Kingdom vs. Business
Of course, I get back to work and my blogging responsibilities suffer!
I have been trying to get to a place where I could blog, but it's been an adjustment trying to get myself back into some semblance of order! I love my new job; it truly is a God-ordered step that I'm there. Every day that I go, I feel blessed to be there and honored that God chose to put me in that place and especially in the department I am working.
Been with some friends lately that are going through similar situations as we have this summer and it has been hard to watch their pain. As I have gone through this and watching others go through it, I am reminded of my thoughts many times before: this is not how Jesus intended His church to be or to act! If we read the Gospels, as unbiased as possible, (we all come to the scripture with our own biases and prejudices, whether we want to or not), we see especially in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus came to present a new way of life, not a new religion.
He came not to exclude, but to include. The Beatitudes, which many people try to say is the laundry list of how we should be if we want to experience God, is really an expression of who God will allow to experience the Kingdom of God. Dallas Willard, in Divine Conspiracy, does a much better job than I do in explaining this point, but what the "blessed are..." list is really there for is to explain that even those who mourn, are persecuted, poor in spirit, etc., will be allowed to experience the Kingdom. These individuals with the qualities outlined here were mostly the "marginalized" individuals of Jesus' day. It would be like saying, "blessed are those who struggle with alcoholism, for they too can experience the kingdom of God." (Using those who struggle with addiction as an example of those who are marginalized by our "Christian" subculture.)
Those on Jesus' list were marginalized in that day. Imagine how the Pharisees looked upon those who were "poor in spirit." Why would God bless being poor in our spiritual lives when God is always working on us to grow deeper in our spiritual walk with Him? He is not blessing a spiritually deficient lifestyle, he is trying to express that the Kingdom of God is for everyone who desires to grow spiritually, but might struggle and find themselves outside the boundaries set up by the religious elite. He is saying that "even they can be blessed by the kingdom." No one is excluded here.
What we see in the world today in Christianity is more and more becoming an elitist society, more associated with Phariseeism than with Jesus. His intention was to reveal the Kingdom of God, a society based upon the character God displays through His people...not a hierarchy of rules and regulations built to keep out those who don't measure up!
The Church, not a religion, but a people of like spirit and heart, are supposed to be a community of love and support. Christianity has become a business, which thinks profit and success as secondary to people and hearts and lives. You might say, but I know this or that church that doesn't operate like that, then I'd say, good...don't look at it as an example of Christianity then, but one of the Kingdom in operation and being revealed.
Religion can't bring life. Only intimacy produces life. And you must be vulnerable to be intimate. Vulnerability is not proper in religion, so it suffers barrenness.
Sorry, sound so down tonight, but that's what's on my mind. What's on yours? Leave me a comment.
I have been trying to get to a place where I could blog, but it's been an adjustment trying to get myself back into some semblance of order! I love my new job; it truly is a God-ordered step that I'm there. Every day that I go, I feel blessed to be there and honored that God chose to put me in that place and especially in the department I am working.
Been with some friends lately that are going through similar situations as we have this summer and it has been hard to watch their pain. As I have gone through this and watching others go through it, I am reminded of my thoughts many times before: this is not how Jesus intended His church to be or to act! If we read the Gospels, as unbiased as possible, (we all come to the scripture with our own biases and prejudices, whether we want to or not), we see especially in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus came to present a new way of life, not a new religion.
He came not to exclude, but to include. The Beatitudes, which many people try to say is the laundry list of how we should be if we want to experience God, is really an expression of who God will allow to experience the Kingdom of God. Dallas Willard, in Divine Conspiracy, does a much better job than I do in explaining this point, but what the "blessed are..." list is really there for is to explain that even those who mourn, are persecuted, poor in spirit, etc., will be allowed to experience the Kingdom. These individuals with the qualities outlined here were mostly the "marginalized" individuals of Jesus' day. It would be like saying, "blessed are those who struggle with alcoholism, for they too can experience the kingdom of God." (Using those who struggle with addiction as an example of those who are marginalized by our "Christian" subculture.)
Those on Jesus' list were marginalized in that day. Imagine how the Pharisees looked upon those who were "poor in spirit." Why would God bless being poor in our spiritual lives when God is always working on us to grow deeper in our spiritual walk with Him? He is not blessing a spiritually deficient lifestyle, he is trying to express that the Kingdom of God is for everyone who desires to grow spiritually, but might struggle and find themselves outside the boundaries set up by the religious elite. He is saying that "even they can be blessed by the kingdom." No one is excluded here.
What we see in the world today in Christianity is more and more becoming an elitist society, more associated with Phariseeism than with Jesus. His intention was to reveal the Kingdom of God, a society based upon the character God displays through His people...not a hierarchy of rules and regulations built to keep out those who don't measure up!
The Church, not a religion, but a people of like spirit and heart, are supposed to be a community of love and support. Christianity has become a business, which thinks profit and success as secondary to people and hearts and lives. You might say, but I know this or that church that doesn't operate like that, then I'd say, good...don't look at it as an example of Christianity then, but one of the Kingdom in operation and being revealed.
Religion can't bring life. Only intimacy produces life. And you must be vulnerable to be intimate. Vulnerability is not proper in religion, so it suffers barrenness.
Sorry, sound so down tonight, but that's what's on my mind. What's on yours? Leave me a comment.
