|
| WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK LIKE? |
|
| |
Gathering some thoughts here.
In spite of some folks ambivilence toward the Christmas season, my heart continues to be drawn to Jesus in some special ways this time of year. The miracle of the incarnation. God becoming man...for us. For redemption, but for even more, I think. I like the Message translation/paraphrase of John 1, where it says "and the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood..."
Jesus, responding to Peter's confession that He was the Christ the Son of God, said upon that reality and the faith/rock supported by it, He would build HIS ecclesia, or called out people.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that God's purpose is to take a people who were not a people and make them into a new community, a new people for Himself.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about Kingdom conduct in some outrageous ways, radical peacemaking, going the extra mile, giving your coat as well, loving your enemies...
He said that the Kingdom of God was at hand, and identified it with the vision of Isaiah, of Good News to the Poor, binding up the broken, bringing healing to the blind and lame, and proclaiming the fulfillment of Jubilee (the Favorable Year of the Lord).
He said we were to go out and preach the Gospel, and "these signs..." would follow us.
Jesus said that we, His disciples, would do greater works than He did because He was going to the Father.
The church in Acts was so gripped by this inbreaking Kingdom and the power of the Spirit that they took it it to the streets and thousands came to Jesus in a day.
They welcomed the disruption of their old way of living, sharing their substance and their lives daily for the sake of this Kingdom.
Peter and John, full of the Holy Spirit, saw the miraculous take place even as the Presence of God in them brushed against folks when they walked down the street.
The early Christians, in spite of intense persecution, were characterized by the slogan atraxia, or "unruffled".
Love was the single most clear identifying characteristic of the early Christians.
The reputation that preceded the apostle Paul and the early Christian movement was that they represented something radically different that the world was accustomed to seeing...a people who were "turning the world upside down."
The Roman historian Senica, in writing about the Christians, commented that "They not only take care of their own poor, they care for ours as well."
So here's my next question. Today, December 11, 2007. as this new Kingdom based radical upside down people, WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK LIKE? |
|
| To add a comment to "WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK LIKE?" |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
 |
|
|
don,
First a bit of light humor. . .
Here's what we shoud look like:  |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Now, seriously, we should be looking like sheep in the midst of wolves; like doves among snakes. Mixing a bit of verse - If we, who are called by His name, do the works of our father who is in heaven, they shall truly know us. We tend to be:
- ineffective by being to weak and quite - don't ruffle feathers;
- contentious because we'd rather argue than show love;
- timid - don't say anything to upset anyone (PC):
- unintelligible by using theo-speak instead of words taht people understand; and
- irrelevant because we only care about our own and dismiss those who disagree.
I don't see any of that in "atraxia"
SO, that's what we shoudln't look like.
We should be:
* connected;
* concerned;
* caring;
* correct; and
* consistent.
THEN maybe we can look in the mirror and see a person standing "upside down." |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Gene, are you pastoring a church yet?
Don, wonderful thoughts. I admit that this time of year I become somewhat distracted and discouraged by the hustle and bustle, the in-your-face commercialism, and the stark contrast between anger and impatience on the roads and in stores with gleeful "merry Christmas" at the parties, on tv, and in our church. I wish I was in Bethlehem! |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Mike - you don't need to go to Bethlehem; just come to Helena. :-) No traffic and everyone in the stores are pretty chill. Don - A simplistic, trite answer, but here it is: we should look like love, we should be Love! If we were to do that, (to be that!) - in a very real, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit directed way - we would be offering the world something that they are so very hungry for! |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Mike, you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny. |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Gene--First off, you guys crack me up with disturbing smilies. They're hysterical. I don't know which is funnier, the people who take the time to create them or you all who know where to find 'em!!! As for your comment on the blog, thanks. I don't know what I can say except 'right on!' I love the "look in the mirror and see a person standing upside down."
|
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Jen--You're so right. Love is the word. And I don't think it's a simplistic answer. Simple, maybe, but not simplistic. |
|
|
| December 11, 2007 |
|
|
|
Mike and Jen--I'm with you. I just finished construction on a new clothing store at a local mall. Eight weeks. Normally I go to the mall twice a year whether I need to or not. (My daughters are convinced I was born without a shopping gene.) It struck me as I walked through looking and praying one night when the stores were all closed and no one was there except my crew and the security guards. The colors. The lighting. The architecture designed to draw you in. It's very much like a religious experience being there. Very much like a church design which takes you up and out of yourself and captures your attention, calling to you. Wow.
So when do we leave? Bethlehem or Helena? Either way, it sounds peaceful and odds are we'll end up missing part of our luggage.
|
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
This stuck out to me: The Roman historian Senica, in writing about the Christians, commented that "They not only take care of their own poor, they care for ours as well." I see so many churches taking care of the poor outside their four walls, but how many are taking care of their own poor? I related on a previous blog about Extreme Home Makeover that there was a local family from a local church up for the makeover and their pastor's response to them not getting the makeover was to the effect of how sad that someone in their local body even qualifies for Extreme Home Makeover and they, as a church, had done nothing to help them. How many are in our local churches that are in need and we are not meeting their needs. Yes, we should be taking care of the needs of the poor outside our churches walls, but should we not also be looking to help those within our churches too. How many in our churches will have their heat at 58 all winter because they can't afford the heating bill? How many need a new furnace and can't buy one b/c of financial constraints yet none have stepped up in the church to help? How many need new windows or storm windows to keep out the cold? How many need help to meet the electric bill so the power won't be turned off? Are we taking care of these in our body? Love looks like this--meeting the needs of those in our church and reaching out to those in need outside our church. I guess what this all boils down to for me is, "It starts at home".
So yes, everyone, you are right we should be :
* connected;
* concerned;
* caring;
* correct; and
* consistent.
and we should look like love, we should be Love!
So I ask, how does love look in each of us? Are we doing for others what we have in our hand to do? No guilt, just realistic introspection. It may be that we are doing what the Lord would have us do. For some it may be that they need to step up a little bit and help one more person. For others it may be more. What is it for you? Here is where "in a very real, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit directed way - we would be offering the world something that they are so very hungry for!"
3:16 Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren. 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
I hope this does not come off like a rant. I am just seeing so much need and I can't meet them all so there must be others out there who are called to help too. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Coreena, I am beginning to think that to be authentically Christian means to be authentically worn out! |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Coreena--So much encouragement in your comments! Rant on, sis! Spur one another on to love and good works..."because he laid down his life for us..." I love that passage. "Love not in word, or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
Mike--It does seem that way sometimes, doesn't it. I often tell folks that authentic Christians are crazy people with crummy boundaries. But what a way to be worn out. Fill me up and pour me out, for He was poured out like water for me. And then again, we do have that little promise to those who wait on the Lord (camp out in His presence and serve Him?) mounting up with wings as eagles, running and not being weary, and being not afraid? |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Good point Don. So what's a little burnout among friends? |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| We ask God "Use me, use me" and when He does we say we feel used! ;-) Shouldn't we be getting "high" on being used by Him? If we are burnt out are we really doing His will or our own? I speak from personal experience here. When I am doing what He has asked me to do and doing it in His strength not my own, it may be hard and take energy, but I always gain so much from it. When I am doing something I want to do, or doing something in my own ability and strength it can cause me to fizzle 'n' fry like nothing else can. It is all about being lead by God. He'll not give us more to do than we are able, with His help, to do. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| "if we are burnt out are we really doing His will or our own?" I agree w/your comment Coreena! That's certainly part of the problem, when we lose sight of the Spirit's leading, we walk in our own limited strength and deny ourselves the replenishment that Jesus promised. ~mike |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Mike, you raise an important issue, even if you jest ;o<)-
No one can do everything all the time. I think there's good reason why scripture records instances of Jesus withdrawing to a solitary place even while the needy multitudes were pressing in on Him. We need to be equipped and anointed and ready at any time to be used by the Spirit to do whatever He shows us whenever He shows us. But we also need to be obedient to those times when He says REST. And if we are listening, He will tell us.
When I teach, especially on spiritual warfare issues, I emphasize this point heavily. I came of age during the Vietnam War, and I knew a lot of guys who came back very burnt out and spooky. Too much time in the jungle! And I see that same look in the eyes of people who become spiritual warfare or ministry junkies. They just stay in the 'jungle' and never take time for R and R...They don't know how to "party". Activity is so all consuming that they see time spent just worshipping and soaking up the Presence of God as frivilous and self-serving. There are indeed times when we're called and enabled to keep going and going and going. But in those times, it is the enabling of the Spirit and not our stamina or stubborness that sustains us. The widow's jar of oil kept pouring out because of the hand of God, not because it was a special bottomless jar!
Jesus lamented that the harvest is huge and the workers few. I've seen studies claiming that statistically 90 percent of the actual ministry work in the church at large is accomplished by less than 10 percent of the people. Maybe this issue is a topic for another blog, but maybe not. It brings my thoughts full circle to the original question, "WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK LIKE?" I mean as a people, as a community. In so many ways, we don't think of ourselves as a people. We don't teach, equip, encourage and release folks into lives that have ministry and refreshing as a natural part of their daily rhythm. "Ministry" and "devotions" and "fellowship" or "community" are not a natural part of our typical existence...our 'grid', if you will. More often than not, they are merely extra activities that we find ourselves trying to juggle into an already out of control schedule of conflicting priorities. Most of us who love Jesus still function based on the tyrrany of the urgent. What does a community look like that is listening and hearing God together, practically discipling, encouraging and caring for each other and watching each other's backs, and authentically holding one another accountable (meddling?) in the best possible way in love and grace? |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
re Coreena and Mike: What they said! |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
There are two primary conditions under which we feel "burned out."
One is where we are so over-committed that we cannot do anything completely and end up not being able to fulfill our obligations.
The other is where we do what we need to but receive no affirmation or approval for what we have contributed.
For everyone who is in the first camp - CUT IT OUT!
For everyone who knows someone in the second camp - get them the affirmation that they so deserve. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Gene, you have a gift for cutting to the chase. Very well put. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Don--Great emphasis on REST. I almost touched on it in one of my follow-up comments and then did not take the time. Rest is huge. I think for those of us who see the needs and are willing to do what it takes to meet them we can take on things God never intended us to and to our own hurt. "The tyrrany of the urgent" is something I struggle with day to day. It is all too easy to let the important (Bible reading, prayer, worship, ministering to my family) slip in the face of the urgent. The urgent stuff needs to be done, but not at the cost of the important. There is so much more I would like to say, but my kids need me now. :-) What does a community look like that is listening and hearing God together, practically discipling, encouraging and caring for each other and watching each other's backs, and authentically holding one another accountable (meddling?) in the best possible way in love and grace? I hope that someday I believe it looks like me--that I am living this way as best I can. Thank you for this post. I am so enjoying it. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Great conversation here eveyone. Not much to disagree with, and it is all very encouraging. We can turn our little piece of the world upsidedown if we show Love. Small things make a big difference and our actions almost always speak louder than words.
I love Gene's comments on burn out, perfect. I will take that to heart.
peace |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Coreena, I believe that hope is the posture from which we all need to approach this. Knowing that we are not there yet, but always holding out hope and a redemptive option to others and ourselves. Let's face it, Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle, and we ain't that! But these three remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.
Glenn--Exactly. One piece of the world at a time. Little outposts of the Kingdom turning the world upside down. Thanks for your contribution and for reading. Blessings to you and yours. |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Don, I don't jest.
;-)
Some very good thoughts there. Gene you really do cut to the chase. Are you pastoring a church yet? My small group starts in 15 minutes, so I have no time to add anything. Just wanted to let y'all know I'm still readin'. ~mike |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Don - I don't have the shopping gene, either. I do not like to shop, and I find malls depressing. I go to the one here in Helena, which has as many vacant spots as filled ones, about once or twice a year, and then often under duress! Our mall is actually permanently closing sometime in the near future! Woohoo! :-D Good points, everyone! Another thought: Love may be the simple answer, but it's not necessarily the easy one. At least at first... |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Jen - you don't have a shopping Gene?
:-)) |
|
|
| December 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
| Mike is still funny. . . . . |
|
|
Follow this blog
