to aligning myself with God’s Spirit, I need to also consider what else is pulling at my soul. Am I trying to balance aligning my soul with God’s Spirit, and also aligning my soul with something else? Let’s admit it. We all know how this works. When life hits that moment of crisis and we find ourselves at rock bottom, that’s when—all of a sudden—we turn on and become people of fervent prayer. In our moment of greatest need is the moment when—all of a sudden—we look to align ourselves with God’s Spirit. But when the urgency of the moment is past, when crisis no longer dominates, then the other gods take over again, then the idols come back.

Third. And this one might hit home for most of us. It seems that so often we get the order mixed up. We might think to ourselves that w’ve got this box checked off. We might think that certainly I am aligned with God’s Spirit. We might pray every single day to be aligned with God’s Spirit. But here’s the thing. Sometimes I have to catch myself. I don’t actually desire for our soul to be aligned with the Spirit of God. What I actually desire is for the Spirit of God to be aligned with me. Maybe you think, so what? What’s the difference? But it makes all the difference in the world. When I desire for my soul to be aligned with the Spirit of God, I am professing that God’s Spirit is in the right place, and I am confessing that my soul must move. I am the one who needs to change in order to align with God. But sadly, I often flip that around. Many times my desire is not that God will change me to come in line with his Spirit. Many times my desire is that I can cram God into the little box of my world so that the Holy Spirit will align with me. Many times I convince myself that I am not the one who needs to change. God is the one who needs to change.

I want to be the conductor of the orchestra. I want to pick the music. I want to play my own tune. And I expect God to go right along with me. I want him to align with me. And this is where we all go wrong. This is where discipleship becomes so complicated. This is where we lose simplicity. Today is starts with a surrender to God’s Spirit. I must begin by aligning myself with him.

Alignment with God’s people

Let’s move to the next thing. Once we admit that we are not the conductors, that we do not pick the music, the next thing we must realize is that we are not all soloists all the time. Discipleship of simple alignment is discipleship that aligns with other people. In other words, to say it very simply: we all need the church. To be a follower of Jesus means that we all need to be a part of God’s people.

There are many in our culture today who would say that they love Jesus, they just don’t love the church. But the hard truth that comes from the Bible passage we read today says that we cannot love Jesus apart from loving God’s people. We need the church.

This really shouldn’t be that surprising. If I ask everyone here who is a Christian to start making a list of all the times in your life when you experienced the greatest amount of spiritual growth, I think we would all see a trend. Story after story would show us that—for just about everyone here—our moments of the greatest spiritual growth somehow involved other people. Whether it was a mentor, or small group, or youth leader, or conference speaker—we see example after example of spiritual growth taking place in the context of other people.

Alignment with God’s people is essential for discipleship. This is also true because none of us is super-Jesus. None of us perfectly captures all the gifts of the Spirit. No one here has a monopoly on the entire catalogue of skills and abilities needed to accomplish the mission of God’s church on our own. No one here is a one-man-band.

Here’s the truth we all need to accept today. I can’t be a Christian without all of you. I cannot be a Christian all by myself. This is exactly what the apostle Paul is saying in today’s passage, right? Simple discipleship is following Jesus in a way that aligns with God’s people. This isn’t always easy to do. Some of us have been hurt by the church. Some of us have been disappointed or let down by other people. Aligning with God’s people comes with the baggage of sin and brokenness. It means that I dedicate myself to a group that is admittedly just as flawed as I am. But at the same time, this gives me hope. It is a reminder again that God’s grace reaches down. His love grabs hold of us, broken as we are. He calls me to be part of a community that receives all people no matter who they are or what they’ve done—that’s what grace is all about. Aligning with people like that actually sounds pretty good!

Alignment with God’s mission

There’s one more step this morning. Before we go, let’s remind ourselves that this whole journey of discipleship has a purpose. There’s a reason we’ve been adopted and called by God to be aligned with his Spirit, and aligned with his church. Following Jesus also requires alignment with God’s mission.

People may say that they are Christians for many different reasons. People may join churches for many different reasons. Some people may go to church motivated by guilt. Others may go to church for the relationships and social interaction. Some people may go to church because of what they get out of it—programs and activities for kids…stuff like that. For my part, it doesn’t matter to me if God uses things like that to tap on peoples’ hearts and get them in the door. That’s fine with me. But somewhere along the way, our motivation for being in church better grow up and find its true meaning.

We are called by God to be a part of his church in order to be aligned with his mission for the world!

You get to be a part of something huge. Don’t miss that. You get to be a part of what God is doing to redeem and restore his creation. Don’t let that pass by. This is enormous. This is cosmic! Am I being overdramatic? Maybe it seems that way. After all, we live in a Disney culture where heroes are supposed to rise from the ashes and achieve legendary greatness. We celebrate the Hollywood storyline of the individual who saves the world. Yeah, it’s okay to admit that the Christian life doesn’t feel like that.

But that’s because I am one instrument in an orchestra that spans thousands of years and includes billions of people. The symphony I’ve been called to play among began this songs a long time ago. And it will keep going a long time after my life until Jesus comes again. My point of view on God’s mission is incredibly limited in what I can see. That’s because God is God and I am not. God is eternal and I am not. The mission of God’s church doesn’t always feel crazy heroic to me. I don’t always have the best view point to see where this mission has come from and where it is going. But I know this: I am called to be aligned with this mission. For whatever small and seemingly insignificant part I have been given, it is still a part of God’s mission. And I have still been called by God himself to be here and to be a part of it. And that’s no small thing.

For every single one of us, at some point in our lives, grace showed up. God’s grace has been revealed and poured out upon us. Our response to that grace is a life of gratitude in which we get to join that mission of extending grace to others. That’s the symphony in which we get to participate. Pick up your instrument and join the song. It’s not complicated. Align yourself with God’s Spirit. Align yourself with God’s people. Align yourself with God’s mission. Simple.