Tag: jesus

The Enlightenment Hangover

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            The Enlightenment project, begun centuries ago and coming to full flower in the 17thwith the primacy of reason and the scientific method, still exerts a potent hangover effect even in these post-Enlightenment or postmodern times.  Without going into a complete history lesson (which I will tackle another time) we can say that the church bought into much of this project in the 19th century.  We are still experiencing its effects today.  Just as the factory system with its focus on efficiency and specialization was the fruit of applying certainty and objective principles to manufacturing, so the church has this continuing and nasty tendency to operate as though people ought to move through the teaching and ministry of the church and come out the other end as products ready for shipping to heaven.  Whenever we focus on certainty in process, confidence in a particular project, and the expectation of people’s production as the highest of goals in the church then we are allowing Enlightenment philosophy and not biblical Christianity to shape our lives.
 
The essence of biblical Christianity revolves completely around the person and work of Jesus Christ.  The most profound theological and practical statement I could make is that God the Father loves us through God the Son by means of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The work of Jesus has made deliverance from sin real, the restoration of the world possible, and it is the Spirit’s work to apply Christ’s redemption to us.
 
            Ideally, therefore, church ministry teaches us this good news of Jesus, and everything is done in order to worship and exalt the Son and bless the world.  But a warning must be given here because Christianity may be perverted into a form of Enlightenment-type idolatry through substituting the Church, the Bible, Christian service, spiritual experiences, or a list of do’s and don’ts for the person of Jesus Christ.
 
            The Church is an idol when we miss the truth that Jesus is the Head of Church (Ephesians 1:22).  The Bible is an idol when we neglect the truth that Jesus is the Living Word (John 1:14).  Our Christian ministry and service is an idol when do not acknowledge the truth that Jesus is Lord of all, including the harvest (Matthew 9:38).  Pursuing a spiritual experience or certain emotions are idols when we pass over the truth that Jesus is our sanctification, the one who sets us apart as holy (1 Corinthians 1:30).  Living ethically and morally is an idol when we avoid the truth that Jesus is Messiah who has delivered us from the power of sin (Luke 6:46).
 
            All of these ways put the onus on process and production, thus eroding the true foundation of Christianity, which is the person and work of Jesus.  The source, content, authority, and provision in Christianity are all found in the Holy Trinity, made available to us through the work of Christ and revealed to us in the Word of God.
 
            So, any church ministry that is worth its salt is continually seeking, submitting, and obeying the Word of God and responding to God with faith, hope, and love.  It is to be a dynamic relationship and not a spiritual factory making expected people products.  Sometimes we might get so discouraged over the lack of results, church conflict, apathetic people, or the paucity of spiritual growth within Christians that we end up unwittingly substituting some idol in the place of Jesus.  Adding more bells and whistles to existing programs or starting new ministries because we think the objective factory system needs tinkering are not good options for church work.  Instead, try reading through the Gospels again to get a fresh perspective on Jesus – who he is and what he did.  Let the re-invigoration of the church, Christian organizations, and the Christian life be centered in Christ, and not in a curriculum or strategic plan, as if the assembly line has broken down.
 

 

            We must return to Christianity and church ministry as the incredible relational and spiritual interaction between God and his people through worship, fellowship, and personable outreach.  This is not a cerebral emphasis on reason in order to make the church factory run more efficiently, but a plea for fostering relationship with Jesus the Son, exaltation of God the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We serve and glorify a God who transcends Enlightenment reason and is not limited to the scientific method.  Let us, therefore, live like it.

Mark 3:13-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Jesus calling the original twelve disciples may, at first glance, seem like a bore.  Yet, like everything our Lord did, Jesus acted with grace and sensitivity to the Father.  This list of names of the people Jesus would spend the next three years with is nothing less than a motley crew of disparate individuals who have nothing in common other than being Galilean Jews.  For example, putting Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot together on the same team would be akin to having Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and CNN’s Bill Maher paired-up for a three year task force on political action; having James and Judas Iscariot linked in a small group is not much different than thrusting Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi in the same group.
             If we were to judge Jesus on his team building skills based upon contemporary conventional wisdom, this would be a disaster.  The issue would not only be that it is unlikely that they could ever work together, but also that it would create a potentially explosive situation where they might literally ring each others’ necks.  Yet, it was this crazy lot of men that ended up turning the world upside-down after Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
             Jesus knew what he was doing.  The glue that held them together was the person of Jesus himself.  And today’s church must be knit together not on the basis of shared politics, the same ideas of how things should go, or even around who the pastor is.  No, the church is and ought to be centered completely in the person and work of Jesus.  When individuals and churches explode or implode it is because Jesus has ceased to be both the subject and object of worship and ministry.  It is to Christ we must continually look to in order to work together and experience genuine life change as Christians.
             Father, Son, and Spirit, Blessed Holy Trinity, the God whom I serve, may my life totally revolve around you, especially the person and work of Jesus.  Help me to put aside my personal agenda so that I might clearly understand your will for me.  Amen.

Follow Me

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            Jesus is something else.  He had this way of doing things that was not at the whim or desire of anybody around him.  Sometimes Jesus spoke in parables when people expected him to be clear.  Sometimes Jesus did not say anything when others wanted him to speak.  And sometimes he just did not beat around bush at all and bluntly spoke.  Calling the disciples was one of those times.
 
What would make you drop everything and pursue an entirely new life?  What would it take for you to follow Jesus as if your life depended on it?  What would cause you to not make any excuses and simply follow Jesus?  I am impressed with the fact that the original disciples immediately obeyed Jesus when he plainly commanded them to “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:16-20).  They did not question Jesus as to whether this was a short term project or a long term assignment he was calling them to.  They did not ask Jesus how following him would look to other people, or how it would impact their fishermen’s stock portfolio.  They simply dropped everything and followed Jesus.  If those disciples followed Jesus with the same reason I originally decided to follow him, it was because Jesus is such a compelling person, so gracious, interesting, and loving that it is really no decision at all.  Everything else pales in comparison with Jesus.
 
Take the time to read all the Gospels and the book of Acts and you will find this:  Followers of Jesus follow Jesus; and, those who are not following Jesus are not his followers.  It is that simple.  Followers follow, and those who do not follow are not Christ’s followers.  What you will not find when reading the Gospels and the book of Acts is that following Jesus is optional or that somehow a person can be a Christian without following Jesus.
 
            Jesus commands us to follow him and he will make us fishers of humanity.  “But,” you might retort, “I do not know how to fish for people.”  Here is a simple observation:  Jesus said that he would make us fishers of people.  In other words, Jesus is not walking around looking for people with skills that he can use.  Rather, Jesus calls people and makes them into fishermen; he develops people and forms them with the ability to follow his call.  If that is true (and it is), then this has significant implications on multiple levels for church ministry.  At the very least it means that our pre-occupation with leadership and developing leaders needs to take a back seat to simple following of Jesus.  If that seems weird or counter-intuitive, then welcome to God’s upside-down kingdom.
 
            Jesus will train us; our responsibility is to answer the call to follow.  When I was five years old my Dad took the training wheels off my bike and told me to ride it.  I told him I couldn’t.  He told me to get on the bike and he would run beside me.  I got on the bike and started to ride with him holding it.  When I began to panic approaching a tree, I started talking to my Dad.  He didn’t answer… because he wasn’t beside me.  He dropped out from shagging me a long way back. 
 

 

            We are not called to follow Jesus based on our superior skills, but on the lack of them so that Jesus will do in us a work of total allegiance and loyalty to the kingdom of God.  Jesus will make sure to develop the prowess we need in order to do what he has called us to do.  We must hear and answer the call of Jesus to follow and to make us fishers of people.  Church ministry goes nowhere without this basic biblical building block.  Focus on following, and see what Jesus can do.

John 1:29-34

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            In a world where people do whatever seems best and feels right to them personally; on an earth where the environment and people are viewed as commodities to be used, abused, and/or manipulated for personal gain; in a place where sin is rampant and seems to run amok as if it’s ubiquity is a hopeless constant; into this world enters John the Baptist.  His message speaks to the sin of the age:  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
 
            Jesus has come on the scene to tackle this sin issue once for all.  This is truly good news!  I must admit, and perhaps you will confess with me, that we sometimes get quite discouraged with the way things are.  As a pastor I am in the business of constantly dealing with sin issues.  Not only do I interact and shepherd people who traffic in sin, try to manage sin, ignore sin, or genuinely seek to face sin down, but I myself must deal with the presence of indwelling sin in the shadowy places of my own heart.  I suspect that you, too, must engage co-workers, family members, neighbors, and others on a daily basis for whom sin is an ever-present reality while monitoring your own responses to hard hearts and difficult situations.  It can be exhausting!
 
            Yet, since Jesus has come on the scene and has lived a holy life, taught us how to do the same, was crucified, died, rose again, and ascended, the pioneer of our salvation has set us up for success.  We can take courage, joy, and even rest in the gracious sacrificial Lamb who has dealt a death blow to sin’s power.  Jesus Christ always has the last word.
            O blessed heavenly Father, thank you for sending the Son, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world.  Help me to walk in this reality every day, so that I might face down sin in my life, and gently assist others to do the same.  Amen.