Army of Priests

I’m actually doing Luke 18:18-29, which reads:

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

I was looking around my room a month or so ago and noticed how much stuff I had (most of it I don’t even use!). Meanwhile, children in Africa starve to death because worms (from untreated water) in their stomach consume all nutrients before they do. They starve to death whilst eating. It only required a 50c tablet to cure…

So I’m doing it. I’m getting rid of all this junk. I’ve been doing it over time, bit by bit. After all, none of it can bring happiness and there is nothing like the awesome feeling that happens when you get rid of all this dead weight…

After all, Luke 16:13 makes it pretty clear that you have to hate money to love God. You have to hate it. I don’t want that false idol near me. I don’t want it’s crap cluttering up my life. So I’m getting rid of it all. 

But what is really weird is that people think I am crazy. I get rid of something and they ask, “What are you getting rid of that for?” As if ‘that’ is something important. So I tell them that if they are so concerned about it, they can have it.

I mean really, why are people more concerned about my stuff than I am? It’s just stuff. It doesn’t make you happy, or give you meaning, it just makes you want to get insurance.

I’m not the crazy one. This bizarre world that expects people to buy, buy, buy to be happy is crazy. This world that expects you to work, work, work in order to buy is crazy.

There seems to be a treadmill people are on where work makes them sad. Then ads convince them that buying stuff will make them happy. So they buy lots of stuff, but in order to buy that stuff they need to work more… Do you see a problematic cycle here?

I believe that a happier lifestyle is one where you cut down your expenses, so you can work as little as possible, and use the time you save on relationships. Not stuff. People. Experiences. Whatever.

And in the meanwhile we can help those kids in Africa. Which is, quite frankly, awesome.

So why does the world think I am crazy? Maybe I have just gone sane.

(From Emerging Grace)

“..In order for any two people – much less any two strangers – to really click, they’ve got to share something in common significantly more profound than working in the same place, or living in the same neighbourhood, or even being held captive together on the same alien spaceship.” – (John Shore in “I’m Ok, You’re Not”)

I went to the pub last night for a mates 21^st birthday. My conservative parents weren’t too happy about it but figured it would be ok since I had to drive anyway. The night was quite enjoyable. Fortunately, my friends were happy drunks rather than angry ones. As the evening rolled on however, I realised that a fair few Christians would disprove of my being there.

I’m not talking about being legalistic; I’m talking about being protected. In an effort to protect ourselves from the evil world we isolate ourselves into little Christian ghettos. By being at that party I was engaging in the world. I was putting myself within the range of peer pressure. I could have even sinned…

As Christians we often have a lot of trouble with associating with people “out there” – in the world. I know many Christians who socialize almost solely with other Christians. It is an easy temptation to fall into. Sure, we may work with non-Christians or see them at the checkout or on TV but we rarely invest ourselves into them (unless we are trying to evangelise them). Rather we form Christian sub-cultures so that we can stay protected whilst scratching our heads about why people aren’t flocking to us.

I have a flier in my hands for a Christian travel agency that gives the advice “let’s keep it within the Spiritual Body of Jesus Christ”. I want to puke. Why would we want to keep it within the body of Christ when there are plenty of good secular agencies providing the same or better service? Why would we want to use a Christian real estate rather than a secular one? Why would we want to put our movies on Godtube instead of youtube, myspace, facebook, virb, google video, or photobucket where everyone can see them? Is the secular world not “worthy” of us?

Matt Whitlock in Frequently Asked Questions suggests that we need more Christian bar tenders. Why? Because when a marriage is failing or someone’s had a bad day at work or can’t pay their bills where do they go? They go to the bar and talk to the bar tender. Of course, in the evangelical world jobs like bar tending are cursed. Evil happens in bars! Indeed it does, and that’s why we are needed there.

The Church is very defensive. We are more concerned with keeping things the same than we are in changing them. In my mind the church should be the primary motivator of change in the world. We repeatedly recommend that Christians not associate with people who sin incase it is contagious and we will catch their disease. Every time evil encroaches on an area we run from it. Instead we should be aggressively seeking out the evil in this world. Where evil is Christians should be so that we may fight it.

I strongly believe that Christians are meant to change this world. However, in order to change it you need to engage it. By “engage” I don’t mean hide in our church buildings and throw tacks at people who walk by. I mean enjoy the movies that non-Christians enjoy, frequent the places non-Christians frequent, do the things non-Christians do. Even befriend non-Christians just because you want to; not just to evangelise them.

The best example of contextual living I have heard of was set by Craig Gross who founded xxxchurch, a ministry to porn stars. Craig Gross goes to porn shows in order to be where he is needed. In one blog post he tells the story of how he had lunch with Ron Jeremy at hooters and then followed him to a party. It was not what you would call a “safe Christian place”. In the end though, after everyone had left, only Craig was there.

I knew eventually all the craziness would only last a few hours, it would eventually come to an end. It is all temporary, the fame, the sex, the girls, the life and eventually it all will go away not just for Ron but for everyone. Then what?

Ron looked at me and said, “Pull up a seat.”

… By 2:30 am the club was empty. I stayed. Why? because when all these things fade away what is left is only Faith, Hope, and Love. I gave back my all access pass and headed back to hotel, but realized we are on the same team. I don’t need the lanyard anymore to see that. The differences about porn we will leave to the debate, but in life, Ron Jeremy can not be an opponent. He must be a friend, and friends share friends and invite each other into their world. We’re more alike than different, we both have struggles, challenges, etc, but when it comes down to it, the only difference between Ron and I is that I have a relationship with Jesus that Ron doesn’t have that yet. But we’ll keep sharing dinner, sharing our friendship, and sharing our lives, and maybe one of these days we’ll have that in common too.

Craig is one of those guys who gets it. He understands that we are in this world not to run from evil but to fight it, to engage it. Where are meant to “be there”. Jesus also made a habit of seeking out the dark, evil places. He always found the sinners in an area and ate and laughed and loved with them. He met them where they were, not expecting them to reach a certain standard of holiness before they could talk. He didn’t need Christian spaces or cultures to hide in. He lived in the culture of the time because that was where the people were – where his mission was.

I have a fair few non-Christian friends. Do I want them to become Christians? Absolutely. Is that desire the prime motivator of my friendship? No. Will I keep being friends even if they never accept God? Yes. My friendship and love is not contingent on their accepting God. If it was, it would not be true friendship. I accept them as they are, even as I desire them to grow.

It’s not all this simple though. By attempting to engage and change the world we will soon see the world try to engage and change us. We are on the earth to battle and should expect evil to fight back. The more we engage the world the more we increase our chances of being compromised by it. But the more we distance ourselves from it the more we compromise with fear and passivity. This is where the balance of being “in this world but not of it” comes in. We belong to neither the evil world nor the Christian subculture.

We are made to be “salt and light” but salt is useless if not applied to something and light is pathetic if it is hidden. We could hate consumerism with such vigour that we go and live a simple life in the country and then influence no one. Is this what Christians are meant to be? We could be so pure that we flee from every sign of sexuality and therefore never spread that purity to the people who need it most.

But here is a question: is purity seen more in a protected conclave or a sex craved campus where a Christian holds firm to God despite constant temptation? Isn’t it the way we contrast with evil that makes us truly good? That’s what this world needs: contrast. If we hide in Churches amongst Christian friends doing Christian activities we are only white on white, if we mix in pubs amongst non-Christians’ sinning we are white on black – and appear all the more white for it.

That’s contextual living – being there. Being where the world is its blackest. Being where the pain is. Being where the people are. Being where the devil is. Being where Christians don’t dare to go.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14

“Incarnational Living” roughly corresponds to a catch all phrase in emerging circles for “active Christ likeness”. It describes an aggressive attempt to live a life that exemplifies Jesus in the community. In short, incarnational “livers” take the question “What Would Jesus Do?” seriously.

The incarnational liver sees parallels between Jesus life and their own. Jesus, who is not of this world, took a humble form as to actively show love and pursue justice (culminating in his death). So the incarnational liver sees themselves as not of this world but rather as a humble vessel of Christ in this world; on a mission to show love and make justice. In other words, the incarnational liver is a “little modern day Jesus”.

The incarnational liver is active. They passionately search out opportunities to express love and bring justice. They do not wait for an opportunity to find them. They consider their life a mission. It is a mission to show the modern world Christ – to introduce them to Him through the example of their own lives as to initiate an experience with their creator by proxy. They not only tell people about God, they show them him. They show His love by giving it, sacrificially if necessary and without hesitation. They show His justice by fighting unrighteousness. By being known they give people a “taste of God”.

The incarnational liver is a Radical Christian. They are “God in the neighbourhood”. They influence the world around them. People are not the same after knowing them. They are an “incarnation of God” through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That’s a lot of responsibility. To seek out the most despised people in society and find the best way to love them. To make fellowship with the outcasts. To stand up against corrupt and discriminating social structures. To give until it hurts and then give more.

I want to be that type of Christian. I want to be a bearer of Christ’s image. I want to find where it hurts the most and be there. I want to show people Jesus by being like him. When people ask “What was Jesus like?” I want to respond, “Let me show you.” He lived a revolutionary life – a counter cultural life. He did small things with great love and in the process gave them what no great action could – himself.

I want to live like that.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series have triggered some reaction so there are a few points I would like to clarify before continuing.

1. What I am exploring in this series is not the faults of our practises but rather the faults of our approach to them. There exists an idea that “A good Christian goes to church, plays a part in ministry, reads the bible, prays, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, etc”. The problem I am discussing here is not about going to church or reading the bible or not smoking but rather the idea that “A good Christian does these things…” That’s when perfectly good practises become religious.

2. I do not consider our position in our relationship with God to be one without responsibility. I consider God to be the initiator and head (taking the lead of) of our relationship which is like a marriage. It is our responsibility to invest into that relationship in a similar way to how God invests in it. This will quite possibly take the form of going to church, reading your bible, or praying but the specifics are individual and driven by love rather than a “rule book”.

Whilst God pursues us, there is also a drive in us to return to Him. We have a natural inclination to search for beauty and God is the most beautiful person of all. As He is clearly revealed in nature no one is without fault if they know He is offering reconciliation yet continue an adulterous relationship with sin. To me the cross is like a proposal God is making to the world and He is desperate for us to say “I do”. Just because God pursues us does not mean that we are in anyway predetermined to find Him for it is still our duty to turn from our wicked ways and reconcile with “our first love”-er.

3. Religion partitions our lives

Religion partitions our lives into “my time” and “God’s time”, “my money” and “God’s money”, “my space” and “God’s space”. Our religious activities occur during a particular time and thus we allocate time during our day for God then we live the rest of our secular lives without Him. We allocate 10% of our money for the offering, and then we spend the rest on our own pleasures. We allocate buildings for Church services and we make sure we don’t desecrate them with swearing or by wearing hats, but once we are outside we wear hats and swear.

All of my life belongs to God. I must think not just about how I give money, but also about how I spend money because all of my money belongs to God. I must spend my time with God all day and not just during my allocated “quiet time”. I must act outside of Church just as I do inside Church. My life is a sacrifice to God, not my practises.

This partitioning allows us some form of security. We can say we are praying for the lost without going out and talking to them. We can say we are reading our bible’s whilst walking past the hungry on our way to Church. We are doing what religious practise dictates we ‘should’ do and by doing so we safely put God in His place.

2. Religion is impersonal

Religion suggests a “cookie cutter” solution for a diverse range of people. It suggests that everyone will benefit from reading their bible, without acknowledging that God may want to teach someone in another way at the moment. It suggests that everyone will learn by going to Church without realising that someone may learn more by spending that time eating breakfast with the disadvantaged. Perhaps someone needs a conversation more than a sermon? Perhaps someone needs to weep rather than jump around to contemporary worship songs?

A religious person thinks that because ‘X’ works for them that it must work for others. Surely that person should say that ‘X’ worked for them, but they shouldn’t present this as a formula for success. If Moses was around today he might tell us that burning bushes are excellent ways to talk to God. Peter might tell us that walking on water is an excellent way to build faith. Paul might tell us that hunting down Christians in Damascus is a great way to meet Jesus. (I openly confess to being guilty of this myself)

People are different and God works in different ways in different people. We should absolutely share our experiences, but don’t let us think that we are the standard. What if someone does do ‘X’ and it doesn’t work. Would you have them be discouraged because it ‘should’ of?

1. Religion causes us to place formula before romance

In my mind the greatest problem with religion is that it places practises over a unique, intimate, and romantic relationship with God. You will never get a wife by following a formula, and so God did not woo you by following a formula. Nor will your relationship with God develop by following a formula.

Our relationship with God is a passionate and exciting thing. It is untamed, it is exhilarating, and it is unpredictable. That relationship comes before any formula. Jesus did not come to teach you what to do in order to meet God; He came to introduce you directly.

I doubt that your relationship with God will fit within the box of religion. It will challenge you where religion doesn’t go. It will cause you to do things that religion never touches. God does not want robots that know what to do; He wants people who know who He is.

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” – Mathew 7:22-23

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