Crutches and the Cross

Everything is a crutch if the cross of Christ is not the solution.

It seems that everything in life can be used for a crutch to prop up our ideas of the way we think life should be; hobbies, work, family, even our theology and understanding of the Bible. At the cross all that is gone. Jesus did not come to give us information, one more crutch. But even if He did come to give us more information it would have been a merciless act. Merciless because we could never live up to the standard he proposed in all of His teaching. If teaching and truths were His only intent then He came preaching hopelessness, schlepping frustration, pushing pain, enhancing spiritual poverty, and abject moral failure (i.e. the Sermon on the mount). No, Luke 19: 10 says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The whole world was lost as the first man Adam fell not only because Adam represented the fountain of humanity but also because it was man’s job to manage the earth. Jesus came to get it all back and that means by becoming the ‘Son of man’ or the second Adam. To be the new and sinless fountain of mankind willing and able to take on a debt we could never repay and to save us. To save us from ourselves, from our sin.

He did not come to lower the standard but to underscore it so that His real mission was clear to all. He came to show us our poverty to be sure but to show it to us so that we might look upon the solution. If we refuse to see our moral bankruptcy, to see that our spiritual, social, and intellectual currency are less than worthless to God then we will not be able to receive the true riches God has for us. God is rich in mercy, in grace. His love is undying, His forgiveness unending. When we live, we live to Him through the gate of Christ’s death on our behalf. But we accept His death by admitting to ourselves and to Him the real reason why He had to die such a grueling death . . . because I deserved it. God is nothing if not true to Himself. He is just and so requires payment for our sins. However, God is also loving, dedicated to His human creation and so determined to make a way for our sin to be absolved.

So in order to live a holy life, one that is productive for God in a corrupt world we must have courage. Courage not only to stand alone and risk ridicule by a world that does not understand difficult as that may appear. But even more difficult is the courage to stand against one’s own natural tendencies. Jesus said in John 12: 25, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” That is the essence of true courage. To know one is standing on deadly ground such that an unreasonable resolve to defy death brings you right to the brink of it. To take a passive position or even a defensive position will end in death. Many men died in their foxholes hiding from the bomb, bullet or army bent on killing them. On the other hand, to ‘take your life into your own hands’ is the only way out, the animalistic offense when cornered.

The difficulty for many though is that they think they are not cornered, that there is nothing to fight for or against, that their very soul is not really in danger. We inoculate our minds and our senses against the truth of our dire circumstances with our crutches, our trust in our intellect, our job, our social status, our family, our money, our entertainment, our religion however Christian it may look. We are inoculated with the illusion of independence, safety and security. Jesus and the cross is that antidote to the inoculation and it is harsh, like someone switching on the noon day sun in our dark little closet life. It feels harsh, offensive, painfully blinding. But if we let our eyes adjust to what the light is revealing we will see an ever-expanding landscape opening up on all sides as the wind of the Spirit of God begins the cleansing work of sanctification. All I have to do is that one thing He whispers to me (i.e. apologize to your coworker for being harsh). And then the next thing (i.e. don’t watch that T.V. show anymore, it’s not good for you), and the next (tell your wife that you love her). Holiness is freedom. Freedom is in the details and is a sense that one is beholden only to God. Holiness is now.

Reaching Our Neighbor . . .

Reaching our neighbor with the message ‘the kingdom of God has come’ is more than a gospel formula. God’s kingdom implies a particular set of expectations and order. God’s kingdom has a King and that King has children who are expected to look and act like their father. So what does it look like when a person of faith interacts with his neighbors? Is the gospel message verbally explained? I would say so. But when does that conversation occur and is there more?  

A believer must submit his life to a particular person not a particular set of rules. Submission to Jesus the King, no matter how counter-intuitive or counter-cultural it may appear means we may look strange to both conventional believers who follow rules to make themselves feel good about their standing in an institution. Furthermore, it may cause us at the same time to engage the world where they live while at the same time looking strange to them too. It means that we must think differently about who we are as believers and our role as the Church in this world. To reach the world with the great message “repent for kingdom of God has come’ it is imperative that we reflect it in every fiber of our being.  

The Church must decentralize and get to work in the smelly, demon possessed trenches of this world and bring God’s light, God’s order.  It means we stop asking for permission, stop being nice, and start being good. It means we start acting like fathers to men, mothers to women, servants to all. It means we stop being a consumer of children’s programs and ‘great preaching’ and ‘good music.’ It means we stop taking and start giving. We must start being consumed with the willful fire of devotion to God and sacrifice for our fellow man. It is then God will appear in all His magnificent glory. It will be at that point people are healed emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally. It will be at that point the world pushes back so mightily as to beat a believer into submission. It seems that the vast majority of believers in America are already passively submitted to the agenda of this world. Can the world make a distinction between the believer and the non-believer in the workplace, at home, at the grocery store? It has been said that the Church experiences divorce and other social problems at the same rate as the rest of the world. The world and Satan does not want you or I being who we were born to be.  The world and Satan is afraid of it. But the Kingdom has come. The question is, “What will you and I choose to do about it?”

The Church’s Mission Is NOT the Great Commission?

Many of us take for granted that the mission of the Church is the Great Commission most commonly quoted from the last few verses of Matthew in chapter 28:18-20 saying, “. . . All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Note that this is the first time the disciples heard such a statement. For over three years they had watched Jesus heal the sick, cleanse the leaper, raise the dead, free the demon-possessed all the while preaching that the Kingdom of God had come. He even gave the disciples the power to do the same kinds of things telling them that while they were doing these miraculous deeds that they should preach saying the kingdom of God has come. Jesus says in Luke 10:8-9, “Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” One way to interpret the word ‘heal’ in that verse is ‘to set right anything that is out of order.’ Healing someone of something assumes that something is wrong, not working properly, out of the norm, or out of order. This realization that something is out of order also assumes that there is a proper order and that we know what it is. If to heal means to set right or to put back in order that which is out of order how is that related to preaching that the ‘kingdom of God has come near?’

The kingdom of God represents God’s order. There is nothing out of order in God’s kingdom. So when Jesus or one of His disciples arrives on the scene the kingdom of God arrives on the scene. And anything that comes into contact with the kingdom of God is put in its proper place according to God’s order.

But what happened there when Jesus proclaimed what we now call the ‘Great Commission?’ Were the disciples supposed to stop preaching that the kingdom of God has come and instead start making disciples? I wonder if the disciples would have interpreted Jesus’ words with the terms ‘Great Commission.’ It seems to me that it was simply a continuation of preaching that the kingdom of God had come. Meaning, as people respond to your powerful new kingdom way of life, make them agents of God’s kingdom too.

This may sound like I’m splitting hairs hear but I’m really not. To say that the Great Commission is the mission of the Church begs a question: WHY? Why make disciples? For what purpose are we teaching them to observe all He has commanded us? This is the question Jesus answered with every act He ever performed and every syllable He ever uttered.

Why did Jesus come to earth? To seek and to save that which was lost. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world . . . .” We always get caught up on the individual in that verse, if you were the only one . . . . But let’s focus on the nature of the word ‘love’ for a second. From God’s perspective to ‘love’ someone means that He is devoted to treasuring it as in a covenant relationship. A covenant is a commitment or bond in blood sovereignly enacted by God and kept by Him. A covenant unlike a contract cannot be broken which is why God hates divorce. Marriage is essentially the closest thing that we have on Earth to a covenant which is why God still considers marrying another person after divorce is committing adultery. The responsibility to the relationship is not over. The husband and wife are one and cannot be torn asunder (See Matthew 19 and Mark 10). So it is with God and His commitments. God loved Jacob but hated Esau. Does that mean God loathed the poor fellow? No it simply means that He did not have a covenant relationship to which He had committed Himself as He did with Jacob.

Now in John 3:16 it says that God so loved the ‘world.’ It would appear that God has a commitment to the world and wants it all back. Somewhere back in the Garden of Eden sin entered the world through mankind. And since mankind was responsible for governing the world, the world in its totality fell into depravity. Paul expounds on this reality in Romans 8:20-22, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

So what was Jesus’ ultimate goal, to save little ole’ me from hell? Let’s think a little bigger. Again, the basic unit to society as described in the Bible is the family NOT the individual. So if I am saved from Hell what is the larger purpose? What is the bigger story? 

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:18, “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . . .” Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” So Jesus’ role, the role of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom on earth is to reconcile “ALL THINGS” to Himself. That’s a little bigger than the typical evangelical individualistic message that God wants to be my buddy. Jesus came to take it all back, all of it, me, you, Planned Parenthood, the sun, the moon, the stars. A disciple of Jesus is one who brings His kingdom to bear on everything he comes in contact with. The primary role of the Church is not to make disciples. The primary role of the Church is to excercise the ‘ministry of reconciliation.’ Adding disciples speeds up the process. If a man is reconciled he can now reconcile other men and other aspects of creation that need to be brought back under the order of God in His kingdom.

Jesus is only interested in a true brotherhood of believers who understand that they have been given the authority of God in Christ to bring His kingdom to bear on all creation. In fact, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). Sons of God, show yourselves!

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:27-28, “For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.” So Jesus’ role was to set up what could be called the ‘Messianic Kingdom’ subjecting all of creation back to His control. And once that happens He will offer it all back to God the Father, and all will be one in the great and glorious Kingdom of God.

As Paul says in Philippians 2:9-11, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Noble sons of God, stand and deliver the Kingdom of God to all creation.

If Church Is More Than Sunday Morning, What Is It?

We have been talking around Church in general and have attempted to get at some specifics but we have not adequately defined the Church and the type, nature, and volume of its activity as it manifests the kingdom of God on earth.

Please click the following link to download a PDF attempting to visually represent what the Church is and how it should reconcile the world to God.  Church Defined

Basically the church should represent 3 types of activity in order from least activity to most activity: 1) Believers encouraging believers in a larger group format to live the kingdom God (UGD, FSO), 2) Believers reaching their communities (Home Churches in whatever form appropriate to best reach and disciple the people of their communities), and 3) believers living the kingdom of God on Earth (Uncalculated Devotion to God and Freely Sacrificial to Others).

Note the base of all church activity is the the Biblical norm for a Jesus follower. What happens when there is a lack of focus on what essentially are the core values of the Church, the two greatest commandments (love the Lord your God, neighbor as yourself) is an inversion of the type and volume of activity and the Church becomes top heavy. To act like the base, center and focus of all Church activity is the traditional Sunday morning event is to miss the bigger picture. What we typically think of though when someone says the word “Church” is that building that houses the Sunday morning event. However, the Biblical model of Church consists of all three levels with the larger gathering of believers representing the lesser of all Church activity. Its role is to encourage and strengthen believers as they live the kingdom and exercise the ministry of reconciliation (bringing the world back into right relationship with God).

Please click on the link above and then tell everyone what you think of the Church as it has been defined.