Category: the Gospel

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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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What’s Going On?

Barb wondered what is happening in the lives of her readers, so I finally got around to writing about what’s going on with me.

Things have changed quite a bit in the past few months. In July, Jan and I left the church we had been a part of for fourteen years. That same month, the school Jan taught at closed because of financial problems caused by dwindling enrollment. At the beginning of August we joined a small community of faith that was just starting up. We meet in a bagel shop on Sunday mornings, and we average between twenty and thirty people. We are hoping to form a body that will show the love of Christ to those outside the church, whether “unchurched” or “de–churched.” It’s going well, and we are looking for opportunities to reach out to our city.

Jan found part-time work at a retirement village here in town. She is a resident assistant in the assisted living facility. Working part time allowed her to spend more time with her mom and dad, which was a good thing because her mom slowly went downhill until she passed away in late September. We saw the grace of God during that month, as the three daughters and all nine grandchildren were able to visit and spend some good time with her. Each time a new set of visitors would come, Mom would rally. She recognized each one and was able to talk with them. It was a blessing.

Josh is in his last year of grad school. This year is proving to be a very busy one as he works on his thesis in addition to the regular classes. Hopefully the economy will have improved next spring to the point where architectural firms will be hiring. Jennie has been promoted and is a still photographer for a special effects studio in Los Angeles. She loves California, and is doing well. This school year, I am still a teacher’s assistant, but I am in a different class. I’m still coaching girls’ basketball, and in the spring I will coach softball. There is a different set of challenges this year as I learn to love a different set of “neighbors.” I’m still enjoying what I do, although it does get wearing at times.

My spiritual journey continues along the twists and turns on the back roads. I’m becoming more and more convinced that we Christians have failed at the main thing Jesus told us to do – love others. I’m learning to look at Scripture as God’s story. Not a set of rules. Not a storehouse of individual verses to be mined in order to put together a system of theology. Not a textbook to be mastered. Not a handbook for life. It has some of those aspects in it, but now I see it as the story of how God shows himself and relates to the world he created. Scripture is to be taken as a whole narrative, not chopped up into proof texts. I believe that we are called to proclaim the Good News that Jesus is Lord, not tie the Gospel to a particular political or economic system of thought. While we may participate in the process (or not), the important thing is the Gospel.

My beliefs on a number of other things have changed. I won’t go into a whole lot of detail here. Some of that will probably come out in future posts. Those of you who are regular readers, (and if you’re not, why not?) have read about some of those changes. If you haven’t, there’s an archive on the sidebar. 🙂

Anyway, that’s a bit of an update. I would be interested in reading what’s going on in your life. Drop me a note in the comments so I can check it out.

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Which Comes First?

No, this isn’t about chickens and eggs. Something I heard the other day made me think. I know that can be a dangerous thing, but here goes.

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” I heard this line from Thomas Watson quoted in a sermon I heard on television. I understand the thinking behind this statement. We must realize our need of Jesus before we turn to him. The more we realize just what Christ has done for us, the more wonderful God’s grace will become to us. I believe that there is the danger of this teching being abused. I have been in churches, and heard stories of those in churches where the bitterness of sin was preached and hammered into the people to the point where they were beaten down and left with the idea that they were totally worthless pieces of trash.

I wonder though, if there isn’t another way of looking at the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of Christ. When I look at Jesus’ time here on earth, I see one who interacted with people where they were, and did not throw their sin in their faces (except for the religious ones who thought they had it all together). When “sinners” saw Jesus, they saw someone who loved them and cared about their day-to-day, not a stern judge who condemned them. Seeing the love and grace of this beautiful one led them to the point where they turned from their sin and followed him. Zacchaeus and the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet are just two examples. Romans 2:4 states that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.

If we hammer at people’s sin without showing them the beauty of Christ, we produce folks who know they are sinful and get depressed about it, folks who try their hardest to “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps,” or folks who turn away from God altogether. If we can get across to others that Jesus is the most wonderful, beautiful Savior, who has done for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Yes we are great sinners. But, there is a great Savior. Instead of trying to make sin more ugly, how about if we made Christ more beautiful, by our words and actions.

How about if we said, “As Christ becomes sweeter, sin becomes more bitter.” Or as the hymn writer put it, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

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Light

Sunday morning we were talking about 1 John 1:5 , where John declares that God is light. That verse is one of the few times where Scripture says God is something. It’s hard for me to imagine pure light with no darkness at all. God is light, and that light is so pure that it is impossible for one of us to see God and live. Maybe taking the idea of staring at the sun and multiplying it by infinity might approach the idea of God being light, but probably not.

Now think of Adam and Eve in the Garden before the Fall, spending their time in God’s presence. They walked and talked with their Creator. Were they pure enough to be able to see the glory of God and still live? I think that they were, even though I can’t wrap my tiny brain around that. Unfortunately, that purity and close relationship was broken by sin, and people could no longer stand to see God. Moses only saw the afterglow of God’s presence and had to put a veil on because the people couldn’t even stand to look on that reflection of God’s glory.

Then along comes Jesus, the One called the Light of the world. He revealed the Father to us and abolished the barrier between us and God by his death, burial, and resurrection. Now we are the light of the world. Think about what that means. If people are to see the glory of God, they will see it in those of us who follow Jesus. Jesus said that people don’t take a light and hide it, but rather allow it’s light to shine. In the same way, we are not to hide the light of God that is in us, but we are to live our lives in such a way that people see God in us.

I believe that we let our light shine by taking it where the darkness is. If you light a candle outside on a sunny day, there is not much light seen from that candle. In the same way, if the only time we shine is when we are with other followers of Jesus, our light is not going to be as bright. We also can’t sit behind walls and lob “truth grenades” at those outside and expect any light to be seen. We need to shine where those living in darkness can see God’s light in us.

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Confession

Before I begin, I realized that in the post titled Mustard Seeds, I didn’t give proper attribution to the source of a large part of my thinking. The basic thought about the mustard seeds came from Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. I just added a couple of my thoughts. So, Shane, on the outside chance that you read that post :), I apologize for not giving credit where it was due. Thanks to Jeff McQ for jogging my brain on that.

I’m realizing more and more that we, meaning my generation, have failed our children in a major way. During my twenty-three years as a Christian school teacher, I constantly heard about the numbers of students who were graduating from Christian schools around the country and abandoning their faith within a couple of years. This was usually blamed on things like liberal atheist professors in the secular schools (thus making it “imperative” that we get our students to go to “good” Christian colleges), the influence of wicked friends, or just the human tendency to “backslide” when left without good teaching.

As a parent of two adult children, who went through Christian schools and who grew up in church, I’m more attuned to the possibility of their faith being left in the dust, and I think I know the reason why their generation is abandoning the church, and, in some cases, faith.

We spent most of our time teaching our children that being a Christian was a matter of “asking Jesus into your heart” so you would be able to go to heaven when you die. We taught that salvation was a destination, that it simply placed you in the position of being acceptable to God. Correct behavior was important, but it usually was a matter of managing sin by following a set of rules and regulations. Becoming like Christ was reduced down to “sinning” as little as possible. Spiritual discipline consisted of reading the Bible every day, praying, and witnessing, and discipleship was doing those things longer and more often.

Now, in our defense, we taught them this way because that is the way we were taught. Back when the culture was more in sync with “Christianity,” the idea of making people Christians by getting them to “accept Jesus” worked culturally, so not a whole lot of us knew any different. Now that the culture has become apathetic, if not hostile, toward Christians, the old cultural way of Christendom doesn’t work. Our children have seen through the barriers that we placed between them and Jesus, and have rejected what they knew as “church.”

As the walls of Christendom coming tumbling down it is imperative that we teach those who are learning from us that there is much more to following Jesus than having a home in heaven when you die. We must teach them that being a Christian is a matter of being a citizen of a different Kingdom, a subject of the King of Kings. We must communicate that following Jesus means that we are a new creation, that we have the Spirit of God inside us. Becoming like Jesus means living our lives as he would live them, and loving others as he would love them. Spiritual discipline means doing what Jesus did, spending time in prayer, solitude and silence, and fasting. Our lives are to be lived from the inside out, not just by managing our behavior. Fortunately, there are those from our generation who are teaching these things, and there are many from the current generation who have learned them.

O behalf of my generation, I confess that we have failed you that are our children and grandchildren We have failed in communicating the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, and have replaced it with a gospel of Christendom.

Some of us are learning, and are trying to make up for lost ground. I pray that those who have grown up in the church and have left will be drawn by the Spirit to the reality of the Kingdom of God and the true King.

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Twenty Centuries Later

It seems that the twenty first century American culture we are living in is similar to the first century. In Palestine, the Jewish religious culture was very comfortable and settled in their ways, much like the church in America. The Romans let them run their religious system, and for the most part they didn’t make waves. While looking for the Messiah to come and rid their world of all the evildoers, they were content practicing their version of what had been passed down from Moses. The people at the top of the spiritual pecking order controlled who worshipped, how they worshipped, and where they worshipped. The Roman culture of the day was very religious. So religious in fact, that they were very accepting of the various gods being worshipped, as long as those who worshipped also accepted the idea that Caesar was lord. Pleasure and comfort was the ultimate, for those who could afford it.

Into this world stepped Jesus. During his time here on earth he proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was here, and that he was the King everyone had been waiting for. He was not recognized by the religious elite because he didn’t fit the mold of what they thought the Messiah would be. They were scandalized that he invited the poor, the downcast, the “sinners” to join the Kingdom. They thought they were the gatekeepers. When the religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate, the only charge they could bring that affected Pilate at all was the charge that Jesus was claiming to be a king other than Caesar. What may have been the tipping point for Pilate was when they told him that he was not loyal to Caesar if he let Jesus go. Their statement, “We have no king but Caesar,” indicates that they were willing to remain in bondage rather than accept God’s rule.

As the church began to spread and carry out the command to make disciples, they ran into a culture that quickly became hostile when it was evident that these disciples of Jesus didn’t fit into the mold. They didn’t just go along to get along. When asked, or told, to sacrifice to the gods or to Caesar, they refused. Their response was that Jesus is Lord, and Jesus only. There was no sense of taking the message of Jesus and the Kingdom and simply adding it to the “Roman Dream.” The message of the
early Christians was that the Kingdom of God had come and all the other kingdoms of this world were nothing. This message caused them to be ostracized, to be shut out from participating in the economic and political life of many towns. Eventually this message caused many of them to lose their lives. This message also turned the world upside down.

I look around at the cultural landscape in America and see many of the same things. I see a church that, in many ways, has become quite comfortable here. So much of what is proclaimed in churches across America is nothing more than a self-help gospel. Many, if not most of the titles in Christian bookstores deal with how to get what you want, how to be a better __________, how to have your best life now, or how to be a better you (what happened to being like Christ?). Much of the church has been co-opted by political parties on both sides, and we have come to equate Christianity with America. We have lost our ability to speak truth to power because we have lusted after power.

At the same time, those who follow Jesus face a wider culture that is increasingly hostile to the idea
that there is only one King, and one Kingdom over all. I have read commentators who write about the way America is becoming like Europe. I think that is true, but I also think that a culture where a clear line is drawn between those who are disciples of Jesus and those who aren’t is preferable to one where the message of the Gospel is hidden in all the layers of institutionalization that have been added over the centuries.

Maybe we can, once again, turn the world upside down.

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Live

One of the classes I assist is reading The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. It takes place in Poland during the Holocaust. Toward the end of the book the main character, Hannah, sacrifices herself so that another girl can live.
Hannah said nothing. The memories of Lublin and the shtetl and the camp itself
suddenly seemed like the dreams. She lived, had lived, would live in the future–
she, or someone with whom she shared memories. But Rivka had only now.

…”Run for your life, Rivka. Run for your future. Run. Run. Run. And remember.”

I was thinking how we, as followers of Jesus, are like Hannah, and how those who are not followers of Christ are like Rivka. We live, and will live in the future. Those who don’t know Jesus only have now. As Hannah told Rivka to run, we also have a message that warns those far from Jesus to run to him, to run for their future. Hannah told Rivka to run in order to save her, and in order to preserve the record of what went on in the death camp. A large part of who we are is wrapped up in remembering what Jesus has done for us, and our message is one of salvation.
While we can not trade places with those who are not disciples, we are called to live sacrificial lives and give ourselves up for others.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

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Half Empty or Half Full?

There is a lot happening in the world out there. And it’s all good, or all bad, depending on your point of view. We know that the American economy is in bad shape. The recession/depression is expected to last until the end of 2009/2010/2011… Some think the economy will come back stronger, as it did after World War II. Some think America is going to drift into becoming an underdeveloped, powerless nation.

Some are predicting a cataclysmic event that will bring God’s judgement on us. Others are foreseeing the collapse of evangelicalism within this generation. All the while the number of folks who identify themselves as Christian is decreasing and the number who identify with no religion is on the rise. Some say that America is heading down the same path that Europe has travelled.

Is our glass half empty? Is it half full? Or should we wonder who the heck has been drinking out of our glass? As a follower of Jesus, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, I believe that in the midst of all that is going on around me I can be confident in the goodness of my Father and his care for me. This doesn’t mean that I just throw caution to the wind and continue to live as if the economy was humming along smoothly and there was no evil in the world. It just means that I know who is in charge and trust the Father to do what is right.

I also see a great opportunity for the Church to be the church. For so long the message of Jesus has been obscured by those who have attached it to realizing the American Dream, or by those who have made it a question of morality and being a “good” person. It has been reduced to a formula where a prayer is prayed and a set of propositions is assented to. Now, as more and more people reject the “gospel” of the modern church, the spiritual landscape seems to be moving toward what it was in the first century.

As the economy continues to slide, the church has an opportunity to show the love of God to those who are impacted by job loss, home foreclosures, etc. It’s possible that churches will be more concerned about the hurting in their midst than the next building program. That concern may even spill over into the surrounding community. Some churches may be forced out of their facilities by the economic problems in their area. What would it look like if churches had more to give to the needy around them since there was no need to spend on upkeep of buildings?

As the American Dream fades, those who have attached themselves to Christianity for the sake of material prosperity will drop off, leaving those who are more committed followers of Christ. As this happens, those who are left can be discipled and taught what it really means to follow Jesus. As the number of Christians shrinks (possibly to a minority, as it has in Europe) there will be a more stark difference between believers and the rest of society. The hostility to the church from those in power may continue to grow, and it may actually become somewhat dangerous to proclaim allegiance to Christ above all else. It has happened and is happening around the world. What makes us think we are exempt?

While it may look like a grim future, remember what the church in the first century faced. They had no political, economic, or social power. They were seen as atheists and were considered enemies of the state. They were driven from their homes, imprisoned, beaten, and killed.

Yet, they turned the world upside down.

Now, is the glass half empty or half full?

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Availability of the Kingdom

In The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard asserts that the Beatitudes are something far different than what I was taught as a young Christian, and even through a good deal of my adult life. I think he is correct in his interpretation. Rather than a set of characteristics of people in some future millennial kingdom or a set of characteristics necessary in order to be a good Christian, the Beatitudes are Jesus’ way of turning the first century attitudes toward who was blessed upside down. The general attitude then was that those who were “religious”, wealthy, and powerful were the ones who were blessed. The religious leaders taught this and the common folk believed it. There was a long list of folks who weren’t blessed and who never would be.

In the twenty-first century, have things really changed that much? So many times the gospel is a message that the ones who are blessed are those who have said a certain prayer and now follow a set of rules that make them good Christians, those who are part of a particular church or denomination and give assent to a certain set of doctrines, or those who work for social justice. The Holy Spirit does many times lead a person to a point of decision. There are doctrines that are important to believe. Social justice is something every follower of Jesus should be concerned with. These are important, but someone can do any of these without being a part of the Kingdom of God.

A large segment of Christendom presents the image of a Christian as someone who has all of their material wants taken care of, who is happy all the time, and who never struggles with the things that the great unwashed (or unsaved) masses struggle with. We give the impression that we have it all together, and that we are somehow better than those around us. In doing so, we follow along with the culture around us. The picture in American culture of one who is happy (blessed) is an individual who drives a nice new car, has white teeth and fresh breath, wears fashionable clothes, is zit free, keeps the weight off, and enjoys sex whenever the mood strikes (or within 36 hours). I wonder what Jesus would say today?

Maybe he would say that the Kingdom of God is available to the losers, to the ones who weep over a lost loved one or a lost job, to the ones who don’t have the skills necessary to even get a job. It is there for the person in pain with a terminal disease, the homeless, the drug addict who is estranged from his family. The Kingdom is available for those who are the bottom, the hopeless, even those who are the worst sinners. All that is necessary is for the person to recognize their condition and turn to the King, the one who can make them blessed.

Those of you who are already followers of Jesus and are part of this Kingdom, please remember that the message that we give is that Jesus is there for all who will follow him, whether they see everything the same we we do or not. If anyone who is not a follower of Jesus happens to come across this post, I want you to know that if you have been given the impression that only a certain class of people can be blessed by God, forget what you have seen or heard. The Kingdom is available to you, no matter what your condition. You don’t have to “get yourself right with God.” All you have to do is change your way of approaching your life and begin to follow Jesus the Christ, who is Lord over all. His way is the only way that leads to true happiness, the kind that is there regardless of circumstances.

May God make you truly blessed.

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What is the Gospel?

The other day there was a street preacher out on the corner of a busy intersection here in town. He had positioned himself in front of a gas station across from the university here. Because it was a sunny Saturday, there were people driving by, folks getting their cars washed, and college students walking by. I guess you could say he had a “captive” audience.

The problem with the audience is that it was mostly made up of people going to or from someplace. With the exception of the students who were standing around laughing and taking pictures with their cell phones, or the people waiting for their cars to be washed, his “audience” was on the move. He kept on preaching into a microphone that was connected to a large speaker on the back of a truck. Because we were going into the drug store to get a birthday card, I couldn’t make out much of what the preacher was saying, although I could make out “sin”, “hell”, “God”, and “Savior”.

On Sunday the street preacher probably told his congregation that he spent a good part of the day “proclaiming the Gospel”. I wondered what his definition of the Gospel is. Having grown up in churches where this type of thing would not be that uncommon, I think his definition would probably end in “go to heaven when you die”, or something similar.

This is probably a simple exercise for most of you out there, but I am wondering: How would you define “the Gospel”? Is it simply believe in Jesus and go to heaven when you die? Or is there more?

Your thoughts?