Category: evangelism

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Blast From the Past: The Prodigal Son – The Elder Son

The first post in this series looked at the main character in the story of the prodigal son; the younger son who had gone off with his inheritance and wasted it, and then came back. This post looks at the older son.

When the prodigal son returned home, there was one person who was conspicuously absent. The elder son was out in the fields, working as he had for years. In contrast to his younger brother, the older son had stayed home, working hard and obeying his father.

When he came in from another hard day’s work, the elder brother saw all the lights on in the house, heard the music and laughter, and noticed the activity of the servants. In answer to his questions, a servant replied that the younger son had returned and the father was welcoming him home with a huge party. The older son didn’t think this was such a good idea. In fact, he was pretty ticked off and refused to go into the house and join the festivities.

When the father came out to ask his oldest son to join them, he refused. He complained that during all the years he had spent doing everything the father had wanted, being the dutiful son, he had never even received one single goat to have a cookout with his friends. “On top of that, this son of yours has wasted his inheritance on wild parties and whores, and you’ve killed the fattened calf for him?”

How many of us have, at one or more times in our lives, been upset because grace has been shown to an individual who is a “worse sinner” than we are? (I see that hand. It’s mine) We just can’t believe that they got away with it! Our attitude is often the same as that of the Americans who rejoiced when Osama Bin-Laden was killed. That so-and-so got what he deserved. We want justice (usually meaning what the other person deserves) when it comes to others, yet many times we would prefer that mercy be shown to us. Sometimes, while the angels in heaven are rejoicing over one sinner who has repented, we are taking a wait and see attitude. After all, we don’t want to be played for a fool.

Sometimes we are like the elder brother when we think that because we have been good little boys and girls, God owes us. We wonder why God doesn’t answer our requests, because after all, we’ve been faithful in church, we’ve served others, we’ve had faith and claimed that answer, whatever. Then, when God doesn’t “come through” for us, we start looking around for answers. Maybe I didn’t have enough faith. Maybe I didn’t pray hard enough. Maybe I need to search my heart and see if there’s a sin I forgot to confess. Or, we begin to doubt the goodness of God toward us. “If God really loves me, why didn’t he give me what I want.”

Like the prodigal, the elder brother forgot who we was. Even though he had never left the property, he too had left home. He had forgotten the character of his father. The father was obviously a kind, loving, and generous man. He was full of grace and mercy, and wanted the best for his sons. He was quick to forgive, and to let past offenses stay in the past. Interestingly, that sounds a whole lot like our Father. He is slow to anger, and quick to forgive. He doesn’t dredge up our past and hold it against us. He loves his children with an everlasting love, and his heart is good to us.

We can not earn the grace of our Father. It is his to give freely, and his alone. We are not to look on others and complain when they don’t “get what they deserve.” Most of the time we don’t know how God is working in another individuals life. To paraphrase Aslan, God is not telling us their story, he is only telling us ours. Judging whether or not a person should receive grace is way above our pay grade. We are called to rejoice when others rejoice. Kind of like the angels.

We have all been the elder brother in some way or another. Our Abba is calling us to join the party.

Blast From the Past: The Prodigal Son – The Younger Son

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Thoughts on Epiphany, 2021

The word epiphany, at its core, means a revealing. This past Wednesday was Epiphany Day, and the events that unfolded in Washington, DC and other cities revealed a few things.

First, they revealed the true nature of some, not all of the supporters of Donald Trump. I recognize that many of the folks who have supported him the past four years are good people with motives they consider right. Having said that, I also believe that many of the folks that have ridden the Trump train have done so because they do not want to see “their side:, whatever that is, lose power. Many of the Republicans who are now loudly speaking out against him had nothing to say the last four years because they wanted to keep their party in power. There are folks who are afraid that white Americans will lose power and “those people” will take all our liberties away. I believe that this fear has led many to embrace some of the conspiracy theories swirling around the recent election. If a theory about the election, or anything else for that matter, is put forth by someone who believes that lizard people are among us and out to take all our children away to be eaten or turned into zombies, it’s probably not true.

The other thing the events of last Wednesday revealed is the utter bankruptcy of trying to do the work of the Kingdom of God using the tools of the world. There is actually a huge conspiracy out there. It is the conspiracy of the ruler of the powers of the air, i.e. satan. He has been conspiring and attempting to destroy God’s creation ever since the beginning. He is the father of lies, and is constantly trying to hinder what God is doing by attacking and dividing. He has succeeded in dividing the Church in America, because we have bought the lies that our political allegiance is paramount, that the ballot box will determine if the Church will succed or fail. I was appalled to see banners with Jesus on them carried next to Trump banners, as if they were equal. I was disheartened to see the Christian flag carried into the chambers of Congress by members of the mob. I am saddened by the preachers who stand in front of rallies and proclaim that they must fight to preserve their rights. Peter tried that in the garden and Jesus told him to put his sword away. And don’t quote the verse to me where the disciples tell Jesus they had two swords and he said that was enough. Do you really believe he was saying two swords would be enough to fight against the Roman Empire?

I don’t care on which side of the aisle we place ourselves. If we claim to follow the One who said his Kingdom was not from this world, who told his followers to love their enemies, who willingly gave himself over to the authorities to be killed, we have no business condemning folks who disagree with us. We have no business hitching our wagon to the star of any political party. Neither Trump nor Biden is equal to Jesus. The United States is not equal to the Kingdom of God. We have no business downgrading our faith by taking it down to the level of our political ideas.

Followers of Jesus, we have work to do. There are too many who have taken the mission of the Kingdom and turned it into gaining earthly power and influence. There are too many who are making Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians instead of making disciples of King Jesus. I can understand why many have rejected the message. It’s because we have either proclaimed the wrong message or we have hidden the real message under layers of garbage. We must return to telling others that there really is a King, that he died to free us from sin and death, that he rose again because he had broken the power of death, and that he calls everyone to follow him. We must tell them that this King will return and that he will set everything right. Along with this proclamation, we must show the world that it is true by the way we live our lives, loving each other, loving our enemies, and living out our sole allegiance to the King of Kings over and above any other party or man.

God help us to recapture the gospel.

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What Can We Do?

In the October 15 issue of the New York Times, David Brooks writes an opinion piece titled, How to Actually Make America Great.” In the piece, he writes about a new book, The Upswing, written by Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett, which chronicles the changes in American life from about 1870 to today. The book looks at a wide range of sectors of American life as a whole rather than as separate entities.

The authors find that American social trends improved from 1870 up to the late 1960s. All of the indicators of good life improved, from civic particpation to church attendance. Income inequality fell and the greatest improvements in the lives of African Americans happened duriing this period. All of that changed and began to reverse in the late 60s. Why? Was it economic inequality or political dysfunction?

According to Putnam and Garrett, the problems began when the word “I” began to take the place of “we” in the minds of Americans. America began to turn from solidarity to individualism. The frequency of the word “I” in American books doubled between 1965 and 2008. We began to be more self-centered, whether it was those on the left who celebrated the freedom to do their own thing socially, or those on the right who celebrated the freedom to do their own thing economically. Everyone began to look after their own self interests while forgetting the interests of others.

Obviously, this was not a total change. Their were, and are, folks who spend their lives looking out and caring for others. Non-profits and other groups that help others have not disappeared. However, the culture as a whole has become much more self-centered. All you have to do is look at the advertising on television or radio. It’s geared toward those who want more for themselves. Even much of the political ads are pointed at the interests of the voter. “Candidate X will raise your taxes, while candidate Z will let you keep more of your money.” “Vote for this person, because if they are elected, the economy will soar and your stocks will increase in value.”

I see a lot of this in the wider Church in America. A gospel is preached that tells the person to ask Jesus into their heart to be their “personal Savior,” so that they can go to heaven when they die. The emphasis is on the individual. Much of what passes for “discipleship” in many churches is focused on the individual’s walk with God. I don’t see a lot about an individual walk with God in the Scriptures. although it is true that I personally am called to follow Jesus. All through the Bible, those who are called are called to be part of a family, whether it’s the family of Israel in the Old Testament, or the new family of God which includes Jew and Gentile in the New Testament. Christians are described as members of a family with God as our Father, as members of the body of Christ, and as fellow citizens of a Kingdom ruled by sacrficial love for others. It is in community that discipleship happens, as we learn and grow together.

The emphasis in the Bible is on the interconnectedness of those who follow Jesus, and the command to love others and put their interests ahead of our own. That is countercultural in a world that puts self first. But then, we are called to show a better way of being truly human. The early Christians lived in a world that was very self absorbed, much like our world today. Rather than buying the bill of goods the world was offering, they threw their lot in with the true King who gave his life for others. In doing so, they gave their lives for others and turned the world upside down.

May God grant us the desire to live as ambassadors of the Kingdom that conquers through sacrificial love and not selfish power.

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God’s Facebook?

Last week, I saw a church sign that read, “God’s Facebook is eternal. Are you on it?” Then Matthew Paul Turner posted this and this on his blog.

I wonder what those people were thinking when they came up with that. It looks to me like another failed Christian attempt at being culturally relevant. Facebook is hot right now, and so “Christian” copies are bound to pop up. There are already Christian social sites for those who seek to avoid the heathens in the wider culture. Now we have attempts to redeem cultural things by putting them on church signs and t-shirts and changing a couple of things to make them “Christian” and show that God is hip too.

I see a couple of problems with this kind of thing. First, and most obvious to me, is that these signs and t-shirts bring God down to our level. Yes, God came in human flesh and he calls himself our Father. Jesus calls us friends. There is a closeness we have with the Creator that is amazing. However, God is not our buddy. Jesus is Lord, and there is a certain level of respect that is lessened by things like this.

The second problem is Christians copying things in the popular culture, instead of exercising God-given creativity to make things that transcend culture and lift our attention to the Creator. All you have to do is walk into any Christian bookstore to see numerous examples. We do great harm to the Gospel when we display our faith on t-shirts and bumper stickers instead of by how we live our lives. We damage the cause of Christ when our art and music only serve as poor imitations of what is already out there. We are called to speak truth to the culture, not hide from it, or copy it.

Let’s stop trying to be hip by copying what the culture is doing. Let’s not hide from the culture either. Instead, let’s go out into the world around us and live counter-culturally by loving others, sacrificing ourselves for their good, and doing what Jesus commanded us to do.

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Signs and Wonders

At our gathering yesterday morning, one of our number told of buying supplies for a local homeless shelter and the way God moved others in the store, including an outside delivery man, to help her find what she needed to buy. Some of them then helped her load the supplies in her car. Our teacher made the statement that maybe the signs and wonders that accompany the Gospel today are the acts of mercy and kindness that we do for those around us, especially those in need.

I think he is on to something. In the early day of the Church, the signs and wonders that authenticated the message that Jesus is Lord included healings and other miracles, and speaking in other languages. In a world where medicine was primitive, and many health problems that we never experience were fairly common, healing a person was a pretty big deal. The gift of speaking in tongues was many times , in a world without many translators, the only way the Gospel could be communicated. Some of these same things accompany the Gospel in developing nations where conditions are not that far removed from those of the 1st Century.

In 21st Century America, medicine has advanced so that most of the problems found in the early days of the Church have been eliminated. God does miraculously heal, but it is not so widespread as to be seen as a sign authenticating the Gospel. Language is not usually a problem, as there are a variety of ways to communicate and be understood.

I believe that the signs that should accompany the message that Jesus is Lord are the things that stand out as being outside the norm. I’m not talking about carrying a big KJV Bible, or shutting ourselves up in a “Christian” bubble and separating ourselves from those around us. I’m talking about showing that the One that we follow calls us to own him as our Lord, not any person, government, political party, or other organization. Because Jesus is our Master, we do what he says. One of his commands is to love our neighbors, and take care of the least of these. Giving to the poor and doing what we can to meet their needs shows that we take seriously the commands of the One we proclaim as Lord. In a culture that teaches us to look out for ourselves, often at the expense of others, caring for others marks us out as being different.

Jesus said that the world would know that we are his disciples by our love. If we don’t love each other and love those around us how can we expect the world to take us seriously? If we don’t treat the “least of these” as we would treat Jesus, what business do we have claiming that Jesus is our Master? As our faith is marginalized more and more by the culture, the only thing we will have left to authenticate our message is the willingness to lay down our lives for Jesus and others. God help us to live the Gospel that we claim has changed our lives.

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Evangelism

Barb wrote about evangelism yesterday and asked folks to weigh in with their thoughts, so here goes.

I grew up in fundamental Baptist churches, where the point of evangelism was to convince the person of the truth of a set of propositions and bring them to the place where they agreed that they were a sinner and going to hell and that Jesus died for their sins. After this was accomplished the person would then be led in the “sinner’s prayer” and ask Jesus to forgive them and come into their heart. After saying this prayer, usually repeated after the person doing the evangelism, they would then be told that they were now going to heaven when they died. They would also be told to remember the date so they could point back to it if any doubts later crept in.

There were various methods used to try and get people to come to the point of making a “decision for Christ.” The Four Spiritual Laws, the Romans Road, surveys where you would ask a series of questions designed to lead the person to pray the prayer. All of the methods were designed to convince the prospect of a set of propositions.

I was mainly involved in the survey method, what I call “hit and run evangelism” because these surveys were usually done in shopping malls or at county fairs, where there was little, if any, chance for follow-up or discipling of those who did make a decision. To this day, I have no idea who really came to faith in Jesus.

I find it interesting that Jesus never asked people to say a prayer and ask him into their hearts. he simply called people to turn from their old way of approaching life and follow him in the new way, the Kingdom of God. The disciples were called to follow Jesus as Rabbi and to seek to become what he was and to relate to God in the same way he did. The Apostles’ message is one of turning from the old way of life and acknowledging Jesus Christ as the true Lord and King. If the Gospel message would have been just “accept Jesus into your heart and you’ll go to heaven when you die” the early Christians would not have suffered persecution. The Romans had no problem with folks adding their religion on top of the Roman religion, as long as they hailed Caesar as lord. The reason the Gospel message was so subversive was that it denied all the other gods and proclaimed another King above Caesar.

The older methods of evangelism may have been effective in their day. Then again, they may be a major factor in the rise of American Christendom. I believe that what followers of Jesus need to do today is go back to proclaiming that Jesus is the true King and Lord over all things and that he calls people to turn their backs on their old way of approaching life and follow him as their Lord and Master. As we proclaim this message we also need to live like we really believe it. As an example, how much would the Gospel message be shown as true if we who call ourselves Christians simply loved each other instead of always fighting and condemning. I’m sure you could think of other examples.

I am encouraged by the rise in the number of people who are realizing that the Gospel is for more than just going to heaven when you die, that it is for all of life. May their tribe increase.