In our gathering yesterday, we looked at Proverbs 2.
Blast From the Past: The Prodigal Son – The Father
The story in Luke 15 is popularly named for the prodigal son, but it could be titled, “The Story of the Prodigal Father.” Prodigal means recklessly extravagant, and I think that describes the actions of the father in the story. Jesus told this story in response to the criticism that he ate and drank with sinners. It is a picture of God’s extravagant love toward repentant sinners.
The father granted the younger son’s request, even though it was a slap in the face. As a father, I can begin to imagine the grief he felt as his son rejected him and everything he stood for. Rather than writing the son off as a lost cause, the story seems to indicate that the father was constantly looking for him to return. In spite of his grief he kept hoping. When the prodigal returned, the father saw him coming in the distance and ran to meet him. Imagine this dignified man running out to greet his son. In those days, one who did what the son had done would be met by the village elders if he returned and officially banished. The father was not only overjoyed to see his son, he was also protecting him.
Before the son could get his speech out, his father told the servants to prepare for a huge blowout party. He covered the son’s rag’s with a luxurious robe, put good sandals on his feet, and a ring on his finger. All of these were things a beloved son would wear, not a servant. There were no words of disapproval or recrimination, only grace and compassion. When the elder brother acted like a jerk and refused to join the party, the father went to him with grace, reminding him that he was also a beloved son. Again, there were no harsh words from the father.
We have the same kind of Father. When we wander away from him, forgetting who we are, he is waiting patiently for us to return. He knows we will return because his Spirit draws us. We are told in Scripture that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. He doesn’t force us back and hold us against our will. It’s grace and love that brings us to him, and it’s grace and love that keeps us home. In the same way, when we think we somehow have to perform to cause the Father to love us more, or think our good deeds mean we are better than our brothers, the Father calls us to remember that he loves us because he loves us. He doesn’t love us any less when we screw up, and he doesn’t love us any more when we do good things.
Sometimes we forget who our Father is, and who we are as his children. God calls us back to him, not as a servant. He calls us back, not as someone who has earned his love. No, the Father calls us to return home, remembering that we are his beloved children. He is ready to welcome us with open arms and celebrate our return.
Matthew 7:24-27: What Are You Building On?
Today we looked at Jesus’ words about following him.
Matthew 6:25-34: Dealing with Worry
This week we talked about Jesus’ command to not worry. It’s something most of us struggle with.
Matthew 5:43-48: Love Your Enemies
In our gathering yesterday, we looked at Jesus’ command to love our enemies.
What Kind of Kingdom?
It’s a few days before what we call Palm Sunday, the day Jesus came in to Jerusalem to the loud aclaim of the crowds of people. Jesus has told his disciples that the time for him to go to Jerusalem and die was drawing near. Judging by some of the things they said and did, they seem to have forgotten the part about dying. As the week goes on, Jesus continues to teach about the kingdom of God. He has raised Lazarus from the dead, further solidifying in the minds of many that he was the promised Messiah. Because of all this, the Jewish leaders are plotting to kill him.
I can imagine the excitement building in the disciples as they draw nearer to the city. It’s almost time for Passover, the annual celebration of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Some had been saying that when the Messiah came, he would lead a new Exodus and deliver Israel from theit bondage from the pagan Roman oppressors. This may have been at the forefront of the minds of some of the disciples. We know that some of them were zealots who would have gladly taken part in an armed revolt if Jesus gave the word.
Perhaps the feeling was similar to that of some of those who gathered at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Many of those folks seemd to equate the United States, and the rule of a particular person, with the kingdom of God. Some of the loudest voices in the rally that day were preachers, and many of the symbols carried by those in the crowd were Christian symbols. “Prophets” abounded, each one assuring their listeners that God had ordained what they said was going to happen and that these things were necessary for God to bless America.
I wonder if there were those in the crowd following Jesus who proclaimed to those around them that this Jesus was going to lead them in a great battle in which the hated Romans would be destroyed and that they would “make Israel great again.” There were those who were quite willing to kill Romans, Jewish ‘traitors,” or anyone else who stood in their way. Perhaps this Jesus was going to begin the revolution.
As we study the New Testament, and at least the first 300 years of church history, we quickly notice that those who thought the kingdom of God would come in by force were way off. The kingdom was established, but it was established by the King submitting himself to the powers that be, letting them kill him in the most shameful, horrific way known at the time, and then overcoming them by rising from the dead.
Over the centuries, many who call themselves followers of Jesus seem to have forgotten that he taught that his kingdom is not a kingdom of this world, that it does not come by human strength or force. This is true in the United States today. Many of those with the loudest voices on January 6 were part of a group that believes that Christians should be in charge, and that the government should enact laws and policies that favor Christians above all others. Some would even go so far as to enforce Old Covenant law. The problem with this kind of thinking is simple. It has nothing to do with the Gospel or any of the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus taught that we are to first love God with every fiber of our being. We can easily say that we love God, but do we really? The second greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love others as we love ourselves. The Apostle John tells us that if we don’t love another, who is made in God’s image, how can we say we love God? If you were to read through or listen to the speeches that have been made regarding the political state of this country, I seriously doubt you would find much, if anything, that shows love to God or love to others. Instead you would find much vitriol and anger toward others.
If we going to call ourselves Christians (“Christ ones”), wouldn’t it make sense to look at what he taught, and what his disciples continued to teach, and follow that? The thrust of much of what the apostles wrote was to tell their readers to live like who they were. They weren’t citizens of this world anymore, they were citizens of a heavenly kingdom. The old had gone. The new had come. We too, need to live like who we are. We are no longer citizens of this world and its kingdoms. We are citizens and heirs of the unshakeable kingdom of God.
May our lives reflect who we are and whose we are.
Matthew 5:17-20: Kingdom Righteousness
In our gathering this week, we looked at the righteousness that is a part of the Kingdom of God.
Blessed Are the Merciful: Matthew 5:7
This week in our series on The Sermon on the Mount, we talked about mercy.
Blast From the Past: Falsetto Spirituality
This post was first published in 2008.
In Soul Graffiti, Mark Scandrette writes, “A fascination with the supernatural can be a sign of spiritual fragmentation, a falsetto spirituality that strains to reach beyond the normal”. As I pondered that statement, I realized that it is so true in much of what is called Christianity.
The obvious examples of this “fascination with the supernatural” are those who run from place to place seeking signs and wonders and “fresh anointing” from God. The supposed moving of God can keep arenas, and ministry accounts, full for months as people swarm to experience a touch from God to lift their lives above the ordinary sameness of their daily lives. While some would consider these events on the fringe, there are other examples that hit a bit closer to home.
Mainstream evangelicalism is concerned with showing people how to have their best life now, with programs that will enable folks to experience a life that rises above the ordinary. Church leaders are given opportunities to learn the secrets of success from The CEO: Jesus. Congregations strive to be extraordinary and have bigger and better facilities and programs. Supernatural power that gets prayers answered and our needs (wants) supplied is constantly sought.
Even those of a more conservative, fundamental bent are not immune to a hunger for the supernatural. They seek a home far away in heaven, a home where the physical no longer matters, a place to escape this broken world. Many of the rules and regulations in fundamental groups seem designed to limit contact with this physical world and its “corruption”.
I’m not saying that the supernatural does not matter. I am awed when God performs genuine miracles of healing, and when he provides for his people in supernatural ways. I rejoice when prayers are answered and when godly leaders influence others to follow Jesus Christ. I too believe that this world is broken and corruption runs deep.
What I am saying, and what I think is the point of the quotation from Scandrette, is that the normal, ordinary parts of our lives matter. We are called to follow Jesus here and now, not in a future existence outside of this world. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom was here, that the King had arrived. Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, but it does have an impact on this world. We have been given the commission and privilege to participate in the work that God is currently doing in this world.
If we look around us with eyes that can see, we can notice how God is working in the day-to-day of our lives. In fact, I think the really supernatural and miraculous thing is that the Creator of all things uses broken, ordinary people like us to do the work of restoring his creation, a work that will finally be complete when Jesus returns. The work of the Kingdom is not just those things that we see as “spiritual”. It sometimes involves getting dirty and dealing with ordinary things. But, then again, Jesus used ordinary things. He used spit and dirt to heal a blind man, for goodness sake! Why do we think we have to “rise above the ordinary”.
Look for God at work in the ordinary, and ask him where he wants you to fit into what he is doing. Don’t run after the supernatural. Remember, many times a falsetto voice doesn’t sound very good.
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
This Sunday, our church is beginning a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Here is an introduction to the series.