Kingdom Talk - Just the Basics

Historically, people have tended to add to the Gospel what it means to be a follower of Christ. Some of that is natural since we need to discover and work through how the Gospel plays out in our individual cultures and in our own lives. How do we apply the principles of what Jesus teaches in our workplaces? How do his teachings challenge our own culture? Yet the problem comes when we take these additions and confuse them with the Gospel itself. We end up becoming the very thing Jesus spoke so adamently against as he locked horns with the Pharisees. And when we do that, those additions become obstacles to others coming into direct contact with the Gospel - especially as it is shared across cultures. A person may think that becoming a Christian means I have to dress a certain way or hang out with certain kinds of people. They become put off by those items and as a result never come face to face with the person of Jesus. So while it is fine and expected that we apply the Gospel in our own lives, we need to do a "Kingdom check" every so often and revisit what the core teachings and values of the Kingdom are. We need to check these against our own lives. And we need to make sure that these values are the focus of teaching and sharing with others rather than focusing on the exterior of our faith.

Kingdom Talk - Radically Sold Out

The conference I was at has concluded. Every time I've done a comprehensive inductive study of Mark, I am struck again at the radical demands of the Kingdom. I remember first being hit by this back in my college days. It continues to this day. This is no half-way with Jesus. You can't just get your feet wet, then stay there. He is gentle, but he is demanding. The measure you give will be the measure you get - the more you enter the Kingdom, the more you are invited to come in. Yet the more you allow yourself to remain on the fringes, the further outside you'll find yourself. This is the challenge - the nature of the challenge differs from culture to culture, but there is no doubt that one effect of sin is our tendency to go into drift mode. We'll use anything to innoculate ourselves against Kingdom demands - routine, work, addictions, distractions, even church. It takes constant vigilance to keep our focus, but if we seek Him, He is faithful to help us along the way.

Kingdom Talk

At the conference I'm at, we are going through the Gospel of Mark. I have done inductive studies on Mark many times and in Kazakhstan I taught a class on Introduction to Inductive Bible Study Methodologies, using Mark. One thing you can't escape if you look at Mark in its own context is the absolute emphasis on the Kingdom of God. It is the central part of the teaching of Jesus. The problem is that often we either skip over that or we look at many of the parts of Mark outside of that lens. Or we assume the Kingdom of God = the Church and move on. Yet, when reading carefully and allowing the radical nature of Jesus's teachings to soak in, one cannot help but be challenged and confronted anew with every serious reading of Mark. Are we really living as participants in God's Kingdom? Are we reflecting the values Jesus talks about that are central to the Kingdom? Do we allow ourselves to see past the surface appearance and dig into the assumptions that we make about our faith, our church, and our culture? Well, when starting this blog, I promised myself I'd keep the entries short. So I'll stop by simply encouraging a good, inductive read of Mark. I may make additional comments about the Kingdom in future entries as well. Stay tuned...

Airplanes and Human Nature

I wonder if any psychologist has done a disseration on human nature on airlines. Having just finished a 14-hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul and looking forward to another 6 hours here in a while to get me on to Bangkok, it's sort of fresh in my mind now. Of course, when I say "mind," remember I'm on 24+ hours of no sleep.

What's interesting is how the "competition" shifts. First, the competitors are those jockeying for a position in line. And the enemy are those who try to board before their zone. If you happen to be an airline club member, thus allowed to board first, you definitely deserve to get on first and you might get frustrated at the low life types who don't give way. Of course, if you don't have that perk, then you look with disgust at the folks who waltz to the front of the line. Who do they think they are, anyway?!

Once on the plane, now it's the overhead bins. On one flight you are thankful for the empty space a couple rows back, since your bin is full. On another flight, you conjure up tortures that would be appropriate for the bum two rows up who put his suitcase in your overhead bin. And it goes on - fighting over the armrest or thinking evil thoughts about the guy in front who leans his seat back, planting the video screen firmly against your nose. On and on.

When the flight is over, everyone goes separate ways and all is forgotten. But what about when things go wrong. In coming back from Kazakhstan last December, we were delayed 19 hours. All of a sudden, the other passengers were no longer competitors, but we felt a sort of comeraderie; even friendship. One lady showed Shawn and me her daughter's wedding photos. I'm sure people who survive a serious scare or accident on an airline even develop a sense of community that goes beyond the flight itself.

Are we really that utilitarian? If someone is in my way, he/she is a member of the impersonal "they" who are out to inconvenience me? But if someone and I together are put upon by another "they," then we become fast friends. Hmmm. Well, in about an hour I'll have the opportunity for an attitude check!

Dogs and Missions

These two don't seem to have much in common, but the past two weeks have sort of brought them together. During all of our years in Kazakhstan, we never felt we could own a dog since it would be hard to handle with furlough schedules, plus apartment living and really cold winters just seemed incompatible with dog ownership. Although lots of local folks did have dogs. Our kids missed having pets - especially Naomi always wanted a dog. It was one of the many small things that they did give up by growing up there, although there are so many things they gained. But now that we're stateside, we decided last week that it was time. So Lizzy, a Dalmation/American Bulldog mix, is now part of our family.

It is noteworthy that we brought Lizzy home just two days after a dog of our missionary colleagues, who live in a village in Kazakhstan, saved their lives by waking them up in the middle of the night to a house fire. They all escaped unharmed, but the dog was too panicked to leave the house with them through the smoke and flames and perished. Ringo will go down in dog history as a hero. Fortunately the house wasn't destroyed, but many of their belongings were ruined by the smoke damage.

So who knows how the Lord might use Lizzy in the life of our family?!

Crucifixion and Resurrection

Whew - I almost forgot again, but here I am, making a second entry! I am at our mission organization's President's Gathering in Florida. Lots of great presentations today that have my head spinning. Darrell Whiteman, our staff missiologist, shared as I have heard him on many occasions past, but it always hits me over and over. He talked about how we should minister in the model of Jesus. Incarnation - living among people, living in a way that they can understand, sharing the good news of the Kingdom with them. But what hit me harder this round is what follows. Darrell talked about how Incarnation will always lead to Crucifixion. When we give ourselves to God, we will certainly be asked to die to things. Maybe to prestige, to security, to convenience, perhaps even to long life. I've experienced that in the past, but I think every day we are asked anew, "what will you die to now?" But the incredible thing is that Resurrection follows Crucifixion. The "backwards law" of the Bible, as one of my seminary profs used to say, comes in to play. As we die to things, we then become alive to so much more. That is the experience of mission and ministry. I'm so thankful that we've been able to experience that in some small way through our lives.