Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Go Fish

Recorded in the three synoptic Gospels is the story of Jesus calling the first disciples from their careers as fishermen to come and be "fishers of men."

Jesus calls these men who have been rejected from the educational system to be the people to take the Gospel around the world.  In the strict sense of the term they are evangelists, proclaiming the evangelion to the world.  Unfortunately the term "evangelist" has been co-opted by culture and by poor theology.

When we hear this word it brings to mind images of people yelling messages of hell and handing out pieces of paper telling us we're going to hell.  The message is often filled with condemnation and hate.  Or else, at best, we think of people whose sole purpose is to get us to pray that prayer and say those words that will get us to heaven.  If we properly walk through the 10 step process we get a believer in Christ.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus came to proclaim freedom from oppression spiritually and physically.  He came to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven where things are radically different.  He proclaimed this message in love.  He never forced anything.  Jesus told us to go and make disciples.  There's a difference between "believer" and "disciple".  A believer intellectually agrees with something.  A disciples agrees and follows through with action.  Jesus calls us to make disciples.

This Sunday I'll be talking more about the calling to those fishermen and Christ's calling to us to "Go and be fishers of men."

Monday, August 2, 2010

Is He serious?

This past weekend I had the privilege of presiding over my brother, Aaron, and his wife, Angela's, wedding.  It was an honor to be a part of their beautiful ceremony.  It will be a great memory for me too because it was the first wedding I've performed.

All that to say I was at my parents' church this past Sunday where my dad is the senior pastor (so this is life a little outside the Grove now).  He preached on a section of Scripture from John 6 where Jesus has just told his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  Many of the disciples can't take this teaching and turn away.  Jesus doesn't stop them from leaving, but, instead, gives them a choice.  The main point of the message is what do we do with these hard teachings of Jesus, and there are many.  If we take Jesus seriously and believe that we are to put his teachings into practice, what does that look like?

I believe whole heartedly that we are to take the teachings of Jesus literally.  It has implications for our spiritual life, but more than that.  First of all I think the idea that part of life is spiritual and part is, well, not spiritual is a modern concept not a biblical one.  For Jesus, every part of who he was was spiritual.  Unfortunately we tend to turn everything into talk about our "spiritual life".  When we see the teachings about taking up your cross we talk about our cross being a sickness or relationship struggle or something else.  John Howard Yoder points out that the cross was something Jesus willingly chose and was the result of his moral stand against the powers and authorities in his world.  It was not something that was a surprise.  Taking Jesus seriously means living in radical obedience to Christ.  Radical obedience to Christ means that sometimes the powers and authorities of this age may persecute you and you may end up dead.

I'm also beginning more and more to think that I also need to take the Bible seriously when it says I am to live as a stranger and alien.  That my life as a literal citizen of the kingdom of God is to be literally different from those who are citizens of the kingdom of (fill in any country).  I could be wrong about all of this, but I am finding that Jesus was a revolutionary who told us to make disciples who follow and obey him.  He practiced radical love.  And I am learning what it means to take Jesus literally and seriously.

Thanks Dad!
Dad's sermon