Church Unleashed: Part One

Like most solid theological ideas I get, my latest revelation from God came from watching the Simpsons. Okay, so it probably wasn't a revelation from God, but it was something that made me think about the state of the Church. The token conservative Christian on the show, Ned Flanders, is preparing his house for a hurricane and he makes a statement that struck me as oddly deep. While talking about a nativity scene that might pose a dangerous threat due to the imminent winds of the hurricane, Ned says, "If baby Jesus got loose, he could really do some damage".

Now, I'm aware that it was just a punchline, but my mind made everything complex by misinterpreting what he meant. I thought about that statement, "If Jesus got loose, he could really do some damage". How true is that statement? If Jesus had his way in this world, he could really do some damage. The entire world would be revolutionized, if Jesus got what he wanted.

Then I thought about how that sounds like Jesus can't get what he wants. That there are things that Jesus wants changed about this world, and he can't do anything about them. How does that fit in with the fact that Jesus is the all-powerful God of the universe? It seems to me that if there were things in the world that Jesus didn't like, that he could just change them.

I don't want to get in the argument of free will here. I'm aware that God in his great love allows us free will, and because of that free will, we can make decisions that God isn't happy with. In fact, he'll often let us stay in the consequences of our freely chosen decisions. However, I still believe that God's Will is going to be accomplished no matter what.

Now, I've always believed that God's will is going to be complete when Jesus returns. However, Jesus sets up a different ideal when he talks about heaven. When Jesus speaks about heaven in the Bible he doesn't speak of some far off place. Jesus talks about a kingdom. Now it's not an earthly kingdom, but a kingdom in the sense of the word. A place where the king's will gets accomplished. Christians typically refer to this as the Kingdom of God, but Christ often used the term the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus creates this idea that we are called to create the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. If a kingdom is the place where the king's will is done, then the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is the place where God's will is done, where things are like they'll be in heaven.

Then I was left with this idea, if the Kingdom of Heaven is where God's will is done, shouldn't that be the church? If the church is the body of Christ, then the church is only the church when it is in line with the Kingdom of God. If Jesus is the head of the church and the head decides what the body will do, then the church should be the place where our will aligns with God's will. Not the place where we try and force God to go along with our plans, but the place where we ask God what he wants to see changed in the world and we do it.

The problem is that this is not the picture I see in the Church in America. The Church in America is more focused on getting God to endorse the candidates we endorse or to get God to bless us financially or to get God to promote our kind of lifestyle. When you see the place where God is moving the most, it's where people are willing to open up their hands to God and ask him to change them and the world around them.

So maybe it's not there are things in this world that Jesus can't accomplish, but that there are things in this world that Jesus is waiting to accomplish. Maybe God is working in our hearts to change the world. Maybe God is waiting on us, not because he needs us, but because we need him.

Maybe God is waiting on us until we're ready to act, so that we can get the joy of being in his presence as he changes the world. But do not be confused, God is not held back by our unwillingness to move. A good friend once told me that God is a God who risks. God is the God who stands at the door and says, "I'm giving you the opportunity to do something for my glory here. Don't screw it up." But if we choose to waste our opportunity, God's Will still will be accomplished.

Maybe the phrase shouldn't be if Jesus got loose he could really do some damage, maybe we should say, "If the church let Jesus loose, we could really do some damage". God is not hindered by our lack of motion, but sometimes he waits on us to mature to the place that we're ready to do some damage.

So, what is it that you want to see changed about this world? What really bothers you? What keeps you up at night, yelling at the ceiling to a God you might not even believe in, asking Him to change things? Whatever it is, maybe the reason it hasn't changed, isn't because God is helpless. Maybe the reason it hasn't changed, is because God's waiting for you to do some damage.

The question is: are you willing to do some damage?

Missing Out (Episode One: Uniqueness vs Uniformity)

Sometimes I'm amazed at just how hypocritical we as a society can be.

Here's what I mean by this: As a society we value our own individuality very highly. We express our uniqueness through our clothing, our interests, and our opinions. Both parents and children consider independence as a sign of maturity. We praise individuals and celebrities who stand out from the crowd and are "comfortable just being themselves" . It would seem from the outside that our society holds the uniqueness of individuals as a high value, but I don't think this is the case.

If we look at the people we value, and the attributes in those people that we value we see a different trend. When it comes to our relationships we choose (for the most part) to hang out with people who are just like us, and we tend to avoid and reject people who are different than us.

I enjoy hanging out with musicians and music lovers because I'm a musician. Most of my close friends love movies, and so we talk about movies. Most of my friends talk the way I talk, use the same slang that I do, have similar fashion styles (I know that's probably an insult to most of my friends, sorry), enjoy the same TV shows, agree with me politically, have similar values to me, and so on and so forth.

And I think this is universal. Republicans hang out with republicans, and democrats with democrats. People generally associate with people in their same socio-economic groups. If you associate yourself with a certain social group (goths, rednecks, scene-kids) then you typically hang out with people from that group.

What we see is that: We prize uniqueness in ourselves, but we demand uniformity in our relationships.

Everyone wants to be unique. Not necessarily unique in a bad way, but we want to be noticed and loved for who we are as an individual. However, when it comes to our relationships, we want everyone we hang out with to be the same as us. In fact, if someone is different than us or holds different opinions than us or does certain things different than us they rub us the wrong way, and we reject them as a potential friend.

Now, I'm not saying that it's not understandable that certain people get on your nerves, because we're all sinful, and many times people have sinful habits that are annoying. In fact, it makes sense that not everybody clicks, but we should be able to love and value the God-given uniqueness within everybody. Especially when it comes to the uniqueness of opinions.

The largest area where I see people craving uniformity from their close friends is when it comes to the area of their opinions. Most people don't want to hang around with someone who has different opinions than them, because it either makes them feel uncomfortable, they're offended by it, or they just feel the need to have their opinions validated all the time. However, the truth is is that when our opinions and world views are challenged we experience growth. We either find new ways to affirm our own beliefs or we realize that we were wrong (God forbid) and we change our thinking. Unfortunately most of us don't get this experience often (myself included), because we surround ourselves with people who validate our own opinions.

The ultimate issue here is that as we pick and choose who we will allow into our group of friends based on these differences, we avoid those who God has called us to love. God has convicted me lately on the fact that there are people I am in relationship with that I choose to avoid, because they annoy me or they're different from me in some offensive or uncomfortable way, and I am not loving them in a Christ-like way.

Just as I have no right to pick and choose who I will love, I also don't have the right to pick and choose who I will share the gospel with, and if I choose not to build a relationship with someone based off of silly differences, I am choosing to not share the gospel with them.

If Jesus (who is holiness embodied) can hang out with those who not only sin but make sin their business, then I think I can hang out with people who I disagree with or who get on my nerves.

God created each of us to be unique, and to be valued and loved because of our uniqueness. We are called to love and value everyone, not just the ones who look, think, and act like we want them to.

Dangerous Theology

Jenny and I frequent a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Carrollton called La Salsa. I've always been the guy who says that all Mexican food is the same as the next, but I feel comfortable telling you that La Salsa makes the best burrito and enchilada that I've ever consumed (and I've eaten a lot of burritos and enchiladas). If you're ever out in Carrollton, I would love to take you to La Salsa, and watch you pay for the meal.

One night, Jenny and I decided we would go on a spontaneous date, which was nice because we were heading to La Salsa. We sit down in our usual section (that's right, we have a usual section), and we notice that there's this couple sitting next to us. Now, the reason we paid any attention to this couple is because they have a young child, and my wife has a penchant for noticing children four and under.

As I quickly devoured the chips and salsa in front of me-and my wife tried to keep pace-I noticed that the son of the couple seated across from us was very talkative. It was slightly amusing listening to him describe the contents of his lunch and occasionally chiming in on his parents conversations. However, by the time my taco, burrito, and enchilada had arrived, his cute anecdotes had deteriorated into frequent and long-lasting screams. Now, when I say screams, I'm talking about squealing at an octave that only bats can reach and dogs can hear.

I spent the next few minutes eating my meal in fury, upset about the fact that this family had to come here on the one night that I decided to take my wife out. I was upset with the parents because clearly they had no concern for my comfort. I was upset with the child because he wasn't polite enough to sit through a meal quietly. I was upset with the La Salsa staff because they had sat this rude family in my section. I was upset with God because He should have made this family desire some other food besides Mexican on that particular night.

But then God whispered five dangerous words in my mind, "consider others better than yourself". I immediately recognized this words from Philippians, but that wasn't enough for me. For the next ten minutes I politely pretended to listen to my wife as she spoke beautifully and intelligently about something of importance, I'm sure, as I wrestled with God in my head.

I knew God commanded me to consider others better than myself, but did that mean that I was supposed to like it? Was I supposed to just accept the fact that this family had ruined my evening with my wife? Was I supposed to supposed to be okay with the fact that my one night out with my wife was ruined?

No, I wasn't. I was supposed to be thankful for the fact that God had given me the ability to take my beautiful wife out for dinner. I was supposed to be thankful for God bringing such an amazing woman into my life. I was supposed to think of this family's needs above my own. I was supposed to consider how uncomfortable they must feel knowing that their child was causing a scene. I was supposed to consider them better than myself.

I have to take a break here to give you a little context to this story. Leading up to that night God had been convicting me of my lack of humility (which is the not-so-humble way of saying my arrogance and pride). I knew that the area of spiritual growth that I needed to focus on was the fact that I was not very humble, and God calls us to humbly submit to Him and to others. So, I began to pray that God would make me humble, but I didn't realize that God doesn't make us humble, He breaks our pride and we have no other choice but to be humble. I had even prayed that morning that God would begin to make me more humble.

Finally God, like a wonderful storyteller, brought me around to the point of this whole situation. He reminded me of the beginning of that verse from Philippians. "In humility, consider others better than yourself". I immediately laughed out loud, which startled most people in the room (including my wife). God chose to thrust humility on me by forcing me to stare at my pride face-to-face.

In my pride the only person I could focus on was myself. I was upset that my night had been ruined with my wife at my favorite restaurant, paid for with money spent from my bank account. I had never thought to consider others better than myself. I had never thought to ask, "how can I serve this person in this moment?" Or better, "how can I serve God in this moment?"

Let me warn you though, if you begin to accept this theology as truth, it can be very dangerous. To truly be humble, you have to value others more than you value yourself. In order to do that, you have to put their needs above your own. This can be very dangerous teaching, because that means that:

The couple with an unruly child is more important than you

The child who won't stop screaming is more important than you

The person who cuts in front of you in traffic is more important than you

The person who gossips about you is more important than you

The person who mocks you is more important than you

The person you can't stand is more important than you

The person who always disagrees with you is more important than you

The homeless person is more important than you

The drunk driver is more important than you

The murderer is more important than you

The terrorist is more important than you

We don't get the luxury of choosing who is more important than us. In Christ we are called to be humble, and in humility we are called to consider others better than ourselves. We know that we consider others better than ourselves, when we choose to serve them in all situations. Who are you struggling to serve?