[Subversive Underground]
IN WHAT WAY?
by Keith Giles
In what way am I a Christian if I do not follow Jesus?
"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - Luke 9:23
"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:6
In what way am I following Jesus if I don't obey Jesus?
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching...he who does not love me will not obey my teaching." - John 14:23-24
In what way do I obey Jesus if I don't serve others?
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." - John 13:14-17
In what way do I love God if I don't love others?
"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
- 1 John 4:20-21
In what way do I love Jesus if I don't love the poor?
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40
In what way do I love the poor if I don't share what I have?
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." - 1 John 3:17
In what way am I saved if I don't know Jesus?
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" - John 17:3
In what way do I know Jesus if I don't know God?
"If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" - John 14:8-9
In what way do I know God if I don't share with the poor?
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" - Jeremiah 22:16 (GOD, speaking of King Josiah)
In what way is my church better than unbelieving pagans if we have no concern for the poor?
"Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were proud and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen."
-Ezekiel 16:49
-kg
WWW.KEITHGILES.COM
**
THE FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
When Jesus tells his disciples that they will always have the poor among them, many have concluded that this statement is meant to downplay the practice of giving to the poor in order to focus on more important things, like corporate worship and giving to the building fund.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
READ IT HERE
**
FAMILY MAKES $200K A YEAR AND GIVES MOST OF IT AWAY
Who would hunker down in the hood when they can afford the heights? Tom and Bree Hsieh. That's who.
The couple belongs to a club made up of people who donate at least half their salary to charity for at least three years straight.
It's called the 50 % League and it grew out of Bolder Giving, an organization started in 2007 by Boston suburb philanthropists Anne and Christopher Ellinger.
READ MORE AT POVERTYINTHEOC.COM
HERE
**
HOW THE OC BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SPENDS YOUR MONEY
The Orange County Board of Supervisors has voted to spend the following amounts in the new $5.56 Billion Budget:
$54,463 for a company to test fire alarms at Juvenile Hall once during the year.
$45 an hour through 2009 for one man to perform "Rodent Control Services" at the county's flood-control channels.
READ MORE
HERE
**
CHARIS PILATES
My friend and sister in Christ, Alicia Laumann is an amazing dancer who now teaches Pilates in Fullerton. Her innovative approach blends traditional and modern Pilates techniques to create a customized program that's made just for you.
Tell her Keith sent you and receive a free 60-minute private session. (Actually all her new clients get a free session so it doesn't matter either way).
VISIT HER WEBSITE
HERE
**
[End Transmission]
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
NO COMPROMISE
[Subversive Underground]
NO COMPROMISE by Keith Giles
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." - Jesus, John 15:18-21
ESCAPING THE SWORD
Jesus promised his followers that the world would hate them, even as it had hated him. Resistance was to be expected. Living counter to the culture was an inherent element of God's Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus was to be lived out in the midst of a society that was bent on snuffing the life out of it.
What happened to us?
How have we become a Church where the World doesn’t hate us the way it hated Jesus? Sure, some people do hate us, but many of those, at least in America, only find us horrifically annoying. They might hate being around us, but not enough to kill us. And those that do hate us don't hate us the way the Pharisees hated Jesus. They hate us because we're hypocritcal, hateful, intolerant and judgemental. The Pharisees hated Jesus because he was radically inclusive, spent time with the wrong sorts of people who were unclean and dirty and poor and sick and sinful. No one hates the Church for any of these reasons.
MODERN DAY MARTYRS
I know that Christians around the world are hated, and even persecuted and killed because of their devotion to Christ and the preaching of the Gospel. For those who endure this daily I offer my prayers for safety and for faith to continue sharing Christ in the midst of suffering.
Here in America, and most of the free, Westernized World, being a Christian carries no negative connotation or expectation of brutality other than being shunned by hipsters and perhaps mocked openly on prime time television.
FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD
Jesus said that the World would hate us because we "do not belong to the World". Perhaps the World doesn't hate us the way it hated Jesus because we're just like they are? Instead of being "In the World, but not Of it" we have become the Church who is "Of the World, but In it".
The Gospel of Jesus was subversive and controversial. It challenged the status quo of an entire society. It held up the mirror to the Church of the day and convicted the actions of Kings and exposed the injustices of self-seeking Government. In America our Gospel is not dangerous. It is safe, safe, safe for the whole family.
The earliest followers of Jesus were constantly persecuted because of their commitment to a Jesus way of life which cloned the subversive nature of Jesus and multiplied it across the fabric of society. They loved extravagantly, sharing all things in common with the poorest among them and held defiantly to the Gospel of the Kingdom which declared that God's rule and reign had indeed come to each and every one of their lives. When they were enslaved they served their masters respectfully, as if they were serving God Himself. When they were arrested and beaten for refusing to renounce Jesus the Messiah they did not fight back or demand their inalienable rights as human beings. Instead they went quietly to their deaths or sang hymns of praise to God for the blessing of martyrdom. They were a people who loved others so much they would rather die than shed another person's blood.
LIKE LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER
For over three hundred years the followers of Jesus, the citizens of "The Way", took it on the chin and held on tight to their faith with perserverance because they knew that the enduring of trials and difficulties meant that God was working in them the character of Christ Jesus and depositing a quality of faith that would not let go of God, even in the face of imprisonment, beatings, persecutions or death itself. They also knew that their uncommon, radical posture of love and compassion for others, even those who beat them, persecuted them and put them to death, was having an impact of nuclear proportions in the lives of those outside the faith. The power of their love created ripples in the fabric of humanity that changed hearts and turned the world upside down.
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
When Emperor Constantine lifted the persecution of the Church in 313 A.D. it came with a caveat: The Church would have to submit to his vision of what Christianity should look like and how the faith should be practiced. For the first time in history a person could claim to be a follower of Jesus and still take up a sword and strike a man dead. Under Constantine's new rules of faith the Christian Church would take on the pagan practices of the day, worship in their converted temples and submit to the authority of a select Clergy wearing the robes of pagan priests and adopting the language of paganism.
Some might wonder if the price we paid for escaping the sword was too high. Some might wonder if we had forgotten the promise of Jesus that those who followed him would be hated and persecuted because of how they were unlike the world. Some might say that the Church befriended the religious system and practices of pagan Rome in order to save themselves any further persecution, rather than remain loyal to the same Jesus who said that we were to be set apart from the World and its systems.
There were some within the Christian Church in that day who refused to comply with Constantine's compromise. They attempted to continue gathering together in their homes as they had done for over three centuries, but Constantine issued a new law that made it illegal to continue this practice. Their choice suddenly became crystal clear; they could either submit to the Emperor's rule or face further persecution. In effect, Constantine's compromise was a mandate, not a friendly suggestion.
MAGNETIC NORTH
Around the world and throughout history, as the Church has been persecuted she has flourished. Whenever threatened she finds her inner compass and that always leads her back home, to the organic nature buried indelibly in her DNA.
In Soviet Russia, or Communist China or oppressive Korean regimes the Church of Jesus has not only survived, it has thrived and exploded as it remembers to be the church and reverts to the home-based, family model of worship revealed in Scripture.
So, even as the Church shifted slightly under Constantine and adopted a more relevant and culturally acceptable format of worship, these instances of persecution throughout history have revealed what essentially makes us the Family of God. It is at these times that she remembers her original mandate and reverts to the form once assumed in the very beginning.
OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE
So what do we do about this today? How do we reconcile the promise of Jesus that the world would hate us because we are not of it as He is not of it?
Rather than focus on getting the World to hate us, perhaps it makes more sense to turn our energies towards being a people who love like Jesus loved. If we expect people to treat us they way they treated Jesus, I think it makes sense for us to do the things that Jesus did.
Whether or not you embrace the house church is irrelevant. You can be someone who follows Jesus with your everyday life whether you worship in a multi-million dollar building or under a tree in the park. The calling on you is the same as the one that is on me- to follow Jesus.
DANGEROUS FAITH
When we stay safely insulated inside our customized Christian comfort zone, our need for Faith is diminished. In fact, surrounded by hundreds of other Believers, from the safe vantage point of my padded pew, Faith is irrelevant. Faith seems to only be necessary for those who are in a dangerous place, outside their comfort zones, engaging the enemy, embracing the diseased, loving the poor, serving the least and the last. Faith is only necessary for those who choose to live a dangerous life outside their comfort zones.
Perhaps this is why Jesus wonders out loud if he will find any on the Earth who have faith when he returns? If we insist on remaining in our safe places, our zones of comfort, then our faith will grow weak and limp and useless. We can barely use it to generate personal wealth and unending health, much less to heal the sick, cast our demons, comfort the afflicted, or love the unlovely.
ADVANCING THE KINGDOM WITHOUT RETREATING FROM THE CULTURE
"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." - James 4:4
This verse doesn't intend to drive us into the monasteries or to seek refuge among our Ahmish Bretheren, nor does it compel us to create Christian version of this world with cross-emblazoned products and holy goods and services. We are not called to retreat from the culture or to create a better, private version of the world we're supposed to change. Those first Christians didn't retreat from society, instead they obediently lived lives of such love among the heathen that people began to change from the inside out (see 1 Peter 2:11-12).
Simply put, if we would consider it our daily practice to serve others we might start to resemble those people who were so much like Jesus that they began to be persecuted for living lives of astounding love.
Jesus made no room for us to compromise our calling to be a peculiar people. We have no right to surrender our calling to love others in exchange for a better, more comfortable life in this temporary existence.
"Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." - Jesus (John 15:20)
I pray that the Church would rise up again and become the people who are known for the way they love others, even those who hate them and who would stand for Gospel of Jesus, no matter what anyone else may say about us, or do to us.
"If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them." - Jesus, Luke 6:32
-kg
**
HOW TO START A MINISTRY TO THE POOR IN YOUR COMMUNITY
This five part series is now running every Thursday over at TheOoze.com. Be sure to drop by and check it out if you haven't already.
**
ONE CHURCH UNDER GOD
I'd like to invite you to join me on Sunday, June 22nd as part of a special joint service between our "Mission" House Church and Soul Survivor Church.
John Thomas, who lead worship for us at the Non-Con, will be our worship leader and I'll be bringing a message about what the Biblical concept of Church is all about. If you're in the Orange County area be sure to drop by!
Details:
The Mission and Soul Survivor Church Celebration
on Sunday, June 22nd at 11am
at Soul Survivor Church in Triangle Square
1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
*Directly underneath the Edwards Cinema, on the corner of Harbor and 19th.
Parking is free inside the structure.
There's a google map over here:
http://nonconsched.blogspot.com/
**
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME DIRECTLY VIA EMAIL AT:
"ELYSIANSKY" (AT) "HOTMAIL" (dot) "com"
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
NO COMPROMISE by Keith Giles
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." - Jesus, John 15:18-21
ESCAPING THE SWORD
Jesus promised his followers that the world would hate them, even as it had hated him. Resistance was to be expected. Living counter to the culture was an inherent element of God's Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus was to be lived out in the midst of a society that was bent on snuffing the life out of it.
What happened to us?
How have we become a Church where the World doesn’t hate us the way it hated Jesus? Sure, some people do hate us, but many of those, at least in America, only find us horrifically annoying. They might hate being around us, but not enough to kill us. And those that do hate us don't hate us the way the Pharisees hated Jesus. They hate us because we're hypocritcal, hateful, intolerant and judgemental. The Pharisees hated Jesus because he was radically inclusive, spent time with the wrong sorts of people who were unclean and dirty and poor and sick and sinful. No one hates the Church for any of these reasons.
MODERN DAY MARTYRS
I know that Christians around the world are hated, and even persecuted and killed because of their devotion to Christ and the preaching of the Gospel. For those who endure this daily I offer my prayers for safety and for faith to continue sharing Christ in the midst of suffering.
Here in America, and most of the free, Westernized World, being a Christian carries no negative connotation or expectation of brutality other than being shunned by hipsters and perhaps mocked openly on prime time television.
FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD
Jesus said that the World would hate us because we "do not belong to the World". Perhaps the World doesn't hate us the way it hated Jesus because we're just like they are? Instead of being "In the World, but not Of it" we have become the Church who is "Of the World, but In it".
The Gospel of Jesus was subversive and controversial. It challenged the status quo of an entire society. It held up the mirror to the Church of the day and convicted the actions of Kings and exposed the injustices of self-seeking Government. In America our Gospel is not dangerous. It is safe, safe, safe for the whole family.
The earliest followers of Jesus were constantly persecuted because of their commitment to a Jesus way of life which cloned the subversive nature of Jesus and multiplied it across the fabric of society. They loved extravagantly, sharing all things in common with the poorest among them and held defiantly to the Gospel of the Kingdom which declared that God's rule and reign had indeed come to each and every one of their lives. When they were enslaved they served their masters respectfully, as if they were serving God Himself. When they were arrested and beaten for refusing to renounce Jesus the Messiah they did not fight back or demand their inalienable rights as human beings. Instead they went quietly to their deaths or sang hymns of praise to God for the blessing of martyrdom. They were a people who loved others so much they would rather die than shed another person's blood.
LIKE LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER
For over three hundred years the followers of Jesus, the citizens of "The Way", took it on the chin and held on tight to their faith with perserverance because they knew that the enduring of trials and difficulties meant that God was working in them the character of Christ Jesus and depositing a quality of faith that would not let go of God, even in the face of imprisonment, beatings, persecutions or death itself. They also knew that their uncommon, radical posture of love and compassion for others, even those who beat them, persecuted them and put them to death, was having an impact of nuclear proportions in the lives of those outside the faith. The power of their love created ripples in the fabric of humanity that changed hearts and turned the world upside down.
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
When Emperor Constantine lifted the persecution of the Church in 313 A.D. it came with a caveat: The Church would have to submit to his vision of what Christianity should look like and how the faith should be practiced. For the first time in history a person could claim to be a follower of Jesus and still take up a sword and strike a man dead. Under Constantine's new rules of faith the Christian Church would take on the pagan practices of the day, worship in their converted temples and submit to the authority of a select Clergy wearing the robes of pagan priests and adopting the language of paganism.
Some might wonder if the price we paid for escaping the sword was too high. Some might wonder if we had forgotten the promise of Jesus that those who followed him would be hated and persecuted because of how they were unlike the world. Some might say that the Church befriended the religious system and practices of pagan Rome in order to save themselves any further persecution, rather than remain loyal to the same Jesus who said that we were to be set apart from the World and its systems.
There were some within the Christian Church in that day who refused to comply with Constantine's compromise. They attempted to continue gathering together in their homes as they had done for over three centuries, but Constantine issued a new law that made it illegal to continue this practice. Their choice suddenly became crystal clear; they could either submit to the Emperor's rule or face further persecution. In effect, Constantine's compromise was a mandate, not a friendly suggestion.
MAGNETIC NORTH
Around the world and throughout history, as the Church has been persecuted she has flourished. Whenever threatened she finds her inner compass and that always leads her back home, to the organic nature buried indelibly in her DNA.
In Soviet Russia, or Communist China or oppressive Korean regimes the Church of Jesus has not only survived, it has thrived and exploded as it remembers to be the church and reverts to the home-based, family model of worship revealed in Scripture.
So, even as the Church shifted slightly under Constantine and adopted a more relevant and culturally acceptable format of worship, these instances of persecution throughout history have revealed what essentially makes us the Family of God. It is at these times that she remembers her original mandate and reverts to the form once assumed in the very beginning.
OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE
So what do we do about this today? How do we reconcile the promise of Jesus that the world would hate us because we are not of it as He is not of it?
Rather than focus on getting the World to hate us, perhaps it makes more sense to turn our energies towards being a people who love like Jesus loved. If we expect people to treat us they way they treated Jesus, I think it makes sense for us to do the things that Jesus did.
Whether or not you embrace the house church is irrelevant. You can be someone who follows Jesus with your everyday life whether you worship in a multi-million dollar building or under a tree in the park. The calling on you is the same as the one that is on me- to follow Jesus.
DANGEROUS FAITH
When we stay safely insulated inside our customized Christian comfort zone, our need for Faith is diminished. In fact, surrounded by hundreds of other Believers, from the safe vantage point of my padded pew, Faith is irrelevant. Faith seems to only be necessary for those who are in a dangerous place, outside their comfort zones, engaging the enemy, embracing the diseased, loving the poor, serving the least and the last. Faith is only necessary for those who choose to live a dangerous life outside their comfort zones.
Perhaps this is why Jesus wonders out loud if he will find any on the Earth who have faith when he returns? If we insist on remaining in our safe places, our zones of comfort, then our faith will grow weak and limp and useless. We can barely use it to generate personal wealth and unending health, much less to heal the sick, cast our demons, comfort the afflicted, or love the unlovely.
ADVANCING THE KINGDOM WITHOUT RETREATING FROM THE CULTURE
"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." - James 4:4
This verse doesn't intend to drive us into the monasteries or to seek refuge among our Ahmish Bretheren, nor does it compel us to create Christian version of this world with cross-emblazoned products and holy goods and services. We are not called to retreat from the culture or to create a better, private version of the world we're supposed to change. Those first Christians didn't retreat from society, instead they obediently lived lives of such love among the heathen that people began to change from the inside out (see 1 Peter 2:11-12).
Simply put, if we would consider it our daily practice to serve others we might start to resemble those people who were so much like Jesus that they began to be persecuted for living lives of astounding love.
Jesus made no room for us to compromise our calling to be a peculiar people. We have no right to surrender our calling to love others in exchange for a better, more comfortable life in this temporary existence.
"Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." - Jesus (John 15:20)
I pray that the Church would rise up again and become the people who are known for the way they love others, even those who hate them and who would stand for Gospel of Jesus, no matter what anyone else may say about us, or do to us.
"If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them." - Jesus, Luke 6:32
-kg
**
HOW TO START A MINISTRY TO THE POOR IN YOUR COMMUNITY
This five part series is now running every Thursday over at TheOoze.com. Be sure to drop by and check it out if you haven't already.
**
ONE CHURCH UNDER GOD
I'd like to invite you to join me on Sunday, June 22nd as part of a special joint service between our "Mission" House Church and Soul Survivor Church.
John Thomas, who lead worship for us at the Non-Con, will be our worship leader and I'll be bringing a message about what the Biblical concept of Church is all about. If you're in the Orange County area be sure to drop by!
Details:
The Mission and Soul Survivor Church Celebration
on Sunday, June 22nd at 11am
at Soul Survivor Church in Triangle Square
1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
*Directly underneath the Edwards Cinema, on the corner of Harbor and 19th.
Parking is free inside the structure.
There's a google map over here:
http://nonconsched.blogspot.com/
**
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME DIRECTLY VIA EMAIL AT:
"ELYSIANSKY" (AT) "HOTMAIL" (dot) "com"
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
Friday, May 16, 2008
MORE THAN A MANIFESTO
by Keith Giles
You probably had no idea, but recently several key Evangelical Christian leaders gathered together to write an Evangelical Manifesto.
In this document the authors (Os Guinness, Dallas Willard, Rick Warren, etc.) admitted that the title "Evangelical Christian" has lost its original meaning due to years of poor behavior on the part of those who carry the name. They say, "the confusions and corruptions surrounding the term Evangelical have grown so deep that the character of what it means has been obscured" and admit that those who wear the label Evangelical "have become known for commercial, diluted and feel-good gospels of health, wealth, human potential, and religious happy talk."
They go on to admit that Evangelicals have strayed from their initial practice of loving people, showing compassion to the poor and protecting the weak and the innocent, all of which I whole-heartedly agree with.
IT MEANS SOMETHING
When heavy-weights in the Evangelical Christian Community come together to identify a problem of this magnitude and speak out in solidarity against the failures of the Christian Church it should give us all pause to reflect and take notice.
This Evangelical Manifesto goes a long way towards admitting where the Church has gone off track and pointing the way forward for those who have wandered off the path.
I cannot find myself disagreeing with anything these men of God have to say regarding the state of the Church today and the need to reform ourselves in practice. I applaud them for seeing what many of us have seen for years now and for taking the time and energy to pen such a unified statement of confession.
There's just one problem: It won't make any difference.
How can I say this? Well, to begin with no one in the Evangelical Christian Community will do anything different tomorrow because of this Manifesto. Your pastor will not preach a sermon on this on Sunday. Your Christian friends will not be buzzing about this document. They will not read it. They will not do anything different tomorrow because it has been written.
While I agree with the Manifesto, and I highly respect the men who took the time to write it, I have to admit that it will do absolutely nothing to change the way Evangelical Christians live out their daily faith.
THE BASIC PROBLEM
The real problem is revealed in the Manifesto itself. We who call ourselves "Evangelical Christians" are largely unconcerned with actually following Jesus on a daily basis and have no intention of living out the commands of Jesus in our actual life.
If we were committed to those things we wouldn't have need of a Manifesto. If our Pastors were teaching us to follow Jesus on a daily basis, we would not have such a bad reputation in our land. If our airwaves were filled with teachers and preachers and evangelists who communicated the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached, we wouldn't have churches filled with people who think that being a Christian means saying a prayer so you can go to Heaven when you die.
The reason why people are not following Jesus today is because we are not asking people to follow Jesus, we are asking them to become Christians.
JESUS AND HIS CHURCH
Warren and Willard and Guinness are correct: The term "Evangelical Christian" is one that refers to someone who is more interested in being right than in daily following Jesus. My solution is to stop asking people to become Christians. My solution is to encourage people to start following Jesus.
"It's not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it's that it has been found difficult and left untried." - G.K. Chesterton
Whenever you identify yourself as a "Christian" in today's culture you align yourself with someone who looks like anything but the imitation of Jesus.
What was Jesus like? Let's look at some of his qualities:
*Compassionate
*Loving
*Caring
*Comfortable around sinners (drunks, prostitutes, tax collectors, etc.)
*Concerned for the poor, the sick, the outcast
*An advocate for peace
*Radically Inclusive
*Interested in the lives of others
*Introduced a spiritual solution to society's problems
What is the Christian Church like? Here's a short list:
*Intolerant of those who are not like themselves.
*Uncomfortable around drunks, prostitutes, sinners, etc.
*Concerned for their own personal success
*Not very concerned with the poor, the sick, or the outcast
*Obsessed with a political solution to society's problems
*Defined more by what they hate/dislike
*Largely supportive of war against our enemies
NOT A CHRISTIAN
The reason why Christianity in America is toxic to most people is that those who are called to be representatives of Jesus have done a terrible job. This is why I cannot bring myself to be indentified as a "Christian" to someone outside the Church. They hear that term and they equate me with the big-haired, money-hungry, gay-bashing, waiting-for-the-rapture brand of Believer. That is not who I am. That is not the Jesus I follow.
What needs to happen is that those who call themselves followers of Jesus begin to actually follow Him. Each and every day, one at a time, we must begin to live out the calling of Christ to take up our cross, die to ourselves, and follow Him.
There is no other way.
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" - Jesus, Matthew 7:24.
-kg
http://www.keithgiles.com
**
TO REPLY PLEASE EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT:
elysiansky (at) hotmail (dot) com
**
MIKE PILAVACHI - "The Ministry of The Holy Spirit"
When: Saturday, June 28th 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Where: Soul Survivor Church at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa
Cost: $8.00 (includes lunch)
REGISTER ONLINE NOW (Seating will be limited and this will fill up quickly)-
ONLINE REGISTRATION IS
HERE
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
You probably had no idea, but recently several key Evangelical Christian leaders gathered together to write an Evangelical Manifesto.
In this document the authors (Os Guinness, Dallas Willard, Rick Warren, etc.) admitted that the title "Evangelical Christian" has lost its original meaning due to years of poor behavior on the part of those who carry the name. They say, "the confusions and corruptions surrounding the term Evangelical have grown so deep that the character of what it means has been obscured" and admit that those who wear the label Evangelical "have become known for commercial, diluted and feel-good gospels of health, wealth, human potential, and religious happy talk."
They go on to admit that Evangelicals have strayed from their initial practice of loving people, showing compassion to the poor and protecting the weak and the innocent, all of which I whole-heartedly agree with.
IT MEANS SOMETHING
When heavy-weights in the Evangelical Christian Community come together to identify a problem of this magnitude and speak out in solidarity against the failures of the Christian Church it should give us all pause to reflect and take notice.
This Evangelical Manifesto goes a long way towards admitting where the Church has gone off track and pointing the way forward for those who have wandered off the path.
I cannot find myself disagreeing with anything these men of God have to say regarding the state of the Church today and the need to reform ourselves in practice. I applaud them for seeing what many of us have seen for years now and for taking the time and energy to pen such a unified statement of confession.
There's just one problem: It won't make any difference.
How can I say this? Well, to begin with no one in the Evangelical Christian Community will do anything different tomorrow because of this Manifesto. Your pastor will not preach a sermon on this on Sunday. Your Christian friends will not be buzzing about this document. They will not read it. They will not do anything different tomorrow because it has been written.
While I agree with the Manifesto, and I highly respect the men who took the time to write it, I have to admit that it will do absolutely nothing to change the way Evangelical Christians live out their daily faith.
THE BASIC PROBLEM
The real problem is revealed in the Manifesto itself. We who call ourselves "Evangelical Christians" are largely unconcerned with actually following Jesus on a daily basis and have no intention of living out the commands of Jesus in our actual life.
If we were committed to those things we wouldn't have need of a Manifesto. If our Pastors were teaching us to follow Jesus on a daily basis, we would not have such a bad reputation in our land. If our airwaves were filled with teachers and preachers and evangelists who communicated the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached, we wouldn't have churches filled with people who think that being a Christian means saying a prayer so you can go to Heaven when you die.
The reason why people are not following Jesus today is because we are not asking people to follow Jesus, we are asking them to become Christians.
JESUS AND HIS CHURCH
Warren and Willard and Guinness are correct: The term "Evangelical Christian" is one that refers to someone who is more interested in being right than in daily following Jesus. My solution is to stop asking people to become Christians. My solution is to encourage people to start following Jesus.
"It's not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it's that it has been found difficult and left untried." - G.K. Chesterton
Whenever you identify yourself as a "Christian" in today's culture you align yourself with someone who looks like anything but the imitation of Jesus.
What was Jesus like? Let's look at some of his qualities:
*Compassionate
*Loving
*Caring
*Comfortable around sinners (drunks, prostitutes, tax collectors, etc.)
*Concerned for the poor, the sick, the outcast
*An advocate for peace
*Radically Inclusive
*Interested in the lives of others
*Introduced a spiritual solution to society's problems
What is the Christian Church like? Here's a short list:
*Intolerant of those who are not like themselves.
*Uncomfortable around drunks, prostitutes, sinners, etc.
*Concerned for their own personal success
*Not very concerned with the poor, the sick, or the outcast
*Obsessed with a political solution to society's problems
*Defined more by what they hate/dislike
*Largely supportive of war against our enemies
NOT A CHRISTIAN
The reason why Christianity in America is toxic to most people is that those who are called to be representatives of Jesus have done a terrible job. This is why I cannot bring myself to be indentified as a "Christian" to someone outside the Church. They hear that term and they equate me with the big-haired, money-hungry, gay-bashing, waiting-for-the-rapture brand of Believer. That is not who I am. That is not the Jesus I follow.
What needs to happen is that those who call themselves followers of Jesus begin to actually follow Him. Each and every day, one at a time, we must begin to live out the calling of Christ to take up our cross, die to ourselves, and follow Him.
There is no other way.
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" - Jesus, Matthew 7:24.
-kg
http://www.keithgiles.com
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TO REPLY PLEASE EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT:
elysiansky (at) hotmail (dot) com
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MIKE PILAVACHI - "The Ministry of The Holy Spirit"
When: Saturday, June 28th 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Where: Soul Survivor Church at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa
Cost: $8.00 (includes lunch)
REGISTER ONLINE NOW (Seating will be limited and this will fill up quickly)-
ONLINE REGISTRATION IS
HERE
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