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May 4, 2011

God Hiding, So We’ll Seek

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Faith, Psalms, Revelation, Scripture, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
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There are times in our lives when God can seem quiet and far off.  These periods of time are desparate and lonely.  We may pray and feel like we are not getting any answers.  Then we grow discouraged and often drift further away from God.    We may find ourselves getting angry with him and frustrated.  We may blame him for our feelings, emotions and struggles.  We may even call out, “GOD WHERE ARE YOU?”  We have all been there even though there are some around us who may put-on as though they haven’t.  You know those Christians who act as though they always have it right and are perfectly in-tune with God.  But I think the truth of the matter is life is filled with different experiences that cause us to interact and experience God in different ways. 

The Psalmist offers some perfect examples of these moments of dispair and wondering where God is.  Psalms has several psalms that Walter Brueggemann has labeled “psalms of disorientation.”  These are psalms where the psalmist feels…well, disoriented.  He feels lost, dispair, and even confusion.  One person once told me, in an attempt to shine a positive light on these psalms, that they always end with the psalmist correcting himself or repenting of his doubts and complaints.  Though this is true sometimes, it is not even usually the case.  A prime example is Psalm 88.

1 O Lord, God of my salvation,
   when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
2 let my prayer come before you;
   incline your ear to my cry.

3 For my soul is full of troubles,
   and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
   I am like those who have no help,
5 like those forsaken among the dead,
   like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
   for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
   in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
   and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
          Selah

8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
   you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9   my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
   I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
   Do the shades rise up to praise you?
          Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
   or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
   or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why do you cast me off?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.*
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
   your dread assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
   from all sides they close in on me.
18 You have caused friend and neighbour to shun me;
   my companions are in darkness (NRSV).”

As you can see, this psalmist has no closure and the reader is left wondering what is the outcome of this distraught person.  This person is obviously angry at God and even blames Him for his sufferings.  Our theology and experience of God could indeed end at this point and we would be left with a God who always ignores us and seems to enjoys our suffering.  Such a theology reminds me of being a young boy.  My confession goes like this: I used to be the “ant bully.”  That’s right.  I used to drown them with frigid cold water, or boiling hot water.  I used to crush them with large stones and do aerial assaults on their villages.  Kind of like the U.S. bombing the snot out of impoverished nations then puffing out our chest as though we abtained some daring feat of heroism. 

Is God like this?  Does he enjoy and get entertainment out of our suffering?  Is he the equivalent of an “ant bully?”  I don’t think so.  Yet often times, we interpret our negative experiences as being God.  Now let me qualify my thoughts.  I do believe in judgment.  I do believe we live in a world where bad things happen to good people as well.  I believe that God can take those situations we are experiencing, rather good or bad, and use them for our benefit.  However, I do not believe everything that happens to us is God trying to test us or teach us lessons.   But I do believe that in all things, at all times we need to draw closer to God.

But why does God seem quiet at times?  Why does he seem far off?  Well, there are many answers.  It could be sin.  It coud be our experiences.  It could be bad theology.  It could be us not paying any attention to him except when we need something.  But I think it could also be God trying to get us to come find him. 

 Is this possible?  What is this some type of game? 

I have two beautiful children and they love to play hide and seek.  However, they don’t usually play the traditional way.  It often begins with my daughter saying, “Daddy, we’ll hide and you count and come find us.” 

So I begin to count and my daughter says, “Ok I’m gonna go hide in my room Daddy and you come find us.” 

They run off to her room and I finish counting.  I make my way to her room, pretending I don’t know where she is.  So I peak in the other rooms and I will hear a little voice say, “No Daddy I am in MY ROOM!” 

So I get to her room and she will either say, ”Daddy I am in the closet.”  Or she will come running out yelling, “Here I am!!!”

I wonder if this is how God is.  He may be quiet sometimes to get our attention.  We may find ourselves saying, “Where’s God?”  Hopefully, we begin looking for him in those moments. 

I am reminded of Deuteronomy 4:29 “From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.” 

And Acts 17:26-28

From one ancestor* he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God* and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For “In him we live and move and have our being”;

This idea of searching and groping is much like hide and seek.  Why doesn’t God just jump out and show himself.  He is more like my daughter in that little voice calling out, “I am over here.”  “This is where I am, come find me.”  We are encouraged by the words of Jesus to “seek and you will find.” 

Although God may seem hidden, he is calling us to seek, search, grope after him.  As we do we are told that we WILL find him.  I am learning in this life that there are many people who are not finding God because they are not even looking for him.  God has initiated relationship by grace but we are called to react and respond to the grace by seeking after him.  It is not a game.  It is not a game that God plays to torture us while all along not planning to reveal himself.  He does want to reveal himself, and he will even more as we look for him.

It can even be said another way according to Matthew 5.  “Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled.”  Hungry and thirsty people go looking for food and drink.  We are all aware of the fact that if we don’t go into the kitchen and LOOK for something to eat it isn’t just going to come to us.  If we do, we are going to die of starvation and dehydration which many people are doing spiritually.  Nor can we wait for someone else to do the looking for us.  I know that my wife will often fix meals for the family so that we all don’t have to go fend for ourselves.  If I just sat in the living room, watching TV and waiting to be served–I would go to bed very hungry many nights. 

The Lord may seem hidden but he is always present but waiting often time for us to find him.  After all, the Psalmist says elsewhere that there is nowhere he can go to escape the presence of the Lord.

 Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’,
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:7-12).

Therefore I suggest, if you find yourselves wondering where God is or even questioning if he exists…start looking for him and I promise…you WILL find Him. He will jump out like my daughter saying., “HERE I AM!”

 

April 19, 2011

The Power of Testimony: What the Critics and Atheists Can’t Take Away!

Posted by JeremyJK under Bible, Christianity, Church, Culture, Ecclesiology, Faith, Gospel Of John, Jesus, New Atheism, Reason, Science, Scripture, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
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Let me start by saying this, “YOUR TESTIMONY AS A BELIEVER IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL OF EVANGELISM YOU HAVE IN YOUR ARSENAL.”   Piggy backing off of my previous article, it is apparent that the world is filled with Christopher Hitchenses.  That is, our faith as Christian believers is being challenged on a daily basis.  I have watched several of Hitchens’ debates against many Christians and people of various faith backgrounds.  He has debated theologians, scholars, authors, ministers, social activists etc.  As I have mentioned, overall, I think they have all lost the debates to Hitchens for various reasons.  Yet in the midst of all of these debates there was one debater, and one single moment that seemed silent but POWERFUL. 

During the debate between Marvin Olasky and Hitchens, Olasky says to Hitchens (my paraphrase), “I don’t know what teaching you have absorbed over the years that has made you believe the way you do.  But whatever the reason…I pity you.”  Olasky went on to say, “There is something that you and I have in common.  We were both married and then divorced.  In my first marriage, I was an atheist and did not know how to be a husband.  I was a bad husband.  It only lasted two years.  Then I got remarried but this time as a Christian.  Christianity taught me how to be a husband and a father.  I have been married for thirty years.”  WOW!

If you watch Hitchens, his demeanor changes and he seems taken back.  He even says something to the effect of, “Well said” to Olasky.  It may be the first time I have seen Hitchens like that.  Why do you think?  I think it’s because Olasky used, and maybe not purposefully, the most powerful element of Christianity we have.  EXPERIENCE!  No one can refute your testimony.  No one can dismiss your witness.  No one can reject your experience.  Why?  Because it is your proof that it is real, that something is going on here that no outsider can convince you with all their logic, reason, and rhetoric otherwise. 

What Olasky was saying was that he has experienced the power of the Gospel in his life and not even Hitchens in all of his brilliance can take that away.  Hitchens, I think, knows this too.  The Gospel has the power to change and transform lives and it has done exactly that.  Hitchens can’t convince the ex-drug dealer or alcoholic who came to Christ and was delivered that there is no power in the Gospel.  In fact, I know some of those people.  I have heard their stories how the impossible was made possible because they had an encounter with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 

I work with a man who I knew as no more than an alcoholic bum.  God got a hold of him and flipped him upside down and then right side up. He went through a traumatic divorce during all of this and I thought for sure he would go back to drinking.  Yet the power of God that changed his life, identity, and desires stuck with him and he is still living strong for the Lord.  That’s an experienced reality of the power of God in someone’s life.  No one is going to tell that man there is no God and that Christianity is a flop.  I think he might just laugh at such a remark.

I am reminded of John 9.  I trust you have a Bible to look it up…if not you must be viewing this from a computer so you can search that passage on an online Bible.  If you need a Bible, email me and I will get one to you.  Okay back to John 9.  This is the passage where Jesus, rather sanitarily spits on some dirt and makes mud balls.  He smothers the mud onto some blind guy’s eyes and tells the man to go wash the germy mud off.  The man does and could see.  He was healed miraculously!  The Pharisees get their robes all in a bunch and get mad about the healing.  After much interrogation of both the blind man and his parents the blind man says one of the most profound things in scripture.  The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a sinner and try to undermine him.  The blind man responds, “I don’t know if he is a sinner, but one thing I do know—I was blind but now I see.”  Wow that is awesome!!! 

The man was blind from birth.  Jesus heals him.  The Pharisees pout and have a hissy fit about it.  Who is really blind in this narrative?  Who?  Right…the religious leaders who should have known better.   These leaders were the intelligencia of their day.  You know…the guys who knew it all and were well studied in matters on many subjects.  But their whining and reasonable arguments did not matter a hill of beans to the blind man who could finally see.  HE COULD SEE!  Nobody was going to take that away from him…NOBODY! 

This is my argument against those who want to align themselves against the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ: all the bells and whistles of reason and logic don’t hold a match to what we have personally experienced as Christians.  I have so many testimonies I don’t know where to begin.  I know people who have so many testimonies it would take weeks to cover.  So while we sit around holding debates and theorizing about the God of the Bible and the reality of the risen Savior Jesus Christ being real or not—there are people all over the world experiencing his power NOW.  If you don’t believe me I will point you in the direction of many folks that are in the midst of it and seeing it move like wild fire across countries like China and Sudan.

For those of you who haven’t experienced it I say this…get out of your dead and dried up churches into a church that actually expects God to move and live.  If you haven’t been to church find one that expects God to be real and to move in their midst.  If you walk into a church that hands you a bulletin of how the service is going to go…walk back out… because they have obviously structured and choreographed God right out of the service. 

This may rub some of my Christian brothers and sisters the wrong way but listen.  There is a world that is hungry for the reality of God in this decaying world and they are depending on you to proof it to them.  Stop playing church for goodness sakes and start calling out for the fire of God to fall on you.  You don’t want to?  Then slowly wait for the day when your old church doors and windows are boarded up and ICHABOD is plastered across them. 

God is moving and waiting for YOU to jump in!  Throw off the chains of this culture that are holding you down!  Stop protecting your reputations and securities and get embarrassed for God!  Let him interrupt your controlled life and infuse it with the power of his Holy Spirit.  Does that make you feel uncomfortable?  Right…it’s suppose to. God wants to invade your life and fill it with his presence.  But you have to let him in.  Whatever is holding you back needs to be submitted.  Yuck, not that word again.  SUBMIT and YIELD yourself to God…I promise, you won’t regret it.

As you embrace him he will give you an experience, testimony, and reality that no one can ever take away. 

Blessings!

 

April 15, 2011

Hello! Am I Invisible?: Ending the Plague of Invisible People

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Jesus, Just Life, Teachings of Jesus
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When I am not being a student in seminary, a husband, and a father to two little ones; I am plugging away in retail for income.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually paid me to go to school…not happening.  Anyhow, I work at a job where it is required that I, along with all of the other employees, wear a uniform.  So naturally, I stand out as an employee.  I notice that because I am an employee I am also a free punching bag.  That is to say, because I am working, people feel they have the right to treat you however they want because they are the customer and you are working for them. 

Now I don’t want to lump everyone into the same category.  There are some very friendly and respectful people and therefore customers, but the power of negativity can seem stronger than the positive experiences I have with most people. 

Yet there is one feature about humans that I have noted a lot over the past (12) years of working with the public.  People treat me and each other as though “the other” is invisible.  Often I will be working and someone will almost plow into me and not even acknowledge my existence.  It is so strange to me to treat another human-being that way.  Now this obviously doesn’t just happen at work.  If you are human and reading this (I would be impressed if you’re not) than you have experienced this.  It happens in the mall, the market place, on the road, wherever you encounter humans. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there.  This attitude has found a way into the Church.  One doesn’t even have to go to a mega-church to experience this phenomena.  On the contrary, watch how many people will greet a visitor off the street in a small church.  Have you ever gone to a Church event, sat next to someone in the pew for an hour or more, then get up without ever engaging that person in some way.  I have…and shame on me. 

Maybe I’ve given that cool head nod that guys do…or offer up an empty “how are you?”  hoping that they will just respond with the same style of answer. 

 ”Good and you?” 

“Oh great, thanks.” Phew what a relief.

I have been in some churches where the atmosphere is so cold and unwelcoming, that it makes a day waiting downtown at the Hall of Justice to maybe get picked for the jury seem like a family reunion.  We treat…and are treated by others as though the “other” is invisible.  Do we notice the faces of the people passing us by or standing next to us on a subway or bus stop?  Do we think about them being a real person with a real life with a real family that loves them and thinks they are important?  Do we consider them being created in the image of God?  I am guilty of not…most of the time.  But I am getting better. 

This line of thinking makes me appreciate Jesus saying, “Let the children come to me.”  That is such a powerful statement of only six words.  You see in Jesus day and in his culture…children were basically invisible.  Why the children the disciples thought?  They are nobodies.  But not to Jesus.  To Jesus EVERYBODY is a real person that needs to be loved and treated like a person.  Jesus was countering the culture that ignored the “lesser.”  But Jesus came to the “lesser.”  He ate with the sinners and publicans.  He hung out with the prostitute and widow.  All of those people who were on the fringe of society, mattered to Jesus.  Most people like to talk about the wealthy wise men that came to Jesus during the nativity…but what about the shepherds, who were nobodies too in their culture.  A great announcement and heralding came to them first. 

No one is invisible to Jesus in the Gospels…NO ONE.  Why do we think we can treat people otherwise? 

I encourage us to rebel against this culture of egocentrism.  Let’s rebel against falling into the mode of only greeting those who smile at us.  Let them all come…and shut no one out.  Maybe they ignore us because they have been ignored by others and have therefore adopted the horrible status quo.  NO WAY! Rebel against this!  Be counter-cultural!

 

April 15, 2011

Mr. God Goes To Washington: Frustrated With Politics-Part 1

Posted by JeremyJK under Christianity, Church, Culture, Kingdom of God, Money, Politics, Scripture, Teachings of Jesus
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For the past ten years of my life my ideologies and worldview have gone through quite the paradigm shift.  I feel like a different man in so many ways.  There are a number of events in my life that contributed to those shifts—some I am proud of, others…not so much.  Yet the ones I am not proud of were also very constructive (or de-constructive) in the process of making me the man I am now.  The events I am most proud of are my marriage and the birth of my daughter and son.   By NO means do I think I have it all together nor have I arrived; as many of my posts and self-critiques show.  However, I feel and sense God’s hand in my life fashioning me like the clay in the potter’s hands (Jeremiah 18).  I am less selfish and more interested and concerned with others and their welfare (Phil. 2).  Each day I feel I am taking on more of Christ.  And I like that because I love who he is and what he is about.

One of those paradigm shifts has actually been in politics.  I will not get into it too much right now but will share a few details.  I was raised conservative by two loving parents who meant well and had good intentions.  I listened to Rush Limbaugh often and later picked up Glenn Beck and even Michael Savage.  I would listen to these men religiously.  When I watched the news, it had to be FOXNEWS.  I think you know where I am going.  I agreed with the constant drum beat and mantra of capitalism, trust the free market, big business, wealthy entrepaneurs, twinkle down economics, tax cuts for the rich, poor people in the ghetto are just lazy unproductive plebes and if they really wanted to be free from poverty they should just get out and get a job etc.

Now I know I am going to tick off some people reading this but come on…something is off here when you put it in juxtaposition with scripture.  When you compare that mindset with the OT prophets the messages don’t mesh.  When you listen to the words of Jesus and see him in action…it doesn’t jive.  Why?  Because Jesus believed in a “Kingdom Economy” where the poor were taken care of and helped.  What about the poor?  Much of the Church has forgotten these invisible people and has adopted the nonsense that the Right has been trying to sell us. 

At the same time the Left are no angels either.  They want to help the poor (maybe) but they would just rather keep God out of the picture.  Where the Right likes to use God as though he is a Right-wing, capitalistic, 21st Century, Mid-Western American with a pin on his  right lapel of an elephant that says, “Vote for Freedom”; the left is embarrassed by God and might offend their lobbyist who think that the idea of gods are out-dated and naïve.  You know the attitude—“only uneducated yuppies from the back woods of Arkansas believe in that Jesus Christ guy.” Let’s not forget to mention how they demonize each other.

For the Right it’s trusting the Market; for the Left its trusting bigger government.  HELLO!  Do you trust either?  I don’t think so.  Trusting the Market brought us the Great Depression and this wonderful recession that we are still in no matter how much D.C. tries to convince us it’s going away.  Remember all of those headlines in the newspapers some months ago?  When we trust the Market we are robbed by the greedy tycoons who set the system up for YOU to fail.  Ever notice when you get in debt it takes a miracle to escape.  Why?  I don’t know…fees and extra charges maybe. 

“Bigger Government anybody?”

 “Oh yes please!”

“Uh no thanks actually, I am stuffed on big government.”

So what is the answer? 

MR. GOD CAN YOU PLEASE COME TO WASHINGTON!?!

Let’s stop there for now because I am tired of complaining about this…for now.  Thoughts thus far?  Where are you with politics in America?  Any Paradigm shifts in your life?  What’s the solution?

 

April 12, 2011

Emancipation of Slaves:Set Free From Sin

Posted by JeremyJK under Bible, Christianity, Gospel Of John, Jesus, Salvation, Scripture, sin, Spiritual Formation, Teachings of Jesus
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In John 8:31-38 Jesus describes to the Jews who had believed in him what true discipleship is exactly.  He says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  There response however, always strikes me as being a bit ironic.  They say, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone.  What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free (NRSV)?”

Uhhh–what?  “Never been slaves to anyone”?  What about Egypt for starters?  What about all the times Israel and Judea were reduced to paying tribute to great empires?  What about the exiles?  What about being conquered by the Greeks and Romans?  Obviously Egypt is the strongest case but according to much of the extant literature of ancient times many Jewish leaders and rabbis thought exile was worse than slavery. 

Jesus doesn’t bring up the points that I just mentioned but perhaps he didn’t need to because he was making another point.  They were not free because they were bound in slavery by sin.  Sin is a horrible task master; the worst task master in fact.  Sin will drive you to do things that you don’t want to do.  It seduces you with lies and deceit.  It convinces you that its way is rewarding and fulfilling.  No matter how hard you try to resist its will…it fights against you and knows your weaknesses. 

Slavery has always been a part of our world.  Slavery plagued Africa and still does in some places far before Africans were enslaved by Americans and brought to labor for wealthy plantation owners.  Slavery existed among the Native Americans often a result of lost wars.  Slavery is an evil oppression.  But there will never be a more oppressive slavery than to that of sin. 

Thankfully, Jesus points to our emancipation from this slave master.  The solution is Jesus the Son.  Only Jesus can make us free.  And if he makes us free we are free “indeed.”  That is, absolutely free.  Yet there is a condition…we must continue in his word to truly be his disciples.  When Jesus says “in his word” what does he mean?  Does he mean the Bible?  Well yeah…sort of.  But I think it means to continue in his message, his teaching.  Obviously his teaching is recorded in the Gospels namely, and also in the rest of the NT.  But in addition, he is still teaching us through his Holy Spirit who leads us into ALL truth. 

“But what is truth?”  asked Pontius Pilatus.  We have to know what truth is to be free.  After all this is what Jesus says: “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  So if we are going to be free from the slave master SIN, then we have to know what truth is and know it intimately.  But to know the truth we have to continue in Jesus’ teachings. 

Well, a little later on John reveals what the truth is in 14:6.  Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the light; no one will come to the Father except by me.”  This passage is pregnant with meaning but it reveals one element that we are focusing on now.  Jesus is truth.  So when Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, “what is truth?” sarcastically and arrogantly; he was looking right at it.  Jesus is truth and only Jesus can set us free from the power of the slave master. 

Once we are free however we have some responsibilities in staying free.  1. John 8:31 “continue in my word”; 2. John 15:1-17 “Remain/abide in Me/Jesus/truth”; 3. Gal. 5:1 “For freedom Christ/truth has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery [sin].”  What these passages communicate is an ongoing process of us committing our lives to continuing, remaining, and standing firm in Jesus and his teachings.  This daily process will keep us free.  

Therefore I encourage those of you who are struggling with sin to be persistent in pursuing Christ and his teachings.  Be tenacious about fleshing out the live of Christ and his teachings in your life.  This will strengthen you and purify those sinful desires from your life.  Those of you who feel pretty safe and comfortable in your freedom…do not take it for granted.   Be even more purposeful in your pursuit of Christ because the devil loves to trap us when we are feeling the best about ourselves and strong.   

Stand firm therefore like a Roman Legion!

 

April 6, 2011

Sacrifice for Service: Following Christ in a Prosperity Gospel Society

Posted by JeremyJK under Apostle Peter, Christianity, Culture, Gospel Of John, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Prosperity Gospel, Salvation, Scripture, Teachings of Jesus, Violence
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In a day when the so-called “prosperity gospel” seems to be growing in popularity, there are many passages in the Bible that are becoming unpopular.  On the one hand we may be aware of Jesus’ invitation to everyone to “follow me.”  On the other hand, we are not preaching enough about what this may cost us or what it all entails.  You see, scripture does not hold back on conveying the reality of following Christ.  It communicates to those who may consider discipleship that it is not all a bed of roses. 

Now don’t get me wrong, there is much to be attracted to and life in many ways will be better.  Yet it may not be the kind of improvement the world may expect.  Jesus does say that he came to give us life and life “more abundant” (John 10:10).  The Greek word for abundant is perrison in this passage and communicates a superlative.  That is, he came to give us a life that will be best, a life that will be full, a life that will be awesome.  Unfortunately, many have turned this term into a mainly financial word.  However, it is best thought of as an equivalent of zoen aionion, “eternal life.”  Eternal life is one of John’s main themes (John 3:15, 16; 5:39; 6:54, 68; 10:28; 12:25; 17:2,3; 1 John 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11,13, 20).

Yet the reality is that with this great blessing of salvation and eternal life there is sacrifice.  There is a price to pay; there is a cost for following Jesus.  It is a sacrifice that is different for all of us.  For the rich young ruler it was his wealth and for others it is all that they possess (Luke 18:18-30; 14:33).  For many disciples it was leaving behind house and family (Luke 18:28-29).  For others it is not being able to do those things that seem like the right thing to do; duties that we regard as sacred and things that we must do.  For one man it was burying his father (Matt. 8:18-22).  In that culture to not bury a body was a dishonor to the body and the children who did not bury it (Deut. 28:25-26).  Everyone was supposed to bury their parents because of the command to honor one’s parents (Exod. 20:12).

Then there are those that are called to possibly make the ultimate sacrifice—their lives.  Every time this is brought up in conversation it never goes over very well.  I believe this is partially due to the prosperity gospel we have been infected with in America.  It is a belief that all will go well for you as a disciple if you just do the right things.  However, scripture does not speak to this as being a promise.  On the contrary, we are guaranteed that things may get pretty rough because we are Christians and the world hates our message because they hate God; which brings me to John 21:15-19.

Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him.  Each time Peter becomes a little more frustrated and says, “Yes I love you.”  Each time Peter responds Jesus says, “boskeh ta arnia mou,” that is, “feed my lambs/sheep.”  Here Jesus equates loving him with feeding his lambs.  It is clear from scripture that his “lambs” are his disciples.  If Peter truly loves Jesus then he will feed Jesus’ disciples. 

However, through some imagery Jesus speaks to the fact that Peter would be martyred: “But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”  This enigmatic statement is clarified for the reader by the parenthetical statement that Jesus was speaking about the death Peter would suffer to glorify God.  As if the shock value is not strong enough here, Jesus then adds, “Follow me.”  Peter did follow Jesus. In fact, early church tradition says that Peter was crucified in Rome on an upside down cross with his hands outstretched on the cross.   

This is not a passage that you will hear in a prosperity gospel church.  If you do, it will greatly be watered down and twisted.  Yet it is obvious that Jesus is inviting Peter to feed his disciples and that such a commitment will end in a violent death.  So the question must be asked.  Am I willing to follow Christ?  Am I willing to follow and be obedient to a calling that may end in a violent death?   What if that death somehow glorifies God?  Will you?  Will I, take up my cross and follow Christ?

 

February 9, 2011

Christians Are Not To Be Violent People

Posted by JeremyJK under Articles, Christianity, Culture, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Revelation, Scripture, Teachings of Jesus, Violence
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In the past week I have had several conversations with Christians about violence, particularly our involvement with it.  There are three possible scenarios that seem to surface during these conversations.  They are: self-defense, war, and capital punishment.  One of the conversations I had was with a friend of mine who I had already known is by no means a pacifist.  If anything he is the complete opposite.  So when he defends his position I am not surprised with the rhetoric he uses.  However, the second conversation was in the middle of a seminary class with a professor of mine.  As we discussed the Sinaitic Covenant and therefore the Law, I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought about all the death and violence God demands of his people. 

In Exod. 21:15 for instance, it says “Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.”  Now this law is followed by several more such commands.  It seems to me that this is not “an eye for an eye or tooth for tooth.”  This seems a bit too extreme.  Now my professor, to my surprise, is also by no means a pacifist and proudly claimed so in class.  In fact, I should set him and my buddy up for coffee so they can talk about their blood-lust.  Okay maybe that’s extreme but I can’t help but wonder why they are so proud of their stance on violence.

Let me summarize my professor’s argument.  In short, he said that the laws had the clause of death so that the people understood that obedience to God was a matter of life and death.  Secondly, he said that we could only sit and theorize about our role in violence as Christians because of those who went on before us and died for our freedom to do so.  Third, he has a hard time buying questions about violence in the bible when we live in a country that is so far removed from threats of violence but also watches violent movies and plays violent video games.  Fourth, he attempted to point out that Jesus was only one person of the trinity but also tried to point out how Jesus was not a pacifist.  His example of this was Jesus reaction to the tower of Siloam falling on people and killing them (Luke 13:4).

Here’s my response to such arguments which I shared in part with him during the class but also afterwards.  To the first point, I understand his thought about communicating the seriousness of obedience as a matter of life and death.  However, if God wants to punish and poor out wrath why doesn’t he do it himself instead of having those of us whom he has also commanded not to kill do it?  Why do we have to do the dirty work?  Maybe he figured this part out by the time he got to the invasions of Israel (722 B.C.) and of Judah (587 B.C.).  Instead of using the faithful remnant to exact judgment he used exterior forces such as the Assyrians and Babylonians.  I understand God’s sovereign right to punish the disobedient but as Christians are we still that tool of death?

To the second point, I told the professor that his answer sound s too America.  Although he uses this answer to honor those men who “sacrificed”, it doesn’t give us permission as Christians the right to partake in war and kill.  Is this how we are to spread the kingdom of God—by warfare?  I think our love affair with democracy muddies the water of our responsibility as Christians.  We are to be radically counter-cultural and just because our democratic government beats the war drum it doesn’t mean that it is God’s will for us to get in line.  If Jesus was so concerned about freedom and liberty from the world’s perspective, then why didn’t he lead a revolt against Rome?  I will tell you.  He didn’t lead a rebellion because he came to teach us that the answer to the oppression in the world is not to launch a war against evil by the means of carnal weapons against enemies of flesh and blood.  For Jesus, the kingdom of God was spread by living counter-culturally.  That means, doing the opposite of what the world expects, like “turn the other cheek.”  May I also add, “vengence is mine, I will repay (Romans 12:19; Heb. 10:30)”?

To the third point, playing Mortal Combat or Call of Duty is a tad bit different than actually picking up a stone and whipping it at the head of a woman who may or may not have been wrongly accused of adultery.  “Cast the first stone”?

Fourth, I think a person looking for the violence of Jesus is far more hard-pressed for evidence than the pacifist.  Though Jesus believed in the judgment of God, he by no means, anywhere, encouraged his disciples to partake in violence.  Even when you come to the violence in Revelation, it is only the two-prophets that will exact any sort of wrath (Rev. 11:5).  Yet this passage is so enigmatic that it is neither an explicit or implicit encouragement to do violence.  No, we are commanded to pray for or enemies and overcome evil with good (Matt. 5:43-48; Romans 12:21).

It may come as a shock, but I am not a pacifist, yet.  However, I am tired of Christians being so cold and arrogant to proudly say “can you tell I am not a pacifist” without a hint of humility or concern in their voice.  If I ever have to kill a man for threatening my family, I will do it reluctantly and with fear and trembling.  I would also be remorseful and grieved for the rest of my life over the matter.  If we are ever pressed into a situation of violence, I pray it will be with the utmost hesitancy as Dietrich Bonhoeffer was when he chose to resist Hitler.  Yet the responsible Christian must note, he resisted after deep contemplation and even then resisted with utmost humility.  There may be situations where we need to act quickly without the time to think.  However, the Christian should live a life of much contemplation in these areas so that our actions are not mindless.  Have the mind of Christ I pray.

 

August 28, 2010

All Things In Common: Jesus’ Vision of the Church Community

Posted by JeremyJK under Church, Ecclesiology, Gospel of Mark, Money, Prosperity Gospel, Scripture, Teachings of Jesus
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We are all familiar with the story in the gospels of the “Rich Young Ruler” who comes to Jesus and asks him what he must do to “inherit eternal life.”  I suspect most Christians could summarize the entire story found in Matthew 19:16-30 and Mark 10:17-31.  However once the young ruler walks away disappointed and sad at Jesus telling him to sell all of his stuff and give it to the poor, we tend to forget what comes after.  With a few more exchange of words we heard Jesus conclude by saying, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”  (Mark 10:29-31; NIV; italics mine for emphasis). 

One will note at first that Mark and Matthew differ in their time fulfillment emphasis of when this 100X reimbursement will take place.  Matthew leaves it open-ended and does not quite mention when he thinks it will be fulfilled.  His addition of the words “and eternal life” almost seem to place it in the future when the Lord returns and the consummation of all things has occurred.  Yet he could very well see it the way Mark sees it, that the fulfillment or at least the beginning of it is received “in this present age.”  If so what does this mean for the follower of Christ NOW?  Some have interpreted this as a hundred fold return in a Prosperity Gospel manner of understanding things.  I have heard several Prosperity Gospel sermons about this passage supporting the belief that God wants us to have many homes and properties–NOW!  Yet this seems a bit too shallow of an interpretation for me.

A couple of thoughts come to my mind at this point.  First, I consider Mark’s audience.  They are part of the early church.  They are a mostly a gentile congregation in Asia-minor.  There is no doubt that they are under persecution from the circumcised Jews as well as pockets of the Roman Empire, as evidence in Jesus’ parenthetical addition to his list of 100-fold returns, “and persecutions”.  Many of them have lost everything for the gospel and choosing to follow Christ.  Many have lost their jobs for not being willing to join or remain in working guilds that require one to bow to Caesar to be part of the guild.  Others have been rejected by family members for joining this new sect of Judaism or leaving their true Jewish tradition as circumcised Jews believed

Secondly, the flavor of this passage does not seem to me to taste what the Prosperity Gospel interpreters taste here.  I think Jesus’ message of a sort of reimbursement is deeper and flows more with the overall message of the New Testament.  I think what Jesus envisions here is what Paul speaks of in Ephesians.  In 1:5 he speaks of us being adopted as God’s children, therefore having a new family.  In 3:15 he speaks of our “whole family in heaven.”  This is what Jesus means by a 100-fold return of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers etc.  As mentioned in a previous article, we are leaving one family for another.  Does this mean we do away with the biological family? By no means, it means we are adopted into a new one with the hope of bringing the biological ones along.  But if the biological family rejects Christ, they are not to come between you and the Lord.  You see this of Jesus’ life as well in Mark 6:1-6 and 3:31-35.

Yet there is a third reason that jumps out at me like a hungry hyena.  In Acts 2:42-47 we find the very beginnings of the fulfillment of what Jesus was speaking of in the gospels above.  We see the new family of believers doing exactly that, living this new Christian life as a community of believers.  Luke reveals to us that these early Christians:

 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This, I believe, is what Jesus was talking about—a community.  He was speaking of the Church community and this is what the gospels were emphasizing.  But Mark wanted to make sure that unlike Matthew, we were told that it is for “this present age.”  What you see in Acts is that these believers were not a self serving people and they were definitely not storing up treasures on earth.  They were selling their possessions and goods so that they could help and provide for ANYONE in need.  Do you see this in the Church today?  Is this what the guys on TV are preaching?  I think not. 

Jesus foresaw, if you will, a community of believers who left their homes, fields and families only to inherit a new community of homes, fields and families.  It may be illustrated in this way.  Imagine a man who left all those things behind to follow Christ.  As he wanders through the street a Christian land owner sees that this fellow looks a bit glum and anxious.  As he asks this wanderer who he is and what he’s doing, the wanderer tells this Christian that he is a fellow believer who has just left so much behind including his home.  The Christian tells his brother-wanderer, “Do not fear, mi casa sui casa.  What is mine is yours. “ 

This is how the new community was meant to live.  We are to have all things in common so that everything I have is not mine but the community of believers’.  We are to lend but never have to borrow.  Why?  Because if I see all these things as ours, I am not really borrowing am I?  We are sharing.  If the Church was living in such a manner, what difference do you think it would make?  I think we would be a lot better off and fewer Christians would be struggling in as many areas as they are.

  Why are so many Christians lonely?  They should have 100-fold of a family.

Why are so many Christians financially struggling?  They should be helped by their new family 100-fold.

Why are many Christians homeless in so many ways?  They should have 100-fold homes. 

I am not talking about get rich quick schemes or people working the system.  I am talking about a selfless community where we all work for the common good of the Church and each other.  What does it look like when we don’t live out the vision of Christ?  It looks like a minister living in a $3 million dollar home driving a Rolls Royce while his brother-wanderer lives in a shack, barely a meal a day, walking to his three minimum wage jobs, while trying to feed his family.  It looks like a local church taking up constant offerings to build a new $12 million church instead of taking up offerings so that the money can be distributed in such a way to help those in need. 

 

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