The Ancient Future Church

Matthew 12:43-50

“Here are my mother and my brothers.”

All of us are created in the image of God. But those adopted by grace become sons and daughters or children of God. And children of God are members of the family of God. So much so that we all, the believing and redeemed, call God Father, even Abba.

This means for us a massive expansion of family. Even if we come from a big family, it became infinitely bigger when we first believed.

This is such a huge consolation to those deprived of family, especially orphans. God had made provision for the orphaned and otherwise abandoned to be loved as they should have been loved in their family and home of origin. It likewise ministers to those who know their biological parents but weren’t blessed by them. This happens more than we know or are willing to admit. Some parents, probably due to a void in their own youth, cannot love or bless rightly or sufficiently for the needs of those they have produced. Some even despise and curse. God gives the children a do over, a second crack at being loved as designed.

For all who see this passage for what it says, we are burdened to honor the family of God, aka the church. Our own lives should be ordered accordingly. We necessarily play our part or fulfill our obligations or responsibilities. When we don’t, the family is strained. We must avoid insisting on our own way without regard for all others. When we don’t, the family is broken. The same dysfunctional behavior that wrecks a home wrecks the church. Institutionalizing the church mitigates some of the dysfunction but simultaneously robs us of the blessings of a loving family. God means for us to be family, His family, and to work on relationships to make that a reality.

Luke 10:25-28, 38-42

“Tell her to help me.”

Gospel requires us to hold “being” and “doing” in tension. For surely if we are to “be” followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will transform us that we might “do” the things Jesus does. Simply put, there is “doing” in the “being.” Being hospitable as Jesus is, requires that we clean the house and prepare a meal. I can’t be present for the sick and imprisoned without going to where the sick and imprisoned are. Again, there is “doing” in the “being.”

Having said that, there is an order to the being and doing. Doing emanates from sitting at the feet of Jesus. One can’t be a follower of Jesus without knowing Jesus. Jumping into doing without being first is fraught with danger.

I have not read it yet, but there is a book entitled “When Helping Hurts.” The title says much. We often want to help and are rightly motivated by a Lord who came not to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. But sometimes our help is crafted without a full understanding of the problem. Sometimes in our zeal our help does not reflect the sensitivity Jesus might apply to the situation. We assume we understand and in our presumption we offend and can make matters worse, creating dependency where independence was the desired outcome.

Spending time in Rwanda has opened my eyes to a reality that education and enterprise will not address. The lack of potable water governs the lives of the vast majority of the third world poor. Daily, and sometime several times a day, women load their children onto their backs and put five gallon containers in each hand and set out in search of potable water. They then haul it home. What time is not spent searching for clean water and then hauling it home is spent dealing with the physical/health challenges associated with not having it. The poor cannot avail themselves of educational opportunities or engage in profitable economic activity until the basic necessities of life have been addressed. Water, potable water, is central to any solution. I missed that.

Martha is not being discouraged. She is being reminded to begin where Mary begins.  If she had, she would not be anxious and not remotely put out that Mary wasn’t helping. She would serve for the joy of serving and without any expectation that others must serve likewise. She would “do” with the love and sensitivity of Jesus.

Matthew 9:9-17

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Great question! Who hangs with those who take our money that others might it spend as they see fit or even give it away? Perhaps those who have no tax liability aren’t challenged by the company Jesus keeps but those who pay taxes, in all likelihood, are.

I am so glad I am not a tax collector. Unfortunately I am a sinner. Not so much these days in acts of commission am I sinning. But what I don’t do, the omissions, are epic. Try as I might I don’t love unconditionally (Ephesians 5). Some self-interest or self-preservation taints all my love. I don’t always make the best use of time in advancing the Kingdom (again Ephesians 5). Sometimes I grow weary of being rejected for my efforts.

Yep. I may not be breaking rules but I am failing to hit the mark (hamartia/sin).

Why does Jesus hang with me? With any of us? Fortunately because the non-sinners got it going on! We are the only ones who need help. So he makes the best use of his time and spends it with us. Sweet!

Ephesians 4:17-32

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.”

Only speaking that which edifies and imparts grace? This is a tall order with potentially big results. First it would get rid of negative campaign advertising. Next, it would eliminate most nightly news.

Seriously, if only I could speak things that edify and impart grace and speak nothing else. In my case it would not be a matter of revising the content of my conversation but eliminating many of them altogether. Why do I have such strong feelings about this political candidate or that sensational news story? More important, why do I feel the need to articulate those positions out loud? Certainly I don’t intend anyone to be edified by them.  Just this morning I quipped on Facebook that the last thing I would be is a democrat because I actually liked freedom (just so you know I also implied I am not much of a republican either). Now I am sure my quip will not edify everyone because surely there are one or two freedom loving democrats in the world. See how slippery this slope is?

One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. I often counsel folks in this way. “Just because you think it doesn’t mean you need to say it out loud” and “not every random thought needs to be articulated.” This is excellent advice . . . for me!

Ephesians 4:1-16

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

Some find license in this passage to inflict pain upon others. “People should know the truth about themselves and I am just the person who loves them enough to tell them even zealously,” some think. It is the often said but rarely meant “this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”

But Paul is speaking here about big T truth, not what one person should know but what all persons should know. Paul is attuned to what Bishop Fitz Allison called the cruelty of heresy (that which denies the truth). It causes us to be tossed to and fro and carried about. We have no direction. Under its tutelage we live aimless lives.

In every age there are those men who are attempting to draw others to themselves. They are cunning and crafty. They tend to tickle our ears with eloquence but fail to deliver much Truth.

And the Truth we should know is that Christ is the head of all and we are to mature into to his full stature.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is the work of the church. And it is that to which we are submitted, to becoming like Christ, loving as he loves.  And also true? That we bring nothing to the table! We are acted upon that character might be produce in us. We should resist any other agenda and readily embrace this one.

Ephesians 3:14-21

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever.

As I noted yesterday and note with some frequency, if one surveys the American church scene, he could easily despair. Insiders know that 50% of America’s 350,000 congregations are expected to close by 2020. Scandals emerge with some regularity. Things are not going all that well.

When the times are depressing, it is enough to remember our potential. The potential is readily accessible in the soaring rhetoric of the Apostle Paul. “Able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” I prefer the NIV when it translates the same as “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”

I may not have a great imagination, experience having dulled it a bit, but I can still imagine a lot. I can imagine a church where the quality of our lives infects even the most ardent detractor. I can imagine a church where relationships are never subordinated to programs, attendance or building campaigns. I can imagine a church where the name of Jesus is always spoken more often than the name of the pastor. That really is a lot to ask or imagine. And God can do infinitely more than we can imagine through us as a body. More than ALL that WE imagine! Add your dreams to mine. The potential is unparalleled. This eternal truth places a fleeting reality in perspective.

Hope restored. Thanks Paul. Now come Lord Jesus and make it so.

Ephesians 3:1-13

“This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”

Paul is suffering, literally. He experiences everything from the ordinary, sleepless nights, to the extraordinary, floggings, shipwreck, and eventually chains. It would be tempting for us to observe his demise and give up hope. Paul cannot have that. He understands fully the role of the church in the world, to make manifest “the manifold wisdom of God.”

One might look at the state of the church today and give up hope. Of course it would be for much different reasons. It would be from the absence of those like Paul, those willing to suffer for the welfare of the Body. It would be from the presence of those who do not zealously guard sheep and seem more interested in perpetuating their role or the church or both.

Being in the trade I know that half the nation’s 350,000 churches are slated to close by 2020. I know that people file out at a much faster rate than they file into the church.

The more the church looks like the culture, the more people flee. It is in our distinction that we achieve. We the need the same hope Paul commends but we also need to re-appropriate his vision of church. We are the called out people of God meant to reveal by witness the manifold wisdom of God. We show the world by our manner of life a way of being human together that trumps the barbaric methods of the principalities and powers.

Churches are routinely built on the homogeneous unit principle. In and of itself, the HUP is inconsistent with the manifold wisdom of God. We bond together over a shared faith in Jesus. At our core we are different in that the Holy Spirit binds us together across every category created by man, gender, race, socioeconomic, free or slave. With that distinctive, the church as a called out people of God will flourish. Without it we labor in vain and build organizations that scarcely resemble the manifold wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 9:16-27

“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Paul is not known for his humility in the 21^st century. So called scholars like to take him to task for hubris leading to “Follow me.” Some impose their anger upon him and associate him with pride and even misogyny. But here the true heart of the apostle is revealed. We see humility and self-denial.

Paul is being used by God to save some. He has no grand scheme to save the world. He has no sense that he by his brain power and perseverance can bring about a utopia. He knows and accepts that saving is God’s work. It is the Holy Spirit that prepares one to say “Jesus is Lord.” Salvation occurs one soul at a time.

What makes Paul so worthy of our admiration and emulation is his willingness to abandon his plans to make himself available to be a part of God’s. He denies self. He lays no claim to self-determination. He will be a Jew. He will be a Greek. He will be weak. He will be strong. Paul gets it! He need not assert himself in any situation because it is not about him. He is present as a representative of another, an ambassador for a higher cause.

Far too often in the modern and Western church, we devise programs to save souls. Why address individually what we can do en masse? Why use a small group when stadiums are available? Efficiency and effectiveness are our masters. This, of course, makes the enterprise about us. It is about Him and humbling ourselves to be at His service. We are to meet the broken and brokenhearted where they are and lay aside any need to assert ourselves in the situation. No degrees. No lofty plans. Just communicating grace and release to people bound by law and sin. If only the church was filled with Pauls.

Leviticus 26:27-42

“If then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity; then I will remember my covenant  with Jacob.”

It is an old horse but I love to ride it. Being a follower of God, whether Jew or Christian, is a matter of the heart. Circumcision, the sign of the old covenant, and baptism, the sign of the new covenant, are outward and visible signs. Both are commended by God. They are important, very important.  But they have no power.  They are not efficacious.  The presence of them does not insure a right relationship with God. The absence of them does not insure an un-reconciled relationship with God.

When we naively buy into the power of the outward and visible we order our lives accordingly. Attending worship or bible study becomes overly important and gives the appearance and the false assurance that the individual is reconciled to God. That which can be measured, like tithing or hours of service, become central. Wrongly, it makes the story about us and what we do.

But God is always seeking to circumcise the heart. Trimming, even pruning, needs to occur here as it is out of the overflow of the heart that comes evil and of course good. The heart needs to be changed, the core of who we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Transformation means we are being acted upon, not acting. Rightly, it makes the story about what God is doing for and to us.

This should speak comfort beyond our imaginations. After all, what haven’t we botched throughout the ages. But following Jesus is about what God is doing. And He doesn’t make mistakes.

1 Timothy 2:1-6

“First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.”

Prayer is a regular part of my life. It does not come naturally (not much for being still) or as easily as some would think. But it is routine primarily because I have the privilege of intercessing on behalf of folks to whom God has bound me in some way. But here is a confession. Rarely do I pray for the leaders of our nation, “all who are in high positions,” unless prompted to do so in public worship.

The absence of prayer stems from having little confidence that most are there to serve the common good. Once in power, it seems elected leaders are required to spend most of their time keeping power. Mark Halperin wrote an article a few years back on how politics had ceased to be about the truth and was now always about power, getting it and keeping it.  Those on the left and right alike poll (or test by focus group) issues to determine what resonates with the masses. That becomes their platform. Rarely do politicians take on positions as a matter of principle and certainly not ones that will make them unelectable. So why pray for them if they don’t perceive leadership as acting on our behalf “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way?”

But who needs our prayers more? Every piece of legislation enacted or not enacted impacts at least 300 million people and in all likelihood billions given our influence around the world. Great power, whether garnered legitimately or not, resides in their hands. What if they acted on our behalf to insure we could live godly lives? They have in the past. Christianity played a significant role the abolition of gladiator games, making sport of humiliation and death. Three successive emperors led the way. Faith drove Wilberforce in his determination to see slavery abolished. Won’t someone rise to power and end abortion as birth control which, when history is written, will be considered far more barbaric than both gladiator games and slavery combined? Perhaps but unlikely without the strength of 300 million prayers behind him.

Must go! Time to pray!