Kodi and the Missional Lifestyle
13 years ago
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
What If?
I have a teacher who always tells me that she will answer what if questions after 3:30. Well Mrs. Young, it is 3:53... I want to ask a crazy question. What if Jesus Knew what He was talking about? I find it funny that I often hear people telling me that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I hear them say that Jesus is the perfect representation of God's character. Yet, they do not listen to the words of Jesus written in this inerrant revelation from God. What if Jesus meant exactly what He said? What would happen if a group of people asked themselves that question consistently? Well, there are a couple of models in history. You may have heard of some of them: The Apostles, Saint Francis of Assisi, the Anabaptists, Martin Luther King Jr., John Wesley, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mother Tereasea, and Dorothy Day. What would that look like today? What if someone committed to seeking out the ideas of Jesus and putting them into practice? This post is not a statement, it is a question. So the answer is up to you... What if Jesus was right?
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A good question, which would, and will, take a lifetime to not be able to answer fully.. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, first of all, I do think we'd look a whole lot different.
I certainly don't want to offer up the excuse of, "Well, we're not perfect," but that, of course, is true, and so grace must certainly be applied, but, as you say, we so often do not even listen to these words, in fact, we do not even try.
For myself, as you often talk about this very subject, my thoughts go to more philosophical, I suppose I am more inner-focused than you may be. My thoughts go to verses like in John where Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman at a well, he a Jewish man, possibly a Rabbi, and tells this Samaritan woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). I rarely think about Jesus in this way. I rarely think about who I am praying to. I am always asking for my daily bread, but am I asking for eternal bread? So I guess my response follows my thought process, to at some point internalize what your talking about.
Do we know who we pray to, do we know, believe, what He offers?
And that realization may only come from living in a manner that is in line with His teachings here on earth, maybe we can only find out what it is He offers if we begin to live like He did.
To that, as you often go to, I guess the Beatitudes, and really the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount, speak to that pretty well.
Blessed are the meek? the poor in spirit? those who mourn? those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? who are merciful? who are pure in heart? who are peacemakers? who are persecuted?
Have I ever been persecuted for what I believe? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Am I meek? Am I merciful?
Am I really salt, light, to people? Have I really shown God's light, glory, to people?
Do I deny even anger with my brothers, with anyone?
Do refuse to look at women as more than an object?
Do I keep my word?
Do I give to all who ask, bountifully, as the Lord has given to me?
Do I love my enemies?
The answer to these, the even more questions of the Sermon on the Mount, is a resounding no, quite often.
Maybe we ought to try to live under these questions, not depending on our actions for life, but God's grace, and acknowledging that if we have been forgiven, so are we called to live repentant lives, lives according to Jesus' standard, because of a joy of the Lord.
Once again, I am astounded by your insight and raw honesty. I think that it is very reasonable to start with the sermon on the mount. It seems that in three short chapters, Jesus gives us an ethical standard, that if applied would work. The problem is that very few people have had the courage to shame the wisdom of the World.
ReplyDeleteI would caution you however,do not think too individualistically. The sermon on the mount is not just for the individual, but for the Ecclesial community as a whole. D.L. Moody once said that "the world has yet to see what a man fully consecrated toward God can do." I respectfully disagree with Mr. Moody. One man can not fully consecrate him or her self to God. He or she will always fall short. He or she must exist within the context of a community that allows them to be sanctified.
Allow me one example. When the Amish school children were massacred in October of 2006, The Amish community decided to forgive the killer's family. They decided to show love and grace. They decided to reconcile themselves to the family. In short, the community chose the way of Jesus. In interviews afterward, some members of the community expressed how difficult it was for them to obey the commands of Christ to forgive. But because their community did not leave them as isolated individuals with a choice to make, but as a part of a loving community which had already made a choice, the community could help the individual. The body could help its weaker memebers. We can not think of ourselves as autonomous. We have been grafted into the family of God.
This adoption is crucial. It allows us to be a part of a bigger whole. It is this inclusion into the body which allows us to look beyond ourselves. It is this phenomenon, which finally allows us to no longer be the ends but the means.
is it not very frustrating that the tab key does not work on this blog?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is a good thought, and I, honestly, haven't thought very much about the idea of a community being sanctified, in fact, I don't really understand it very well. It's very hard for me to grasp, and to really see the implications.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the tab thing is
understandably annoying.