The Gospel

Richard Stearns (The Hole in our Gospel) writes,

"I believe that we have reduced the gospel from a dynamic and beautiful symphony of God's love for and in the world to a bare and strident monotone. We have taken this amazing good news form God, originally presented in high definition and Dolby stereo, and reduced it to a grainy, black-and-white, silent movie. In doing so, we have also stripped it of much of its power to change not only the human heart but the world."

Transformational Living

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matthew 5:15)

Whenever days begin to grow shorter I begin to mourn the loss. Shorter days mean more darkness and less daylight and I don’t like it. Light transforms darkness. The words of Jesus remind us of His power to transform. He reminds us that it is a power that He has given to us. Our presence should make a difference in the same way that “a lamp gives light to everyone in the house”. Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, writes

“being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world…when we committed ourselves to following Christ, we also committed to living our lives in such as way that a watching world would catch a glimpse of God’s character – His live, justice and mercy – through our words, actions and behavior.”

Transformation

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:1-2)

Yesterday in the morning message I made a quick comparison of “transactional” leadership and “transformational” leadership. Admittedly, it’s a broad subject for such a quick comment. However, the context of Luke 15 stirred me to make the comparison. Jesus shared three parables of grace and redemption in order to reveal something to the grumbling Pharisees who were disturbed by the sinners who gathered to hear Jesus. The Pharisees appear to be deeply threatened by such grace and redemption. The elder brother in the third parable exemplifies their offense. Redemption cannot be reduced to a mere transactional exchange. We can never offer anything that equals what we receive. God’s gift is greater than our offering. Instead God’s leadership (lordship) in our lives is always transformational. In exchange for our surrender, we are re-born and continually molded into the image of Christ. Transactional leadership maintains a healthy impersonal distance between participants. It also implies an ability to measure the exchange. In contrast, leadership that transforms stirs an image in my mind of a Father running toward a wayward son who is hungry, tired and empty-handed. The transformation begins thet moment he Father embraces him and it continues as leads him down the path home.

Perspective

I spent some time at Nick's school last night. It was an opportunity to meet his teachers and walk through his schedule. There's something interesting that happens when you go to school as a parent on a night like last night. Our actions somewhat mirror those of an eighth-grader. Last night we listened to the principle give us instructions. We listened for the bell to signal the beginning of each class. We walked through through the halls, talked to our friends (other parents) in between classes and then entered each classroom, found our seats, listened to the teacher, took notes and anxiously waited for the bell to ring to signal the end of each class. Judging from our actions, we looked liked eighth-graders. But we're not. Our identity is much deeper than what is observable from the outside. Within us lie experiences that give us identity, perspective and purpose. In the world we live in, we sometimes allow the "externals" to define us much more so than we should.

The Body of Christ

Timothy Keller in Prodigal God makes a strong assertion. It's neither common or popular in the current climate of Christianity in North America today. But, I agree with it. We need each other.

"Christians commonly say they want a relationship with jesus, that they want to 'get to know Jesus better'. You will never be able to do that by yourself. You must be deeply involved in the church, in Christian community, with strong relationships of love and accountability. Only if you are part of a community of believers seeking to resemble, serve and love Jesus will you ever get to know Him and grow into His likeness."
Keller goes on to quote C.S. Lewis. Lewis describes the beauty of being a member of the body of Christ:
"In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity. I want other lights than my own to show all his facets."

Courage and Faith

Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" (Acts 26:28)
King Agrippa’s response to Paul’s testimony is memorable. The KJV reads “almost thou persuaded me to be a Christian”. Paul presented a passionate and compelling account of the Gospel. Agrippa listened and managed to muster up a fairly puny response. Waht about us? We have received the Gospel. None of us would dare to diminish the power of the Gospel with our words. I pray we do not diminish it with our actions. Agrippa lacked the faith and courage to move forward and accept Jesus. Moving boldly with our testimony requires the same faith and courage. Consider the words of Robert Quinn:

The land of excellence is safely guarded from unworthy intruders. At the gates stand two fearsome sentries – risk and learning. The keys to entry are faith and courage.

Servant Leadership

"human beings can make choices to live and lead at a higher level, to be serving rather than self-serving. But when you look at the leaders around the world—whether they’re running countries, businesses, churches, educational institutions, or what have you—too many people are choosing to be self-serving rather than serving. Why is that? Because they don’t have a different leadership role model." Ken Blanchard

Blanchard points us toward the ultimate leader. Most of us are quick to acknowledge what a great leader Jesus was (and is). Yet, how often do we consider his leadership principles as a model for our own leadership? Blanchard calls this the "choice" to lead at a higher level. I like his terminology. In biblical terms it is a choice to lead according to the tranformation of the Spirit rather than the desires of our selfish nature. The choice is made more difficult when we celebrate leaders who are self-serving (as we so often do in our culture).