Together

Luke 10:1-3:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

When someone uses the word 'evangelism' many images spring into people's mind. A person dressed like  the third blues brother on a busy street corner. This blues brother seems to always have a bullhorn, and placard with Scriptures (usually misinterpreted) and flames painted on, screaming "THE END IS NEAR!!" Perhaps some think of Ernest Angley enthusiastically saying, 'Be heeeaaled!' (I do, after all, live in Akron Ohio).

Because of this, among other reasons, I think people push off organized religion and lean more toward a vague 'spirituality.' Allan Bevere has done an excellent post on how being "spiritual but not religious" seems to encourage a safe, discipleship-less, un-transformed sort of faith (http://www.allanbevere.com/2013/04/on-being-religious-but-not-spiritual.html). One thing that Allan said grabbed my attention:

Discipleship is not equivalent to some vague individualistic spirituality in which I judge myself to be basically OK as I am because God thinks I'm OK as I am.

This kind of vague spirituality does seem to breed a 'Lone Ranger' mentality. As one of my colleagues commented it is even worse than the Loan Ranger, at least he had he had Tonto and his horse Silver!  

Scared away from 'organized religion' because of the negative images mentioned above combined with the allure of easy, private, consumer driven 'spirituality' many are nervous or even dead set against anything that even smells like evangelism. 

All though I am unsure what evangelism exactly smells like, when it is mentioned it is not uncommon to hear things like, "I don't want to offend anyone" or "religion and faith issues are private matters." This may be true of a safe, vague, individualistic 'spirituality' but it is not true of the gospel of Jesus Christ! After all Jesus did say, "Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels," (Luke 9:26). Also, while I would never want to offend anyone unnecessarily, the Gospel is offensive! In the middle of our message is a crucifix of the only innocent human being on earth! We, as Christians, must strive to have the gospel be the ONLY offence.

Sometimes I worry, am I ashamed of the gospel? Do I deny the gospel by my silence? As one examines the people in the New Testament one discovers that not only were they unafraid to share the good news of Jesus Christ, you could not shut them up about it!

So is this a call to gather up our bullhorns, paint our placards, and get ready to 'evangelize' by fire? Not quite. Another thing conspicuously missing from the current church landscape is doing evangelism as a community. It is no mistake the Jesus did not send the 72 disciples out as loan rangers but in pairs. If we are inviting people into loving community, with God and His people, should we not do it through loving community? In other words why are we not sharing the good news TOGETHER!? After all we are, very often, being sent into places where we feel as if we are 'sheep among the wolves.' 

George Hunter wrote an excellent took entitled "The Celtic Way of Evangelism." In this book Dr. Hunter contrasts the Celtic way of evangelism and the Roman model of evangelism. In the Roman model People were presented with the gospel asked to decide whether to commit or not and then the evangelized had fellowship with the church. In the Celtic model, by contrast, people were invited into fellowship with Christian communities, ministry happened through conversations, and living together, then people were asked if they wanted to make a commitment. As Dr. Hunter recognizes, The Celtic model reflects the adage that, for most people, "Christianity is more caught than taught."

The Celts formed Christian communities right next to pagan communities and invited them in from there. This was literally meeting people where they were at, much like Jesus coming down into human form to meet us where we are at. At the end of the book Dr. Hunter challenges the reader to think of ways we can position ourselves next to, or in the midst of, un-evangelized communities and invite them in for fellowship and discussion. 

So, instead of the standard 'don't ask don't tell' and confrontational forms of evangelism, I think we should take a hint from the Celts, and even more so, Jesus. We should tell people about the love of Jesus Christ, not as Loan Rangers with out Silver and Tonto, but together!

In what ways can we invite people into the body of Christ so that we might point toward the healing, transformative power of the gospel?

All things new

Revelation 21:3-5

 “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Elie Wiesel wrote this:

“Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out,swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.Behind me, I heard the same man asking:"For God's sake, where is God?"And from within me, I heard a voice answer:"Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..." Any other answer would have been blasphemous.

In the video I posted above the mother of Krystle Campbell speaks to the press. In this video she makes the statement that none of it makes sense. She says that Krystle was a good person, hard worker, and everyone loved her.

Often, life does not seem to make sense. The innocent suffer and there seems to be no justice or end in sight. Not knowing what to do, many well meaning Christians, and even non Christians, break out old, tired and unhelpful platitudes. We have all heard them, "God just wanted another angel for His garden," or, "everything happens for a reason." 

While it is true that there is a reason this awful tragedy happened and God does delight in reuniting with His sons and daughters, these do not quite scratch the itch. As the man in Wiesel's story said in the midst of the young boy suffering, "For God's sake, where is God?" Where is God in the middle of suffering? Does He just let us languish under the pain and absurdity of the universe we find ourselves in?

It is for this reason that many turn away from God. However, what would happen if, instead of turning away, we would turn toward how God deals with the suffering of the innocent. As followers of Christ we do not worship a God who is far off from our suffering. Quite the contrary, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that "we do not have a High Priest that is unable to empathize with us" (4:15).

On the cross, Jesus died for the sins we are guilty of, but He also died for all of the sins we are innocent victims of. In suffering on the cross, Jesus, the ultimately innocent one, suffers with us! Or as Wiesel says "Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."

What is even better news, is that Christ does not just sympathise with our suffering, He transforms it. The Christian faith does not deny, ignore, or try to go around the issue of suffering. Instead, through the cross, we can conquer through it! In Christ's resurrection, death itself died. We, like Jesus, will still have to endure unfair suffering, the pain of that mother is real. Her hate of death is shared with God's hate of death. However, if we put our trust in Him, we can suffer with hope, we can mourn with hope, we can be a people of hope. 

We can stand belligerently against the pain, suffering, and even death that touches our lives. We can stand against it because one day we will share in Christ's resurrection and ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

However, until that one fine day, we have an awesome privilege and responsibility. The privilege and responsibility of continuing Christ's ministry here on earth. Continuing it by hurting with those who hurt, and celebrating with those who are celebrating. All as a beautiful prelude to when Our Risen Lord returns and we can come into full relationship with Him as He will bring to completion what we have started in His name. Bring to completion the "making everything new!”

How can we 'make all things new' in our lives today?

A Lesson From William Isaac

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal


I love my son. When he is happy I am happy when he is sad I am sad. Such is life as a parent.


Despite the love Britt and I have for William Isaac we are very disappointed in his decision that sleeping is for sissies. We are even more disappointed that he doesn't seem to understand that his mother and I are BIG sissies!


A few weeks ago, Billy invited me to a party at his crib at 3:00 am via screaming at the top of his lungs. When I got there I tried to calm him without picking him up but that was not working. So, I gathered up the little guy in my arms and started walking the carpets.


After pacing his room for about half an hour I decided to walk around the house. At this point I realized that Billy was in pain and his part plans had turned into a nightmare for him.


My heart broke as I realized that my baby boy was in pain, probably from his re-flux. It broke because of his pain and the realization of my callousness This entire time I had feeling nothing but frustration toward my son. So I did the only thing I know to do when I screw up, I prayed.


I prayed for forgiveness of my callousness and that, somehow, my 4 month old son would realize that what he is going through is not the end of the world, that this too shall pass.


As I finished my prayer I opened my eyes and looked out of the window of our living room. As I pondered the beauty of the moonlight it happened. The Lord gave me a Holy Head slap! I could almost hear Him say, "That's what I have been trying to teach you!" What you are going through with work, raising Billy, and everything are only light and momentary troubles!" Feeling like more of a baby than my 4 month old, I began to weep.


As we go throughout our days, I pray that we all try to gain an eternal perspective on our own "light and momentary troubles." Not negating the pain but realizing that our Joy is not dependent on outside circumstances but who we are in Christ. This eternal perspective helps us to understand that we are those "jars of clay" that Paul talks about. Even though we may be fallible, fragile, and prone to weakness the Lord still trusts us to carry His message. Perhaps He uses us broken people "to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."


So, if you are feeling "hard pressed on every side" know that the Holy Spirit can give you the strength to not be crushed. If you are at a cross roads and perplexed, do not despair, the God who created the universe can guide you. If you are feeling persecuted, we are not abandoned. We do not serve a God who is distant form our sufferings but suffers with us, as Jesus did on the cross. And even if you have been struck down, you will never be destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7-9). As Jesus suffers with us on the cross we can share in His victory because the same Holy Spirit that Raised Him from the grave can live within you and me. He can live within us so that nothing can stop us from living out His love in our lives. Not flat tires, bad traffic, sleepless nights from crib parties at 3:00 am, or even death itself!


How is the Lord overcoming your light and momentary troubles?