The great thing about the New Testament is that if you take all of the controversial passages out or all of the controversial books out (had their been stricter canonization or something like that) then nothing has changed. All of the books are really trying to portray the same Gospel message. You could even take out a whole chunk of the thing and the same principles would still be there in text. I find this amazing by the way.
Same goes for quotations (and translations for that matter). The exact wording is not important to the story of the redemption of God's people, Jesus' triumph over death at the cross. Basically, no matter how you swing it, you can't escape the Gospel in the New Testament.
But check this out. I was thinking about this while reading Luke recently.
Exact quotations don't seem very likely. After all, though we now think the Gospels were written within one generation of Jesus (i.e. the writers would have been able to interview eye witnesses) it's not like they were going to his sermons with pencil and pad like these days. They didn't take their recorder or replay it later that night on the podcast to make sure they got the wording correct. However, what if it were possible that these quotations were exact or even almost exact (at least in the Greek)?
We all know how shocking what Jesus said is to all us here today. And we understand that it would have been more shocking to his audience back in the day. So given the oral customs of the society and the shocking nature of what Jesus said, people may have actually remembered exactly what he said. Furthermore, the Gospel writers may have been able to even corroborate these quotes with other eye witnesses. How rad is that to think about? I think I just might have remembered exactly what the man said if I had been there and heard him speak once. How about that for the providence of God. So maybe all the Gospels have similar quotations and stories and what not because they all interviewed the eye witnesses. Whoa. That would pretty much ruin anyone who doubted the Bible's credibility. Or maybe they are so similar because of Q. Whatever.
Just a provocative thought I had.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A New Evangelism
Why are Evangelists among the most hated people groups in the world? I'm sure you have seen the statistics before, that evangelists are hated more than a number of horrible groups, and not without good reason I might add. But isn't the Gospel supposed to be the good news? Does the Gospel really inspire hatred? Not the Gospel I know. RD you mentioned the Gospel was something worth sharing, a source of hope and life through reconciliation and redemption. What the heck have these have evangelists been sharing with the world then?
One thing I realized early on in college, due largely in part to the wisdom of our Engage brethren, is that there is a big difference between conversion and redemption. And the church I grew up in was all about conversion, but not so much redemption. What I mean by that is that the marriage doesn't stop at I do and our job as a church doesn't end with this magical prayer we are always having people recite. You know the one...ask Jesus in to your heart, yada yada yada. We have dropped the ball on this big time. We seem almost more concerned with numbers than life change. Have you ever overheard a christian you didn't know talk about how successful their mission trip was. They say something about how they built 3 houses for local families to live in and built 2 genuine relationships with local leaders or influencers in the village and plan on following up over the phone right?
No not all. They actually say something like, we had 17 people give their lives to Christ the first night and then 21 the next night, for a total of 38, which of course was 3 more than Jimmy's group last summer. (Ok the last part there may be a little much but you know what I'm talking about). I'm not trying to downplay the importance of sharing Jesus with others. I just don't think that this is what the great commission meant when it said to make disciples. Making disciples is more than saying a prayer. We are just breeding spiritual halflings. Can we actually expect someone to experience a complete life change because of one encounter with God (well God is big enough to do that so there goes that arguement). But 6 weeks later has the effect faded? If so have we really accomplished anything? As a church we cannot just abandon people once "the prayer" has been evoked.
True redemption requires relationship, commitment, accountability. A perfect picture of this was our junior roommate, Derek. When he was over in Central America somewhere for a mission trip or vacation or who knows what, he had apparently put a roof on a guy's house. And every couple of weeks he would talk to him on the phone in spanish to check up on him and see how is family was doing. And every other month he would host a party or gathering to raise money for this guy and his family, so they could pay their electric bill, pay for house repairs, and have food every night for their kids. THAT is redemption. That is life change. He has turned this guy's life completely around. I don't think any of that will soon be forgotten.
Ergo, here is my idea. I call it the New Evangelism (well actually we should probably get away from that word wherever possible because of its extreme negative connotation but oh well). Maybe the best way to make disciples of all nations is not by having them convert or even trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord. After all, only God can bring them to a place of true repentence. We have no control over their heart (and need to stop acting like we do). And given the amount of damage that has already been done using this model and how misrepresented Jesus is within it, maybe we should take a different approach.
Craig Groeschel says that to reach people no else is reaching, we have to do things no else is doing (a motto for us perhaps. I vote yes).
Maybe our aim should be more directed toward getting people interested in Jesus and then following up through relationship (Ok so this idea may not be that revolutionary but it's a start). If we could just get everyone to take a deeper look, then God will do the rest. He will engage them where they are. The beauty of this approach is they may just be surprised by what they find when they seek.
As we all learned in our bible study on the hall, Jesus was one radical dude (one wild and crazy guy). People would be astounded as I am everyday by what Jesus actually says and not what we have been taught he says or what we think he says. We need to just let the man speak for himself.
Tim Kellar makes a great arguement for why everyone needs to take a look at Christ by pointing out that due to the magnitude of the claim (no one else in history has both been accused of being divine and claimed to be divine) you have to KNOW that he must be a fake. You can't just assume that he is a fraud or take someone else's word for it. You HAVE to see you for yourself because the consequences of the claims of Jesus are too great not just for eternity but for today (ridiculous sermon by the way, free on his website). Today, one of our biggest battlegrounds is the apathetic, those who don't want to bother thinking about it or don't have the time. Maybe all we have to do then to get them to take a deeper look is to show them the magnitude of the claim.
Oh and if we want to redeem God's people, we have to follow up.
One thing I realized early on in college, due largely in part to the wisdom of our Engage brethren, is that there is a big difference between conversion and redemption. And the church I grew up in was all about conversion, but not so much redemption. What I mean by that is that the marriage doesn't stop at I do and our job as a church doesn't end with this magical prayer we are always having people recite. You know the one...ask Jesus in to your heart, yada yada yada. We have dropped the ball on this big time. We seem almost more concerned with numbers than life change. Have you ever overheard a christian you didn't know talk about how successful their mission trip was. They say something about how they built 3 houses for local families to live in and built 2 genuine relationships with local leaders or influencers in the village and plan on following up over the phone right?
No not all. They actually say something like, we had 17 people give their lives to Christ the first night and then 21 the next night, for a total of 38, which of course was 3 more than Jimmy's group last summer. (Ok the last part there may be a little much but you know what I'm talking about). I'm not trying to downplay the importance of sharing Jesus with others. I just don't think that this is what the great commission meant when it said to make disciples. Making disciples is more than saying a prayer. We are just breeding spiritual halflings. Can we actually expect someone to experience a complete life change because of one encounter with God (well God is big enough to do that so there goes that arguement). But 6 weeks later has the effect faded? If so have we really accomplished anything? As a church we cannot just abandon people once "the prayer" has been evoked.
True redemption requires relationship, commitment, accountability. A perfect picture of this was our junior roommate, Derek. When he was over in Central America somewhere for a mission trip or vacation or who knows what, he had apparently put a roof on a guy's house. And every couple of weeks he would talk to him on the phone in spanish to check up on him and see how is family was doing. And every other month he would host a party or gathering to raise money for this guy and his family, so they could pay their electric bill, pay for house repairs, and have food every night for their kids. THAT is redemption. That is life change. He has turned this guy's life completely around. I don't think any of that will soon be forgotten.
Ergo, here is my idea. I call it the New Evangelism (well actually we should probably get away from that word wherever possible because of its extreme negative connotation but oh well). Maybe the best way to make disciples of all nations is not by having them convert or even trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord. After all, only God can bring them to a place of true repentence. We have no control over their heart (and need to stop acting like we do). And given the amount of damage that has already been done using this model and how misrepresented Jesus is within it, maybe we should take a different approach.
Craig Groeschel says that to reach people no else is reaching, we have to do things no else is doing (a motto for us perhaps. I vote yes).
Maybe our aim should be more directed toward getting people interested in Jesus and then following up through relationship (Ok so this idea may not be that revolutionary but it's a start). If we could just get everyone to take a deeper look, then God will do the rest. He will engage them where they are. The beauty of this approach is they may just be surprised by what they find when they seek.
As we all learned in our bible study on the hall, Jesus was one radical dude (one wild and crazy guy). People would be astounded as I am everyday by what Jesus actually says and not what we have been taught he says or what we think he says. We need to just let the man speak for himself.
Tim Kellar makes a great arguement for why everyone needs to take a look at Christ by pointing out that due to the magnitude of the claim (no one else in history has both been accused of being divine and claimed to be divine) you have to KNOW that he must be a fake. You can't just assume that he is a fraud or take someone else's word for it. You HAVE to see you for yourself because the consequences of the claims of Jesus are too great not just for eternity but for today (ridiculous sermon by the way, free on his website). Today, one of our biggest battlegrounds is the apathetic, those who don't want to bother thinking about it or don't have the time. Maybe all we have to do then to get them to take a deeper look is to show them the magnitude of the claim.
Oh and if we want to redeem God's people, we have to follow up.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
incompatible.
I've heard a lot of messages lately that I frankly have no idea what to do with. Their implementations seem abstract, uber-practical, and, most often, overwhelmingly impossible.
What are we supposed to do with Rob Bell's Jesus Wants to Save Christians? What do we do with the prophets? What do we do with the book of Acts vs. the American Church?
Yes, privileged doesn't even begin to describe me. Yes, my computer is equivalent to 2 years income for over half of the world's population. Yes, I live (quite comfortably) in empire. Yes, my church is like a concert. Yes, if it wasn't people wouldn't come.
I frankly find it all very discouraging, like the system of churches that we've setup is not compatible with the real message of Jesus. That I'M not compatible with the message of Jesus.
But the message of Jesus is timeless. It is and forever will be 'universally compatible'. The message of Jesus is for Joe Six-Pack and for Somalians. It's for all of us.
So why does it seem so incompatible? Why is it so hard to be like Jesus in Anytown, USA but exceedingly easier to be like Jesus on a mission trip?
How can we put the compatible message of Jesus Christ into practice?
I know this is extremely vague and lacks the same implementation abilities that we had at the beginning of this post, but really...really...how do we do this? Do we keep what's in place (the church)? Do we start a new church? Why do we feel powerless when the HOLY SPIRIT lives among us? Really though...
Commentary requested!
Monday, March 2, 2009
The Gospel
What is the Gospel? Many people go around talking about it and throwing it around, but do they actually know what the gospel is? Could they actually unpack it if you asked them? It is important to continually unload the Gospel on people. There is rampant confusion about what it is, especially in the South.
Most people have some cursory understanding of the Gospel, but a lot of times they really have a misunderstanding or misconception of what the Gospel is. They believe it is about religion or morality, "doing good" or "being a good person", sometimes they can even throw around the hallowed "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" as a means of explaining the Gospel.
By doing this most people rob the Gospel of its meaning and power, reducing it to a laundry list of dos and donts and preventing it from transforming the lives of God's people. This is tragic.
The Gospel, at its essence (and in my mind) is actually not mainly about us. It is about God. The Gospel points, not to us, but to the trinitarian God. It points to what God has done in Christ. It is not about us. Certainly the implications of Christ's redemption means that we move from death to life, but to the Gospel is about what God has done for us, not what we have done for God. The Gospel is Christ-centered, God-exalting, Spirit-filled power, moving people form life to death. That is the Gospel that we must proclaim to people. A Gospel that moves people from us to God, from our issues to the Cross of Christ.
The Gospel is the good news that our sin, our brokeness is not the end of the story, but that God has sent Jesus Christ to ransom us from death and bring us into life. The Gospel is though we have earned death, God in Christ has provided us life. This is the good news, not that there are some amazing rules to follow or some R rated movies that we should never see...it is that God has reconciled us through Christ and that in that reconciliation we have true hope and life.
That is something worth sharing.
Most people have some cursory understanding of the Gospel, but a lot of times they really have a misunderstanding or misconception of what the Gospel is. They believe it is about religion or morality, "doing good" or "being a good person", sometimes they can even throw around the hallowed "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" as a means of explaining the Gospel.
By doing this most people rob the Gospel of its meaning and power, reducing it to a laundry list of dos and donts and preventing it from transforming the lives of God's people. This is tragic.
The Gospel, at its essence (and in my mind) is actually not mainly about us. It is about God. The Gospel points, not to us, but to the trinitarian God. It points to what God has done in Christ. It is not about us. Certainly the implications of Christ's redemption means that we move from death to life, but to the Gospel is about what God has done for us, not what we have done for God. The Gospel is Christ-centered, God-exalting, Spirit-filled power, moving people form life to death. That is the Gospel that we must proclaim to people. A Gospel that moves people from us to God, from our issues to the Cross of Christ.
The Gospel is the good news that our sin, our brokeness is not the end of the story, but that God has sent Jesus Christ to ransom us from death and bring us into life. The Gospel is though we have earned death, God in Christ has provided us life. This is the good news, not that there are some amazing rules to follow or some R rated movies that we should never see...it is that God has reconciled us through Christ and that in that reconciliation we have true hope and life.
That is something worth sharing.
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