Love - IV

No one has actually seen God. There are no pictures, statues or videos of God. But if we follow him, he abides with us and in us, and his love flows through us. Then, we become individually imperfect pictures of him. And collectively, we become better pictures of him. And together, his love matures in us and his love matures us.

His Spirit lives in us. We testify that Jesus is the savior of the world. We demonstrate that truth by our love.

Love - III

Many Christians seem to get hung up on distinctives. What is the thing that makes them different from everyone else? What makes them different from every other Christian?

Maybe what they should focus on is not what makes them different. Maybe it should be what God says is important. Love is central. Not manifestations of the Spirit. Not philosophies of ministry. Not church models. The central fact is that Jesus died for sins. Jesus died to ransom mankind. It is God’s love that motivated and drove the incarnation, the death and the resurrection. God’s love under girds, builds and propels the whole Jesus movement.

God’s love sent Jesus to the cross. God’s love raised him from the dead. God’s love brought those who chose to follow him into one community. God’s love sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise.

So, if God’s love motivates, empowers and puts into practical action whatever he does involving mankind, then …

Love - II

Francis Schaeffer said that the “mark” of the Christian is love. It is the one certain distinguishing feature. It is the bright-red exclamation point, three feet high on the Christian’s chest. Like the “S” for Superman. It is the thing that should followers of Jesus stand out like beacons in the night.

God’s Spirit resides in the hearts of his followers. God is the creator of love. So, love dwells wherever God dwells.

Love - I

God loves us tremendously. That’s why he adopted us into his family. That’s why we are his children. When we are adopted, we take on his nature. We begin to become like him. Who knows how we will turn out?

That’s why the world does not understand us. The world sees our life is different. And it threatens their lifestyle.

Living in the Light

God is revealing the way he wants us to live. This “way” is not a surprise. He has been revealing it to us since the beginning. But it has taken on new meaning. Things are changing. New life is taking hold in people who follow him. They are living in increasing measure in the light.

Love is the main quality of living in the light. If a person does not love a brother, he is still walking in darkness. He is blind. No matter who you are or where you have progressed in your relationship with God, this is true. Love, light and knowing God travel together.

But do not love the world. It is a system that runs counter to God’s system. Its values run counter to God’s values. It lifestyle runs counter to God’s lifestyle. And it is temporary.

This is a link to an article I read today concerning the disaster in Japan. It is not about the disaster per se. It is about the response of people to disaster. And how Japan -- who has had a number of earth quakes -- has learned from previous disasters.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/16/resilient-japan

Obedience

The point of life is to know God. He is the maker, the designer, of life. He urges us to walk in a certain direction. He urges us to follow certain guidelines, because he want us to live as we were designed to live.

A football was not designed to process “html” traffic from the internet. A laptop was not designed to play rugby with. A human life was not designed to engage in certain practices. It ruins their relationship with God. It ruins their relationship with people. It damages their own inner being.

If someone follows these practices, they do not have a relationship with God. It is impossible to engage in “stuff” which ruins a relationship and still have that relationship.

God is Good

God is good and perfect. There is no stain in him. There is no darkness in him. Before we come to know him, we are all in darkness. And when we come to know him, we will change and live differently.

We cannot claim to know him and walk in darkness. We will at time stumble into darkness, but we will not let our eyes grow accustomed to the lack of light. To be accustomed to darkness means we are not accustomed to light, where he is. To live in relationship with him, we become accustomed to what he experiences. If we are with him, we will become pure and become more like him.

We cannot say we have never done anything wrong. If we had never done anything wrong, we would be like God. No one but God is perfect. That’s why we need someone to defend us. Jesus has satisfied God’s demand to punish evil. All evil, all over the world, has been dealt with because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

This doesn’t mean evil is gone. It means the evil people do will not come between them and God.

And Still More Preparation

After he told the story about the ten young women and the three servants, Jesus made announcement. He revealed that he would return at the end of the age, and all the people of the world would be brought to him. And they would be judged. They would become part of his kingdom, or condemned to eternal fire, based on their treatment of him. Did the people feed, shelter or visit him? If they did, they would be allowed into the kingdom. If they didn’t, they were condemned. As there were people there, who had never met Jesus personally, they did not understand how that was going to work. And he informed them that their treatment of people was the same as their treatment of him.

It is interesting that the eternal state of people is not based on the proclamation of the gospel. It is based on love and service to people. No one is arguing that this proclamation is not vital. Is Jesus talking about a perspective of people that creates an environment and generates action that creates receptivity for the gospel? Or is he talking about an attitude that forms a foundation for any proclamation?

More Preparation

After he told the story about the ten young women, Jesus told another story. A man was going on a journey. His house and property would not take care of themselves, so he gave different servants different responsibilities. In the story, he gave three servants different amounts of cash.

When thinking about these stories, people usually focus on the cash. I think Jesus was focusing on the job and the servant’s attitude about the job they were given. The job was the same whether it was $50,000, $20,000 or $10,000. The attitude of two servants was to gain as much profit as they could with what they were given. The attitude of the other servant was to avoid trouble.

At the end of his ministry, Jesus gave his disciple marching orders.
•    Engage the peoples of the world.
•    Develop “apprentices” of Jesus by:
       o    Fostering identification with Jesus.
       o    Training the apprentices to follow the values attitudes and practices of Jesus.

There are some pre-requisites to these marching orders.
•    We are living like apprentices of Jesus.
       o    We have identified with Jesus.
       o    We are following Jesus’ value, attitudes and practices.
•    We are engaging people.
•    We are training more apprentices.

In the stories about preparation, being ready when the master, king or bridegroom comes, maybe he is talking about those marching orders?

Preparation

Jesus told a story about ten young women going to a wedding. Weddings in Jesus’ day were not held like today’s weddings.

The bride and groom were betrothed. Which is like getting engaged, but it was more formal and more binding. They were married, but just not living together yet. The groom had to prepare a home for the bride. When it was completed, he could bring her home. Then, family and friends would gather together to celebrate the marriage. So, timing was important.

In the story, the groom was detained. It was late before he came and the celebration began. The guests were waiting. It was dark, so they brought lamp. The lamps used oil to produce light. The oil in the lamps of the young women was consumed. But five of them were prepared. They brought extra oil. The others needed to purchase more oil. So, they were not there when the celebration began, and were not allowed in.

The story is about preparation. People need to be prepared to meet God when he comes. How do you prepare to meet God? Where do you go? What do you do? What do you bring with you? It is not quite like going camping. Do we say a little prayer, receive our ticket to heaven and that’s it?

Marching Orders - IV

The second part is “teaching to do all I command.” This is the very simple, complex process that Jesus put his disciples through.

A current implementation might involve class work, lectures with maybe even a lab. Jesus knew that the current educational model was inadequate for the life transformation that Jesus intended to take place.

Jesus was intentional about this process. He went through a selection – involving all night prayer and an invitation to those he wanted to come to him.

Jesus appeared to be a master of recognizing opportunities to give spiritual lessons from what occurred in everyday life. But he also arranged planned learning opportunities. The last supper and the sermon on the mount were more class-room-like.

Part of the heart beat of Jesus’ “coaching” method was his awareness of God’s being and working in the world, and a heart full in his relationship with the Father. There was an ongoing, daily butting against practices, attitudes and values that went against God’s practices, attitudes and values.  He had the father’s desire to be investing and working at all times in the lives of those around him.

The core of Jesus’ coaching methods may just be the intention of his heart to make a difference in the lives of those around him, the realization that genuine healing requires God touching a situation, and the purpose to bring both of these things together.

Marching Orderss III

There are two parts to making disciples. First is “baptizing them.” There is a lot of thinking around baptism. There are many theories and speculations. In its core, it is an identification with Jesus. It is saying “I’ve died with Jesus. I have risen with Jesus. I am living with Jesus.”

A person hears some teachings of Jesus, learns of some aspect of who he is and what he has done, and it speaks to his heart. It convinces a person that there is some reality, something authentic about Jesus. And they listen to how he explains the world, defines its problems, and the solutions to those problems. And the person comes to some sort of agreement.

Baptism is a symbol of that agreement. This agreement touches a deep part of the heart. This agreement convinces concerning a need to change a lifestyle and a worldview. Baptism takes place at the birth of something new.

Marching Orders II

Part two = “make disciples”

Train people to follow Jesus in such a way that they are motivated, trained and practicing how to introduce, demonstrate and train others how to follow Jesus.

And, of course, actually doing it.

Marching Orders - I

Before returing to the Father, Jesus gave the infant church their marching orders. Those marching orders fall into two parts.

Part one = “Go”

The operative word in most churches seems to be “invite” or “come.” The idea seems to be that if we can get people into a church meeting, the spirit will break through or they will be confounded by the church’s superior programming. Let’s not misunderstand. The Spirit does speak to people inside a church meeting. And, as a result, people do change their allegiance to Jesus. It happens just enough that most followers of Jesus are led to believe that they are accomplishing God’s work.

But Jesus’ instruction was “Go to the world.” Engage the world in dialogue, conversation. Rub shoulders. Live and love like Jesus in the world. Apply the gospel ot people and society.

We all engage the world on some level. We go to work, to stores, to athletic events or to the library. In all there situation, we need to learn to point people to Jesus.

Perhaps the most spiritual thing we could do today is join a bowling league – and make sure the glasses and litter are cleaned up afterward.

Kingdom - II

God’s work always moves inside out. He moves deep inside a situation, changes the heart and aloow the natural results of the heart change to flow out.

That’s one reason we often miss God working. Work in the heart is not obvious. If you mix yeast in the dough and watch, you won’t see anything happen. But if you go away, wait for awhile, and then come back, something has happened.

Of course, people are impatient. They want results now. They want to see something move now. So,  they begin to push from the outside in. It is a lot easier to agitate from the outside. To picket. To have voter drives. It is much harder, more sacrificial to adjust a lifestyle to create the atmosphere for heart change.

Kingdom

God’s work always starts small, like a seed resting in the ground. Given the right ingredients and proper care, the results become a massive sequoia or oak. We expect overnight, dramatic results. Seeds don’t work that way. Once planted, we will not see anything happen for some time. And we are too impatient and give up too soon.

Jesus was born into the world. The King of the universe had come to ransom the world back to himself. So, he lived as the son of Mary and Joseph for thirty years. And we know very little of what he did. Most of it was probably ordinary.

Then, he did serve for three years, culminating with his execution as a criminal, by jealous men.

And yes, he did some amazing things in that time. But most of the time, he lived and spoke with a small group of men. He invested his time and energy in them, so they might demonstrate, portray, represent Jesus when he left this life.

And something happened to these men. In Jesus’ life, their paradigm shifted. Their world view changed. And in Jesus’ death and resurrection, everything coalesced.

Jesus planted a seed of twelve men in the world.

World at War

God plants his word into the world in order to promote his purposes. The ground receives the seed and fruit is produced.

The enemy also plants into the world. His purpose is to disrupt the production of fruit. The weeds compete with the word.

While we remain in this world, we will always exist in a shadowed state. We will see God work clearly. And it will be obscured by the enemy. We experience life and joy through the Spirit. We will experience pain and loss.

It is proof of the struggle we are in. Success and failure. Gain and loss. We are at war. It is only at the end that a final sorting will take place.

Salt - V

Maybe there is no saltiness, because Christians have stopped being real.

Christianity turned the world upside down, because they got off the couch, turned off the TV and loved people, proclaimed truth, prayed, engaged people without an agenda – no Bible study, no church, just being friends in Jesus’ name. I’m not saying never have a Bible study, or never invite someone to church. I’m saying do not engage in drive-by friendships. “I’ll be your friend as long as you show interest in Jesus. If not, I’ll drop you like a hot rock.”  No one would like it if someone expressed interest in us for ulterior motives. Even if that motive was for the greatest of reasons. That is a scam pure and simple. And Christians do it all the time.

Salt - IV

Maybe there is no saltiness, because we have started depending on the world's systems.

After Constantine, Christianity grew to become a dominating force in Europe and America. In Europe, it had tremendous political clout. In America, it exercised a large moral influence. However, its power has wavered. Christianity in Europe is virtually non-existent. In America, more churches close each week than are opened. More and more, people walk away from Jesus. And those still sitting in pews are worried about the moral swamp things are turning into.

Christians lament the loss of influence. The church was a revolutionary force for good in the first century. And "somebody" needs to "something" to restore order and moral decency. And "somebody" is somebody else. The pastor. The government. Mary. Rob and Judy.

Has anyone noticed that the first century was the golden age of the church? Has anyone noticed that the first century was a cultural and moral swamp? There were no civil or political protections for Christians. Being a Christian was good way to become an appetizer at the Lion's club.

Those following Jesus turned the world upside down by obeying Jesus, speaking truth, loving one another and loving those outside the family.

Welcome to the first century!

Salt III

Maybe the is no saltiness, because we have stopped taking the word of God seriously. We read the word and are delighted to review and rehearse the blessings. We are a blessed people. But we forget we are bless to extend God's glory.

• Make disciples.
• Give to the poor.
• Pray for workers.
• Pray for open doors for the gospel.
• Always speak graciously.
• Walk in love.

These are a few things God commands us to do that will demonstrate the person of Jesus to the world. How much preaching, teaching, planning and coordinating of church resources are churches giving to these thin? They will all require time and energy. They may require sacrifice.

Salt - II

Maybe there is no saltiness because we have stopped following Jesus' mission. When Jesus left the earth, he gave a command. "Go and make disciples." Most of the time, people read this a "make converts."

Yes, getting people to say "yes" to Jesus is important. So is the birth and delivery of physical children. But ask any parent, birth is just the beginning. There is feeding, diapers, cleaning up messes, little league and driver's ed.

The point of making disciples is not just getting them into the Kingdom. It's getting them Kingdom, preparing them to function on their own, and enabling them to make disciples on their own. And we will really only know if the job is done riht when the "grand-children" have "great grand-children."

If this is Jesus' mission, then TV and huge stadium events will not cut it. Children cannot be mass produced. Neither can disciples.

Salt

Jesus said that his family was like salt. Salt in Jesus' day was a very important commodity. It was a food preservative, a spice and -- given the hot dry climate -- a key to proper hydration. The lack of salt could result in a bland diet, but also disease or possibly death.

So, what if salt lost all those properties that made it so valuable? It would become just another variety of dirt. Not worth anything.

What is salt in God's family? What is this quality that preserves and enlivens? Is it our morality? Is it our proclamation of the gospel? Is it manifestations of the Spirit? Is it miracles and healing? Is it love? Is it all of the above?

Looking at the church in the US -- loss of interest, loss of respect, local churches closing, young people going to college and never setting foot in a church again -- there seems to be a lack of saltiness.

Missiology and the Gospel

I remember reading in the early 80’s about the discovery of Christian documents in the Vietnam delta dated from the 8th century. Missionaries from the early church had spanned Asia from Jerusalem to the Mekong delta in that time.

I believe in the importance of missiology. Researchers and practitioners can work together to advance the gospels in ways that we can only imagine. But the information from above cause me to ask a question. How did the first Christians without all the advances – language training, Bible translation, computers, internet, anthropology and sociology – cross all of Asia? Maybe a little radical faith and love is more important than advances in knowledge?