Trying to follow

(Meant to post this Sunday, oh well)

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” -1 Corinthians 11:1

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” -Ephesians 5:1

“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6

A new reader, Jamie, mentioned teaching non-violence in church and it got me thinking. There is a definite alternative to this idea of placing armed guards in churches, and that is for a church to instead advocate, teach and promote an attitude of non-violence. I believe this is a deeply biblical and deeply spiritual issue and I figured I’d write a devotional thought regarding it.

I think there might be varying opinions on what the goal, motive or vision for a church should be, but everyone would have to agree it has something to do with teaching and modeling following Christ (being ‘Christian’). And, considering the vast majority of people that attend church regularly profess to already be ‘Christian’ and followers, it would seem we would take the verses above seriously.

If we are to imitate Christ in all that we do, how we respond to violence is one of those areas; and it is one we have a very clear example in. We as individual Christians and as collective church bodies should serve as an example to others, including would be perpetrators that we will not return evil with evil, “but overcome evil with good.”

You know how buildings sometimes have those signs at the front that say: “Weapons banned on premise” or something similar? What if churches had signs out front that said: “We practice non-violence.” They could have pamphlets about it inside for everyone to be informed, and they could even preach on it from the pulpit. There are plenty of Biblical examples.

Not only does Jesus preach on non-violence (love your enemy, etc), he exemplifies it in his death. The early church is full of examples of non-violence as well. Jesus, I think, makes it explicitly clear to us how to respond to the sort of violence we see in our society:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
-Matthew 10:28

If you didn’t know, I’m writing this book. Just a fun little project, a fiction piece, an attempt to articulate in a creative form my feelings on how it looks like to live out the faith, following the Gospel.

I’m realizing following the Gospel is dangerous. I’m also realizing that following the Gospel is so obvious. There are some things Jesus says that are confusing and quite stuck in the cultural context, however most of what he said is pretty plain. In the book I’ve set up the characters in a society that has no connection to our current society and it’s understanding of the Bible, Jesus, Christianity or organized religion in general.
As I write, I find myself having two very clear feelings:

1. My first reaction is to explain why I think the words of Jesus should be followed in the way that I suggest in my story. The thing is that I’m reacting to our current religion, where we say we follow Jesus, but aren’t really following a lot of what he says. Fortunately, I’m writing my own fiction book, so I don’t have to defend myself.

2. My second reaction is that reading Jesus’ words lately seems even more starkly obvious in what type of actions they require of us, particularly as it relates to stuff. How in the world do we miss this?

(It’s late, I have a feeling this didn’t make much sense. If not sorry.)

I wanted to lend a little more context to this passage that I have seen as we read through the sermon on the mount. The passage I’m talking about is:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:18-21

First of all you have to notice it’s a dichotomy. “Do Not…But…” If Jesus wanted to put a disclaimer in I think he would have, and if he wanted to say you could do both at the same time (treasures on earth and in heaven) he would have said it differently.
But, I’m still a little skeptical so some more context will help.

Jesus has already said some life changing, paradigm shifting, wealth challenging, irrational (by our logic), sacrifice-requiring types of stuff. And remember this is all in the same sermon…

“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. -Matt 5:42″

 

Love your Enemies and pray for those who persecute you. -Matt 5:44

“But when you give to the needy…” -Matt 6:3

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for your have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” -Luke 6:20,24,25

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. -Luke 6:31

 

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” -Luke 6:35

So, just to recap, you’ve got Jesus telling folks to give to anyone who asks, he even tells us to lend to our enemies (talk about an unwise investment). He exhorts you and I that are riches will be our only comfort, and points us to the poor who have been given the kingdom. This is the Jesus who says do not store up treasure on earth.
My bike has been stolen multiple times and every time I think of this passage, and I have to question whether I was storing up treasure on earth were at thieve DID break in and steal.

Oh, and just in case you think Jesus might not really be saying “Do not store up treasures on earth” read the next passage. In case your thinking, but obviously Jesus doesn’t want us to be irrational and not store up for this or that…

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”
- 1 Timothy 6:8

 

One of the greatest struggles for a Christian in the consumerist American culture that we are a part of is to be content. You are daily bombarded on all sides by hundreds of advertisements telling you that you need this product or that. Even within the church, Sunday mornings continue to perpetuate word-of-mouth advertising about the new outfit, restaurant or electronics purchase. Is it even possible to step back from that culture, that has been so ingrained in our minds since an early age, and look plainly at Scripture and attempt to follow it?

Paul, a wise follower of Christ, imparts these wise words to his young ’son’ in the faith as he warns him of those who would use the faith and ‘godliness’ for financial gain. He warns against the pursuit of money with a clear alternative way of thinking: food and covering is enough. Contentment, something we know very little of in our culture, and yet it is what Christ calls us to. This same greek word is used in I Corinthians, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Certainly a believer in Christ’s saving grace would not respond by saying, “yes, it is sufficient, but I’d also like a little more grace here,” or “it wouldn’t hurt to get a couple of extra graces just to spruce up the place a little would it?” Christ’s grace is enough.

What would it look like for a church congregation to preach this verse and then endeavor to follow it? If you are reading these words and you have food and covering, what does your contentment look like? Here is Paul’s advice to you:

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” -I Tim 6:17-19

I was listening to Saturday’s with Mark and Tony and Tony Campolo mentioned the quote, which you’ve maybe heard before:

“God created us in his image, and we decided to return the favor.” -George Bernard Shaw

He was acknowledging that we tend to have churches divided by race, socio-economic status, political views, etc. because we each make God in our image. This made me think about another thing someone once said to me when we were talking about politics and I was saying that the best way to vote is to vote find out how the poor vote and he said:

“Well, the poor are selfish too.”

He was acknowledging that, just like everyone else, the poor wouldn’t do what was in the best interest of everybody, but rather what was in their own best interest. So, the poor have created a god who cares about the poor, the rich have a god who cares about the rich, the liberals have a god who cares about liberals, and so on. But this is what struck me, while God does care about all humankind, if you look at Scripture, God does seem to care about a certain group quite a bit. So, as flawed humans, that create god’s that selfishly serve our own interest, I think the god that most accurately (though still flawed) aligns with the God I encounter in Scripture is the god of the poor. God cares about the poor and oppressed. I think we usually give a knowing nod to the mention that there are literally thousands of verses in the Bible that talk about the poor, but then somehow we spend maybe a few hours a year actually reflecting on those verses or discussing their implications for our lives. This is a long way of saying that I think I’m going to focus (as I probably already have) my Sunday post to be devotional thoughts, specifically though, reflecting on the wealth of verses in the Bible that talk about the poor.