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How do you go about
encouraging people whose entire existence has been turned upside down? The
prophet Jeremiah was confronted with this enigma after the Judean capital
city of Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE. The exilic period
(597-537 BCE) was a time of immense theological disruption for Judah. Not
only was the fabric of daily life in the community destroyed, but the
symbolic world that supported life collapsed as well (The New
Interpreter's Study Bible - NRSV, pg. 1051).
In an attempt to
encourage the surviving elders among the exiles - the priests, prophets, and
others in exile in Babylon, Jeremiah wrote a letter. He said, (Jeremiah
29:11) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This letter may well
be written to us today. In a way, the church is a people in exile, albeit
exiled within our own country. We are exiled from the mainstream of
community life. Indeed, in some instances our own children and grandchildren
are questioning, if not outright rejecting, the faith and tradition that has
sustained us throughout our lives. Like the remnant people of Israel and
Judah, strangers in a strange land, we find ourselves to be strangers.
A recent book, titled
Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity,
written by two fellows named Kennaman and Lyons, is based on polls conducted
by the Barna Group with members of the “Buster” generation. The authors’
findings suggest that many of the “Buster” generation, of which my daughter,
Maggie, and her peers are members, consider Christians, those making up the
institutional church, to be “sheltered, hypocritical, judgmental,
legalistic, and too political,” among other things. In recalling
conversations I have had with Maggie, I could hear those same descriptions
being spoken in her voice.
Maggie and I visited
about this recently. She got up early in China, where she is a junior in
college, to call Sarah and me. Maggie said that to her, and to many folks
her age, the church has lost sight of its meaning and purpose.
She said that it seems to her that the church spends so much of its time
trying to survive in the form and prestige it once enjoyed, and in making
declarations about who is “in” and who is “out,” in the church, that it has
lost its essential identity as the Body of Christ. She said, “It seems like
the church has forgotten ‘Who’ it belongs to; which makes me wonder
sometimes just ‘Who,’and what, I belong to as a Christian.’”
Perhaps the challenge
before us, a remnant people living on the edge of God’s new frontier, trying
to bear witness to the faith in which we live and move and have our being,
is to remember, and then to bear witness in a new, and at the same time
old, way, to, the One to whom we belong. I remember Earl Palmer, former
pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, WA, saying one time
that if “we are going to make a difference for Jesus Christ in the world
today, we must remember that we have been called, and we must
remember Who it is who has called us.”
Palmer said, “It is
God’s call to us in Jesus Christ that reveals the meaning and
purpose God has for our lives. The only way we can respond to God’s
meaning and purpose for us is to make a decision for Jesus Christ.”
Seventy or so years ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing Christ The Center,
said, “As Jesus Christ is for us, so, too, must we be for
Jesus Christ.”
So how are we to be
for Jesus Christ?
We are for
Jesus Christ when we make two decisions; decisions in response to God’s
meaning and purpose for us being revealed in God’s call:
In Matthew 4:19 Jesus
issues the call to Simon Peter and Andrew when he said, “Come, follow me.”
Like we probably would have done, the fishermen undoubtedly asked, “Why?” to
which Jesus then reveals the meaning and purpose of his call when he told
them, “I will make you fish for people.” At some level of their being the
meaning and purpose of Jesus’ call to them made sense because the Bible
says, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” To respond to the
meaning and call by following Jesus is the first decision believers make
for Jesus.
The second decision
believers make for Jesus is when the meaning and purpose of the call
are activated. Following his resurrection (John 21:19) Jesus says again to
Peter, “Follow me,” but the call this time is to a fuller and more intimate
relationship with Jesus.
Peter's response to
this call being activated is seen in Acts 2:38-39 when Peter preaches,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and
for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will
call.”
The promise,
for us, for our children, for all whom the Lord our call will call - that we
will be in intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and with one another
through the Holy Spirit as members of God’s own family - this promise
contains God’s meaning and purpose for our lives and our identity as Christ’
Body on earth. The degree to which we live into that promise, and
how we live for Jesus Christ as his Body in the world, depends on how
we fulfill the responsibilities we have as members of God’s
family, and how we enjoy the privileges we have as members of
God’s family.
I am persuaded that
members of God’s family have five responsibilities to fulfill. The first
responsibility is to really be a member of God’s family. The Bible is
very clear that following Christ is not just a matter of believing.
Following Christ includes belonging to his Body. In 1 Peter 1:3 (LB)
we read, “God has given us the grace of being born again so that we are now
members of God’s own family.” Likewise in Eph. 2:19 (LB), “You are members
of God’s very own family…and you belong in God’s household with every other
Christian.” Maggie has always told us, as she has traveled around the world,
“No matter where I go in the world, in a Christian Church I have a home.”
The remaining four
responsibilities of members of God’s family are best described, I believe,
by Robert Schnase in his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.
The second responsibility is that God wants us to be models of God’s own
character. Schnase calls this responsibility “intentional faith
development.” Here we are talking about faith development that has a
distinctively other orientation; our developing into servants who are
self-giving, self-emptying, in every facet of our character, practicing what
theologian Langdon Gilkey called “disinterested love,” loving another simply
for that person‘s sake, with no expectation of being loved in return.
1 Peter 2:21 reads,
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an
example, that you should follow in his steps.” Paul said to Timothy (1
Tim. 4:12),“Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in
love, in faith, and in purity.” A wonderful prayer I learned recently says
this well, “Lord, let me see nothing but what you see; let me say nothing
but what you say; let me do nothing but what you do.”
The third
responsibility of a member of God’s family, Schnase says, is that we engage
in “risk-taking mission and service.” God wants each of us to be a minister
of divine grace. Every Christian has a personalized purpose of service or
ministry. God expects us to use the gifts, talents, and opportunities we
have been given to benefit others. And on top of that, God wants us to use
what we have been given even if it means risking our lives. The Book
of Order, in talking about the church’s mission, says that the
church is to pursue its mission even at the risk of its life. As members of
Christ’s Body, of God’s family, we are to do no less. When you give your
life to Christ you are signing up to minister in his name for the rest of
your life. Nobody retires from Christ-like service. It’s what God made you
for. Paul told the Ephesians [Eph. 2:10 (LB)], “It is God himself who has
made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages
ago he planned that we should spend these lives helping others.”
Schnase says that the
fourth responsibility of a member of God’s family is that we practice
“radical hospitality.” God wants each of us to be messengers of God’s love,
and the way we best practice “radical hospitality” is by demonstrating God’s
redeeming love and grace by embracing brothers and sisters, even folks not
like us, and inviting them to receive their place in God’s family. I
believe “radical hospitality” should be our definition for evangelism as we
live for Jesus Christ on the edge of God’s new frontier. How much
more personal can an invitation be than to invite someone to be part of the
family of God, where they have as much right to be as any of us do? If we
are, as Martin Luther said, to be “little Christs,” then we must remember,
as Paul told the Corinthians (2 Cor. 5:19-20), that “…God was reconciling
the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And
God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us;...”
The fifth
responsibility of a member of God’s family is to participate in “passionate
worship.” God wants us to magnify God’s name. God created us so that we
could worship. God also told us (Exodus 20:3), “You shall have no other gods
before me.” The truth is, since we have been created to worship, if we don’t
worship God we will find something else to worship.
How often is our
worship truly passion-filled? I am persuaded that too often our worship is
less than compelling. The Bible says (Psalm 34:3), “Glorify the Lord with
me! Let us exalt God’s name together!” Do people experience exaltation in
our worship services?
So, the
responsibilities of members of God’s family, people who are for Jesus
Christ, are:
·
To belong to God’s family;
·
To grow through “intentional faith development;”
·
To engage in “risk-taking mission and service;”
·
To practice “radical hospitality;”
·
To participate in “passionate worship.”
What about the
privileges of belonging to God’s family? They are the same five things!
Belonging to God’s
family provides us with a fellowship to help us in all of the challenges and
joys of life; “Intentional faith development” helps us fortify our faith by
serving others; “Risk-taking mission and service” frees us to discover our
gifts and talents for ministry; Practicing “radical hospitality” helps us to
fulfill our mission to take the good news to the world; “Passionate worship”
helps us to focus our full attention on God, the One who loves each of us as
if we were the only one there was to love.
Jeremiah’s letter to
the family of God in exile reminded them of the meaning and purpose of their
lives - to live for God. God’s call to us to be members of the family
of God reveals to us the meaning and purpose of our lives - to live for
Jesus Christ. As members of God’s family, the Body of Christ, God has given
us everything we need to live for Jesus Christ:
-
God’s people to live with
- our family;
-
God’s principles to live
by - spiritual growth;
-
God’s profession to live
out - our ministry;
-
God’s purpose to live for
- our mission;
-
God’s power to live on -
our worship of God.
I am persuaded that
if we truly embrace these responsibilities and embrace these privileges, we
will be so attractive to the “Buster” generation that they will be drawn to
Christ's church in ways we have not seen since the Day of Pentecost. All we
have to do is unleash and unwrap the promise and the power God
has given to us.
Remember when Jesus
called Lazarus from the tomb in John 11:44? The text reads, "Jesus said to
them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'" What a wimpy rendering!
I think a better
rendering would be, "Turn him loose!" Let loose the power of God that is at
hand in our churches! Turn loose the gifts of family, spiritual growth,
risk-taking mission and ministry! Turn loose the command to make disciples!
Turn loose passionate worship of God! Turn it all LOOSE!
I believe, as Jeremiah did, that
what is turned loose will be God's plans for Christ's Church, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
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