Dan Kimball quotes Scot McKnight's call to preach Jesus and to do so whilst defending orthodoxy. All well and good. But I teach these 20 somethings as well in a much more secular setting. The notion of preaching is an outmoded, anachronistic, mostly useless, if not often offensive medium in which to reveal the Gospel. We can't preach this stuff. We have to live it. And the best way to evangelize is to gather people who need to live it as well, even if they don't know they want to – yet.
So what is "it"? It is to help God reveal the Kingdom of God which is a kingdom built on love. That love is from a God who suffered the consequences of a humanity gone wrong that would kill the very God that they claimed to worship, and in a political system that believed itself to be divinely ordained from another source that made the apparent suffering King of the Jews a mockery. God gave us life by spiting death. And the response to the gift of life is to seek justice, be compassionate, act with mercy, and love our neighbor and our God with service and a love that pierces through the thick veneer of egotism that our capitalist culture buttresses.
Jesus did not want the empty words of preachers to help his followers escape from getting dirty with the outcasts and the poor. This is not about preaching, this is about getting a generation or three off of their consumer driven, existentially secure, market idolizing asses to get dirty and love others passionately.
I have been the recipient of "evangelism" as the word has been handed to us from the various American hotheads from the 19th century onward who thought they had it absolutely correct. I have even tried my hand at it and it is bullshit. What changed me was when I saw Jesus in the eyes of the poor first hand and understood that the Kingdom of God is what they need and I was there not to give it to them, but to receive it from for the first time. We all need it, we all need to receive it together. Jesus is not about orthodoxy, he destroys it when it erects human boundaries that prevent God from having reign over us and our feeble systems. The Body of Christ, those who follow him in that new life, is God's techne, God's medium for getting the work of the Kingdom done.
It's pretty clear from prophet after prophet that we killed off to maintain our own systems of self gratification and aggrandizement, that God wants us to work first and talk later. It's not work for material reward like the late 19th century and early 20th century Calvinists believed. It is about work to lift people out of conditions where they can no longer receive the good anymore. It is about restoring the walking dead among us to receive a life they cannot receive without the body of Christ intervening on their behalf.
When those 20 somethings of our age stare into the eyes of Jesus in the poor, the lonely, the sick, the prisoner, the outcast, the recipients of injustice, all of those who have bore the sins of humanity on their backs and get whipped by their brothers and sisters in the human race every day, they will see Jesus. When they participate in carrying Jesus into the tomb, they can see new life emerge not only in the one they carry, but in themselves as well. This is not simply a part of what Jesus calls his followers to do. This fundamental obligation is what Jesus requires everyone to do.
We have to stop protecting ourselves from what offends us and what disgusts us, put down the Bible for a second, and use both of the hands God gave us to reveal the Kingdom. This has nothing to do with orthodoxy, good theology, doctrine, denominations, collection plates, exegesis, preaching, committees, voting, bishops, etc. This has to do with the obligation those who follow Jesus have to those who will die from the very conditions of their culture that Jesus would save them from. B Jesus cannot save them, because his body of whining, existentially secure grumblers in the desert is too worried about whether to evangelize or not.
Related posts:
I think if you regard evangelism as bullshit you must also think alot of the Bible is also bullshit, as well as what Paul, Peter, Stephen, Philip John and Jesus did was also bullshit.
The great commandment and the great commission must go hand in hand.
Cheers
Might want to read the post before ranting about a strawman.
Cheers indeed.
I apologise if i picked you up wrong. I sometimes react when some throw out the baby with the bath water and I thought you were implying that you stop reaching out in word and only in deed.
Peace and Grace
Well said brother.
"We make our opinion of life by the way in which we live."
George MacDonald.
"Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words."
Francis of Assissi.
Well said brother.
"We make our opinion of life by the way in which we live."
George MacDonald.
"Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary, use words."
Francis of Assissi.
first off, this is the first blog of yours i happened onto, so wanted to ask a few follow up questions: can you see Jesus only in the eyes of "the poor, the lonely, the sick, the prisoner, the outcast, the recipients of injustice, all of those who have bore the sins of humanity on their backs and get whipped by their brothers and sisters in the human race every day"? from this blog, you seem to have two classes of people in your religious worldview – those who are "downtrodden" and need help and those who are well-fed and need to get off their asses and serve the poor. the poor don't need to change (or old school term – repent) and the rich can't find God except by serving the poor ("poor" is used in the broad sense).
more importantly, what does religion, Jesus, and God have anything to do with humanity's desire to alleviate the suffering of their fellow humans? with the old school fundamentalist, they made God and Jesus essential to salvation and heaven and therefore if you wanted a piece of the afterlife, you had play the religious game. when I hear (read) some of the new emergent type Christians, they seem to espouse what is essentially a humanistic philosophy – that is work hard to make life on earth as good as it can (or fair as it can) for as many people as possilbe. Don't quite see the need for God, Jesus, and religion.
When 20's something look into the eyes of the "poor, downtrodden, etc.", they don't need to see Jesus, they need to see fellow human beings in need and have the courage and compassion to help. Why muddy the water with God and Jesus?
first off, this is the first blog of yours i happened onto, so wanted to ask a few follow up questions: can you see Jesus only in the eyes of "the poor, the lonely, the sick, the prisoner, the outcast, the recipients of injustice, all of those who have bore the sins of humanity on their backs and get whipped by their brothers and sisters in the human race every day"? from this blog, you seem to have two classes of people in your religious worldview – those who are "downtrodden" and need help and those who are well-fed and need to get off their asses and serve the poor. the poor don't need to change (or old school term – repent) and the rich can't find God except by serving the poor ("poor" is used in the broad sense).
more importantly, what does religion, Jesus, and God have anything to do with humanity's desire to alleviate the suffering of their fellow humans? with the old school fundamentalist, they made God and Jesus essential to salvation and heaven and therefore if you wanted a piece of the afterlife, you had play the religious game. when I hear (read) some of the new emergent type Christians, they seem to espouse what is essentially a humanistic philosophy – that is work hard to make life on earth as good as it can (or fair as it can) for as many people as possilbe. Don't quite see the need for God, Jesus, and religion.
When 20's something look into the eyes of the "poor, downtrodden, etc.", they don't need to see Jesus, they need to see fellow human beings in need and have the courage and compassion to help. Why muddy the water with God and Jesus?