The Necessity of a Glorious Church Part 2

(Please read Part 1 to get the full effect)

I know what you are thinking now. I'm going to tell you to live a different life, to love your neighbor, and to do the right thing in all circumstances. I harped on the church in the last post for not looking different morally, for being just as likely to look at porn, to steal, to swear. The obvious remedy for this is to live a changed lifestyle.

But what kind of changed lifestyle?

Is it enough to simply love your neighbor?

Of course it is!

But the real question of this post is, "What does loving your neighbor mean?"

Before I dive into that question head on, I'd like to return to the idea of identity. When one is to examine how to identity oneself as a Christian, it seems a good idea to look at how Jesus identified himself.

Matthew 11:1-6 1When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 4And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

John's disciples ask Jesus a very fundamental question. Essentially, "Are you the Messiah?" "Are you the one who is going to free Israel from Rome?" "Are you the one who is to reconcile us to God?"

"Who are you?"

But what does Jesus say in response? Look at my actions, not my words. It is easy to say I'm the Messiah, or a Christian, but it is tough to live it. We've all heard this before.

I believe that the real crux of the argument comes in what Jesus is doing next. He is doing miracles. He is reaching into heaven and pulling down the Father's glory. He is operating as any perfect human being should.

He is loving people into heaven in a completely different why than we do today. He is loving people into heaven by bringing heaven to them. He is praying for God's kingdom to come, and his will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

What Jesus isn’t doing is solely using the world’s means to love people. He isn’t starting a gov’t-sanctioned fund to fight poverty. He isn’t getting people to trust more in Caesar’s saving ability (when Joey was in DC over break, he said it felt eerily like Rome). He isn’t preaching a feel good message.

He isn’t breaking down the path to heaven to salvation into a simple prayer, then ticking another off his list when they pray it.

He is bringing salvation to the people. I read once (more than likely in an NT Wright book, great man), that salvation in the 1st century had nothing to do with escaping to heaven. It had everything to do with Caesar coming in with his army and saving the people from evil. It was a here and now thing, not a dead and gone thing.

Jesus was bringing salvation here and now.

Salvation from sickness, from disease, from death, from all the woes of sin. He sets us free here and now.

And he told us to preach his message to the nations.

Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”

There is an intimate connection between preaching the gospel of the kingdom and seeing the miraculous. When we preach the gospel of the kingdom, the physical presence of God comes on earth as it is in heaven. When we heal the sick, we are making God's will for all people manifest on earth as it is in heaven.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that in the middle of the bible’s most explicit discussion about spiritual gifts is the bible’s most explicit discussion about love. Read 1 Cor 12, 13, and 14. He gave us spiritual gifts, little pieces of heaven to steward, in order to love others. And he tells us not to be ashamed about this, but to pursue the higher gifts.

I believe God gave us a mission, to love the world into heaven. He gave us the means to do this, by bringing heaven to the world.

He gave us a prayer to pray, and he gave us gifts to use, and he gave us his spirit to guide us, and it is all for his glory, to renew this earth, to bring heaven here, now.

I once heard a pastor speak about the miraculous, in regards to the Christian identity. He said that our love must be better, different, more than the Lions Club and Rotary. He said that he loves what they are doing, but if the world can’t tell the difference between Rotary and Jesus, then there is a problem.

If we are not different than Rotary, then we are nothing. Paul says that if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, then we have faith in nothing.

Col 2:11-12 “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Romans 8:11 “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

If Jesus wasn’t resurrected, that’s the ball game. We are just a church who does fund raisers and tries to convince a broken world that we have the answer.

But if we aren’t operating in the same power that Jesus did, that Peter and John and Paul did, that thousands throughout church history did, then how are we any different than Rotary?

Peter and John, maybe through lack of money, or maybe through a true understanding of the beggar’s needs, didn’t give him money. He gave him a piece of heaven.

Acts 3:6 “Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

Is Rotary the hope of the world, or is Jesus?

I’m on not trying to rip of Rotary. My beautiful fiancé’s mom is a very active member of Rotary, and I wouldn’t dare try to belittle her work. Rotary is a great thing, but the church is meant to be greater. Rotary wasn’t called to be a light on a hill.

Indeed, if there is no difference between Rotary and the church, then we've missed the point. We don't hold a message that is good news. Its is just the message of the world, with a more exclusive membership.

If the church is not operating in the power of God, then we are missing the point.

Then we aren't the church.

We're just a group of elitists think we're something because we can repackage a message that the world already has. A message that says if we love people just enough, if we raise just enough money, then the world will be okay.

But Paul says to have faith in the power of God. I quoted a verse about, and there are more.

We are called to more. We are called to bring heaven to earth. It is a simple prayer, but it might just change this world.

Have faith in the power of God. Without it, we're just Rotary.