Every Christian church has rules. Some rules are unwritten, but generally
understood by most everybody. For
example, it is uncool to start yelling when the pastor is mid-sermon trying to
make a point. It may be OK to yell “amen”,
after he makes the point; but if you were to start cheering for your favorite
football team (due to the earbuds in your ears, listening to the game live)
while in the middle of the sermon – that would be uncool and likely against the
unwritten rules. It may not get you
thrown out. It may instead engender more
than few giggles from the men in the congregation as they muse over what a good
idea earbuds are in general for game situations like this. But the women, and most of all the pastor,
are not going to be amused. You are in
church presumably to pay attention – to church.
It is bad enough to be distracted, but to cause the entire congregation
to become distracted is a big no-no. But
this is usually an unwritten rule. Few
churches actually could have predicted ear-buds, and live game broadcasts
during church with a device small enough to be both seen and heard by a given church
goer. So few churches actually thought
they needed a formal written rule against such behavior.
But if you were to actively start recruiting members of the
church you attend to go start attending a different church – that would be less
unwritten, and more formal. Particularly
if the destination church you are trying to get people to go attend does not
share this church’s core beliefs. Most
of us place a good amount of faith that our beliefs in our church are the
“right” ones. Folks from other churches,
even if Christian, that do not share our ideas about scripture, are just simply
mistaken, and in a growing process that will one day lead them to us. We never even stop to consider if it would be
us that is led to them. That is
unthinkable. So if someone from one of
“those” Christian churches begins to perform a miracle, we have to question
it. First thought, the miracle must be
fake. After all, how could someone from
over there do something that it truly takes supernatural power to do? And if the miracle is certifiably a real
miracle then second thought, the power must be coming from the evil one. You can imagine this is exactly how the Pharisees
thought about Jesus. They never imagined
His power could be coming from a good place, because He was not one of them. And so generations later, when we are
confronted with someone from another church doing miracles, our first two
responses look exactly like the Pharisees of old.
Another unwritten rule is that if one of those “other”
churches, is exposed to one of our key core beliefs, and after this exposure
still refuses to believe like we do – they are doomed. After all, if ultimately salvation is not the
thing that separates us from them, we might as well be them. Everyone is comfortable with a certain
pecking order even under the Christian umbrella. Pastors and evangelists of our church are the
top tier (i.e. most likely to be saved because they share the Lords word). Elders, Deacons, and Deaconesses are next. Teachers next, and so on, and so on till you
get to regular members. Then come the
people from churches whose beliefs are the closest to our own. And so on, and so on. Until you get to Jewish, and then down the
road, Islamic faiths. Past that barrier
though, you start straying into the modern pagan world – gods of tradition and
fancy stories that do not have a part in our Trinity in any way. Eventually you wind up with agnostics and
then atheists, the lowest folks on the Christian totem pole (so to speak).
Believers understand this phenomenon. They have been long coached in it. They have come to accept it as fact. Perhaps unwritten, but still fact anyway. Luke was confronted with it as well. He writes to his friend Theophilus to offer a
competing ideology spoken of by Jesus Christ Himself. One it would seem, that we modern Christians,
and modern Christian churches have decided to fully ignore. But it is there in the written word for us to
discover if we would be open to letting Jesus lead us there. It begins in the ninth chapter picking up in
verse 46 saying … “Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them
should be greatest. [verse 47] And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their
heart, took a child, and set him by him, [verse 48] And said unto them,
Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall
receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the
same shall be great.”
We begin with the pecking order we are all so comfortable
with. The disciples or apostles strike
up a discussion about who among them will be the greatest in the Kingdom Jesus
is sure to establish. First of all, they
are imagining the wrong Kingdom. Just
like us. We imagine the Kingdom of
Heaven to be something like kingdoms of this world. With some sort of power structure, where I
have power over you, because I am assigned to rule over you in heaven, kind of
like it might be here on earth. But it’s
not. Even under the Christian banner,
there are not supposed to be rulers over me.
There is supposed to be Jesus, who rules over me – with no middlemen in
between. Heaven won’t be any
different. If that organizational
structure looks way too flat to be successful, try it out, and watch what kind
of success you find. The freedom Jesus
offers is one where His government starts and ends with God on top, you right
underneath. We don’t need a leadership
pecking order. Leadership pecking orders
are designed to “make us more effective” as an organization. They don’t.
They make us more organized, but not more effective. A relationship with Jesus one on one, is the
only thing that can make you truly effective.
Then Jesus turns the ideas that the person with the most
accomplishments, and greatest resume, should naturally be the believer who
rises to the top of the food chain (which does not actually exist). Instead, Jesus brings a toddler over and puts
him on His lap. This, Jesus announces, is
what the greatest person in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. A young child. Someone with zero resume, zero accomplishments,
nothing to speak of where it comes to skills and abilities. What is the only thing a really young child
is capable of doing – loving and trusting.
Being completely dependent on Dad for everything to live. That is all a kid can do. And since they have absolute trust, they have
little worry and fear. They use that
freedom of mind to do what – you got it – to play. Very young children indulge their
imaginations and make toys out of boxes, and creatures out of paint, and then
play with them to their own great joy.
Sharing with others only doubles the joy. This is the profile of greatness in the
actual Kingdom of Heaven, not the wrong one we have been imagining. Hard work gets you nowhere. You are not even expected to do it. Playtime with Dad, loving others, living a worry-free
life due to your trust in Dad – that is greatness. Rules are now in freefall.
It gets worse. Luke
continues in verse 49 saying … “And John answered and said, Master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not
with us. [verse 50] And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not
against us is for us.” Here goes the
whole “other guy” thing right out the window.
Some guy performing miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, who was not
one of the official disciples or part of the second official church of Jesus. He was a freelancer. He was someone without exposure to any formal
beliefs or perhaps even association with Jesus.
He found faith on his own, or through the Father’s influence. And he was acting on it in the name of Jesus,
casting out demons no less. A miracle
performed by someone from the “thems” of this world. His disciples tried to shut it down, but
Jesus says don’t. Let him be. Just because there was no formal association
with the new church and the new faith, did not negate or denigrate what this
believer did on his own. Yikes. I am sure our church would shake in its boots
to consider this idea was actually OK’d by Jesus Himself. Turns out miracles performed anywhere under
the Christian umbrella are still miracles.
Then comes the war with tradition. Luke continues in verse 51 saying … “And it
came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he
stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, [verse 52] And sent messengers
before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans,
to make ready for him. [verse 53] And they did not receive him, because his
face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem was long held to be the center of faith for the Jewish
people. That is, for the tribes of Judah,
Levi (the priests), and Benjamin at least.
The other nine tribes split off from the kingdom of Solomon’s heirs and
became known over time as the Samaritans.
They setup their own temple, and preferred to go there to worship for
feasts, etc. Over time the dispute
became marked upon which temple, was “the” Temple where Jewish believers were
supposed to worship. The Samaritans
obviously had their own traditions and ideas at this point. Jesus was going to the “other” place. So Jesus was bucking the ideas of the
Samaritans about where He should go.
Samaritans were not fond of that.
So they refused to host Jesus while on His journey. Even Samaritans who may well have believed in
Jesus as the Messiah were still not happy about this choice and refused to host
Him.
Luke continues in verse 54 saying … “And when his disciples
James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to
come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? [verse 55] But he
turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are
of. [verse 56] For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them. And they went to another village.”
This snippet of scripture should terrify modern Christians. The refusal to host Jesus met with a steep
rebuke from James and John – two of the disciples who had seen Jesus
transfigured into God on the mountain that night with Peter and
themselves. James and John knew what
power Jesus had. And so they immediately
thought to meet this insult by “those” Samaritans with fire from heaven to
consume them all for the slight they offered their Lord. Because the Samaritans refused to believe
what the Jews were supposed to believe, James and John thought they should die
for it. Strike down the sinners. Kill the wicked. How many times do we modern Christians
threaten sinners with exactly the same threats and tell ourselves we do the
work of Jesus in the process? We
don’t. Our churches go so far as to
condemn other Christian churches because they do not believe like we do. We make this a matter of salvation. But Jesus tells James and John, they are
filled with the spirit of the devil in this.
Jesus came to save, redeem, and restore.
It is the devil alone who demands justice for what we deserve. Whose team do you truly play for? Rules are blown to dust.
Luke continues with an examination of our priorities in
verse 57 saying … “And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a
certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. [verse
58] And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” You know those huge churches that seat 20,000
people, or those immaculate cathedrals that house all that art. Worthless.
Jesus has no place to even lay His head.
Life with Jesus is life on the move.
The point of redemption is not to sit still, and hope sinners find their
way into your doors. The point of
redemption is to venture out, and find sinners right where they are, and
minister to their needs, even when they have no interest in hearing about religion
at all. If we cannot love our neighbor,
why should our neighbor ever listen to anything else we have to say? Church is not about finding walls to make a
habit out of attending or hiding behind.
Church is about motion, forward motion, to express love to those in need
of love. And who is not in need of love? Hard to imagine rules were even contemplated
let alone enforced.
But Luke is not finished with his examination as he
continues in verse 59 saying … “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he
said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. [verse 60] Jesus said
unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God.” First, all our sentimental
attachment to the idea of 12 disciples, or 12 apostles, is for lack of a better
word “huey”. Here is Jesus inviting what
would have been a thirteenth disciples or apostle to the close-up crew. No sentiment to the 12 number. If the 13th man would have
accepted, he would have been part of it.
This also discounts the more than a few women who traveled with Jesus
and may well have been counted in His intimate circle number if not for
outdated prejudice. It is our willingness
to accept that constrains Jesus, not some quota on His part. But to the 13th man, Jesus says to
him about his dead father, let the dead bury their dead. We could interpret that to mean, let those
who are dead in their current lives take the time to bury another of their
kind. Instead preach the gospel, preach
the Kingdom of God to those who are dead, and bring them out of death to life
through Jesus Christ. That mission is
more important than our sentimentality, be it for a departed relative, or for
some numeric limitation we think we can impose on God.
Luke continues in verse 61 saying … “And another also said,
Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at
home at my house. [verse 62] And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his
hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” De-ja-vu Lot’s wife. Once you see the work Jesus needs you to
participate in, you don’t have time to look back and be distracted by the
things of the past. Even family may not
understand your new mission or purpose, they don’t need to. You can love them best, not in wishing them
goodbyes, but in being steadfast in the purpose Jesus leads you to
perform. Trying to get your house in
order first, before you come to Jesus, is an impossible task. There will always be something else that
needs your attention. That demand on
your attention is the very war between good and evil. It is Satan holding you back, and Jesus looking
to carry you forward. But you cannot
move forward while your heart demands the things of your past. Not even familial bonds should outweigh your relationship
with Jesus Christ. Your dependence upon
Jesus to adjust your priorities, is the only way that adjustment ever takes
place. To look away, to look back, is to
become a pillar of salt unable to move at all.
Focus forward in Jesus is the only way to avoid that trap.
So I ask, where in any of this do you read “us” and “them”
under the Christian banner? This is not
the establishment of a pecking order; it is the absolute abolishment of
anything of that ilk. Luke writes to us
of what real greatness is in the Kingdom of God and it is found in the persona
of young dependent child. We are to
accept those who work under the banner of Jesus, even if they don’t have one
exactly like our own. We are to not to
condemn others for their incorrect beliefs, or ever call for their destruction,
we are to work for the salvation of all.
And we are to keep our focus directly upon Jesus, not being distracted
by the past, or anything else that would attempt to distract us. No middlemen.
No rules, at least none of the ones we think about. Not even church should be thought of as a
building, but as a movement. The rules
we thought of, whether written or unwritten, are in freefall. And perhaps that is how it was always
supposed to be.
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