Tag: knowing christ

On Knowing Christ

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment
Pietà by Elisabeth Frink

The ancient Philippian church had lost sight of their purpose, of what is the primary reason for their being in existence. Simply put, they needed to unify around what is the central and most valuable core of Christianity: knowing Jesus Christ. For the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Church at Philippi, Jesus was so valuable that he literally gave up everything to become a Christian and follow Jesus. (Philippians 3:4-14)

It was no little thing that Paul did, converting in such a completely life-altering way to Christ. Paul had everything going for him. He was the up and coming star in Judaism. Paul had the Jewish pedigree, the intelligence, the personality, and the drive to become one of the greatest Pharisees of all time. And yet he forsook it all to pursue and know Christ. 

It might be hard for us to imagine just how significant Paul’s turn around was. On a much smaller scale, it would be like Green Bay Packer quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, at the height of his career, leaving football altogether to become a missionary to some remote place few people have ever heard of. Most might likely think he lost his marbles and was throwing away (pun intended) something valuable and important. So, it was with Paul.  Everyone thought he was nuts for becoming a Christian.

However, this would be to misunderstand what is really of greatest value. There are plenty of people in our society telling us what we need. With all the noisy rhetoric, from political pundits to commercial marketers, the person and work of Jesus can easily get lost in an ocean of competing voices. On a practical level, it can be far too easy to simply toss Christian discipleship on the smorgasbord of good ideas we get handed each day. Jesus might get misplaced and forgotten on our plate of life because of the mass of other food that is piled alongside him.

World Communion Sunday (always the first Sunday in October each year) reminds Christians that Jesus is our surpassing greatness, the highest and most worthy asset we possess. When we come to the Lord’s Table, there is nothing else to feast upon except Jesus, and Jesus alone. In the act of receiving the common elements of bread and cup, we proclaim that we need no one else and no other thing to make us happy in this life. Jesus is enough for us. What is more, we stand united with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world in a common purpose and value of knowing Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

The Elements of Holy Communion by Jacques Iselin

The core value and heart of Christianity is a faith and love relationship with Jesus, to know him. This was the heartfelt cry of the Apostle Paul, and it was so meaningful to him that he gave up everything to pursue Christ and follow Jesus.  If we ever strip Christianity of this core value and stray from knowing Christ, the vacuum will be quickly filled with all kinds of other stuff, like the sheer duty of perfunctory prayers, clean living, and dispassionate robotic service. 

Paul longed to know Christ better. There are two words in the Greek language for “know.” One word refers to information; the other refers to an experiential knowledge – and that is the word Paul used with the Philippians. He deeply desired an intimate experience of Jesus. And Paul craved this so much that literally everything, when compared to Jesus, was “rubbish” to him. 

In the ancient world there were no landfills and dumps – the street served as the place people threw their garbage. The trash then got trampled into the ground, along with the generous amounts of animal dung. That is how Paul thought of even the best things in life as compared to knowing Jesus. 

There is no comparison between a freshly grilled T-bone steak and microwaved liverwurst. There is no comparison between a billion dollars and a penny. There is no comparison between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears (sorry Chi-Town). And there is no comparison between Jesus and anyone or anything else, no matter whom or what it is. 

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in the fifth century, described life apart from Jesus as “disordered love.” By that he meant we pursue whatever our affections are set upon. One might love family, friends, job, and hobbies, yet if Jesus is absent or must compete for our affections in the middle of those things, then it is a disordered love. The solution, for Augustine, is to rightly order our love by having Jesus as the premier object of our affection. The New Testament frames it this way: Repent and believe the gospel.

To have “disordered love” is a nicer way of saying “spiritual adultery.” Using this metaphor, the appropriate response is to return to our first love. “You have forsaken your first love,” said Jesus to the church in Ephesus.  “Remember the height from which you have fallen!  Repent and do the things you did at first” (Revelation 2:4-5). 

Christianity is not some religion in which we strike a deal with God to go to heaven if we accept Jesus. Rather, Christianity centers all of life in the person and work of Jesus. The Lord is a jealous God, feeling slighted when Christians moonlight with the world at night while acknowledging Jesus during the day.

Specifically, Paul wanted to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. He yearned to experience a supernatural change from the inside-out – to be a new person in Christ. Paul did not simply turn over a new leaf; he did a dramatic 180 degree turn and went hard after Jesus. A desire and/or decision to know Christ is to be more than a milquetoast “I’ll try to do better.” Christianity, at its core, is dying to self and being reborn in Jesus with new life.

Furthermore, Paul wanted to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Paul ached to know Jesus so much that he embraced suffering, just as his Lord did. Paul was not some spiritual masochist; he rightly recognized that spiritual growth and intimacy with Jesus largely comes from the harsh realities of life’s trials and difficulties, as faith is stretched.  We would not know Christ the healer if we were not broken; Christ the provider if we were not in want; and, Jesus Christ and him crucified unless we were aware of sin in the world along with our own personal sin.

Each time a Christian approaches the Lord’s Table, they set aside competing voices and forsake rival gods to have Jesus. For us who believe, let the ingesting of the elements be an act of fellowship with God. May we, along with Paul, Augustine, and all past saints desire to have Jesus completely take over our lives because he is so valuable to us. We never need to be perfect to partake of bread and cup. Instead, we only need to strive toward what is ahead and decide that today we will press on toward the higher goal of knowing Christ.

The Challenge of Change

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            People are all for change – we just typically want everybody else to change but ourselves.  Just say the word “change” in a church and you will get responses from some guy going apoplectic about not changing ‘on his watch’ to another person lamenting loudly over the lack of change within the congregation, to every response in-between.  Peter Steinke, a respected church consultant who deftly applies systems-theory to congregations, has made the most basic of observations:  “Change is a magnet for emotional reactions.”
 
            Every church leader has inevitably run into an emotional buzzsaw when attempting some sort of change, whether minor or major.  When people feel they are losing control or not getting what they want from a proposed change, they might try and throw a monkey wrench in the whole deal through some means of sabotage.  Yes, it does happen in churches.  People do not always play well or fair.  There are individual parishioners who will go to almost any length to have things their way or keep an existing system entrenched.  As a result, some pastors and leaders wither under the pressure, afraid of the emotional reactivity that might result from implementing some sort of change.  But when we take up the mantle of leadership, like Nehemiah of old, we regulate ourselves to staying on task even when the naysayers and saboteurs look for a way to frustrate the vision (Nehemiah 6:1-15).
 
            It must be kept in mind that every healthy living organism will grow, change, and reproduce.  Churches that never change are unhealthy.  At the least, they are just plain ineffective at ministry; at the worst, they become stagnant pools dispensing spiritual death.  But good outcomes can and do happen as leaders take courage to address issues and implement change without abandoning the goal.  The Apostle Paul stated the goal like this:  “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him… I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
 
            Sometimes, we as church leaders do not immediately think like Paul.  We desire a successful ministry, full of resurrection power, but neglect the bald reality that there must be suffering.  You cannot have a resurrection without having a death.  Paul embraced suffering and death as the means of attaining new life.  It would be sage for us all to reflect on this and how it applies to our ministries.  Change is typically a slow, often painful process, of dying to self and old ways and re-awakening to a new spiritual life of knowing Jesus Christ.  In order to truly know Christ, we will experience difficulty.  Our congregations are going to know Christ not by always having their way and/or never having to endure the hardship of change.  No, they are going to know Christ through sharing in his sufferings.
 
            Resistance to change will come.  Bank on it.  Plan for it.  Anticipate it.  It will happen. I have to admit that I am no expert in this area.  I have made more mistakes and flubbed more ideas and attempts at ministry than you can possibly imagine.  From the school of hard knocks, here is what I have learned:  it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to move an existing congregation to a new way of seeing and living; and, there needs to be a biblical goal in order to stay the course and realize transformation.  I believe the best goal is to help people know Christ better, and introduce people who don’t know him to a new relationship with Jesus.  All our strategic plans need to keep on track toward this grand pursuit of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
 

 

            So, what will you do to help move such a goal forward?  How will you work together with others to achieve knowing Christ?  In what ways will you deal with the inevitable resistance to change?  What things do you need to put to death in order to realize new life?  Where do faith, hope, and love fit into your plans for growth and change?  Let’s all pray for one another, so that we come to maturity in Christ together, knowing Jesus better and living and loving like him in all things.  So may it be.  Amen.

Following Christ

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
Following Jesus is not like being a groupie who thinks the Son of God is cool.  In the New Testament, it was no small thing that Paul did, converting completely to Christ and following him.  Paul had everything going for him.  He was the up and coming star in Judaism.
 
Paul had the Jewish pedigree, the intelligence, the personality, and the drive to become one of the greatest Pharisees of all time.  But he forsook it all in order to know Christ (Philippians 3:1-14). 

It might be hard for us to imagine just how significant Paul’s turn around was; on a much smaller scale, it would be like Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers (give me a break – I live in Wisconsin), at the height of his career, leaving football altogether in order to become a missionary to remote places that no one knows much about.  Many people would think he is throwing away something valuable and important.  So it was with Paul.  People thought he was nuts for becoming a Christian.
 
            But this is to misunderstand what is really of greatest value.  In our society there are messages and voices proclaiming to us every day what we really need.  Whether it is economic security and accumulation of stuff, or emotional security and self-protective behavior, a genuine Christianity of revolving all of life around the person and work of Jesus can easily get lost in an ocean of competition. 
 
On a practical level, it is much too easy just to toss following Jesus on the smorgasbord of good ideas that we get handed each day. 
 
Jesus can be lost to us on the plate of life with the mass of other food that is piled along with him.
 
            Whenever I talk with non-Christians about Jesus, what he has done and what he means to me, they typically celebrate that reality.  I have gotten a response of “I’m glad that works for you” more times than I can count.  “It’s not my thing, but I’m glad you found happiness in Jesus.”  It is so much more than that.  All people need Jesus Christ, and to know him crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again.  The distinctive of Christianity is that there is no other Name by which we can be delivered from brokenness and an empty way of life except Jesus.
 
            The core value and heart of Christianity is a faith and love relationship with Jesus, to know Him.  This was the cry of the Apostle Paul, and it was so valuable to him that he gave up everything in order to pursue Christ and follow Jesus. 
 
If we ever strip Christianity of its true value and lose sight of knowing Christ, the vacuum will be quickly filled with all kinds of other stuff, like church attendance, perfunctory prayers, and clean living. 
 
            The cry of Paul’s heart was to know Christ (Philippians 3:10).  Paul did not simply want to sign-off on right doctrine, but wanted an intimate experience of Jesus.  Paul desired this so much that literally everything, when compared to Jesus, is rubbish.  In the ancient world there were no landfills and dumps; instead, the street served as the place people threw their garbage and it would get trampled into the ground.  That is how Paul thinks of even the best things in life as compared to knowing Jesus. 
 
There is no comparison between a freshly grilled T-bone steak and microwaved liverwurst; there is no comparison between a billion dollars and a penny; there is no comparison between the Packers and the Vikings (keep in mind I’m still in Wisconsin); and, there is no comparison between Jesus and anyone or anything else, no matter whom or what it is. 
 
Saint Augustine, who lived in the 4th and 5thcenturies, described life apart from Jesus as “disordered love.”  By that he meant that we pursue whatever our affections are set upon.  One might love family, friends, job, and hobbies, but if Jesus is absent or has to compete for our affections in the middle of those things then it is a disordered love and the solution is to rightly order our love by having Jesus as the premier object of our affection.  Scripture puts it this way:  repent and believe in Jesus.
 
Knowing Christ is meant to be a profoundly intimate affair of experiencing the depths of Jesus each and every day of our lives. 
 

 

It is further meant to be enjoyed together with a group of like-minded people who share the same values and pursue the same affections.  This is church as it is meant to be.  Don’t settle for being a groupie; instead, follow Jesus as the surpassing greatness he truly is.