The way to greatness is through selfless service and scandalous love
Yes, I know that I just quoted my friend Adam at darnellia a couple of days ago. But, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to link to his post “The Up-side Down Kingdom.” This is how he concludes:
The overwhelming evidence in the Synoptic Gospels for the ordering of the kingdom of God is that the way to greatness is through selfless service and scandalous love, and the way to victory as a disciple is through self-surrender. Ruling over others is absent in the up-side down kingdom; all are equals under the one Master. Honorific titles are worse than worthless, and the citizens of the up-side down kingdom are to love to the extent that it shocks those outside of the kingdom. In the end, “that which is exalted among men is detestable before God†(Lk 16:15).
Adam says this is the first of a new series of essays. If this essay is any indication, then his new series is going to be awesome!
People are vulnerable to love
The following excellent post comes from Dave Black’s blog (Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 9:04 pm):
People are vulnerable to love. That’s one of the points Becky emphasized with the middle schoolers today. She told the story of a Muslim man in a small village in southern Ethiopia whom she had outfitted with a pair of non-prescription reading glasses. When he left the church compound he told the leaders, “Never have I seen such love as in this place.”
As I’ve reflected over that experience, I’ve become more convinced than ever that the confrontational approach to evangelism is lacking. No, I’m not against passing out a Gospel tract or placing bumper stickers on your car. I’m not against going door to door. In confrontational evangelism, the encounter is unique. It’s usually brief, often intense, and frequently scary. Then it’s over. Many have used that approach successfully. Thank God for them! But nothing is more powerful, in my opinion, than a Spirit-filled individual targeting his or her gifts to meet the needs of others. In southern Ethiopia you couldn’t buy a pair of reading glasses if you had a million dollars. They are not to be had. But when Becky gave that man a free pair of glasses, and when she told them where they had come from — not from the U.S. government, not from the Ethiopian government, but from people in America who love Jesus — and when she told him, “Every time you wear these glasses you will be reminded that Jesus knows you and loves you,” she threw a redemptive switch in that man’s mind.
I can’t overemphasize this point. Evangelism is essentially a lifestyle — a lifestyle of sharing what we have with others with a view to them realizing that there is a Savior, a Lord, a Redeemer named Jesus who loves them. I encourage all of us to develop this capacity to draw others to Christ. Do it however the Spirit leads you. But do it with a gentle, loving spirit. After all, as Becky emphasized in her talk, people of all stripes need to see and feel love. If we don’t have a genuine love for other people, we have probably forfeited our right to evangelize them!
Meditate on that last line for a few minutes: “If we don’t have a genuine love for other people, we have probably forfeited our right to evangelize them.
I think this is especially true for those times when we use a more “confrontational approach.” What do you think?
What if we met to edify one another?
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post called “What if we met to edify one another?” In that post, I said that the way churches meet would change if our purpose was to allow each believer the opportunity to exercise their spiritual gifts in order to build up the church toward maturity in Christ. I still think this is true, so I thought I would share that post again. I also hope that you will think about the questions that I ask at the end of the post and share your thoughts with us.
————————————————————————
What if we met to edify one another?
Occasionally, I’m asked if I think churches today should meet in the same way that churches met in the first century, as described in the New Testament. This questions is usually followed by a statement such as, “Should we also wear robes and sandals when we meet together?”
Certainly there are major differences between the twenty-first century and the first century. While I do not believe that we should do everything exactly like the church did in the New Testament, I do believe that we who live in the twenty-first century can learn something from those who lived in the first century – even when it comes to the church meeting.
First of all, consider the standard church meeting of today. These meetings usually center on locations, leaders, music, preaching, and money. Are these bad things? No. People need a place to meet. It is good to recognize leaders. Singing praise to God is a good thing. Preaching and teaching are important. Money is necessary for some of the things that we do. But, do we find these things the focus of the church meeting in the New Testament.
I suggest that if we study the meeting of the church in the New Testament, we will not find a focus on location, leaders, music, preaching, or money. Are they important. Yes, but they are not most important. I suggest that instead of changing the way the church meets today, we would learn more by changing our focus during the meeting to the focus of the gathered church in the New Testament.
What was the focus of the gathered church in the New Testament? The purpose of the church meeting was to allow each believer an opportunity to exercise his or her spiritual gifts in a manner that built up other believers, that is, that encouraged them toward maturity in Jesus Christ. If the church changed its focus today, would it change the way that we meet? I think that it would. However, if we start with changing the way that we meet, then we are starting with the wrong thing. Let’s start with our purpose. If we start with the purpose of building up one another in Christ, then the format of the meeting will fall into place.
If we start by recognizing that we should meet together so that we can build up one another, then the reason for locations, leaders, music, preaching, and money also falls into place. Similarly, we can make decisions based on the reason that we meet together as a church.
Think about the way your church meets. Does the meeting of your church reflect the purpose of allowing each believer to exercise his or her spiritual gifts in order to build up others toward maturity in Christ?
Who is my neighbor?
We still like to ask that question, don’t we? We don’t want “that guy” to be our neighbor, do we?
One weekend, my friend Adam at darnellia taught from Matthew 22:34-40 about loving God and loving neighbor. When he returned home, he found out that “that guy” was his neighbor physically. (You know what I mean by “that guy”… the person who really rubs you the wrong way.) You can read about it in his post “A stunning (though elementary, really) revelation.”
Lately, I’m beginning to understand that anyone who God brings into my life is my neighbor. Even “that guy” or “that girl”… yes, even them… perhaps especially them.
Our daily bread
I wrote the post “Our daily bread” two years ago after a water main break in our county. This event help me realize that we don’t know what it means to ask for “our daily bread” nor do we know what it means to help someone who is in need out of our own necessities. I’m still convicted, because I don’t think I’ve learned this lesson yet.
——————————————–
As part of Jesus’ model prayer, he prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread”. (Matthew 6:11 ESV) Literally, the word translated “daily” means something like “what is necessary for today”. Thus, Jesus was teaching us to ask God to provide us with what we need to exist today. In the following sections of Matthew 6, Jesus continually reminded his followers to trust God to provide what we need for today.
Similarly, James taught us:
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? (James 2:15-16 ESV)
Again, if someone is lacking in the necessities needed that day, and we have the means to meet that need, then are to provide for them. Apparently, we have more than is needed for today; someone else has less than is needed for today; so we take from our excess (that is more than is needed, not more than is wanted) and give to our brother or sister.
Something happened this week that helped me see that we don’t know what it means to ask for or to share based on “necessities”. We still think luxuries are necessities.
There was a major water main break in a town just north of us. This water main was part of our county’s water system. The county lost 1.5 million gallons of water and had to replace the water main. This is a devastating loss in the middle of a drought – at least, they’re calling it a drought.
Because of the drought and possible contamination due to the water main break, the citizens of our county have been instructed to boil their water. Also, citizens have been instructed not to use water unnecessarily: i.e. do not water lawns, do not wash cars, etc. Many restaurants have been closed for the last few days because of the water restrictions and because they cannot boil all of the water that they use.
The news has been constantly covering this story. They have interviewed almost every person in the county, except us. Everyone who wants to complain about the water restrictions and the closed restaurants and the dry lawns and the dirty cars has been given a microphone and 15 seconds of air time on the 6 o’clock news. We need our water…
But, we still have water. This is not a problem of necessity. We have water. This is a problem of luxury and convenience. Instead of being grateful for having water just by turning on the faucet, we are complaining because we have to boil it. Instead of grateful that we are not dying of thirst, we are grumbling because our yards (I mean, our lawns) are brown. Instead of being grateful that we do not have to walk miles to find water, we are angry because we can’t wash our cars.
We are pathetic. We do not know what it means to be in need. We do not know what it means to be grateful for having our needs met. Therefore, I do not think we know what it means to meet someone else’s needs.
Good news! The water restrictions have been lifted. Now, we do not have to boil our water. People can return to their favorite restaurants. Lawns will be green and cars sparkling clean by tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps, now, we will find it in our hearts to give a glass of water to a person who is truly in need. But, probably not.
God have mercy on us.
More than outreach
I love the name of Stephen’s blog: “Beyond Outreach.” Also, he hit a home run with his post “We ministered to them.” Here is an excerpt:
“I ministered to you” is condescending. I’m up here and you’re down here, lucky to receive whatever I am giving you. It creates an invisible social barrier that tells the person that they can not relate on the same level. It is also focused on what you are doing, and not on knowing the person. Many times this is just exactly what both parties really want. Both afraid of what kind of involvement really knowing the other person might require. It’s scary because the deeper you go, the dirtier you can get. But only in the fleshing out of a relationship, however awkward it may be, can real discipleship begin.
Consider the way of of the Savior.
Jesus went to the homes of people with bad reputations and spent time eating and drinking with them. He also went to the homes of proper religious leaders and shared meals there. He sometimes spent the night at the home of friends in Bethany and Capernaum. He even slept in a boat of fishermen. He sat and talked with a man that was considered a monster. When he travelled through Samaria he drank their water and slept in their villages when they let him. He slept outside many, many times…
So what does this mean for us? It means taking the risk and taking the initiative to begin a new relationship with someone we don’t know. It means humbling ourselves enough to make a sacrifice of our time and our privacy. It means placing everyone, even unseemly people on the same level as ourselves. It means going beyond being inconvenienced to changing the direction of our week, or month, or year… or lifetime.
There’s more to the post. Jump over to Stephen’s blog and read the whole thing. Then, join me in considering how often I attempt to “minister to them” and how often I’m actually willing to sacrifice of my time and privacy, among other things, to actually get to know people.
A contrite heart and a life of good works
The title of this post comes from a quote by John Sailhamer concerning Isaiah 58. I found the quote in the very good post by Mark from “unlikely christians” called “Talk is Cheap.” This is the full quote from Sailhamer:
The kind of repentance God required of his people is a contrite heart and a life of good works. There was little value in fasting if one’s life did not reflect compassion and obedience to the will of God.
Then, Mark replied with this:
What good is singing a song (hymn? chorus? psalm?), attending church, praying, fasting, or (even) reading my Bible if my actions and attitudes do not legitimate these practices. Thank God for grace to try again, for a holy dissatisfaction regarding my unholy life, and disdain at my hypocrisy.
I can remember recognizing my own hypocrisy. I remember clearly recognizing that I could sing a great song, attend church meetings regularly, pray for hours, fast, and read my Bible consistently… but my life was not filled with good works. Why? Because I had been taught (and I had bought into the teaching) that these things were the good works that God wants. These things are good, but they are only the beginning of living a life demonstrating the love of God. (By the way, I’m not saying that I’ve arrived. God continues to show me my own hypocrisy.)
Put your money (and possessions) where your mouth is
Last week, in a post called “The Good Samaritan meets Health Care Reform,” I said the following concerning the early church:
They would take care of the poor, the orphans, the widows, those in prison, etc. And, they wouldn’t simply throw money at some program to care for “the poor,†they would take care of poor people.
The Roman world first noticed Christianity because of the way that Christians cared for other people.
If the church still acted in this way, there would be no reason for “health care reform.†In fact, if the church still acted in this way – the way that Jesus prescribed – we could do away with all of our “evangelism programs†as well.
It is easy to say that the church should take care of people. It is much more difficult to actually put this into action. Here are two recent examples of how the church is “putting its money (and possessions) where its mouth is.”
Last week, a brother in North Carolina found out that a coworker in Pennsylvania was having car problems. When our brother talked to his coworker, he found out that it would be very expensive to fix the car. Our brother decided that he was going to drive his car Pennsylvania and leave it for this coworker to use as long as necessary. It turns out that some other coworkers checked the car out and found out that there was a simple, inexpensive problem. But, even though my brother did not give his car to someone else, he was willing to and ready to.
A few weeks ago, a young man was injured doing martial arts. Several of us know him, and he has helped many of our children work on their Tae Kwon Do skills. In fact, he was helping Jeremy (my son) when he was hurt. At the emergency room, we found out that his injury was not as serious as we thought, but as with all ER visits, there was still a substantial bill. This young man does not have health insurance.
I told the church about this need, and several people volunteered to help this young man pay his medical bill. He is not a “member” of Messiah Baptist Church. But, we know him, he is our brother, and we know of his need. So, we are responsible to help meet this need. More than knowing that we are responsible, we are acting on that responsibility.
While I write often about ecclesiology (the study of the church), I also like to move things out of the realm of theory and into reality. It is possible for the church to actually help people who are in need.
When “one another” means me
For me, it is often (almost always) more difficult to be on the receiving end of service than the giving end. A couple of years ago, I published a post called “When ‘one another’ means me” to offer examples of how others in the body of Christ had been “one another-ing” me. Instead of denying people an opportunity to serve me, I should accept their service and praise God for what He is doing in their lives and in my life.
————————————–
I’ve written before about how every follower of Jesus Christ (including me) is responsible for carrying out the “one anothers” of Scripture. But, that is not the point of this blog post. I’ve also written previously about how our family tries to live daily in community with other brothers and sisters in Christ (see especially “Church meetings” and “A Week in the Life of the Church“). But, in this post, I want to highlight something a little different.
On Monday, in a comment to my post “The unhypocritical church – Part 3“, David said this concerning living in community: “But this kind of life doesn’t get much press time. I mean, who wants to read about someone living that kind of life? No glamour.” I understand exactly what David means. But, Paul recognized this kind of life, and with gratitude toward God, he praised those who were living that way.
And, in this post, I hope to do exactly the same thing. There are many people that I know who are taking the “one anothers” of Scripture seriously. In the last few days, many of these people have impacted my life and the life of my family. So, I want to take this time to thank God for these precious brothers and sisters.
1. Serve one another (Gal 5:13; 1 Pet 4:10)
Our van is having problems. One of our dear friends took our van to his house and is working on it – at his own expense. He will not even allow us to pay for the parts.
2. Be kind to one another (Eph 4:32)
This week, some friends showed up at our house unexpectedly with breakfast for our family.
3. Encourage one another (1 Thess 5:11; Heb 3:13)
A brother spoke very encouraging words to me during a time that could have greatly discouraged me.
4. Teaching and admonishing one another (Rom 15:14; Col 3:16)
At a time when we were focusing on distractions, a brother taught and admonished us that it was actually our sin that was hindering our relationship with God.
5. Care for one another (1 Cor 12:25; 2 Cor 13:11)
While our vehicle is being repaired, another family has graciously allowed us to use one of their vehicles.
6. Bear with one another (Eph 4:2; Col 3:13)
When I became defensive (or offensive) toward a brother, he patiently allowed me my rant, then did not hold it against me.
7. Love one another (John 13:34-35, 15:12, 15:17; Rom 12:10, 13:8; 1 Thess 3:12, 4:9; 1 Pet 1:22, 4:8; 1 John 3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:11-12; 2 John 1:5)
Do you want to know how our brothers and sisters have demonstrated their love for God and their love for us? Look at #1-#6 above. This is just a sampling.
Love for God and love for others is real, tangible, giving, serving, costly. This is the love that the Spirit produces in the lives of his children. This is one of the evidences that we are children of God: “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1 John 3:10-11 ESV)
These brothers and sisters continually demonstrate the evidence that they are children of God – that they are indwelled by the present and powerful Holy Spirit – that they are submitting to his will in their lives. They are not doing this so that they will get recognition or credit. In fact, they will be embarrassed when they read this and recognize themselves in my words. They do these things because the love of God compels them. They do these things because God is more than a theological idea – He is a real, living, active, powerful, and ever present Father in their lives. It is evident that they are children of God because they practice righteousness and love their brothers and sisters.
I praise God for the way that He has loved me through these dear brothers and sisters.
Would you like to praise God for the brothers and sisters that he is using in your life?
Is there evidence in your life to indicate that you are a child of God?
The Good Samaritan meets Health Care Reform
Joe (JR) at “More Than Cake” has written a post that excellently exposes our hypocrisy. The post is called “A Parable of Political Compassion,” and it presents the parable of the Good Samaritan in a updated, and timely, fashion.
Here is Joe’s post:
———————————————
As our nation bickers over the right political solution to the problems facing the American healthcare system, I think ww are loosing sight of the real meaning of compassion. The following parable illustrates this well.
A Crowd gathered around the broken form of a Young Man who was lying motionless on the roadside Moments before the Young Man was riding his bike down the street, when suddenly struck by a car. Dazed and confused, the Crowd looked around for someone to offer direction on what they should do.
A Doctor came to the scene. He quickly ran to the Young Man’s side, bent down and began searching through his pockets. When the Doctor could not find an insurance card, he quietly moved away and said, “I cannot help this man.â€
As the crowd became angry, a successful trial Lawyer came to the scene. Upon seeing the man bleeding to death, and hearing the story of the Doctor who refused to help, the Lawyer became angry. She decried this great injustice saying, “no one in America shouod be refused medical care just because he cannot pay.†The Lawyer quickly bent down beside the Young Man bleeding on the ground. She put her business card in the man’s pocket and said, “when you get well, come and see me. I will be sure to represent you in a big-money lawsuit against that Doctor, the Hospital, and the Insurance companies.â€
Growing more angry, the Crowd began to grumble and complain, “what is wrong with this country!?â€
A wealthy US Senator whose office was close to the scene came into the crowd. Seeing the Young Man bleeding to death on the ground, he cried out, “why has no one helped this man?!†The crowd reported the story of the Doctor and the Lawyer. The Senator knew something must be done quickly to save this man’s life. He jumped into action. He climbed onto a nearby soapbox and gave an impassioned speech to the enraged Crowd. â€We need change! We must pass a law to help this man who does not have healthcare! There are many Rich People in this country who have enough money to help this man get care. Come with me and we will pass a Law that will force these Rich People and Big Companies to pay for this man’s healthcare!â€
The crowds loved the words of compassion spoken by the wealthy-Senator, made signs in support of his speech and followed after him to help pass a Law.
Before the Crowds could leave, a well-known Pastor jumped into the middle of the ruckus and decried to the immorality of the Senator’s proposed Law. The Pastor used his great influence and spoke passionately from the Bible to rally a counter-protest against the Senator and his Law.
The TV cameras soon arrived to film the scene. The nicely-dressed Anchorwoman knelt gently beside the injured man. She held a microphone to the injured man’s mouth and asked for a statement decrying the evils of the American healthcare system. Unable to speak or sign a press release, the Anchorwoman moved on to interview the Senator, the Doctor, the Pastor and people in the Crowd.
The Crowds passed by chanting their support for their chosen cause. The cameras followed. The young man was left alone, bleeding to death on the roadside.
An Elderly Man came to the scene. He bent down, and forced his aging fingers to bandage the wounds. The Elderly Man had no money of his own so he sold his car to help pay for the young man’s medical care.
Which of these people; the Doctor, the Lawyer, the Senator, the Pastor, the Crowds or the Elderly-Man reflect true compassion?
Which of these people offered a real solution to the dying man?
Which of these people are you?
———————————————
As you consider the implications of Joe’s post, consider this as well. In the first 200-300 years of the church, the church was known for one thing in particular: taking care of people. The pagans who wrote against the church and Christianity always wrote about how Christians would pay their own money to take care of each other and even to take care of people who were not believers.
They would take care of the poor, the orphans, the widows, those in prison, etc. And, they wouldn’t simply throw money at some program to care for “the poor,” they would take care of poor people.
The Roman world first noticed Christianity because of the way that Christians cared for other people.
If the church still acted in this way, there would be no reason for “health care reform.” In fact, if the church still acted in this way – the way that Jesus prescribed – we could do away with all of our “evangelism programs” as well.