Taken from:

RelevantMagazine.com

Have we made being “famous for Jesus” into an idol?

For most Americans, idolatry is a foreign concept. Most of us don’t have bronze statues of a fat bald man sitting cross-legged on our mantles. Yet, idols are common to every culture. Idolatry often shows up in the way we take something that isn’t God and treat it like a god. Fame, success and power are gods we serve as if they are immortal and have the power to bestow that immortality on us. Our idols are “immortality symbols”—things that make us feel powerful, like we will live forever.

David Goetz, a former editor for Christianity Today, warns of how even pastors entertain these subtle idols: “For clergy, [the immortality symbol] is the 3,000-member megachurch. I often sat in the studies of both small-church pastors and megachurch pastors, listening to their stories, their hopes, their plans for significance, but when you’re 53 and serving a congregation of 250, you know, finally, you’ll never achieve the large-church immortality symbol.”

We have nicer words that cloak our pursuits, making us believe they are godly. Influence. Platform. The opportunity to reach more people. These seem noble and Christian, sanctioned—nay, commissioned—by God. But in an age when we have more megachurches than ever before but fewer people who go to church, when we have record-breaking, best-selling Christian authors and yet a majority of our culture who don’t recognize the authors’ names, we must ask ourselves a few gut-level questions:

What if a desire to “make an impact” is just a form of grasping for immortality? 
What if a quest for influence is actually another way of chasing fame?
What if efforts to “expand the Kingdom” are really monuments to our entrepreneurial skills?
What if, in the name of building platforms to proclaim the Gospel, we have elevated people into Christian celebrities?
What if we’ve added God to an already crowded house of idols—the idols of fame and success?

Making Jesus Famous?

I have heard people say they want to make Jesus famous. That sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure Jesus wants the help. The irony is, while He was on earth, Jesus had plenty of opportunities to become famous, to leverage His influence for the Kingdom. And yet, He resisted. He repeatedly told the people He healed to be quiet about the miracle, or to simply present themselves to the priest for confirmation of their cleansed state.

On one occasion, when a man who was tormented by demons was set free, the man pleaded with Jesus to let him travel with Jesus. The man could have been Jesus’ opening act, the dramatic testimony that would “build faith” in the crowds before Jesus took the stage. Yet, Jesus tells the man to simply go home and tell his own people what the Lord had done.

And when Jesus did set His face toward Jerusalem, it wasn’t to perform a spectacle at the Temple, as Satan had earlier suggested He do; Jesus went to Jerusalem, to the epicenter of culture, to die.

But what about the crowds?

There were still crowds of people who followed Jesus around. For all His efforts, Jesus was still, in a very real sense, famous. True, but what Jesus chose to do and say among the crowds is instructive. He fed them, taught them, often performed miracles and did everything He could to leave them or drive them away.

In John 6, Jesus does all of the above. After performing one of His greatest miracles—the feeding of the 5,000—the crowd got so excited they insisted on making Jesus king “by force.” Think of it: The people were going to make Him king by force. Isn’t that what Jesus came for? Couldn’t God “use this for His glory”?

In true counter-cultural form though, Jesus retreated to a mountain by Himself. Then, after the crowd tracked Him down, Jesus proceeded to preach His most offensive sermon—something about eating His flesh and drinking His blood—leaving Jesus with only the most devout, or desperate, of His disciples.

Mending Our Ways

It is not enough to do God’s work; we must do it in God’s way. And that way is no more evident than in Jesus. We cannot keep justifying our methods by saying so long as people are “coming to Christ,” it doesn’t matter how we do it. The division between our message and our methods is a false dichotomy.

It’s not just the methodology of lights and video and technology and rock music—but the way, the values that shape how we approach ministry. I suggest we value fame—we call it “influence”—too much. I suggest we value size and scale too much. I suggest we care more about systems and efficiency in our churches than we do about the personal and the communal. And I think it’s time to mend our ways. Here are some thoughts on how:

In the wake of a scandal at my church three years ago, I was forced to face the idols in my crowded heart. I realized how much I cared about the size of my church and the many interviews my pastor was doing on national TV and the ever-expanding influence of our worship songs.

When I had to come to grips with the possibility of losing all I had enjoyed, I realized just how much I enjoyed it. I was serving God and success, Jesus and fame. And God would not take it anymore. He began to undermine and overthrow idols in my heart. I suspect He’s up to the same subversive work in you.

Listen to Limitations

“Yes, yes,” you say. “Organizations don’t last, but people are forever. I just want to reach more people.”

Good and fine. But consider that Jesus didn’t heal everyone who was sick; remember there were times when the crowds pressed toward Jesus with their needs, and He retreated to be alone with God. To be human is to have limitations.

Psalm 90 prays we would learn our frailty and be able to “number our days,” to understand we will have an end to our efforts, a limit to our strength.

Culture will always push us to pursue more than we can handle, technology will make us believe we can reach more people than we can know or love. But I’ve watched pastors unravel because they haven’t learned to embrace their limitations. When we ignore limitations, it’s an indicator we may be giving our allegiance to the god of success.

Jesus seemed rather uninterested in a large following or in growing His fame. For Jesus, immortality—living forever, the eternal kind of life—was not in the gods of fame or success, but in knowing “the only true God” (John 17:3, TNIV). And this, more than anything else, is what Jesus wants for us, too.

Glenn Packiam is an associate pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO, and the author ofSecondhand Jesus (David C. Cook). This article originally appeared in Neue magazine.

The chart above represents the 63,779 cross-references found in the Bible.  A single arc depicts each cross-reference. Compare this to the 439 alleged contradictions from the chart Sam Harris commissioned (reported in Fast Company).

This cross-reference chart does not prove the Bible is not filled with contradictions, but it is a graphic representation of the unity, harmony, and consistency of the Bible.

Some Major Themes Throughout The Bible

God’s initiative—“I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (Exod 6:6-7 and also see Gen 17:7, Exod 19:4-5, Lev 11:45, Lev 26:12, Deut 4:20, Deut 29:13, 2 Chron 23:16, Isa 7:14, Isa 8:8, Jer 32:38, Eze 37:27, Zech 2:11, Zech 8:8, Ezek 34:24, 2 Cor 6:16).  Christ is the embodiment of God’s desire to dwell among God’s people  (Exod 25:8, Exod 29:42-45, Lev 26:9-13, Ezek 37:26-28, Matt 1:23, John 1:14, Eph 2:21, Rev 7:15, Rev 21:3).

God’s initiative despite our disobedience and rebellion—“If we are faithless, He remains faithful” (2 Tim 2:13 and also see Exod 34:6-7, Numbers 14:19, Ps 6:4, Ps 31:17, Ps 44:26, Ps 51:1, Ps 109:26, 1 Thess 5:24).

God’s initiative despite our disobedience and rebellion resulted in the cross—“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly….God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6-8 and also see 1 Cor 15: 3-6, 1 Pet 3:18, 1 John 2:2. 1 John 4:9-10).

Scriptures Bear Witness About Jesus

The reliability of the Bible is important, not so we feel better about having an answer to the flimsy claims of skeptics, but because the Bible contains all things necessary to our salvation. 

Jesus makes it clear that studying Scripture is a means to an end (saving knowledge of Jesus Christ) and not the end in and of itself: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

Commenting on this passage, Martin Luther writes about how to read the Bible:

Here Christ would indicate the principal reason why the Scripture was given by God. Men are to study and search in it and to learn that He, Mary’s Son, is the one who is able to give eternal life to all who come to Him and believe in Him. Therefore, he who would correctly and profitably read Scripture should see to it that he finds Christ in it; then he finds life eternal without fail. On the other hand, if I do not so study and understand Moses and the prophets as to find that Christ came from heaven for the sake of my salvation, became man, suffered, died, was buried, rose, and ascended into heaven so that through Him I enjoy reconciliation with God, forgiveness of all my sins, grace, righteousness, and life eternal, then my reading in Scripture is of no help whatsoever to my salvation. I may, of course, become a learned man by reading and studying Scripture and preach what I have acquired; yet all this would do me no good whatever.

(Luther’s Works, 51, 4)

You can read more from the Resurgence on the “Contradictions in the Bible” chart. Additionally, Doug Wilson picked tworandomly (#208 and #211) and deals with them to show how contrived these “contradictions” are. Matt Perman wrote a postregarding the appearance of contradictions and some of the hard texts of the Bible.

As a sidenote and just for fun, the Sam Harris/Fast Company chart on the supposed errors of the bible has a few of its own:  “contradictions” #7 and #9 are duplicates as are #263 and #264 as are #323 and #324. #404 should read “by” and not “buy.” #406 reads “When when did the transfiguration occur?” That sentences only needs one “when.”

Where the Church has gone wrong and how we can get back on track.

Western culture is all about the self and how to gain bigger and better things. It’s no surprise, then, that this mentality has affected the way most of us think about church. It’s easy to get stuck in a mindset that continuously assesses the quality of a church based on what they have to offer us. There is even more of a tendency to evaluate churches based on the specific desires of one’s self when searching for a new church.

Questions like, “Was the sermon good and did it move me?”, “How well did the band play and did I like the songs?”, “Does the church have fun events coming up that interest me?” and “What was the facility like and did it have a good atmosphere?” are regularly asked by churchgoers every week. A decision about returning to a church is largely based on whether the church’s programs and style are pleasing to us or not.

Church leaders are very aware that people ask these questions. As they seek to carry out the mission God has placed on their hearts for ministry, it can be easy for pastors and administrators to find themselves spending hours in meetings trying to figure out how to market their church to meet everyone’s tastes. When a church’s focus has drifted from Jesus to these external factors, the success of the church is usually then measured in terms of numerical growth, financial giving and programs.

An argument for this mentality is that trying to focus on and please people is a necessary evil in an attempt to reach more people with the Gospel. The problem with this is that when you look at Jesus’ ministry, He spent little to no time entertaining people or making sure they were comfortable. Instead, He stuck to the truths of the Gospel. Many times this approach made people uncomfortable and walk away.

The fact is, the questions we use to assess our churches are not the same questions that God wants us to ask.

In Crazy Love, Francis Chan writes: “God’s definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.”

This love is uncomfortable and it means sometimes listening to music that’s not your style or understanding a sermon that didn’t do much for you might have helped someone else that Sunday. It means that sometimes church isn’t big and cutting-edge, but small and simple. More so, it means not coming to a church focused on consuming, but instead coming to give and serve.

Christians must understand that God does not define “good” churches by the quality of their programs, the size of membership or the look and feel of a facility. Focusing on those things can cause us to completely miss the point of what God actually wants of His Church. God has called us to draw near to Him, share the freedom and life of Jesus, and to love and serve others. Everything else must come second to these goals.

John Ortberg describes what happens in many churches in the 2010 Spring edition of Leadership journal:

“Out of this vision [of who Christ is and what He wants to accomplish] flows a desire to do good things for such a God. And sometimes these activities may lead to results that look quite remarkable or impressive. [Eventually] people begin to pay more attention to what they are doing than to the reality of God.

“At this point the mission replaces the vision as the dominant feature in peoples’ consciousness. Once this happens, descent is inevitable. For now people are living under the tyranny of Producing Impressive Results.”

Is “Producing Impressive Results” a sin? Not always. Programs and numbers and quality are all good things, but when church focuses mainly on these things instead of Christ … it is sinful.

The original Greek word that is translated as sin in English literally means “to miss the mark.” Sin is when we go in a different direction than what God wants for us.

The direction God wants us to go is toward Him. That is the whole point of church. Church should be a group of people, regularly gathering in an effort to draw closer to God, living life together in love and service, and sharing God with others. That’s it! There are no rules or guidelines to how that specifically looks, sounds or feels. It’s not about external elements, but about our internal hearts and what direction they are facing. It’s about love for God and love for one another.

Today there are very impressive churches that meet all around the world. You can walk into an impressive building, hear incredible music, fantastic preaching and participate in some amazing programs to help others in need, all while being surrounded by hundreds or thousands of others doing the same thing. None of that really matters though. What matters is where the hearts of the leaders and members are focused.

Consider the letter to the church in Ephesus recorded in Revelation 2:

“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.”

Jesus is saying, “You are a good church doing many good things!” However, He continues:

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches” (NLT).

This message is just as much for us today as it was for the church in Ephesus almost 2,000 years ago. As we attend, serve or lead a local body of Christ’s Church, we cannot allow ourselves to make our gatherings focus on external things that can take the place of God within our hearts. Instead, we must stay focused on the love of Christ—His sacrifice, His resurrection, His grace; and the impact of those things on the hearts of those who come together.

Jake Kircher writes about ministry and faith at www.jakekircher.com and marriage and relationships atwww.holymessofmarriage.com. Jake and Nich recently completed a sermon series called “Questioning Church,” which can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/GraceYouthGathering.

Taken from: TheResurgence.com

The Art of Listening might well be the most the important skill a Christian must develop, because Christianity is at its essence all about the Word of God. In fact, God himself is the Word (John 1:1) and the Word became flesh (John 1:2)—safe to say that if God is the Word then how we use our ears is pretty important. Furthermore, you can only come to faith through hearing (Rom. 10:14) and then you grow mature through hearing (Matt. 13:23).

The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord (1 Sam 3:21).

Do you get it? Seeing God happens through hearing. Our vision is through our ears. My friend, if you have either not yet come to Christ, or you have but are frustrated, confused, and not really growing, then I would bet big money that your problem revolves around not listening as you should. Here are some tips on listening well to a preacher, or to the Word of God in any context:

1. Get in range regularly

The reason Zacchaeus collided with Jesus was because he climbed the tree. If the soil is not in range of the sower then it isn’t going to receive any seed. This first point isn’t rocket science: you need to be regularly exposed to God’s word. Try to do a few minutes of personal time each day with the Bible, and obviously ensure you are at church each Sunday. Get in range.

2. Be expectant to receive

The good news is that the Word of God is supernatural stuff. It is living and active and burrows right inside us, doing us good (Heb. 4:12) and it will always achieve its purpose (Isa. 55:11). So listen expectantly. If it is a topic or preacher that you are not too excited about, then pull yourself together and get excited—the issue is the pizza, not the delivery boy or the box it comes in.

3. Understand it

The Parable of the Soil (Matt. 13:23) stresses the importance of not just hearing but understanding. Take notes, listen again to the download, discuss it at small group, go over the Scriptures again. One way or another, check you that you ‘get it’.

4. Mix with faith

Hebrews 4:1-3 speaks about two groups of people who heard the same message. One group benefited big time. The others thought the message was useless. What was the difference? Only one group mixed the incoming word with faith. As you listen, be assured that God has your best at heart, and set yourself to receive the word and to obey it with joy and conviction. Not because you ‘have to’ but because you ‘get to.’ God isn’t looking for blind, begrudging obedience. He is looking for faith!

5. Actually do it

The difference between the foolish and wise builders in Matthew 7 was that one put the word into practice and one didn’t. If you don’t actually obey the word then your life and faith will be built on sand. You will continuously be unsure that ‘Christianity really works.’ So, if you hear a message on forgiveness but do not forgive, then your house may fall flat. James says that you will be a like a man who looks at himself in the mirror and then goes away and forgets what he looks like—you will be insecure in who you are and in who God is. Obey. Put it into practice. Then you’ll grow

Taken from:

Relevantmagazine.com

Three ways to keep from losing a vital connection to God.

Imagine a world without poetry, dance, song, comedy, film, architecture, painting, stories, symphonies, theater or sculpture. Such a world would be bland. Art brings vibrance and beauty to our lives. Creativity is both a fully human and fully divine experience. It is an acknowledgement that something eternal and full of truth lies behind the temporal world in which we live. It focuses our eyes on the pain around us, the injustice in front of us, the joy abounding within us, and the pull we feel towards meaning and significance. Music moves us. Poetry connects us. Paintings shout at us. Dance energizes us. Art draws us back into the fold of humanity when we wander out full of pain, discouragement, and bitterness. It whispers, “You are not alone.” 

In today’s society though, real art is slowly becoming less and less present. Our generation experiences art as a constant stream of marketing. Creativity is now harnessed to push product. When we only experience art in advertisements, web-sites, brands and logos, we lose the invaluable ways that it helps us understand who we are and what life is all about.

In his book Why We Hate Us, Dick Meyers explains that, “too much money is at stake to waste it on opera, artsy mini series, and literary novels. In entertainment, capital flows not just to top performers but to the top genres or styles, reducing the money and airtime available to other forms of entertainment. The popular forms take a disproportionate share of available resources, so demand for high culture wanes.”

Modern culture has forgotten that art is worthy without first having to prove it’s worth.

In a system that values prestige and monetary success as the ultimate goal, the artist is slowly beginning to fade. To survive, artists must strive for success; even though that is not why they originally create. They create because they feel, because there is a message to share or an idea to express. Soon though, creativity demands more materials, time, space, and funding; it becomes costly. If an artist is lucky enough to succeed, he or she usually struggles deeply with the fact that success dictates their art becoming a fad that requires mass approval. This fad only ever demands newer and better material which leaves the artist exhausted from trying to produce, produce, produce.

Humanity is losing a vital connection to God and to our souls when the arts begin to become unworthy in society. In order to prevent this from happening, there needs to be action. We are all responsible to change things.

So what can you do?

Explore Artistic Pursuits in Your Daily Life

We all enjoy creative expression in some shape or form. Find out what this means to you and carve out time to do it. Creativity can mean refinishing furniture, sculpting a bush, trying a new recipe, even working passionately at science or math. Support art within your community by buying tickets to the ballet or symphony, checking out a local art show, entering a writing contest, painting a mural, starting a band, singing at church, drawing on the sidewalk, organizing community dance lessons, or simply donating funds to an artist you know or creative organization you love. And buy original artwork! Most artists now offer smaller pieces at really reasonable prices.

Bring Creativity to Your Workplace

Art can also be important in the business world. Creativity and passion are becoming more and more necessary to companies who desire imaginative and innovative ways of doing business. Seth Godin, the author of Purple Cow: Transforming Your Business By Being Remarkable says, “I call it the [new] art system. People doing work that matters, feeling human about it, feeling connected, and making an impact. Companies now want their employees to step up and do something interesting.”  Perhaps it’s time for you to start thinking outside the box and getting in touch with your creative side at work. It may help you stand apart in your current job or gather the courage to go after your dream position.

Help Your Church Engage Artists

The Christian church needs to realize they are losing artists as well. 1 Corinthians: 25-26 presents a model for churches where all different types of people are integrated into the community, “The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.” (The Message)

So how can churches re-incorporate artists when many of them feel that in order to have their art welcomed in church, it needs to look all cute and flannel-graphy? Christian churches seem to censor so much, but forget that historical Christian art displayed naked people, bloody scenes, and crosses. Congregations could be much more welcoming by actually allowing creative artwork to be displayed.

Congregations could invite artist participation by inviting musicians to write songs that tie in with sermons or painters/designers to create original power point slides for a service. They could sponsor a poetry jam, battle of the bands, writing contests, host a community art show, or start an artist’s small group. Church members could donate a studio, gallery space, photography equipment, recording time, or publishing contacts.

Another great way to support artists would be to create a church-sponsored artist’s scholarship. This could be a competitive scholarship where artists would submit a portfolio of work and a write-up of goals for the coming year, to win a monthly or yearly grant. Creating a church environment where the arts are more appreciated and funded is part of honoring the God-given gift of creativity that lives inside us all. There are tons of ways for churches and artists to work together towards spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In a world that encourages us to become more materialistic and anesthetized to our souls, we desperately need the re-emergence of art. Let’s all do our part to make this happen.

Melissa Kircher is a painter and photographer whose work can be seen at www.melissakircher.com. She also blogs regularly about relationships with her husband at www.holymessofmarriage.com. 

This is a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Lesson #11: Die with your boots on

You’re either going to go out like Judas or Jesus—that’s how your life is going to end. You’re going to go out like Jesus, faithful to the end, whatever the cost, or you’re going to go out like Judas, prematurely, tragically, rebelliously, shamefully. I want you to keep your boots on, finish strong, run your race, see it through to the end, be a completer, a finisher, a closer of the things God has given you to do. As you read this, maybe you’re like me, you may wonder, “What happened to these guys?” We know in the Bible, they went forward. Some of them were cowards, but they toughened up. The resurrection put some steel in their spine. They preached, they taught, they planted churches. John wrote five books of the Bible, Peter wrote two. These guys did get some stuff done, but the Bible doesn’t tell us how they finished—for that we’ve got to go to history. Did they die with their boots on? Here are some of their stories from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. It was first written in 1559, and it’s fantastic. Gotta love the Puritans.

James

Wonder how James died?

The first apostle to suffer after the martyrdom of Stephen was James, the brother of John. Clement tells us when this James was brought to the tribunal seat, he that brought him and was the cause of his trouble, seeing him to be condemned and that he should suffer death, was in such sort moved within heart and conscience that he went to the execution and confessed himself also of his own accord to be a Christian. And so were they led forth together, where in the way he desired of James to forgive him what he had done. After James had a little pause with himself upon the matter, turning to him he said, “Peace to thee, my brother,” and kissed him, and both were beheaded.

James had a critic who wanted him murdered. He had a Judas, and on the way to be crucified, apparently he had some conversation with his Judas, and his Judas repented and said, “I’m sorry. Let’s get beheaded together for Jesus,” and they did. James is a bad man—in a good way.

Thomas

“Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Carmenians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians. He was killed in Calamina, India.” Most of these men died murderous martyrdom. You know what? Mars Hill Church would be much smaller but much holier, more effective, more fruitful, I think, if we had a little bit of suffering. Can’t make it happen, I’ve tried. But what happens is when people start giving their life for the cause of the gospel, all of a sudden those who are playing church stop playing. They either step up for Jesus, and go from “come and see” to “go and die,” or like Judas, they just walk away and go do something else.

Simon

“Simon, brother of Jude and James the younger who were all the sons of Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus, was bishop of Jerusalem after James,” Jesus’ brother. “He was crucified in Egypt.” Crucified. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it well: “When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die.” Come and die. When Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me,” that’s what it means to be a disciple, that you go the way of Jesus. You give your life for what he gave his life to, the glory of God and the good of others for the church. “The other Simon, the apostle, he was also crucified.”

Bartholomew

“Bartholomew is said to have preached in India and translated the Gospel of Matthew into their tongue. He was beaten, crucified, and beheaded.”

Andrew

Andrew, Peter’s brother, was crucified. Bernard and St. Cyprian mentioned the confession and martyrdom of this blessed apostle. Partly from them and partly from other reliable writers, we gather the following material:

When Andrew, through his diligent preaching had brought many to the faith of Christ, Egeas the governor asked permission to the Roman senate to force all Christians to sacrifice to and honor the Roman idols. Andrew thought he should resist Egeas and went to him, telling them that a judge of men should first know and worship as judge in heaven. ‘While worshiping the true God,’ Andrew said, ‘he should banish all false gods and blind idols from his mind.’ Furious at Andrew, Egeas demanded to know if he was the man who had recently overthrown the temples of the gods and persuaded men to become Christians, a ‘superstitious’ sect that had recently been declared illegal by the Romans.

Andrew replied that, ‘The rulers of Rome didn’t understand the truth. The son of God who came into the world for man’s sake taught that the Roman gods were devils, enemies of mankind teaching men to offend God, and causing him to turn away from them. By serving the devil, men fall into all kinds of wickedness,’ Andrew said. ‘And after they die, nothing but their evil deeds are remembered.’ The proconsul ordered Andrew not to preach these things anymore or he would face a speedy crucifixion.”

If you were going to get crucified, would you stop calling yourself a Christian?

Whereupon Andrew replied, [and this is an amazing line]“I would not have preached the honor and glory of the cross if I feared the death of the cross.” He was condemned to be crucified for teaching a new sect and taking away the religion of the Roman gods. Andrew, going toward the place of execution, and seeing the cross waiting for him, never changed his expression, neither did he fail in his speech. His body fainted not, nor did his reason fail him as often happens to men about to die. He said, “‘Oh cross, most welcome and longed for, with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously I come to you being the scholar of him which did hang on you because I have always been your lover and yearn to embrace you.”

“You boys want to crucify me? There’s a good spot, go for it. I belong to Jesus.”

Matthew

“Matthew wrote his Gospel to the Jews in the Hebrew tongue after he had converted Ethiopia and all Egypt. Hircanius, the king, sent someone to kill him with a spear.”

Philip

“After years of preaching to the barbarous nations, Philip was stoned, crucified, and buried with his daughter.”

Peter

The first of the ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about 64 A.D. His rage against Christians was so fierce that Eusebius records, “A man might then see cities full of men’s bodies, the old lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked without reverence of that sex in the open streets.” Many Christians in those days thought that Nero was the Antichrist because of his cruelty and abominations. The Apostle Peter was condemned to death during this persecution. Although some say that he escaped, it is known that many Christians encouraged him to leave the city and the story goes that as he came to the city gates, Peter saw Jesus coming to meet him. “Lord, where are you going?” Peter asked. “I am coming again to be crucified,” was the answer. Seeing that his suffering was understood, Peter turned around, returned to the city where Jerome tells us he was crucified upside down at his own request, saying he was not worthy to be crucified the same way his Lord was.

John

“The second persecution began during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos.” It’s an actual spot and I’ve been there. “But on Domitian’s death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus in the year A.D. 70. He remained there until the reign of Trajan, governing the churches of Asia, and writing his Gospel until he died at about the age of one hundred.” But at a hundred, he may have had a lot of scars on his body, because before they exiled him, they tried to kill him. They boiled him alive, and he lived through it, so they exiled him for a while. He got out and wrote books of the Bible, as a boiled old man. We’re glad you come and see. You need to go and die. Father God, I pray for us as a people. We’re in a day where we get a lot of come-and-see. There are free sermons on the Internet, classes, training, Christian music, radio stations, radio preachers, church events, mass crusades, services, small groups. It seems, Lord God, like there are more come-and-see opportunities than any people have ever been offered in the history of the world. And God, we rejoice in the come-and-see opportunities. We rejoice that people come to hear the Bible and see lives change through Jesus. But God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit and the hearts and minds and the lives of our people, that they would respond to your call to become Christians, that they would respond to your call to persevere as Christians, that they would give like Christians should give, that they would serve like Christians should serve, that they would suffer like Christians should suffer, that they would testify like Christians should testify, and Lord God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit on us as a people that we wouldn’t just be a come-and-see people, that we’d be a go-and-die people. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Note: This has been a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Why our good intentions for social justice aren’t enough.

If I’m talking to you, you know who you are. You’re the person who knows stories and statistics of injustice in the world, and you also know that you haven’t been doing anything about it. Although you might assume I’m speaking in a judgmental tone, let me hasten to assure you that I am not. But you do know the truth—you haven’t turned all of your great intentions into action. Your words about social justice are empty, even though you have well thought-out arguments about why it’s important and how exactly one should respond to the needs of the world. People are still dying of poverty, disease, persecution and war, and you’ve ignored your heart-tugging in favor of busyness, comfort and a litany of excuses.

I’ve been there.

Right now, you might still be expecting a huge dose of guilt. You may be waiting for more compelling stories of need than the ones you’ve heard already. Perhaps you’ve already written out some condemnation for yourself in a secret, dark place inside. (I hope not.)

The truth is that this world is in a battle between good and evil. And although God does not need us to be a part of it, He wants us in it. He wants us to fight. He already has the victory either way. This life is not a drama about you or me. It’s a saga about God and how He is bringing His redemptive power to the world. And He has things for His followers to do in this drama to see His Kingdom come here on earth.

Composing well-articulated soapboxes for social justice isn’t bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. Likewise, filling our time serving the church but never going outside the safety of its walls isn’t really following Christ. It seems that our American brand of Christianity wants to make the rich young ruler our patron saint—we want following Jesus to be comfortable and on our own terms.

Jesus opens His ministry by quoting Isaiah 61.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And then He does just that! He meets people from all walks of life and gives them all of the freedom they know how to crave. And not only that, He also trains a bunch of nobodies to do what He does, granting them “all authority on heaven and earth.” 

This is our heritage as Christians, and yet it seems we’d rather play it safe than actually put our words into action.

Isaiah 58 makes some audacious promises.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 
       
to loose the chains of injustice 
       
and untie the cords of the yoke, 
       
to set the oppressed free 
       
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry 
       
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— 
       
when you see the naked, to clothe him, 
       
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 
       
and your healing will quickly appear; 
       
then your righteousness will go before you, 
       
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard …

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry 
       
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 
       
then your light will rise in the darkness, 
       
and your night will become like the noonday.

It seems that living a righteous life is dependent on acts of justice. Don’t get me wrong—this isn’t about getting saved! It’s not legalism. We’re saved by grace alone. But clearly, taking action on behalf of those in need is a vital part of our life as God’s people.

Jesus says that, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This is where the hope and joy of this upside-down kingdom comes in. Abandoning our pride, abandoning our safety, abandoning our well-articulated arguments so that we can wholly follow Jesus will bring life—more life than we can imagine! 

This is my story. Growing up in a Christian home, it took me a long time to know how powerful the faith of my family really was. But God led me, step by step, reaching out in a bit more faith than I knew I had to abandon my will to follow Him in increasingly deep ways. This has led to knowing and loving people who are physically poor close to home and all over the world. This has led to finding brothers and sisters in places where Bibles are illegal. This has led to death for my comfort zone. This has led to my words being fewer, but having people and names behind my arguments. This has led to a fuller understanding of God than what I would have known if I never went outside of my church. This has led to life abounding over all fear.

Social justice—really doing what Jesus does—changes everything for the better. And more than saving the world, I find that I am the one whose life is saved.

So it’s time to stop talking about acting and to start acting. Fortunately, there are lots of places where you can get started! Find out what refugee populations live in your city. Chances are you have skills that someone who’s lived their life in persecution and fear needs. It might be as simple as teaching them how to use a stove. There are also all kinds of programs that are set up to help America’s underserved. Cooking classes and after-school outdoor education camps for kids living in the inner city, adult education classes for people who have never earned their high school diploma, prison ministries. And these are just some local ideas! If you’ve learned a skill or vocation, it’s probable that there is a place outside of America that could really use training in that skill. Teaching English is a simple thing that can help many in the developing world secure better jobs. If you do a little bit of research, you could get to see more of the world while serving those in dire, physical need.

It also gets said a lot, but it’s worth saying again—give generously to organizations working in areas of injustice. Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.” If you hold “your” money loosely and give to the things God cares about, you’ll find you care more too. But the important thing is to stop sitting on your hands and do something. Your heart needs the adventure that following Jesus will provide.