[The following is the transcript from my lecture delivered at Crowley's Ridge College two nights ago, minus the little introductory remarks and the obligatory altar call at the end. I'll be interested to read any comments from anyone, from my housefly buddies to those who might link here from my Minutes to Memories blog.]We have a problem. Churches, that is. We have a big problem. Not liberalism or legalism. It has nothing to do with worship services. It is much bigger than that. And it has been a problem for a very long time. Centuries. But it has to change. It can no longer be tolerated. It may best be explained in a survey once conducted by a young man named Shane Claiborne. Shane drew results from those who identified themselves as “strong followers of Jesus,” and from that group 80% of the respondents said that Jesus spent time with the poor. When asked, 2% of that very same group said they spent time with the poor. Claiborne said, “I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what He did.”
That’s the problem in a nutshell.
In the year 2000, less than a year after I became a preacher, I was involved in a church controversy. A small group, led by one particular couple, wasn’t happy with me. In the big meeting that ensued, one lady (who, to this point had been a close friend to our family) said a couple of interesting things: One, for whatever reason, she claimed that I acted more like Jesus than anyone she knew; Two, she then asked if we could get on with the meeting and talk about my false teaching. Does anyone besides me see a problem here? Of how easily we separate what we believe and how we live into distinct groups?
Shane Claiborne again, in his penetrating book,
The Irresistible Revolution, wrote, “If you ask most people what Christians believe, they can tell you… But if you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody else; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way.”
Jesus, on the other hand, did show people another way of doing life. In Matthew 19, Jesus challenged the Rich Young Ruler to sell all he had, give to the poor, and then come follow Him. But as rich people today, we aren’t all that interested in following his advice, are we? (To this point, the late musician Rich Mullins once said tongue-in-cheek, “But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.”) In Luke 14, Jesus taught students how to throw a party, with the specific instruction being to invite the poor and rejected instead of our family and friends. Again, Claiborne wrote, “We must not have highlighted that verse.”
We have a major problem. We admire Jesus, believe in Jesus, even worship Jesus, but doing what He did – the very definition of following Jesus – well, we aren’t so serious about that part of the deal.
Which leads me to my assigned text: 1st Peter 2: 21-25. Peter wrote these verses to slaves, people in very different life circumstances than you and I. In the verses preceding our text, he told them to take their abuse on the chin when doing what is right. Like Jesus did, you know.
Then, Peter wrote: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” (1st Peter 2: 21-25, RSV)
I would like to make three points from these verses tonight: (1) Christianity is much more than believing in Jesus: it’s about following Him step by step; (2) Following the steps of Jesus doesn’t look like anything we’ve seen; (3) Following in the steps of Jesus costs us everything we’ve got.
First, Christianity is much more than believing in Jesus: it’s about following Him step by step.
1st Peter 2: 21 was the sermon text in the classic novel by Charles Sheldon,
In His Steps. In it, a congregation was challenged to live for one year asking the question “What would Jesus do?” before doing anything. And it changed everything. Yet today, the WWJD movement mostly resulted in a slew of Christian products for sale.
Part of the problem may be the definition of “disciple.” In our world, when we think of a student, we think of a person sitting at a desk learning a set of facts or propositions. Instead, we need to become reacquainted with the idea of an “apprentice” (no, not Donald Trump). As Darryl Tippens writes in
Pilgrim Heart, “’Learning Jesus’ (Luke Timothy Johnson’s fine phrase) is very different from learning algebra or physics. Learning Jesus is more akin to being apprenticed to a ship captain, a painter, a musician, or a stone mason.” An apprentice learns to do things like his teacher, not just sets of facts. Tippens suggests outfitting Bibles with green words for the things Jesus did (green for GO!), in addition to the red words for things He said. According to Dallas Willard in
The Divine Conspiracy, this is what “in the name of the Lord Jesus” means, doing things on his behalf or in his place, as if he himself were doing it.
So how would slaves live with unjust abuse? Just like Jesus taught them to live. Take it. And so how would we, as His apprentices, deal with owning more than we need while others go without? That should keep us up at night, you know?
There is a quiet revolution underway in Christianity, and I might as well be the one to tell you about it. There is a movement emerging (Scot McKnight calls it a “giant elephant in the middle of the Church’s living room”), and at the heart of this movement lies the recognition that how a person lives is of utmost importance. This movement is fond of noticing that every judgment scene in the Bible is based on a person’s “actions,” and that the only time Jesus explains what will matter when all is said and done, He describes it as caring for “the least of these.” I am a part of this emerging movement. This revolution. You are hearing its theme song tonight.
Second, following the steps of Jesus doesn’t look like anything we’ve seen.
In our text, verses 22 and 23 specifically, we learn that part of what made Jesus perfect was His refusal to retaliate in suffering, choosing rather to trust God for justice. This cannot be popular in a nation at war.
The title of this lectureship is “Becoming God’s Special People.” I love the title. Christians are called to be different (or, special), but I wonder what pictures the title brings to mind. It sounds a little warm and fuzzy to me (You’re so special!), but I’m afraid that becoming God’s special people might feel a bit more cold and prickly in reality.
If Jesus were living in the United States of America today, what would He look like? Who would He spend time with? What kind of house would he own, and what kind of car would he drive? These are important questions to apprentices of Jesus, aren’t they? These are the very questions on which we are to base our lives!
I don’t think Jesus would be boring. And I don’t think Jesus would be “normal.” I don’t even think Jesus would be “cool.” As Shane Claiborne wrote, “You don’t get crucified for being cool; you get crucified for living radically different from the norms of all that is cool in the world. And it’s usually the cool people who get the most ticked off, since you are disturbing their order.”
The call to be different is the narrow way described by Jesus.
If we are truly interested in whether or not we are following in the steps of Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi may have given the best advice on how to know when he said, “Ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are.” Is anyone brave enough to ask?
Third, following in the steps of Jesus costs us everything we’ve got.
In our text, verses 24 and 25 in particular, Peter explains to us a purpose of the Cross: it was so that we might die, and then live. This heals us, he claims. Death, followed by life. Our problem is with the dying part. I wonder if we have ever truly died to ourselves, or, to put it Jesus’s way, given up everything to follow Him.
In Thomas a Kempis’s 15th century masterpiece,
The Imitation of Christ (appropriately titled for tonight’s message by the way), he writes, “Whoever desires to understand and take delight in the words of Christ must strive to conform his whole life to Him.” It seems we need to be reminded of the “whole life” commitment.
In an age where we still divide life into the sacred and secular (where “church” is an adjective to mark the difference – a “church” event versus the rest of life), and when we still talk of a difference between “full-time” Christian service and “part-time” Christian service, we need to be reminded that following Jesus involves every part of our lives. Period. Until everything we do – in word or deed - is done “in the name of Jesus,” then we haven’t died completely, and we cannot be living for righteousness.
Anne Tyler’s wonderful novel,
Saint Maybe, introduces us to Ian and the mess that was his life. Unknown to anyone else, a statement he made in anger led his inebriated brother to suicide. His brother’s suicide led to his sister-in-law’s drug-induced death, leaving an orphaned child to be cared for by Ian’s aging parents. One night he happened upon a church service in a strip mall called, The Church of the Second Chance. During prayer time, out of nowhere, he asked for forgiveness for the mess of his life, and much to his surprise after the service, Reverend Emmett asked him what he needed forgiveness for! Ian decided to share his secret, and after his confession, he asked Reverend Emmett if he thought he had been forgiven. The preacher shockingly replied, “Goodness, no!” An argument ensued between the two on the nature of God, and Reverend Emmett explained his answer by saying that anyone could just say the words, but the question was whether or not he would do anything about it. For starters, would he care for the orphaned child his sins left behind? This changed the complete direction of his life.
Later in the novel, Ian’s parents grew concerned that this church he had stumbled on was some sort of a cult. Ian’s father exclaimed, “Our church never asked us to abandon our entire way of life.” Ian’s response summarizes my message tonight: “Well, maybe it should have.”
Yes, maybe we should have. And maybe we should now. Maybe we should ask everyone claiming to be Christian to take seriously the call to live our lives following in the steps of Jesus. Maybe we should consider abandoning our wealth and privilege and move our lives to those living in the margins of our society. As the early Christians did. As Jesus did. Maybe we have a lot to consider.
My assigned title comes from 1st Peter 2: 21. Eugene Peterson, in
The Message, does his best to offer this verse in our contemporary language. Listen closely: “This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.”
Yes, I’m convinced that we have a major problem on our hands that can no longer be tolerated. We are satisfied admiring, believing in, and worshiping Jesus, but we aren’t called to that. We are called to follow him step by step. I wonder how many of us are truly interested.
Recommended Reading:
* The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
* Pilgrim Heart by Darryl Tippens
* The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
* The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
* Telling the Truth by Frederick Buechner
* The Hauerwas Reader by Stanley Hauerwas
* Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler
* In His Steps by Charles Sheldon
* The Message by Eugene Peterson
* The Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version)
* “What is the Emerging Church?” by Scot McKnight
