There is much discussion, and much of it good, in the church today about understanding the culture we are in, and knowing how to engage it. This can be very healthy, but I think in doing so, we, consciously or not, can slip into a mode of trying to look like them, talk like them, and to some degree, act like them, in order to win them. But "win them" to what? We're in the age of the hip and cool church and pastor. I'm not trying to paint everyone with such strokes, but so often, it seems like we want to apologize for who we are and what we believe, in the hope that our approach will make them "like us." I don't think Jesus was ever concerned with this. In fact, scripture reveals that He went out of His way to discourage people from following Him unless it was to do so with a fully dedicated and surrendered heart. More, He was very willing to appear very "weird" in their sight as He proclaimed to them who He was, and the Kingdom that He came from, and lived within. Scripture abounds with such examples. He spoke, acted, and ministered in ways never before seen. He said things that dumfounded, amazed, and most of all, angered people. People were drawn to Him, and also repelled by Him. Sometimes they were both. In John 6, many were following after Him, in large part because He had been supplying them with "good bread," but when He told them that to really be His, they had to partake of His life completely, and doing that meant partaking of His cross. John 6:66 tells us that at that time, "many turned away and no longer followed Him." Jesus then asked the disciples if they too would leave. Peter answered for all, "Lord, to whom would we go. You have the words of eternal life." The disciples struggled with what they saw and heard from Him, but their hearts responded to Him, were drawn to Him, and couldn't turn away. The strangeness to their flesh of what He said, was overwhelmed by the beauty of who He was, and is, and this hasn't changed. Jesus had no problem with appearing to be a "weirdo from another planet." Yes, He was willing to be found IN and at the places where the lost were, but never was He OF those places. His holiness and purity shined just as brightly there as it did amongst those who fully believed, and hearts would "feel strangely warm" because of it. It won't be any less so today.
I've a friend who spoke of what it is to be a "manic-depressive," or, as commonly labeled, bi-polar. This is a person who experiences wild mood swings. Very high, highs, and very low, lows. The definition of manic is "showing wild, and apparently deranged excitement and energy." They appear to be out of their minds. My friend said that more and more, he wanted to live a "manic Kingdom life in the midst of a fallen, depressed world and culture." Jesus was accused often of being demon possessed, deranged. So was Paul. Why, because they lived with an energy, joy, and power the world could not comprehend. Lives of Light that prevailed against all the power of the darkness of the culture that surrounded them. It is what marked the early church, and it is what must mark us now. Scripture says that believers were called a "peculiar people," and so must we always be. Living in the fullness of the Spirit is always going to look weird to the world. It will to much of the professing church as well. Dare you and I seek to have and live such lives? Lives so lived in Him that when all hell breaks loose, that life breaks through hell. Fools for Christ, as Paul put it. Kingdom maniacs might be another way to say it. Weirdos from another planet to be sure. Residents of His Kingdom. We pray "Your Kingdom come," but its coming will make "weirdos" of all who are His, for His glory and the good of a world culture in desperate need of Him. Your Kingdom come Lord. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly.
Blessings,
Pastor O
No comments:
Post a Comment