On the Mountainside with Radical Jesus: Lent 16

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Jesus commands a radical reorientation in our notion of fairness where retribution once ruled. As the Kingdom of Heaven arrived and is still to come, the Age of Retaliation was replaced by the Law of Love. Jesus preaches to all who will hear from the side of the Mount that we are to love others as the Father has loved us, willingly surrendering our desire for the return of evil and replacing it with forgiveness and love. In fact, He says, we are to mirror this love in all of our interactions beyond those that involve bodily violence. In the same way that the Father willingly surrendered the Son in order that restoration could occur, we as His disciples are to surrender our ‘rights’ in order that this restoration be modeled to a desperate world.

How foreign this strikes us, especially those of us on two continents who grew up in the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) era. Why does the Lord command us to become un-vengeful patsies? The fact is He does not; He commands us to be stronger than those for whom violence is a first reaction. Jesus commands us to rely on His strength and to learn that His non-violent reactions demonstrate immeasurably more power in conflict than our balled fist ever can. This is not capitulation in the face of oppression, it is an initiative of our own discipleship that is in itself resistance of the highest order.

Will we arrive at Calvary this Easter without having grown closer to our Savior and his sacrifice? Discipleship is meaningless unless we apply the lessons of the Teacher to our lives, regardless of how difficult they may be. Yes, it would be easier on these mornings to consider give up reading paperback mysteries for a few weeks than to fear what might happen if I go that second mile.  What do we really have to fear though?

 

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On the Mountainside with the Radical Jesus: Lent 15

Again, you have hear that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’…

Nothing separates the followers of Radical Jesus from the religious more than the appearance of continuity between their words and their actions. Jesus knew the difference between an external oath begrudgingly kept and the internal motivations of the oath maker. His followers would not be people who had to slavishly embellish their truth with claims on what rightfully belongs to God. They would radically be known as people whose Yes was Yes and their No, No.

Where do you stand today? If you committed to a sacrifice during this Lenten observation, did you present it publicly as a struggle when privately you knew it would be a cakewalk? Your other brothers and sisters might be fooled but Jesus is not. He wants all of your commitment and all of your faith. When He asks you, ‘who do you say I am?’ can He trust your answer? Is your Yes, yes Lord real?

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Organic Church Planting

 Jerry over at Becoming Missional pointed out a great post on Organic Gardening and the nurture of a church. As the author contemplated the parallels of gardening and church planting he came up with this gem of an observation:

The organic church foundation is a theology of compost, breaking down into simple and abundant life. There is more things alive in a handful of good compost than there are people on the planet, or stars in the sky, so I’ve heard and believe. Another reason why the next big thing is smallness. A good small group of people on a mission is equivalent to the enriching power of good composted soil

This brought a smile to my face as I thought of how powerfully our small missional community has touched people in our city. Without the fortress attitude that seems to sprout as the size of the group demands greater and greater hierarchy, a small mission-minded crew can feed, clothe, love and heal without worrying about upsetting other ministries.

Thanks Ron for a thought provoking post.

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TULIP Taunting: An Unbecoming Challenge

As rancorous as the Calvinist / Arminian debate has become, a recent post at The School of Hard Knox caused me to wait for a few days before responding. I waited because of the frustration and disappointment that it evoked in me. Perhaps it was the author’s intent to be so provocative as to incite a flurry of quick responses either for or against his position. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, blogs are full of cheap jabs written solely to ignite unmeasured response, but this debate pertains to the eternal destination of people’s souls. Calling out those who do not share your theological position with what amounts to taunts of ‘chicken’ or diminution of their abilities to arrive at the correct conclusion has no place in Christian discourse.

What am I referring to? Here is the culmination of the author’s argument for all to accept the Calvinist theological system over the Arminian:

Face it. To reject Calvinism is to reject the whole of Scripture. You know this in your heart of hearts.

There’s one reason why you don’t believe in Calvinism…

You simply don’t want to believe it.

Now, please note that this is an excerpt and you should view the entire post to see it in context but I believe it is fairly presented here. After further belittling any careful exegetical efforts that may have gone into the development of a non-Calvinist position, the author again simply dismisses the possibility that another position could be valid with the childish taunt:

Come on…you know it’s true. Just admit it.

Just admit it, likening the correction of Arminian thought to some kind of addiction treatment. As if that is all that is necessary for those in the Arminian parts of the Body to absolve themselves of their silly fantasy system and come over to reality.

Is this the ultimate state of the discussion regarding these two theological systems? The author makes quite a claim at the beginning of his essay, stating that the positions of both sides are well known:

We know each other’s arguments inside and out and more importantly, we know what Scripture says.

Well, I can agree with that statement in part; both Calvinists and Arminians know what Scripture says. Sadly, what the author fails to recognize is that there is valid exegetical disagreement of how it is to be interpreted. (But I suppose all of those people who don’t agree with him should ‘just admit it’ and get over their stubborn invalid positions.) Further, if one were to sample the extent of knowledge regarding competing theologies, one would find that this is largely untrue. Arminian theology is regularly misrepresented by Calvinist adherents and Calvinism is often misunderstood by Arminians.

He casually throws out some loosely worded proof texts that are supposed to finally persuade the Arminian to cast aside their measured beliefs and come over to the right side. He says for example:

We know Scripture says that those He foreknew He also predestined.

The Calvinist will say yes, scripture says that God’s foreknowledge here represents his election of some to salvation. But wait, says the Arminian, foreknowledge is God’s ability to foresee those who will accept his gift of grace and the election under consideration is conditional upon that fact. Perhaps the best way to resolve this would be to turn to the usage of the word in our Greek New Testaments and discover that it has both connotations as used in NT writings.  Of course, this interpretation is open to further debate but hey, let’s stop all this egghead stuff and ‘just admit it.’

The author’s penultimate dismissal prior to the aforementioned ‘just admit it’ is this:

You don’t want to believe that God has created some for glorification and some are created for damnation. This doesn’t fall in line with your view of what is “fair”.

Indeed, double predestination is a distasteful topic to have to explore. To consider that the God Who is Love creates some specifically for perdition really has less to do with God’s fairness or His sovereignty and more to do with His character and whether one believes that He efficaciously willed the Fall. But then, the discussion must turn to whether or not He is the author of Sin. This seems a bit more complex than ‘just admitting it.’

This post and others like it have no place within the Body. While I support the author and his freedom to believe and write whatever he wishes, we as disciples of Jesus Christ must also consider the greater good before we take off on a rant. There are innumerous other avenues of division besides those generated by Calvin and Arminius that weaken our ultimate witness to a needful world. Taunting from such a precipice leaves one open to a fall and clothes no one, offers no companionship to the imprisoned, will fill no stomach or offer one drop of water to the thirsty, admit it. 

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On the Mountainside with Jesus: Radical Lent 14

You have hear that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Again, Radical Jesus preaches on the hillside that it’s what’s in our hearts that corrupts us, not just our external actions. He makes it clear that our motivations are not hidden from Him and that discipleship at His feet consists of more thatn just implementing a scaffold of rules to control our behaviors. Following Jesus means, literally, to get down to the heart of the matter.

Following the Law with regards to adultery meant that one was not guilty until the act was consummated. Sadly, in humankind’s broken state, this becomes license to uninhibited fantasy and the resulting objectification of others. Radical Jesus says that this pattern of thought is incompatible with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Transformed. Discipleship means that we cooperate with Him in performing the radical housecleaning necessary to form the undivided heart of Love.

Walking toward the cross weighted down by unholy motivations results in slow progress. Our radical guide says to strip off this unnecessary burden and cast it alongside the path. It will hurt, but tearing it out and leaving it behind as we press on toward the goal is a small sacrifice.

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Missional Church Growth

Lunched with my Barnabas again today and we talked about the growth of the church. Though numerically we are small, we were able to point to areas of significant spiritual growth within this tiny body. This nascent maturity has profound effects both inside and outside of the body that we believe is moving ever closer to the ideal (as stated by Alan Hirsch) of ‘us for the community’ rather than ‘a community for us.’

The spiritual growth has brought some of the folks to a greater passion for others. From the first tentative steps that they made into our nursing home ministry where some were very shy and unsure of themselves, the love of Jesus for people has so taken hold of them that their passion for other, community based ministries is beginning to explode. The Spirit is moving them to suggest new avenues of service AND the willingness to lead these ministries that are close to their hearts.

The spiritual maturity that is developing is also serving them well in their relationship with God. His perspective is becoming their perspective and each, in his or her own way, is processing the events of life and the church through a God centered lens rather than a human one. Fellowship grows stronger and the commitment to the mission is strengthened as well.

Ultimately, the missional church is the one that breaks the sacred/secular wall and brings a God driven life to every part of world. The driving objective becomes ‘us for the community.’ Growth is measured in how many lives are touched by our ministry as we follow the discipleship of the Lord. The attractional church, though it can certainly grow strong disciples, still maintains the ‘community for us.’ Growth here is measured by souls in the fortress.

All praise to Jesus…and forgiveness for boasting!

On the Mountainside with Jesus: Radical Lent 13

You have hear that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother , ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool! will be in danger of the fire of hell.’

Radical Jesus has always turned lives inside out by contrasting God’s true expectations of us with the human constructions that we build up in support of our desires for the way things should be. The Law told humankind not to murder and we built an elaborate scaffolding of intricate rules surrounding the act in order to justify numerous life taking events. Jesus doesn’t work on the outside though. He sees through the constructs that we use to hide the hatred in our heart and confronts us there.

Murder, hate, racism, anger; all of these start in the heart and Jesus calls us to a radical reordering of our lives that starts there, instead of taking the easy route of simply addressing the outside of the cup.  Cleaning the inside begins with rediscovering the source of Love and allowing that love to work on our heart, working out the hate that coats it and softening it towards our brothers and sisters.

Radical Jesus never makes things easy does He? He is not interested in looking back at His followers following Him to the base of the cross and seeing bright, shiny outsides with corrupted insides. Jesus demands that we start our transformation on the inside and that we start with our broken hearts that lack love for our fellow man and woman. A better sacrifice than television this week is to take the anger and discord in our hearts to the altar, don’t you think?

 

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On the Mountainside with Jesus: Radical Lent 12

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

The radical Jesus overturned the tables of complacency within the religious community of His day. Where the Pharisees saw Him only as a threat to their traditions, practices, and power, His was a ministry that upset the equilibrium that they so desperately craved. So long as they could separate the secular and the holy, the Religiousists would be able to keep God tucked safely away in His Temple, accessible at certain times and in certain ways.

Jesus knew otherwise. God never intended to be separated from His space and our space; it is all His space. There is no sacred and secular in God’s economy, it is all sacred. Jesus was, and is, about total commitment rather than practice. Ritual is good, but living moment by moment with God at your side is far better. Rules and rituals become benchmarks against which we measure our religiosity. The sad thing is, we can excel at the practice and fail in the ultimate test by using ritual and rule to cordon off our heart from the radical effects of Jesus.

I hope we will all grow weary of temporary sacrifice that changes nothing in our lives. If our Lenten surrender is composed of nothing more than a practice that we will soon resume shortly after Easter, doesn’t it seem a bit empty? Jesus brought full meaning to the Law by infusing right practice with right purpose.  Shall we join Him and radically change the world, or turn aside from M&Ms for four more weeks? Any takers?

 

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Third Sunday in Lent Readings

This morning we read from Exodus 3:1-15 and Psalm 103 in response.  Though our burning bush experience may not be as dramatic as what confronted Moses, there should be no doubt that God will be trying to get our attention from time to time. The question we need to ask of ourselves is whether or not we are spiritually aware enough to notice. If we have allowed our lives to be consumed by the things of this world there is a good chance that they will drown out enough the brightest blaze that God puts before us. On the other hand, if we are diligent about our spiritual formation and ever increasing in our relationship with I AM, even the sound of a feather dropping from the sky will be sufficient to rouse our attention.

Boston Remembered

Brad Delp moves on but I’m remembering the times of my life where Boston was a huge part of the soundtrack. When Boston played the Oakland Coliseum, it was one of the few concerts that didn’t end in tragedy that made the nightly news. Enjoy the memory.