Last night I went out to hang with some homeless friends under a bridge, and I witnessed something that broke my heart: A couple hundred of "the least of these" standing hungry and broken beneath a bridge, waiting for a bite to eat that they might no longer be hungry, or a cup of water to drink that they might no longer thirst. Only a few feet away were tables covered with good food, clean water and intact clothing, and it would seem for a moment as if all their needs were about to be met. Until the guy praying for the meal breaks off his prayer to start preaching.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against preaching... I'm a preacher. I believe in the power of words to bring home the timeless truths of God. Jesus himself preached, as did Peter and Paul. I did however, have a problem with this. As the multitudes stood waiting, helpless to leave unless they wanted to go yet another day without a meal, he yelled at the top of his lungs, shouting about hell and condemnation and telling these people how absolutely terrible they were. Every now and again a verse of scripture was interspersed through the clamor, but when it was heard I wept, for the words of Christ were horribly misrepresented as they emanated from this man's mouth. It was clear to me and those who I was with that the only thing this "gospel" was doing was hardening these peoples hearts.
Think with me for a moment, how did Jesus do ministry? He sat down and ate with sinners, he developed genuine relationships with people and loved on them. To the "religious" folk who wanted to condemn he spoke harshly, but to the lost and the broken he showed love. This is what we must do! We must meet people where they are at and love them unconditionally. Jesus did not tell us to, "love your neighbor until he converts and stop loving him if he doesn't," but to "love your neighbor as yourself" and to "love one another as I have loved you."
What would it look like for us to love unconditionally? To reach out and to treat those whom society has marginalized like a human being? That's all they want! Imagine what it would be like to go through life being judged constantly people assuming that you got to be where you are at because of drugs, alcohol or laziness; people treating you as if you where somehow inferior--sub-human because of the circumstances you have fallen upon.
Or even imagine for a moment that you find yourself without a job, without a home and without a friend because of bad choices you have made. And now, no one will even look you in the eye! Imagine for a moment the brokenness, imagine the despair. Now imagine for a moment that someone looks you in the eye and says, "good morning friend, is there anything I can do for you? Can I get you food or water? Perhaps some clean clothes? Is there some way I could be praying for you today?" What if someone were to ask your name... a name that had become unfamiliar to your own lips from neglect, because no one cared to ask. What if you were treated like an actual person bearing the Imago Dei and dearly loved by your Creator?
Would not this give you hope? And if this were to happen consistently, wouldn't you wonder, "what makes this person so different? Why do they care so much about me? They say they're 'just a group of folks trying to follow Jesus, and he told us to love people so that's what we're doing...' What if there's something to this Jesus person?"
Friends, preaching's all well and good, but its not going to validate itself! You can talk and talk until you're blue in the face but if there is nothing to lend credence to your words other than the words themselves, then the words won't have a whole lot of impact. It is a changed life that will bear witness to the truth of your words, a life changed by Jesus and inspired to follow in his footsteps by loving people without limits or conditions.
And what if they don't respond to your kindness with anything more than a smile and a thank you? We keep loving them! The love of God is not conditional on conversion, and ours shouldn't be either. We're called to feed the hungry, even when they are our enemies (Romans 12:20) and to clothe the naked (Matthew 25:35). For Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40 ).
So do I think we should even preach to the poor and marginalized when we go to serve them? Well, in the traditional evangelistic sense? No. I believe our lives of love and service are to be our witness and these things will speak far louder than our words ever could. The church has gotten a bad rap, we're hypocritical don't you know? And we judge and condemn. We don't actually care for those who we preach Christ to, we just want them to convert, be baptized and go home.
The truth is, if people believe that about us they will want nothing to do with what we have to say or the Jesus we represent. We must first prove in a very real and tangible way that we genuinely love those who we profess to, and that we care for them holistically. Don't mistake me here, the key word is genuinely. This isn't some new-fangled evangelism scheme to make converts. Listen: In order to convince people you genuinely love them... we need to genuinely love them! We're not pretending to love people so that they'll believe us and repent, I can't say it enough--Love is not conditional upon repentance! We're to be about genuinely loving people because that's what Jesus was about. Does genuine love mean that eventually we address spiritual needs? Yes. But we do that from a place of friendship, not detached sunday-school street-evangelism.
Showing posts with label Second Chances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Second Chances. Show all posts
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Facebook Christianity
Facebook Christianity... you probably know what this is, but if you don't, I will define it for you. Its when someone appears to be passionate about their faith through quotes and statuses and blogs that they post on various social networking sites. The irony in this is that many cases the words being typed onto a screen do not reflect the lifestyle that the person typing them is living.
My point is this: it is far easier to tweet about a bible verse or a evangelistic message than it is to live it. Now as I say this I want you to keep in mind that technology is a powerful tool. With the advent of social networks thousands of people can connect at the speed of light, and thoughts and ideas can be exchanged in an instant.
Imagine if such ability to connect with people across the globe and share ideas had been possible in during the European Enlightenment Era, or the Protestant Reformation, or the Awakening... The world as we know it would be drastically different because great thinkers and theologians would have the power to conference and build on each others ideas, even share entire works of literature instantaneously. However, no matter how great or powerful and idea may be, it comes to nothing if it is not put into practice. Can you see where this is going?
On the other hand, an idea put into practice can be revolutionary. Take for example, the recent revolution in Egypt. It started with an idea, a dream of a better home, a place for freedom and democracy, where all would have rights. The idea hit the web, appearing on Facebook and Twitter. In a short period of time the idea was viral among people the age of myself, the majority of my readers, and perhaps people a few years older. These young men and women began organizing protests via internet, posting political blogs, sharing ideas... starting a revolution.
If they had just stopped there then it probably would have died out over time, just another idea in a long string of incredible but impractical ideas. But they didn't stop there, they put their ideas into action. That is what truly started a revolution. And their passion and perseverance made the revolution a success, they are now taking the first steps onto a long road of reforms.
It started with and idea, spread through instantaneous communication via social network, culminated in action, and ended in success. Do all revolutions that follow this path succeed? No. But I know of one that is guaranteed to.
Because God has given us His Word, we know that the gospel will ultimately prevail. That the work of sanctification that is being done in us will lead to our final justification when Christ returns, so long as we continuously put our faith in him. As long as we recognize our dependence on the Gospel, as long as we feed on it daily, and realize that we cannot save our selves, and live for the glory of God with joy (see Romans 1:15-18).... of course, that is another blog post entirely.
What I mean in saying that is this: we have a task set before us, a commission to share the gospel with the lost and broken to the glory of God. It is a task that we do not have to be ashamed of because the gospel will ultimately prevail (Rom 1:16). Why then not start a revolution? Why not stand up and say that the direction society is going in is leading to self destruction, why not recognize that these trials and tribulations we face are the wrath of righteous and just God against unrighteousness, why not share the good news that their is hope and salvation in Christ Jesus, and that by the power of grace death becomes a gateway to paradise, futility and suffering become pathways to holiness, punishment is transformed into purification, and the power of sin is replaced with a growing love of righteousness. This is a revolution that cannot fail!
A friend of mine wrote this on my last blog post, he said "Whenever I read what you say, I can only think of one much older and much more experienced. I don't know why. You just SOUND like a... religious leader, for lack of a better term."
The fact that he put emphasis on sound works out nicely, because I want to point that out. Now, I don't believe that this is necessarily what he meant by this, but I'm making a point. I can write like a religious leader all I want, but am I living the life of a leader? Does my life reflect my blog? There is a radical love that we are claiming to know on our Facebook accounts, that we tweet clever sayings about, and yes, even write long redundant blogs posts about. The question is do we really know that radical love? Because a radical love cannot leave us unchanged. Are we truly allowing the love of Christ pervade our lives, every aspect of them? Are we truly living our lives to the glory of God to the extent that 1 Corinthians 10:13 commands us to? The very reason we were created?
My challenge for you and I is this: Lets start our own revolution. The ideas are out there, God gave us a fantastic book as the final word, and there are thousands of theological resources on the web, get to really know God, really trust Him, and begin to develop a deeper relationship with Him. But lets not wait until we think we have all the answers. We will never have all the answers in this life, and we probably won't in the next either. Earnestly seek out truth, but the, the time is now to live radically for Christ. Not tomorrow or the next day. As a pastor friend of mine likes to say "Someday is the busiest day in human history." We will always be works in progress, but by the grace of God we have an opportunity even in the midst of our own brokenness to share the love of Christ with a lost and broken world.
My point is this: it is far easier to tweet about a bible verse or a evangelistic message than it is to live it. Now as I say this I want you to keep in mind that technology is a powerful tool. With the advent of social networks thousands of people can connect at the speed of light, and thoughts and ideas can be exchanged in an instant.
Imagine if such ability to connect with people across the globe and share ideas had been possible in during the European Enlightenment Era, or the Protestant Reformation, or the Awakening... The world as we know it would be drastically different because great thinkers and theologians would have the power to conference and build on each others ideas, even share entire works of literature instantaneously. However, no matter how great or powerful and idea may be, it comes to nothing if it is not put into practice. Can you see where this is going?
On the other hand, an idea put into practice can be revolutionary. Take for example, the recent revolution in Egypt. It started with an idea, a dream of a better home, a place for freedom and democracy, where all would have rights. The idea hit the web, appearing on Facebook and Twitter. In a short period of time the idea was viral among people the age of myself, the majority of my readers, and perhaps people a few years older. These young men and women began organizing protests via internet, posting political blogs, sharing ideas... starting a revolution.
If they had just stopped there then it probably would have died out over time, just another idea in a long string of incredible but impractical ideas. But they didn't stop there, they put their ideas into action. That is what truly started a revolution. And their passion and perseverance made the revolution a success, they are now taking the first steps onto a long road of reforms.
It started with and idea, spread through instantaneous communication via social network, culminated in action, and ended in success. Do all revolutions that follow this path succeed? No. But I know of one that is guaranteed to.
Because God has given us His Word, we know that the gospel will ultimately prevail. That the work of sanctification that is being done in us will lead to our final justification when Christ returns, so long as we continuously put our faith in him. As long as we recognize our dependence on the Gospel, as long as we feed on it daily, and realize that we cannot save our selves, and live for the glory of God with joy (see Romans 1:15-18).... of course, that is another blog post entirely.
What I mean in saying that is this: we have a task set before us, a commission to share the gospel with the lost and broken to the glory of God. It is a task that we do not have to be ashamed of because the gospel will ultimately prevail (Rom 1:16). Why then not start a revolution? Why not stand up and say that the direction society is going in is leading to self destruction, why not recognize that these trials and tribulations we face are the wrath of righteous and just God against unrighteousness, why not share the good news that their is hope and salvation in Christ Jesus, and that by the power of grace death becomes a gateway to paradise, futility and suffering become pathways to holiness, punishment is transformed into purification, and the power of sin is replaced with a growing love of righteousness. This is a revolution that cannot fail!
A friend of mine wrote this on my last blog post, he said "Whenever I read what you say, I can only think of one much older and much more experienced. I don't know why. You just SOUND like a... religious leader, for lack of a better term."
The fact that he put emphasis on sound works out nicely, because I want to point that out. Now, I don't believe that this is necessarily what he meant by this, but I'm making a point. I can write like a religious leader all I want, but am I living the life of a leader? Does my life reflect my blog? There is a radical love that we are claiming to know on our Facebook accounts, that we tweet clever sayings about, and yes, even write long redundant blogs posts about. The question is do we really know that radical love? Because a radical love cannot leave us unchanged. Are we truly allowing the love of Christ pervade our lives, every aspect of them? Are we truly living our lives to the glory of God to the extent that 1 Corinthians 10:13 commands us to? The very reason we were created?
My challenge for you and I is this: Lets start our own revolution. The ideas are out there, God gave us a fantastic book as the final word, and there are thousands of theological resources on the web, get to really know God, really trust Him, and begin to develop a deeper relationship with Him. But lets not wait until we think we have all the answers. We will never have all the answers in this life, and we probably won't in the next either. Earnestly seek out truth, but the, the time is now to live radically for Christ. Not tomorrow or the next day. As a pastor friend of mine likes to say "Someday is the busiest day in human history." We will always be works in progress, but by the grace of God we have an opportunity even in the midst of our own brokenness to share the love of Christ with a lost and broken world.
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