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Guest Post: “Why Is Jesus Worthy” by Richard Oster, Jr.

March 27, 2012 by Mark Woodward

 Dr. Richard Oster, professor at Harding School of Theology, has a topic-specific blog called 7 Subversive Letters which opens the letters to the seven churches recorded in Revelation 1-3 in a very enlightening way.  These short writings hint at what is soon to become a book on the same topic.

I recommend to you both Dr. Oster and his blog.  I hope this taste will encourage you to investigate his writings further.

WHY IS JESUS WORTHY?

by Dr. Richard E. Oster, Jr.

I suppose that this question has more than one answer.  It is clear that John the prophet embraces the conviction that the Messiah Jesus is worthy. One of the best known and favorite perspectives on this topic is given in Revelation 5:12 where John relates Jesus’ worthiness to the fact that he was slain to redeem humankind: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:12).  Believers are probably attracted to this perspective because it reminds them of Christ’s sacrificial death and bloodshed on their behalf.

In our enthusiasm for this popular interpretation of Christ’s worthiness there is a related idea given by John that has sometimes been overlooked.  In Rev. 5:9 John writes, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” There are really two points in this verse; there is the traditional understanding focused upon Jesus’ vicarious death and secondly Jesus’ worthiness because of the global consequences of his death for the Christian mission.  In making this second point John tries to move the readers beyond two typical misunderstandings. The first of these tendencies is one that hides and secludes salvation from others because of feelings of nationalism or ethnocentrism.  The second misconception that John’s teaching combats is the idea that converts to Christianity are there to bolster the agenda, needs, programs, and budget of the church.  John’s emphasis is upon the fact that Christ’s role in the first instance is to purchase man and women “for God.”  The church never owns Christian converts; their only rightful owner is God.

It has been easy for a complacent church at times to laud, magnify, and praise Christ for his redemptive work on the cross, but manifest less enthusiastic about a commitment to the style of globalism in missions contained in the words “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9b).  One does not need to have advanced theological training, or even know Greek and Hebrew, to realize the necessary connection in the heart of God between a believer’s embracing the personal benefits of salvation and then showing a commitment to the globalization of those benefits.

Living in an empire such as Rome’s, a believer would clearer and frequently see the signs of Roman colonialism in Roman artwork recorded on coins, in statues, and on major monuments.  Christians knew they lived in an Empire that controlled the lands and seas between the rivers Thames and Tigris.  When Rome thought of “tribes and languages and peoples and nations” they imagined more areas to conquer, to dominate, and to exploit for their resources, both human and material resources.  It was difficult in antiquity to surpass Rome’s activity in human trafficking.  John the prophet, in contradistinction to the prevailing regime, saw “every tribe and language and people and nation” as parts of God’s alienated, but beloved, creation, longing for a partial redemption in the present, and a complete restoration and redemption in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21-22).

You can read the complete series at 7 Subversive Letters

Posted in Bible Study, Christian Missions, Other, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

WWJD: Would Jesus Be A Youth Minister?

March 25, 2012 by Mark Woodward

Youth ministers are relatively new among us. I grew up in a pretty large congregation in Fort Worth, and we never had a youth minister. Occasionally, in good churches, the associate minister was assigned to teach the “young people” Sunday evenings before Sunday night services.

Glenn Owen, probably right out of ACU, had come to our congregation because we were going to support him as part of the now-famous Brazil mission team which was scheduled to leave in a year or two.  He taught us the missionary journeys of Paul, pretty standard fare for “young people” in those days, but especially meaningful because he was preparing for his own missionary journey.  Glenn went on to be a great missionary, elder, preacher, and finally, the voice of the Herald of Truth all over the world. He was certainly one of my first heroes of faith.

Youth ministers now have their own degree programs at Christian colleges, their own conferences, and their own social media presence.  But they don’t seem to be held in high regard. Let me tell you why I say this:

  • Youth ministry is seen as entry-level ministry position in most churches and is compensated as such.  Rarely are youth ministers part of the church leadership as a result.
  • Youth ministers receive the most sarcastic remarks on Twitter—usually from other ministers.
  • One prominent blogger/minister in our fellowship recently announced a series written by guest youth ministers—but it is anonymous, so that youth ministers can be honest about how they are treated by the Christians that hire them!

Would it make a difference if we believed that Jesus was a youth minister?  Do we need to be reminded of the strong language Jesus used in talking about children:

  • Matthew 18:3
    And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
  • Matthew 19:14
    Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
  • Mark 9:37
    “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.
  • Matthew 18:6
    “If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

So why do these servants tend to be under-valued and under-appreciated in our churches? See if you think some of these might be reasons:

  • Other gifts are more valuable to the kingdom than the gift of ministering to youth! Preaching is more valuable, administration is more valuable, eldering is more valuable . . . . I know they are more valuable because they are paid more and treated better.
  • Other ministry positions are not viewed as stepping stones.  Youth ministry is for guys too young to be pulpit preachers.  The good ones might get to move up in a few years to associate positions.
  • Youth ministers are sometimes the least trained person on the staff.  They may or may not have a Bachelors degree in youth ministry, but just by reason of experience, they are often undertrained. Too often they are not married, or just married and no kids, or young marrieds with babies and/or young kids.  All of their knowledge about young people comes from two places:  their own story at home and their school books. Both of those have great value, but you want to put your kids in the hands of a pilot that has just read about flying a plane?

It is no secret that churches are losing more young people than they are retaining!  Only 13 percent of them viewed religion and spirituality as important. And even among those who described themselves as Christian, only 18 percent said their religion was important to them (Taken from Thom Rainer’s book, The Millennials). I wonder if there is a correlation between our appreciation for youth ministry and the number of our children that continue to believe??

Wouldn’t it make sense to use our best, our most gifted, our most experienced to work with the people that we love most in this world? Shouldn’t those going into youth ministry have the best educational  tracks, the best mentoring opportunities to make them the most prepared people for their ministry?

And then, wouldn’t we support them well, so that they can stay with their calling??  Wouldn’t we hire them, hoping they would stay for a whole generation of kids?

Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).  If angels are God’s ministering spirits and the angels of children are always in His presence, then He must really care about the ministry to them!

Jesus was definitely a youth minister!

 

Posted in Church Leadership, What Would Jesus Do Series | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

WWJD: Would Jesus Go On Vacation?

March 21, 2012 by Mark Woodward

I was walking this morning along the Texas Gulf Coast—not on a beach, just along the coast. It’s not Malibu or Destin, but it’s also not Fort Worth! It’s away! And it’s not work.

I got this great deal on Travelzoo for a seaside resort in Rockport, Texas, near Corpus Christi, so we thought we’d steal a few days before a very busy season begins.

Sherrylee and I travel a lot, but we often joke that all we ever see is the airport, the road to the church building, and the missionary’s house. In just about three weeks we are hitting the road again for almost a month—so why do we think we need this four-day break?  Rest!

Traveling for work sounds like great fun, but ask any of the road warriors that travel for a living–moving from bed to bed, food to food, wondering if your flight will be canceled by the weather—which would throw the rest of your schedule into turmoil!  Different time zones—and you thought just going on Daylight Savings Time was bad!  And all the time, doing your very best to accomplish the task that you are traveling for.  Travel is grueling.

Jesus traveled quite a bit–not by plane but by foot. During his lifetime, and especially during his ministry, he walked the 95 miles between Nazareth and Jerusalem several times, and probably not the most direct route since the Jews usually avoided going through Samaria. He spent most of the three years of his ministry with “no place to lay his head.” Sometimes he was walking away from conflict, but often he was walking toward it. I don’t think Jesus would have described any of his travel as vacation time.

But Jesus did take time to rest.  Mark 6 records his taking his disciples for a break from all the people-work they were involved in:

 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

I do wonder, however, about people who only live from vacation to vacation! Is this year’s cruise or next year’s ski vacation what one lives for? Is life planned around fall break, Christmas break, spring break, and summer holidays?

Jesus talked more about work than rest:  “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17).  “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4).

If Jesus came to Rockport, Texas, he would enjoy watching the sun set on the gulf waters. He might watch the cranes and loons swooping down to catch their supper. He would know why shops advertise mud minnows and sea lice!  And he would probably eat at Hu-Dat, the oriental restaurant with a Cajun name!

But he wouldn’t stay long because he would begin thinking about getting back to work—the work that his Father sent him to do while it was still day.

Check-out time approaches! Better go.

Posted in What Would Jesus Do Series | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

When All Kingdom Breaks Loose!

March 19, 2012 by Mark Woodward

Occasionally my son-in-law Tim Spivey, senior minister for the New Vintage Church in Escondido, CA writes a special blog. He has lots of excellent things to say about leadership, about preaching, and about being church, but recently, this simple reflection of his really touched me.  I love the wordplay in the title, not because it is cute, but because it says Truth in fresh way. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Though I’ve read them all many times, I’m still filled with anticipation whenever I read through my Bible and hear any biblical writer (especially Jesus) say, “The Kingdom of God is Like…” I find that phrase unusually exhilarating and I know whatever follows is likely to be crucial Gospel that I need to hear.

I love those words and I found myself reflecting on my week thinking about all the ways I saw God move. Over the past week, I’ve watched the Gospel break out in so many magnificent ways–all in the face of tragedy, sin, ugliness, and despair.

In the midst of all hell breaking loose, the gift of seeing all Kingdom break loose and run over hell is one of a Christian’s greatest joys. I know we aren’t supposed to talk that way–we’re supposed to be civil with our enemies. But, Satan is no ordinary enemy and deserves my coddling about as much as I deserve God’s grace.

So there.

To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is like:

  • The restoration of a teenager who felt the need to experience the far country.
  • A broken woman receiving grace and acceptance from God’s people.
  • A mom thought dead returning to life (mine).
  • A person with a critical spirit confessing it to the one they’ve verbally cut for months. Reconciliation dawning.
  • A mom and dad burying their infant amidst tears while God’s people help fulfill Jesus’ blessing upon those who mourn.
  • A family provides an entire season’s worth of meat for a family that hasn’t eaten meat in months because they can’t afford it.
  • Tears flowing down the cheeks of a worshiper remembering her departed husband as the church sings Chris Tomlin’s, “I Will Rise.”
  • A man closed to Christ most of his life opens his first Bible and begins to read the Gospel of John.
Yes, there are times when all hell breaks loose. But in the end, we Christians need to remember all hell is no match for the Kingdom broken loose. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.
May your week be blessed, and may all Kingdom break loose wherever you are.
If you would like to read more from Tim, you’ll find a link in my sidebar in the Blogroll.

Posted in Other | 1 Comment »

WWJD: Would Jesus Go Gentle Into That Good Night?

March 15, 2012 by Mark Woodward

With the bloody images of civil war in Syria in our living rooms each day, it is easy to rage against innocent, but violent death.  Even just the Facebook messages from casual friends who tell of the final struggles with cancer or with Alzheimer’s cause a kind of outrage against unwanted, undeserved pain and suffering of every kind.

On the other hand, my mother is within a month of her 89th birthday. She is frail, but in relatively good health. She does not rage against the dying light, nor do we her children. My prayer for her has been—as my prayer for many loved ones who have already passed—that the Father would take them gently, quietly.

John Donne, the metaphysical poet, wrote, “As virtuous men pass mildly away,/And whisper to their souls to go,/Whilst some of their sad friends do say,/”Now his breath goes,” and some say, “No,”/So let us melt and make no noise . . . .” (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning).

Much better known, however, are the strong words of Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet, who wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night, /Old age should burn and rage at close of day; /Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

What would Jesus do?

Jesus knew violent death! Jesus knew what it was to be young and condemned. Jesus knew what it was to see his closest relatives killed—beheaded—unjustly. And, perhaps most importantly, Jesus knew that death in its every form results as the inevitable consequence of rebellion against His Father.  Death had been avoidable, but we chose it over the tree of life!  The stupidity of a choice that leads to every death must make heaven rage!

Yet, Jesus created an alternate ending to the story of death and dying in our world. He offers an alternate place to stand other than  between raging or whimpering.

Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, died unexpectedly—at least his sisters felt he should not have died. Jesus intentionally lets him die (John 11:14). Only then does Jesus go to the sisters.  He goes to the tomb that held the decaying body of one he loved, he goes with his eyes full of tears—but no whimper—nor rage!

Jesus goes to the tomb with an alternative—life!

“I am going there to wake him up,” Jesus says to his disciples. Upon arriving in Bethany, Martha, Lazarus’s sister, in her deep sorrow whimpers a complaint that if only Jesus had been there . . . .

Mary, her faithful sister, says the same, “If only you had been here . . . .”  Where were you when you were most needed? We thought you loved Lazarus? You could have done something, and you didn’t!

Our words coming pouring out of these bereaved sisters, our words of disappointment, words that lead to rage!

At this point, Jesus offers the sisters spiritual hope, “Your brother will rise again!”  And they believed this to be true!  But it did not comfort them.  Their loss was in this world, not the next! Their pain was physical, not spiritual.

Unexpectedly, Jesus opened the door to an alternate reality, a reality meant for this world:

 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

No one believed in never dying! No one had experienced never dying! 

Jesus had to call Lazarus out of the tomb in his stinking body in order to prove that He was the Author and Giver of Life.

The context of the whole story of Lazarus is Jesus’ own journey to his momentary death on Golgotha. Yes, because of our sins even Life had to die in the flesh, but Life never died—and even his body didn’t stay dead.

And that is the promise of Life to those who believe in Him.

WWJD?  Jesus’ rages against sin and the pain and suffering it causes.  He weeps at the momentary victory of evil, but, I believe, there is no darkness, no mystery, no emptiness, no false hope in His presence.

Jesus walked in the Light of Life that never ends.  And He calls us to walk in His Light and share His Life—no need to rage, no cause to whimper!

Posted in What Would Jesus Do Series | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments »

WWJD: Would Jesus Appear On Piers Tonight?

March 12, 2012 by Mark Woodward

Watching Mark Driscoll on Piers Tonight made me uncomfortable.   Mark Driscoll is the founding minister of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, and one of the best-recognized spokespersons for emergent-type churches, although he has distanced himself from the mainstream of the Emerging Church Movement.

Driscoll has a new book out called Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together  that raises some eyebrows because he not only takes a pretty conservative view of women’s roles, but he also addresses married sex quite explicitly—at least this seems to be the part of the book that got him on with Piers Morgan.

It was not the content of his answers that made me uncomfortable, rather the overall manner and potential effect of his responses. In my judgment, Morgan—a somewhat hostile antagonist– kept Driscoll on the defensive which diminished the potential impact of his answers.

Honestly, defending faith in a public arena challenges almost all of us!  Don’t you find that public Christians often come off appearing like boxers backed into a corner, subjectively successful in warding off their opponent’s blows, but mostly hoping the bell will ring soon!

One of the best public Christian defenders I ever saw was Billy Graham. I thought often during the interview that as preparation for Piers Morgan, Driskoll should have watched Billy Graham being interviewed by Phil Donahue and others—often being asked the same questions about hell and marriage and sex.  I watched those old interviews again today as well as the Piers Morgan interview to see if I could determine the difference.

The major difference as I see it is that Graham spoke with authority and Driskoll did not. In response to pointed questions, Driskoll’s sentences started most often with “I believe that . . . ,” whereas, in a short collection of interview clips from Graham’s life,  his sentences rarely start with “I believe”—even when asked directly what he believed.  No, his responses are “Christ taught,” “God says,” and “the Bible teaches.”  More than once, Graham says, “It doesn’t make any difference what I believe” and then proceeds to speak as the oracle of God.

All of this led me to think about Jesus and his responses to public interviews by hostile interrogators!  How did Jesus respond in situations similar to Driskoll’s?  What would Jesus do?

  • Jesus spoke boldly.  The temple guards said, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46)
  • Jesus spoke truthfully.  Almost 80 times in the four Gospels, Jesus begins his sentence with “Truly, I tell you . . . “—and sometimes, “Very truly, I tell you . . . .” Jesus is not “The Opinion;” He is “the Truth!”
  • Jesus did not answer every question that he was asked. Read all of John 7 and see how often Jesus leaves the question of his birthplace unanswered, as well as questions about who he was.
  • Jesus chose his battles, not engaging with every potential antagonist! Again look at the beginning of John 7 and notice that Jesus avoids going to Jerusalem with a crowd, but rather goes secretly.
  • Jesus chose sometimes to be silent. “When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor” (Matthew 27:12-14).
  • Jesus always acknowledged His Father as the source of his message. “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:49).

Being a public disciple of Jesus is not easy! I’m grateful for the truths that people like Billy Graham or Mark Driscoll speak in public.  In whatever ways we might be questioned or challenged because of Jesus, I pray that you and I both will do what He would do!

Posted in Christian Culture | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments »

WWJD: Would Jesus Be Green?

March 8, 2012 by Mark Woodward

I’m not talking about green like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz! I’m talking about green as in global warming, hybrid cars, animal rights, and environmental protectionism.

What would Jesus do?  Here’s what I know:

  • Jesus was on the creation team! He made the world.  “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” John 1:3
  • Creation has His constant attention. He “sustains all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3)
  • Creation is His inheritance. “By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end.” (Hebrews 1:2)
  • Creation will be redeemed.  “The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead” (Romans 8:19-21) —This is The Message but check it out in your own translation and you’ll find the very same teaching.

So the physical world, all of it, is extraordinarily important to Jesus.  But here are some more parts of the puzzle:

  • Jesus was a carpenter’s son. He certainly must have cut down trees and used them for human purposes. (Mark 6:3)
  • Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, not for selling animals for sacrifice, but for doing business in God’s house.  (John 2:14ff)
  • Jesus was not a vegetarian! He ate the Passover lamb  each year and he ate fish on at least two occasions. (Luke 2:41, Matthew 26; John 21)
  • Jesus helped his disciples catch fish! (John 21)
  • Jesus cursed a fig tree and killed it because it should have had fruit, but didn’t (Matthew 21 and Mark 11).
  • Jesus allowed, even praised the use of nard as a libation for his glory (John 12:3). Nard is from a rare flowering plant in India and China.
  • Jesus rode on a donkey (Matthew 21)for his own purposes. But he also assumed that if an ox was stuck in a ditch, good people would try to get it out (Luke 14).

Would Jesus be green?  I’m not ready to answer yet.

From what I understand, Jesus treasures all creation enough to redeem it with his blood.  Jesus created all life, but only put his breath and his image into people. So I believe that while there is temporal overlap, a qualitative difference does exist between organic life and human life.

Jesus appears to have used the natural world for his purposes, even holding it accountable when it did failed to serve him well  (fig tree incident).  So I don’t think Jesus believes that people are just another element of creation, but rather that we were given the physical world to use—for God’s glory, not for ours.

Jesus would not abuse His creation, His inheritance. He would not destroy creation’s glory for self-gratification, for greed, for power, or for lust.  He did nothing for these reasons. He used the physical world for His glory!

Would Jesus be an eco-terrorist? No!  Would He believe that animal rights and human rights should be the same? No.  Would he be concerned about global warming or ivory poaching? He would be concerned about abuse of His inheritance wherever it was happening!

So, I think my final answer is:  As Jesus did, we should love the creation and use it for God’s purposes and God’s glory.

Does that work for you?

 

 

Posted in Christian Culture, What Would Jesus Do Series | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

WWJD? Would Jesus Go To Church?

March 6, 2012 by Mark Woodward

In 2005, Steve McCranie published a book called Love Jesus, Hate Church in which he addressed one of the most common manifestations of modern American Christianity. More than three out of five Americans identify themselves as being Christians, but over 40% of us don’t go to church more than once a year.

One Barna survey states that almost forty percent of unchurched Americans don’t go because they have had painful experiences with church or with church people.

Do you recognize any of these comments, all taken from articles about loving Jesus and hating church?

  • “You certainly don’t have to be a church member to go to heaven.”
  • “I like to express my faith through my hands,”
  • “I felt there was hypocrisy in the church, and I felt if I kept going, I would be a hypocrite.”
  • “If the church doesn’t meet my needs, I’m going to stop going.”
  • “Christians get on my nerves.”
  • “So much of American religion today is therapeutic in approach, focused on things you want to fix in your life. The one-to-one approach is more attractive. People don’t go to institutions to fix their problems.”

Having easily recognized the world we live in today, dare we ask if Jesus would go to church today?

Jesus didn’t have church, but he did have synagogue—not that much different!  Synagogues were places of assembly, probably begun during the Jewish Babylonian captivity after the destruction of Solomon’s temple. Synagogues were places for prayer and worship, for study of Torah, and for fellowship. As they evolved, they took on greater social and political roles, so that they were the basic organizational institution in Israel during the time of Jesus.

All of the gospel writers mention Jesus and the synagogue, so we have lots of material with which to work. Here’s what Jesus and they say about synagogues in the first century:

  • Synagogues were full of hypocrites, some who blew trumpets so all would know when they donated to the poor, and others made a huge show at synagogue when they prayed in public (Matthew 6:2,5)
  • Synagogues had good people flogged for breaking their rules (Matthew 10:17).
  • Synagogues had special places of honor for the “better” people (Matthew 23:6)
  • Synagogues were the home of special parties of Jews, like the Pharisees (Luke 11:43)
  • Synagogues had the authority to excommunicate those who did not conform to their understanding of God’s Will (John 9:22)
  • Synagogues were often organized around racial, national, or social distinctions (Acts 6:9).

This sounds pretty much like church to me!

Yet, here is what the writers recorded about Jesus and the synagogue:

  • Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4:3)
  • Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues (Matthew 9:35)
  • Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue (Matthew 13:54).
  •  and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom (Luke 4:16)
  • And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea (Luke 4:44)

Some would wish that Jesus had abandoned synagogues and started house churches with no rulers and no rules and no entanglements and not many obligations.

Some would wish that Jesus had only assembled with good people, preferably those that he liked to hang out with.

Some would wish him to just continue teaching by the sea or on the mountain, just anywhere in nature!  And he should only tell stories—and don’t draw conclusions—and keep them short.

Some would wish him to just stay at home in Nazareth and let anyone who wants to know what he teaches come to him.  If they wanted to start their own Facebook fan page, that’s OK, just keep it to virtual meetings.

Some just want to get a podcast of his sermons whenever they want to listen—that’s all.

I have no doubt that Jesus would be at church every Sunday! He would be teaching, healing, praying, loving people, and praising God!

STOP!

Wait a minute!

Jesus IS at church every Sunday!

Posted in What Would Jesus Do Series | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

If Jesus Were A QB, Would He Talk About God In Public?

March 5, 2012 by Mark Woodward

I want to start a whole new series of short blogs with questions that challenge me to know Jesus better. The “What Would Jesus Do” Question is often asked as the prologue to a highly prescriptive conclusion, i.e., “therefore, you should do this because Jesus would have done this!” 

I don’t have too much trouble with that approach if, in fact, Jesus faced exactly the same situation, BUT I have a big problem with people who want to have all the answers as to what Jesus would do in every situation based on their own presumptions of understanding God.

Again, I don’t intend to be prescriptive, but I do think I can stimulate you to think more about who Jesus is by asking some of the questions that I ask myself.  I’ll share with you what I think—briefly—but then I’d like to hear from you too.

If Jesus were quarterback for an NFL team or a point guard for an NBA team, would he always be talking about God?

I can’t think of any time when Jesus did NOT talk about God!  He started at least by twelve years old at the temple in Jerusalem. He talked about God when he ate, when he was in the synagogue, when he was in boots, when he was on trial, when he was with crowds, when he was by himself.

People often didn’t like it when Jesus talked about God.  It made them uncomfortable the way he was so familiar with God. It disturbed them that he seemed so confident in his relationship to God.  He spoke with authority about God and that really bothered other people who thought they owned God’s authority.

Jesus also spoke about God in contexts that many people considered inappropriate. He talked about God in the presence of children (danger of indoctrination). He talked about God in the presence of the poor, the sick, and the needy (could be charged with lack of compassion). He talked about God to religious people who did not understand God the way he did (danger of proselytism). He talked about God in the presence of people with alternative lifestyles (danger of being politically incorrect). He talked about God in business environments (danger of mixing secular with spiritual).

There are certainly lots of verses in the Gospels in red, and most of them are God-talk. Even the talk about being a good neighbor, Jesus says, is really all about God.

My answer is YES. If Jesus were a quarterback or a CEO or a carpenter or a nurse or a teacher or a policeman or a government employee or a sanitation engineer, He would be talking about God.

Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19)



Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

Germany, Jesus, and a Muslim Woman!

March 2, 2012 by Mark Woodward

Germany is really a lot older than the United States. When we lived in Germany, many cities and towns were celebrating 1200 years of documented history. By contrast, when we moved from Hannover, Germany to Oklahoma City in 1979, we were shocked to discover that the city sprang into being just ninety years earlier on April 22, 1889. We saw a television interview with Oklahoma Belle Cheever, the first person ever born in Oklahoma City!

Because Germany is older and because one out of six Americans has German heritage, and like my own family– my great grandparents were born in Germany—what the German immigrants brought with them is still fairly fresh in its social influence, I continually find that much of what goes on in Germany is a foreshadow of what will be a strong tendency in the United States in the not too distant future.

For instance, the rise of theological liberalism and the abandonment of personal faith became currency in Germany in the 19th century, so that by the mid-twentieth century, the Christian churches—especially the protestant Lutheran churches—were socially active, but spiritually empty.

Is the American church on the same path, lagging just a few years behind? 

Another example is that in the place of a strong Christian epistemology, Germans moved to an amoral, secularized social structure, which some might argue produced the horrors of WWII.  With that war only twenty-five years past when we lived there, we were amazed at how virtually everyone we talked with said, “Ich war nicht dabei!”  (I wasn’t involved!)

Our first home in Lohhof on the outskirts of Munich was just minutes away from Dachau.  The smells of the local industries as well as the fertilized fields were all around us on those days when the wind was moving.  But no one had ever smelled anything from a concentration camp in their backyard! No one ever wondered why all those people went in and never came out! I can’t help but believe that a hundred years of secularizing their churches had something to do with the average person’s fear and lack of involvement.

Is a post-modernist America slowly following Germany down a path that has no moral road signs? Is a “whatever” society the forerunner to one where everything from political executions to torture to even worse atrocities could be perpetrated because the majority of people sind nicht dabei?

In the 1950s, Germany needed more laborers to help rebuild it after WWII, so it encouraged immigration from southern Europe, especially Turkey.  First, Turkish men came in thousands, planning to return home with their earnings, but by the early 70s, numbers grew to almost 1 million because they stayed and their families were allowed to join them. By the year 2000, there were 2 million Turkish citizens in Germany. Today, there are perhaps 3-4 million Turks or about 4% of the total population of Germany.

And now Germany is into its second and third generation in some Turkish families, but in 2010, Angela Merkel, prime minister of Germany, declared that integration of the Muslim Turks into German society had “failed utterly.”  She went on to say, “At the start of the 60s we invited the guest-workers to Germany. We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn’t stay, that one day they’d go home. That isn’t what happened. And of course the tendency was to say: let’s be ‘multikulti’ and live next to each other and enjoy being together, [but] this concept has failed, failed utterly.” 

A new study has just been released in Germany about the role of Islam in the integration process of Turkish people (both German citizens and non-citizens) in Germany—and it is not encouraging. Read this article from one of Germany’s leading magazines Der Spiegel (English version):

Now what makes this interesting for Americans today is the growth of Islam in the United States. USA Today ran a headline this week that said “Number of U.S. Mosques up 74% Since 2000.”

My two questions as both a Christian and an American are

  1. How can Christians speak the Good News to Islam in a way that it will be heard?
  2. Is increased diversity, specifically a growing Muslim population in the U.S., going to be good for the whole community?

Here is what gives me concern:

There exists a cultural memory of Western, aka, Christian war against Islam summarized in the word crusade, but including so much more than those medieval battles. Islam believes that it is under siege by the West.  You can read this from those who have studied Islamic cultures today, but it is also my own personal experience in visiting and working in Turkey over the last decade. (Read this excellent report on why the Muslim world is mad at America. to better understand what the Muslim world thinks about us.)

We Americans cannot at the same time wage war against Islam and show them we are Christians by our love.  If we choose to abandon our Christianity, opting for a secularized society, one sanitized of Christian values—which is the direction, I believe, our country is obviously going—then I am afraid we are copying the German story with integration, one that does not have a happy ending!

If Jesus were living in Israel today and John were writing his gospel, he would record a conversation in his fourth chapter between Jesus and a Muslim woman at the well!  While Jesus would be offering her living water. his Christian disciples would be shocked that Jesus was even talking to this woman in her burka. Jesus would tell her about her life and describe it to her, but in a way that she did not feel judged or condemned, rather that she had met someone who told her truth!

Sure, she would try to divert the conversation from her personal relationships by saying the Muslims worship Allah, the one true God, and that Christians worship three gods and lead decadent lives! But Jesus would just sweep that whole conversation aside. “It’s not about our cultural wars,” he would say, “it’s about the One God—and it is about the Messiah—and I am he!

The woman would be so taken with what Jesus said that she would drive into her village and tell all her friends and neighbors about the one who told her the truth about her life and who offered her that which would quench her thirst forever.

Speaking the truth in love—just like Jesus did! I think that is the only answer.

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