Press On Towards The Goal: To Change The World
As Chris and I continue to press on towards the goal that Christ has set for us, I felt the need to take a break and read a little velvet elvis. I am struck once again by how God is using Rob Bell’s words to reach my hardening heart.
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It is important to remember that we rarely find these first Christians trying to prove that the resurrection actually occurred. For one, a lot of the people who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead were still alive, so if people had questions and doubts, they could talk to somebody who was actually there. But there's another reason: Everybody's god in the first century had risen from the dead. To claim resurrection had occurred was nothing new: Julius Caesar himself was reported to have ascended to the right hand of the gods after his death. To try to prove there was an empty tomb wouldn't have gotten very far with the average citizen of the Roman Empire; they had heard it all before. This is why so many passages about the early church deal with possessions and meals and generosity. They understood that people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences. Living, breathing, flesh-and-blood experiences of the resurrection community. They saw it as their responsibility to put Jesus' message on display. To the outside world, it was less about proving and more about inviting people to experience this community of Jesus' followers for themselves.
And so these first Christians passed on the faith to the next generation who passed it on to the next generation who passed it on to the next generation until it got to ...us. Here. Today. Those who follow Jesus and belong to his church. And now it is our turn. It is our turn to step up and take responsibility for who the church is going to be for a new generation. It is our turn to redefine and reshape and dream it all up again. It is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.
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If you are not content with what we are passing on to the next generation, then it is your responsibility to step up. Not with aggression, but with humility and compassion.
"the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." -Matthew 11:12
God is not interested in us bulling our way, but rather taking our lead from Christ. “Seek first the Kingdom of heaven”. Christ demonstrates passion, servitude, humility—main ingredients to change this world don’t you think.
If you were to start a church; what would it look like?
Now take that vision into your present church and inspire people with it!
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It is important to remember that we rarely find these first Christians trying to prove that the resurrection actually occurred. For one, a lot of the people who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead were still alive, so if people had questions and doubts, they could talk to somebody who was actually there. But there's another reason: Everybody's god in the first century had risen from the dead. To claim resurrection had occurred was nothing new: Julius Caesar himself was reported to have ascended to the right hand of the gods after his death. To try to prove there was an empty tomb wouldn't have gotten very far with the average citizen of the Roman Empire; they had heard it all before. This is why so many passages about the early church deal with possessions and meals and generosity. They understood that people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences. Living, breathing, flesh-and-blood experiences of the resurrection community. They saw it as their responsibility to put Jesus' message on display. To the outside world, it was less about proving and more about inviting people to experience this community of Jesus' followers for themselves.
And so these first Christians passed on the faith to the next generation who passed it on to the next generation who passed it on to the next generation until it got to ...us. Here. Today. Those who follow Jesus and belong to his church. And now it is our turn. It is our turn to step up and take responsibility for who the church is going to be for a new generation. It is our turn to redefine and reshape and dream it all up again. It is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.
=================
If you are not content with what we are passing on to the next generation, then it is your responsibility to step up. Not with aggression, but with humility and compassion.
"the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." -Matthew 11:12
God is not interested in us bulling our way, but rather taking our lead from Christ. “Seek first the Kingdom of heaven”. Christ demonstrates passion, servitude, humility—main ingredients to change this world don’t you think.
If you were to start a church; what would it look like?
Now take that vision into your present church and inspire people with it!
posted by Shannon Laser | 12:07 p.m.
1 Comments:
oooh - I like that Kingdom stuff.
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