students of jesus

Our decision to follow Jesus includes the promise of Heaven. Even better: it also includes a miraculous transformation to become part of God’s family. He entrusts us with the task of announcing his kingdom, and making disciples fit for the king. He does not entrust this task to servants: he gives it to brothers.

Jesus began with a master-disciple relationship between him and the twelve. After three years it had morphed into one between friends, and after his ascension, the relationship is family: “the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2: 11) The call to come and follow is actually a call to join the family business. Not as a hired hand, but as a child of God.  

Jesus makes all things new: a new earth, a new heaven, and a new family, drawn from every people group on the earth. This work won’t be completed until the the end of this age, but right now, in this present age, Jesus planted evidence of what the age to come will look like. What will this new new age look like? The answer lies in another question: What kind of people has Jesus adopted?

According to the Apostle Peter, we are that people right now! Listen to the message: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Peter 2: 9 - 10)

The early church believed that Jesus had opened the way for heaven to “invade” Earth. This invasion meant that everyone who followed Jesus could draw on the same resources that Jesus used. Our lives should reflect the promise of Heaven. The expectation of the early church was that because Jesus had opened the way, Heaven would regularly break into the everyday business of Earth. Consider this long prayer, which came from the early church in Jerusalem:

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
   " 'Why do the nations rage
       and the peoples plot in vain?
   The kings of the earth take their stand
       and the rulers gather together
       against the Lord
       and against his Anointed One.
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4: 24 – 31)

Notice the relationship between the people of God and the work of God? His people promised to speak boldly, and asked God to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through them. This was the pattern set by Jesus in the gospels, and it was the pattern applied to the church in Acts. Jesus was the firstborn of Heaven; the church was the firstfruit of his ministry. The church was both the harvest and the example of the whole harvest would look like. It was true then; it’s true now. The complete harvest comes at the end of the age. Meanwhile the church exhibits the promise of that harvest.

It’s a glorious picture of the church, but sadly, a picture largely obscured by many churches today. Perhaps we can dare to hope that the church will someday rise to this calling, but our personal, immediate challenge is to see that the church is comprised of individual family members. The we begins when Christ formed in me.

Recently I saw this post on a blog: “The Apostle Paul was never a member of one church and one church only.” Other people who posted comments quickly agreed with the statement. Both the author and those who agreed had it exactly wrong.

I know: "wrong" is an offensive word these days; it is a word used only by misguided traditionalists. It is the bane of Spiritual Progressives. But if I am headed in the wrong direction--toward danger--the most progressive thing I can do is turn around and head back until I find the right path again.

Here’s a cultural truth: we bring to our reading of scripture whatever values we currently hold. Our eyes and hearts are sensitized to recognize the things we already agree with, and to ignore those things which run counter to our convictions.

When God graciously saves us he also has a plan to plant and nurture us. The Father isn't in favor of theoretical family, he creates actual families of faith. Part of the yoke Jesus offers is our continued association with other believers. This association is more than friendship—it is a calling to become part of the people of God. Let’s allow Paul and his life speak to us today. Here are at least four lessons we should learn from him:

(1) Antioch - Paul’s Church Home:
The first three verses of Acts chapter 13 are clear beyond any cultural leanings—Paul and Barnabas were fully invested in the body of believers at Antioch. The church in Antioch was a remarkable multi-ethnic community that embodied the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Paul and Barnabas were a part of a leadership team who heard the voice of the Spirit together and--even after hearing--prayed and fasted together before ordaining two of their own to mission the “mission field.” Then, to drive the point home, the Scripture reports that at the end of this journey Paul and Barnabas returned to their home church and gave a report of what God had done (Acts 14: 26-28).

(2) The local church is the wellspring of ministry:
In the 15 years I was a pastor I would occasionally meet a new guy at church. “I need a ‘covering’ for my ministry,” he would say: “Will your church be my covering?” My response was usually something like “Yes! We’re all about releasing people into their calling and ministry. Why don’t you hang out with us for six months or so and we’ll consider laying our hands on you and affirming God’s call on your life.” It would usually only take about two weeks, and that guy would leave!

Is six months too long to get to know someone and—together—to affirm God’s calling on someone? How about ten-to-fourteen years? Depending on how you read Galatians, Paul indicates that he was a part of his local church for a considerable length of time. Take just a moment and compare Acts 11:19-26 with Galatians 1:11-2:5. These two passages show a man possessed by the sovereign call of God, who displayed radical obedience to the voice of the Spirit, and still respected the local church. God’s call, God’s gifting, even obedience to our destiny in God are all worked out in the local church.

(3) The Gospel wasn’t enough: Paul planted churches:
It’s true that the Apostle Paul had a unique and powerful ministry on the road. It is also true that he did more than “preach the gospel.” The record of the book of Acts and the epistles is that he planted churches. Everywhere he went, he shared the good news of Jesus--and--established bodies of believers to provide a context for living out the gospel. Each of his letters testifies to this second fact—establishing churches. Even the letters to Timothy and Titus are about corporate church life. That leaves only the letter to Philemon, which was likely read out loud in front of Philemon’s home church.

(4) Paul had a high view of the church--the LOCAL church.
Paul felt the weight of every church he started. He knew he would give an account to God for his work. He never gave up on the church--even when there was plenty of reason to do so. The passages in his letters are too many and too varied to list here (and I have no interest in proof-texting), but the weight of evidence is overwhelming: Paul knew that the local church was God’s plan for every community in which he preached the gospel. He entrusted churches to Timothy and Titus; he pleaded with the Corinthians to come to their senses; he agonized over the health of the church in Thessalonica; he knew that the path to individual maturity was found in community. Structured, organized, accountable, loving, Spirit-breathed, grace-filled community. Paul presented many a picture of a glorious, eternal church. He also poured every ounce of his ministry into non-glorious, sinful, people-filled, local churches. There was no separating the two.

If we have lost this connection to the role local church, we have lost our way.

Part of Spirit-led Bible study is to ask for the grace to open our hearts to His value system, not ours. And in North America we should be on guard against Biblical interpretations that simply affirm our biases. It is deeply ingrained in our culture: "be yourself." Isn't it shocking that we cannot become ourselves apart from the family of God?

Sometimes the big questions intersect with our everyday life. My opinions regarding large “theological” questions trickle all the way down to my ability to follow Jesus day-by-day. For example, my view of the scripture will determine how much authority it has in my life. My understanding of God’s purpose for marriage will find it’s way into my choices about sex. Or, for example, my view of the church will influence my everyday life as a follower of Jesus.

Here’s the challenge: not everyone thinks the answers to big questions matter in their ability to follow Jesus. We think they are simply matters of opinion, or even preference. What if big questions help--or hinder--our lives as students of Jesus?

One current question in North America has to do with the importance of the church. Church life in America has become a symbol of irrelevance, hypocrisy, or even considered harmful in the life of a disciple. Why not simply head out to Starbucks or a pub with my believing friends and call that “church?” Who needs the hassle of small-minded people or the drama of church as a someone’s private kingdom? I see the point of these questions. The church in the U.S. is desperately ill. So why not turn off the life support system?

My only problem is God. He seems to think the church is important. Here’s a meditation: try reading Paul’s letter to the Ephesians without considering the place of the church in God’s order of things. The church is mentioned nine times in three separate contexts during this short letter. The Spirit-inspired text says some outrageous things about the church:

• The church is the “fulness of God” (1: 22-23). Really?
• God wants to speak to the cosmos, using the church as the example of his “manifold wisdom” (3: 10-11). No way!
• God actually thinks marriage is an everyday picture of Jesus and the Church (5: 22-33)

Before we all spend our tithe on lattes and pints with our best friends and call it “church” perhaps we could consider the big question of what God has in mind for the church and for us as followers of Jesus. It’s a big question that matters everyday.

My Dad used to believe some crazy things about me. Every so often he would tell me I could do anything. He said I was smart and funny. He thought I could beat up any kid in my class. It was comical because I was the pee-wee of the school who ran his mouth way too much and then hid behind the teacher’s skirt. Clearly, my father didn’t live in the same world as I did.

I was convinced my father had no clue about my life, so I ignored his advice. Years later, when I came to the pages of the New Testament I began to hear the same voice urging me to lift my vision. I’ve heard that voice at least four times, and I know it’s talking to all of us, not just me.

“God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:40) After describing incredible heroes of faith, the writer of Hebrews turns is attention to us. Compared to all those other guys in the Bible, God has planned something better for us. There’s more. And it’s better. And it’s for us. wilder still: the stuff God has planned for us completes the faith of those from ages past. Are you kidding me? Something is lacking in the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and well, the whole list—and they are looking to us for the fulfillment of their experiences? No wonder there is a great cloud of witnesses looking on.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 3:10) To begin with, I have no clear idea who the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" are, but when God wants to put his wisdom on display, he points at the church. Are you kidding me? I love my local church, but it hardly reaches the level of manifesting all of God’s wisdom. God points at us, and we turn around as if he’s pointing at someone behind us.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) Are you kidding me? Is he really talking about us? When Jesus opens up with “I tell you the truth” it means, “read my lips, this is serious.” Still stranger--his words are in the singular: “anyone” and “he.” My favorite rationalization about this verse used to be that Jesus meant that all the aggregate works of all believers in all times: but there’s no way you can read it like that. He means me, and then he means you. Actually, I would be thrilled to settle for just doing the stuff he did, but Jesus says there’s more.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."  (2 Peter 1:3) The reason I have so much trouble with this verse is that it lays so much responsibility at my feet. Everything for life and godliness? Are you kidding me? He’s given us everything we need? Well then, go get ‘em.

My Dad may not have been a part of my childhood world, but my God knows this world better than I do. My natural father spoke to me out of parental hope and pride. Our Heavenly Father speaks to us out of transcendent truth. Why don’t we listen more often?