B69. Refocusing the Great Commission

“. . . go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you . . .” (Matt. 28: 19-20a)

Jesus’ "great commission" to his followers was to share his Gospel message with all the world.  Throughout the ages, Christianity has employed many strategies to this commission, from sending missionaries to foreign countries to knocking on doors and asking strangers if they know where they’d go if they died tomorrow.

Unfortunately, in the zealousness with which we meet this call, I fear we might have lost the heart of the message.  I fear the gospel message has become unfocused, like a throw-away photo.  We teach in our churches the proper words needed to “lead someone to Christ,” quoting a few verses from the book of Romans, asking a couple of personal questions, and having the prospective convert repeat a (“sinner’s”) prayer that we have memorized as if magical.  And when we find someone who agrees to repeat it, we claim victory.  This person has now been changed forever, we have been taught to believe.  S/he is now guaranteed a Christian life and an afterlife in heaven; and if we are honest, we have probably also put a proud notch in our own belt.  One more convert for me (and we can hardly wait to “humbly” share it with all our church friends).

I remember one summer when I was serving as a church planter, my partner and I had weekly paperwork to fill out about our ministry.  One of the questions was “How many people did you lead to Christ?”  Most weeks my paperwork  said 0, but my partner, every week, responded with numbers of 20-something to 50-something.  Was she following the Great Commission that much better than I?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Here’s what she was doing.  As we led Vacation Bible Schools and Backyard Bible Clubs for dozens of children, she would say a few words about “accepting Jesus into your heart” and then ask for a show of hands of all who wanted Jesus to come into their hearts.  The children, perhaps wanting to please the teacher, perhaps raising their hands because their friends did, perhaps having no idea what the question even meant, would raise their hands, thus being counted for the weekly paperwork.

I don’t know that there’s harm in this, except to our own spirits, but I think we have missed the point.  I think most of our “how to witness” classes are out of focus from Jesus’ intent.  Over the years, we have allowed words to take the place of heart.

If we look to Jesus’ life and his teachings as our model for “witnessing,” we come out with something quite different.  Jesus’ challenge to the “church people” of his day was always to love, not to say the word “love,” but to live every day, every hour, every second of their lives touching every person they encountered with genuine love.  When asked what was the greatest of all the commandments, Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God will all your soul and with all your mind, . . . and . . . love your neighbor as yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Matt. 22:37-40)

1 John 4:16a-21 says: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love, But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."  And if we need a picture of what this love looks like, 1 Cor. 13 offers us a clear view.

If we actually read through the four Biblical Gospels, beginning to end, we see in Jesus’ everyday life, as he walks among friends and strangers, how transforming that love can be.  Jesus’ gentle and sincere love transformed dirty fishermen, outcasts, hated tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor . . . almost everyone except the “church people” who thought they already knew everything they needed to know. (Is there a message here for us?)

What is happening to the Great Commission in our society today?  I’m afraid we have flipped it upside down.  I’m afraid Jesus weeps at our misinterpretation.  Yes, we are going through the motions that have become our church “witnessing” traditions, but while we are adding a few notches to our belts, we are managing to completely turn off those around us like never before.  The mere mention of Christians is all it takes to send people running for cover. They, like every human of every time and culture, are still seeking meaning, answers, God, and love, but we, in our self-righteous judgment, which resembles Jesus’ love in word only, are chasing them away, and they are landing wherever they find love.  Universalist churches, Pseudo-Buddhism, and a new “paganism” that embraces and affirms women are offering the love that we have forgotten.

We believe we are recipients of the transforming love of Jesus.  Yet when it comes to loving those outside our church tradition, we have chosen judgment and labeled it “love” to protect ourselves.  We have allowed the politics of our day to creep into our faith and take it over.

But there is hope.  Our hope is not in politics, or in judging and condemning our poor, our lepers, and the women at our wells, but in Christ.  It is time, Christians, to refocus our view.  It is time to return to the Christ we proclaim. It is time to challenge ourselves beyond the mere words and to actually love our neighbors, yes, even those neighbors, and those.  This is Jesus’ Gospel, not that we pronounce the word “love,” but that love floods every part of our being, so that those around us cannot help but be transformed.




"We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."  -Madeleine L'Engle

photo credit: digital-photography-school.com

B49. Religion and Good Intentions

Even Mary did not understand Jesus’ ministry.  How hurtful it must have been to disappoint her, and how lonely, but he knew his mission and remained focused.

Mary knew Jesus was uniquely chosen.  Even by the time he was a toddler, there was much that she pondered in her heart.  The words of Simeon and the prophetess Anna (Luke 2:25-38), the visit of the Magi . . . Yet, there was no precedent, and she was living in the midst of the story, not reading it or knowing how it was to unfold.  

Likewise Jesus’ siblings might have perceived something different in him as they played together or as they learned their father’s carpentry trade.  But no one really understood.   They did not perceive him as “without sin” or as “anointed,” and when he began his ministry, they did not see God in his teachings.

They were embarrassed by him.  He had been raised in the Jewish tradition, regularly attending synagogue, but crowds were gathering to hear him question the religious authorities.  Rather than reiterating their judgments against sinners, he presented a message of love and forgiveness.  He challenged their legalism by healing on the Sabbath; and his anger was not provoked by those who broke the long Jewish list of sins, but by those who self-righteously used their authority to judge others.  The religious laws called for the woman caught in adultery to be stoned (but not the man); yet Jesus questioned not her, but those who held the stones.

“What is he doing?” his family must have asked each other.  “Our brother surely is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:21)  He was becoming not only an embarrassment, but a danger to himself, angering the authorities to the point of wishing him dead (Mark 3: 6).  “The demons have possessed him,” the Jewish authorities were saying, because his teachings were not like theirs. (Mark 3: 22)

So his family went to step in.  Mary and his brothers.  Jesus and his followers had entered a house to eat, but they were unable to eat because of the crowds that gathered around him.  His family heard the stories and went to take charge of him (Mark 3:20-21).  Unable to get inside the house, they sent someone to tell Jesus they were there to see him.  “Who is my family?” he responded.  “These people gathered around me are my family.  Those who do God’s will.” (Mark 3:34) 

Good intentions were not enough.  Jesus' mother and brothers were a deterrent to his mission.  Just as later Jesus’ rebuke of Peter to “get thee behind me, Satan” (Matt. 16:23) was not a lack of love toward Peter, but an acknowledgement that even one’s closest relationships, perhaps especially one’s closest relationships, can get in the way of following God’s plan.

Surely Jesus loved his family.  We see his love for Mary even at his death, as he lovingly turns her care over to John.  “Mother, behold your son.  Son, behold your mother” (John 19:26-27).  Yet, as painful as it must have been emotionally, he had to separate himself from them, for they did not understand.  No doubt they meant well, but their lack of understanding was a hindrance to his very purpose for living; and had he chosen to be the perfectly obedient son and brother, the perfectly legalistic synagogue leader, the one who made his family proud and pleased the religious authorities, we would never have heard his name, and his life would not have revolutionized the world.

Where are we in this story?  Are we following the Church’s teachings more closely than we follow Jesus’ teachings?  Are we reading the Gospels at home, to know the difference?  Are we hindering those who are praying alone with sweat drops of agony, striving to follow God despite our opposition?  God, forgive us, if so, for we mean well and know not what we do.

B42. I Went to Gay Pride

OK, so I am drawn to what is controversial.  I want to be there, to see for myself, to make my own judgments.  If an event divides decent people into sides that condemn each other, I want to understand both perspectives from their own voices.  When presented with the newest fad in teaching, I cautiously weigh it against my 25-year collection of fads and pick and choose what will best prepare my students for life outside the classroom.  When confronted with Biblical arguments, I am not satisfied to be told what the Bible says.  I carefully read it cover to cover, taking lots of notes and recording many questions; and even attain a master’s degree in ministry.  When I study other religions, I’m not satisfied to learn about them from the biased perspective of my own religion, but I want to hear directly from a real Mormon, a real Muslim, a real Jehovah’s Witness, and if possible, visit their worship centers.   I wonder if I’m the only Baptist to have ever spent an afternoon in Salisbury’s regional training center for JWs.  Fascinating really.

Still, as an introvert who is quite uncomfortable going alone to somewhere new, I probably would never have walked into a Pride event (or any other community event) without having some “job” to do there.  I tend to back out at the last minute otherwise.  So I volunteered to work the PFLAG* table for a couple of hours, donned my “God loves us all” button, and off I went.  As an aside here, if you have read many of my writings, you know that I have come to adamantly believe the Church's teachings on homosexuality are misguided, although having spent 49 years as an active Southern Baptist, I have struggled, studied, prayed, and listened firsthand to hundreds of personal stories to get to where I am.

Now, having never attended such an event in any other city, I am no Pride expert, and I offer the following observations as just that, observations.  Impressions of my personal experience as recorded through my own tinted glasses.  (We all observe the world through our own experiences, our own religious and academic teachings, our own biases, and we all grow by taking those glasses off once in a while and looking directly at them.)

First, here’s what I didn’t see.  I saw nothing that alluded to sex, except for one young man’s T-shirt.  I saw no lewd behavior.  I saw no nudity, actually even less nudity, despite the almost 90-degree temperatures, than I see every day in my college classes.  I did see one other T-shirt that I don’t think I’d ever see in a Baptist church, and there was one teenage girl wearing an attention-getting but body-covering black outfit, like maybe a biker would wear?   As she walked around holding her boyfriend’s hand in the high temps, I imagine she questioned her own choice of attire.

What I did see:

1)   I saw face-painting, balloon sculpture, art displays, a drum circle, a rollerblade team, food/drink/ice cream vendors, information and/or freebies provided by a local grocery giant, a local medical provider, a local political party, two churches, a local animal shelter or two (with adoptable pets I think), even a gourmet doggie treats vender.  I saw a center stage from which speeches were made by leaders of Equality NC, PFLAG*, etc., and local dancers, musicians, and drag queens entertained the crowd.  If you're from this area, by the way, and have never heard the Ashley Jo Farmer Band, watch for an opportunity!

2)  I saw families.  Gay teens walking around with their parents.  Straight couples with small children in strollers.  A couple of people separately walking their dogs.  Gay adults sharing the event with a parent or a sibling.  Gay couples.  Straight couples.  Friends.  I saw a lot of laughter, happy greetings, and hugs.

It was a family-friendly atmosphere, and most of what I observed could very well have been a county fair or any other community gathering.  I noted, however, three observations that distinguished it as a gay pride event:

3)  There was a lot of rainbow-colored attire – shirts, jewelry, headwear, I saw 2 people wearing rainbow colored tights . . .

4)  I saw 2 or 3 drag queens who were a part of the entertainment, one acting as the event emcee.  I admit I don’t quite get drag queens, but they are an entrenched part of the gay culture, an art form of sorts perhaps, and probably we all have to admit if we’re honest that we have enjoyed drag queens at some time.  Look at the success of womanless weddings and womanless beauty pageants in any local community.   Look at the success of the Madea movies, or Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire.  Even as a young child I remember loving Flip Wilson when he was in his Geraldine character.

5) The biggest indicator that this was not just any other event, however, was not inside the event, but the religious protesters outside the gates.  Just a handful of them and mostly ignored, but they held up their Bibles and their protest signs and shouted warnings and damnations to hell for all who were there.  It was easy to walk by them without even acknowledging them, but you might guess that I didn’t.   I attempted to engage three different ones in dialogue, as if it could have possibly made any difference.  I wanted to tell them that they were not turning people toward the Gospel but away from it, giving them a distaste for church people in general for preaching something those who are gay know to be wrong.  But the protesters had no ears, only mouths.  They seemed to be “professional” protesters, all from out of town, traveling from one Pride event to another, well practiced in their responses, most refusing to give the name of their church, where they’re from, etc.  One did tell me he was from Taylorsville, and the only female I saw told me she was married to the man who couldn’t even have a conversation with me, with no one else around, without shouting Ezekiel verses at the top of his voice as if he were a robotic foghorn.  They were from no particular denomination, they said.  All three told me I was going to hell for supporting such a sinful event.  The woman said God revealed that to her.  I told her that she has been deceived, and that I was glad my destiny did not depend on what she thought.

Her comment reminded me of the four men when I was in seminary, who told me, separately of course, that God had told them that they would marry me.  I jokingly say that was when I learned God was a polygamist.  I told them all that when God told me the same thing, we’d get married.  Or the time I was serving on a pastor search committee and one of the committee members was ready to hire an applicant because the applicant said God told him we were supposed to hire him.   We Christians put so many words into God’s mouth.  It’s like a power tool.  Ministers use it.  We use it.  What a dangerous disservice to God.

Church people, are you listening?  Is it enough for you to continue oppressing 1 in every 15 people you meet, because your church leaders have repeatedly quoted to you that homosexuality is an abomination?  Have they also told you that, according to the same Bible, eating shrimp is an abomination, and would they reward you for warning everyone heading into Blue Bay Seafood that God loves the sinner but hates the sin and that they are all destined for hell?  (Surely you would not eat in such a place yourself!)  Have they also told you that it’s a sin for women to adorn themselves with gold and pearls, and would they applaud you for protesting in front of Kay Jewelers at the mall?

  Please hear me, my brothers and sisters.  God created us as thinking beings.  Please don’t accept everything you are told, even by someone in a trusted position.  Do your own thinking.  Ask your own questions.  Have coffee with someone whose views are the opposite of yours, and listen closely to his story, closely enough to hear his unspoken pain.  Go home and pray alone, just you and God, not for an immediate miracle answer, but with openness to hear however God might speak over the rest of your lifetime.  Oppressed people are hurting.   Allow God to work in you.



*PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is a support organization for anyone who has a gay loved one. (That would be all of us.  Some just don't don't know it.)  Check for a chapter near you, and be brave enough to step that first time into a meeting.

B22. The Flaw in Biblical Correction

How many times have you heard someone tell a depressed person, "Cheer up!"?  Does the depressed person immediately become happy then?  Of course not!  It usually brings him down even more!  Why?  Because "Cheer up" is something we need to tell ourselves when we are down, not others.  When others are down, my response should not be to tell them what to do, but rather to ask myself what I can do to bring them a smile.  They already know they need to cheer up, and if they knew how, they would have already done so!  If I really care, I can spend some time with them so they won't be lonely, or I can take the time to listen to all they are going through.  But telling them to "cheer up" is better left unsaid!

I read an interesting article recently about Pharisees, in which the author pointed out the following observations:

Pharisees knew their Bibles.
Pharisees were disciplined in prayer.
Pharisees fasted twice a week.
Pharisees gave about a third of their income to their church.
Pharisees were moral.
Many Pharisees were martyred for their faith.
Pharisees attended church regularly.
Pharisees were evangelical/orthodox.
Pharisees were evangelistic.  (Jesus said they would even cross the ocean to win a convert!)

So why do the Pharisees get such a bad rap?  I suggest 2 reasons:  1)  They were legalistic, holding the words of the law as their highest authority;  2)  They used the Scripture to keep everyone else in line.

Look back at the characteristics of the Pharisees.  Were the Pharisees really very different from 2011 church people?  It should scare us if they were not, because Jesus was harder on them than on any sinner we have record of him encountering!

When I see someone whose life I perceive as sinful, what should be my reaction?  I believe God does not call me first and foremost to admonish the person with Scripture.  I surmise, rather, that the Scripture is intended to guide me in how to respond to him/her.  Just as it is counterproductive to tell a depressed person to cheer up, it is equally counterproductive to merely tell a sinful person (that, by the way, is a description of us all, if we believe mainstream Christian teachings) to stop sinning.  If s/he saw the need and knew how to stop, s/he would have already done so.

What were the Pharisees lacking?  Love.  A word so overused and misused that it has almost become meaningless, perhaps especially in the Church.  Yet it is the key to the entire Gospel.  God is love (1 John 4:8).  1 Cor. 13 tells us clearly that we can do all these things perfectly, and yet, if they are not done in love, they are nothing.  Do I love the other person enough to apply the Scripture to my own proper reaction to him/her, rather than sounding it as a gong to her, or as a clanging cymbal?  Do I love him enough to lay down my prejudices (prejudice is not just about racism!) and befriend him as an equal, allowing myself to get to know him on a deeper level than that of my judgment?  To spend time with her?  To take him to a ballgame or go jogging with her?

Why does Biblical correction not work?  Because we are applying it to the wrong person!  If applied to my own life, it is transformational, for me and for all those around me! The flaw of Biblical correction, is not in its substance, but that we are using it to judge others rather than allowing it to guide and shape our own life and reactions, as God and the Biblical teachers intended.

4:8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.

1 John 4:8

7:3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Matthew 7:3

6:4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

Galatians 6:4

O perfect Maker of heaven and earth, if we are living as Pharisees, please hear our plea for forgiveness.  Transform us, and teach us to apply Your Word as You meant us to apply it.  Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer!  Amen