This almost made it into the message for tomorrow but it will have to wait for another Sunday. It's from Steve Chalke in The Lost Message of Jesus.
A friend once asked me, "If Jesus was half the revolutionary you claim, how come he is now represented by one of the most conservative, status-quo institutions on the planet?" He posed a good question, so I tried to give a good answer. I reminded him of the history of the Church and the radical ways it has helped to shape society on a global scale over the last two millennia. Though the popular perception may be that is has been a force for bad, more often than not, it has been a huge power for good. "Even today," I explained, "in many parts of the world the Church is dynamic, bold, engaged and prophetic." My friend pondered my defence for a moment, sighed thoughtfully and then wryly replied, with a smile that acknowledged the truth of my statement, "Well, there must be two kinds of Christainity and somehow we got stuck with the tame version."
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Revolutionary?
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3 comments:
Yes! When will we start being the 'people who turn the world upside down' again! Viva la Christos!
This is unrelated, but goes back to the Simon/Paula conversation about whether we need MORE affirmation as a culture.
After our comment exchange, I was at the doctor in nashville and there was a guy in shackles who had a chain around his waist. His hand were cuffed to his chain, his feet were shackled together. And he was in the waiting room, with an armed police officer watching him at all times.
He was apparently a murderer, from the bits I could gather, and I was curious as to what kind of personality he had...
Shickingly, he was amazingly charming, was kind to the nurses, and down right flirtatious. I read a statistic that the people in America who have the highest self-esteemed at convicts in our prison system!
Just was interesting...
Russ,
We actually talked about this in our small group Sunday night. We discussed how different the picture of Christ that we were shown in church was from the way he actually was. He was hanging out with sinners, telling the Pharisees that they were hypocrites, able to discern those that had no ears to hear what He had to say. If he were with us today, there would be some that wouldn't recognize Jesus for who he is. The picture we had of him was one of sinlessness, holiness, and not tainting himself by socializing with the world. While he was sinless, most of the people that lived then didn't think he was. Also, they saw him as a trouble maker, simply because he called people out. I think I like the real Jesus better than the image that was fed to me growing up. He was actually much more understanding, loving, and bold.
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