Tag Archives: jesus christ

Unleashed…

29 Apr

Most churches seem to have their members on a short leash. Think about it, while most churches “teach” that the members need to go out and witness to others, they have everyone shackled and busy inside the church.  Who are considered the most faithful people in the church? Usually they are the ones who commit the most time serving and ministering inside the church.  Shoot, there is Sunday service, and of course if you are good you also attend communion and Sunday School. Most churches have a wednesday night bible study at their church.  Of course, if you are really serious you will give up your time and serve on some committee, comission, church board, or meeting once a week.  Don’t forget rehearsal for the choir, worship teams, band, drama, etc. Then we got our fellowships for the men, for the women, for the young adults, for the youth.  We also got singles stuff and stuff for married folks too.  If you are a “faithful” church member, then you are lucky to have even a few evenings home with the family.   At the end of each week, surprisingly we find no time to reach, serve, and love neighbors and strangers in our community. (I don’t blame the members, I blame us leaders for this problem).

This doesn’t seem to be what is going on in the New Testament.  And please, don’t get me wrong I am not saying that all those things are inherently wrong. However, I believe the primary role of the church is to equip and unleash the Church for mission locally, regionally, and globally. And when I say that I am not thinking primarily of evangelism events and missions programs. What I mean is that the Church ought to be released to go out and interact and engage the community naturally as God’s people.  Whether individually or collectively we are to be the voice, hands, and feet of Jesus in our community.

For the neighborhood I live in I imagine people spending time with neigbors on the block or on the corner.  I imagine Christians out at the basketball courts hanging out, or choppin it up about current events in the barbershop.  I see christians having their favorite local bar where everyone knows their name and where they are building relationships with people that most church members would never encounter regularly.  This can never happen if we are on a tight leash spending most of our time keeping church programs afloat.  More than ever I think it is time for the church to disciple and equip its people in sacrificially minded community (opposed to consumer minded communities) so that it may be unleashed to bear witness to Christ to a world that needs it.

Micah 5:2 “A Foreshadow Of Things To Come”

28 Apr

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”

Who might this One be who is prophesied about here in Micah to be born in little old Bethlehem? And while they are going to “come forth” this person’s begginings are from ancient times, “from everlasting”.  For it is this One prophesied about that is clearly more than just a prophet or messiah but seems to have no beggining as though He were equated with God.  And it is this One who is to be Ruler.

The Christian Bubble

16 Apr


It seems that the goal for most Christians is to separate themselves as much as possible from the world around them. The thought process goes like this… “I am supposed to be sanctified and holy. I cannot allow the world to corrupt me from living in righteousness and drawing me away from having a clean and pure heart. Therefore, I will only listen to Christian music, read Christian books, have Christian friends, see Christian movies, talk to other Christians, and go to Christian gatherings.” And it is usually the case that each of those Christian things that people are engaging in, only encourage them to even more continue separating themselves more and more.

For me, I think the mere labeling of everything being either “Christian” or “secular” is a false dualism that has perverted the church and allowed it to lose its saltiness and effectiveness in our communities. We have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by main stream Christian culture into believing that the Christian bubble lifestyle is somehow a faithful attempt to bear one’s cross daily just as our Lord did. I disagree terribly. In fact, more and more I find some aspects in “secular” culture to line up more with the teachings of Jesus than many of our so called Christian products that we sell in the Christian Marketplace. While I am amazed at the enormous consumer power of those who call themselves Christians, could that consumer power be put to better use? And while it’s nice that we consume ourselves trying to be more holy, have we neglected our moral responsibility to engage and serve a world that is broken and in need of the love of Jesus? Can it be that in attempting to be more spiritual and faithful, that we have actually become more like the Pharisees and Sadducees described in the Gospels, and have actually departed away from the life of Jesus who engaged the people, becoming like them in such a way that he could empathize with them.

This is not a challenge to lose our distinction as the people of God, nor to stop pursuing God through Christian interaction, reflection, and community. Yet the unbiblical approach that has become a standard way of thinking in American Christianity continues to erode the very core values Jesus taught. I think the time is now for us to get out of the pews and onto the corners, what do you think, freestyle with me?

We Had Some Church Today

7 Apr

I can remember time after time leaving the church service on Sunday, hearing one of the older saints in the church yell out that “we really had some church today”, or actually “chuch” would be the more accurate vernacular. Typically that meant that when the believers had gathered together, everything was right on point. Worship was inspiring and God-adoring, the choir sang their hearts out, and the preacher stirred the congregation with a Word that was really powerful. New people probably even came forward and asked Jesus to come into their hearts as their very own personal savior. That sounds great doesn’t it…. sounds like a day full of church doesn’t it? Or was that really good church after all? On our best day, when we have our best voices singing in harmony, people are lifting hands and clapping, is God pleased? When have we had some good church?

Honestly, I question our understanding of good church. Do not get me wrong, I think God desires for us to come together regularly in His name. In fact Hebrews 10:25 tells us that we should not neglect coming together, however we should not so easily skip over verse 24 as many are in the habit of doing.It says “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (TNIV). The emphasis of the verse doesn’t seem to care as much about the nature of our coming together, but the fruit of our coming together. It seems clear that the fruit of our coming together, is the producing of a community that is loving others and is doing good deeds. Our gatherings are not for the purpose of feeling good on the inside nor merely just becoming better people.

It goes way beyond that, we gather to get something going, to jump start a movement. When we gather we are supposed to be inspired, provoked, and ignited. However we are not provoked merely on how to pray better or read our bible more. (Important things to do, don’t confuse what I am saying). If our coming together only provokes our personal piety, personal spiritual lives, and personal morality without breaking into the sphere of loving others and doing good deeds then we have missed it. It seems that our coming together regularly should be shaping us as a people that go out into our communities bringing relief to those with aids, adopting children who have been neglected, standing up against injustice, living counter-cultural lives that challenge powerful institutions that oppress their workers.

Our gatherings need to be formed for the very purpose that “we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” And if that is not happening when we gather, then we have hardly had some “chuch”. Maybe our having good church is less about what goes on inside the walls of our facilities that we gather in and more about what happens once we leave. Maybe it’s about our engaging our neighbors with love, helping that elderly woman fix that broken faucet in her house. Mabye it’s about taking some time to spend with that young boy who wanders the streets at all hours, without any guidance and mentors involved in his life. Maybe it’s spending the time to help someone create a good resume and help them network to get a job. (Since getting a job is more about who you know, than what you know.)

Hardly do we see Jesus inside the synagogue, and the few times he was, there were attempts or at plots on his life because he taught or stood up for justice. If Jesus spent most of his time and “ministry” outside the walls of the church engaging people, meeting them on their terms while trying to liberate and empower them from the burdens, sin, and sickness of life, why have we revolved our lives around what goes on inside the church. I think its time for us to encourage one another that we can’t spend all our time at church meetings and services throughout the entire week, but instead urging each other to be active in our communities as salt and light as we love and do good deeds. Once the church has left the building, and we are in our communities serving and loving folks. We can call each other up on the phone and talk about how “we had some church today!!!”.

(Hebrews 10:24-25)

Interviewed by J.R. Briggs

29 Mar

I had the privilige of being interviewed by J.R. Briggs (author, blogger, and pastor) on the subject of race. He is a good dude and it has been a pleasure connecting with him recently. He asked me lively and curious questions that delve into theological, ecclesiological, and sociological arenas.  I invite my readers to jump over there and participate in what will hopefully be a productive and edifying dialogue on an often neglected subject matter in mainstream America. The interview will be split into 2 posts, one on the 29th and the other on the 30th. See it at www.jrbriggs.com

“Without Ceasing”

15 Mar

The amount of hours that the average person consumes media and communication through TV, Computer/Internet, Mp3′s, radio, and cell phones are astronomical.  Many teens express that their social lives would end if they no longer had their phones.  Most of us feel that we NEED these things and can’t go with out them.  If we were to leave the house and drive for 20 minutes and then realize that we forgot our phone at home, most of us would turn back around to get it.  Media and technology are a 24/7 constant part of many of our lives. The unconscious motto many live by is “media and technology without ceasing”.

If we were to leave the house without communion with God, would we turn around to correct the situation.  Is God a life line that we can not go without.  Do you feel like you NEED  constant communication with God?  The apostle Paul calls us to “pray without ceasing”.  It is the constant awareness and communion with God everywhere we go.  What connection is most important for you, staying connected with technology and media or staying connected with God who is the only source of life-giving sustenance?

How are you balancing your life in the midst of Facebook, texting, farmville, wikipedia, google, skype, TV, Ipod, netflix, and your free mobile to mobile calling plan? Freestyle with me…

Reading the Bible Deep AND Wide

8 Feb

All my bible readers out there, don’t you love it when you find a powerful passage that you can chew on for weeks?  Or how about when you find a verse that is jam packed with a bunch of goodies for you to chew on for a hot minute? We love a good passage or verse that we can dissect and dig into.  In fact, many have grown accustomed to digging real deep into passages. We can read, study, and meditate on the same passage for over months at a time, shoveling out all kinds of bible bits for us to eat.

I think the practice of digging deep into biblical text is a great thing, but it can be dangerous in and of itself.  Our culture loves to take an individual verse and chew on it, but hardly are we challenged to see how the verse fits in context with the passage, and how the passage fits in context with the biblical book, and how the biblical book fits in context with the entire biblical narrative.

May I suggest that we need to read both deep and wide. I believe we actually should read the bible not only in quality, but in quanity too. Discover and read the gospel of Luke in just one or two sittings and see what it was that Luke was trying to say about Jesus. What was the unique portrait of Jesus that Luke paints for us, and what are the specific themes of his gospel? What happens when we begin to read teh bible as a great meta-narrative, as the greatest story ever told, and then allow everything we read to fall in context with that great story.  Is the story taking place before or after the fall? Is it before or after Christ? And does it matter and change its implications for our lives?

Freestyle with me folks, has your Christian community encouraged you to read both deep and wide?

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