Jesus Was Culturally Relevant

Everyone wants everyone else to do church their way. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't have thousands upon thousands of denominations within the Christian church. There are divisions and subgroups within those denominations. Young people wouldn't be running off and planting unbalanced churches because the elders don't disciple or even seem to care about them and old churches wouldn't be dying off because they refuse to change the changeables to relate to the culture. We wouldn't have five churches on one block and still have unchurched, de-churched and hungry people across the street.

Doesn't anyone want to do church Jesus' way? As the Christ, Jesus was able to prune the functions of the church while He was on earth. I think He addressed each group's habits with one of three attitudes.

The first is toward those with a lazy form of religion that I like to call Checkmark Christanity. Because of the religious leaders of the time (which I address in the second category) many followers became adjusted to simply checking the requirements of being a good Jew off of their list. Giving? Check. Attending? Check. Eating correctly? Check. Cleanliness? Check. I see Checkmark Christians everywhere I look. This is why people shop for a church like it's their Friday night movie. Does it look good? Does it have people I'm attracted to in it? Will I feel good when I walk out? Will I get home at a reasonable hour? Will my kids like it? How much is it going to cost me? Are there food and drinks available? It's because they just need to check church off their list and they want it to be comfortable. Checkmark Christians want to pull up to the window to be served their God for the week so they can go back to their busy lives and give up as little of their time and energy as possible. A prime Bilical example is that if the Rich Ruler. In Luke 18 he asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. After establishing that he has a check in all of the boxes, Jesus asks him to make a sacrifice a show people some love. Unfortunately he is sad and unwilling. He was raised as a Checkmark Jew and the transition, or transformation rather into authentic Christian is to much for him.

The second addresses laws that God the Father had set up for good reasons, but leaders had elaborated on them and over prioritized them to a point of making the rules themselves a religion. 'And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."' You can spot these overzealous modern day Pharisees most often doing great things. These people get anxious because in their pride they rely on themselves and their gifts to grow God's kingdom, and they're right! They can't do it! You'll find them frequently looking at attendance in their services and groups because they must "measure success". They have the hardest time relying on the grace of God and trusting for future grace! Pharisees however, are great accountability partners: they never let anyone get away with anything. Another way rules religiosity surfaces is through an unwillingness to separate the changeables from the non-negotiables. Compromise is not and should not be an option in areas that deal with Truth. Unfortunately, like the original pharisees, many of today's church members get stuck on how things are supposed to be done simply because that's the way it's been. Jesus Himself managed to be culturally relevant and we know He didn't distort the Word. Why can't today's leaders imitate that?! This encompasses a good portion of today's leaders and "devout" Christians. Sadly they breed a good number of baby Pharisees and even more Checkmark Christians who've been taught to just keep the overzealous "rules people" happy. When I struggle, I admit it's in this direction. I guess I'm one of those lucky people who had my fair share of influence by Pharisees. My frustration is always directed, however, at other Pharisees.

I think the third group and habit that Jesus addressed was the group who loved God and tried to do religion right but in their humanity still needed some guidance. Jesus' disciples had to grow in many areas: shame, pride, materialism, forgiveness and faith; just to name a few. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

No matter how we approach living out our faith, we'll never "do church" perfectly. But we put ourselves in a good spot when we remain humble and teachable. This way when the Spirit speaks to us, we are free to follow no matter what He asks. As long as we are loving God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, we can be confident that we are following the Law! Do church the way God asks you to. Hold to the Scriptures and then don't worry about anything else!

It Would Be Different If She Didn’t Know Better!

           In April of this year Jennifer Knapp announced that she is a lesbian and has been in a same-sex relationship. She said that it was only a straw on the camels back when it came to taking a sabbatical from music, and that she had many things to consider. Many fans were beginning to wonder where she’d gone. After The Collection release of greatest hits, Jennifer (as I’ll explain later, I’ve always seen myself as connected enough to be on a first name basis with her) seemed to have disappeared. My friends and I used to joke that she was making attempt in the death metal scene. Well, we have our answer. The real one this time!

            As a teenager, I loved Jennifer’s music. Her folk sound was different from anything I’d ever heard in Christian music. Her lyrics were very heartfelt and intimate and I started to read into her testimony.  Jennifer had a rowdy background and when she found God, her life made a 180° turn. “The Bible literally saved my life,” she said. Songs of redemption and sanctuary in the Savior spoke straight to my heart.

            In fact her music inspired me to buckle down and truly learn guitar, not just the online tab kind of “learn”, true musicianship. Playing her songs, harmonizing to her voice and even using her words to worship my Lord, I felt like I knew her. Much like the staff of theMILL at New Life Church in Colorado Springs refers to Eugene Peterson as if they’re all the best of friends, she became simply Jennifer.

            I had some suspicions several years ago. Then recently when I played one of her songs at Friday Night Live and a listener mentioned a rumor about her coming out publicly as a lesbian. I found a USA Today report that confirmed it. “I’m certainly in a same-sex relationship,” she said. I was heartbroken. I had this little feeling in my heart; like when there’s a break-up or fight between friends that leads someone to tear a picture in half. A bond is severed. I didn’t even know her!

But for some reason I was deeply saddened. My brother frequently uses marijuana for “pain relief”. I know this is a completely separate issue but bear with me just as an example: As a Christian, I feel there are Biblical grounds for deciding marijuana is wrong. When he got a medical marijuana license, I was saddened for several reasons. For one, since he knows I think it’s wrong there is automatically weirdness. I think he knows that I love him and want him around, but I think he still feels like he’s judged and that it’s awkward. Second, someone I love is doing something that would put a huge distance between he and God. In fact, I have often wondered if he ever knew the God of the Bible at all.

Although I have absolutely no relationship with Jennifer, I felt much of the same regret for her! I wished I could sit down and buy her coffee like I did with my brother. I wanted to know her reasoning and her heart behind this matter. I didn’t need the conversation to result in her changing her mind. I just wanted to have a heart-to-heart girl talk.

For someone whose life was supposedly so changed by Scripture, she sure seems to avoid the Truth! She refers to verses that we (“the conservative evangelical") would quote as “clobber verses”. She maintains that as Christians we break other rules the Old Testament talks about such as eating shellfish or wearing a multitude of colors, so basically we have no right to address homosexuality. Although she admits that she isn’t capable of a theological argument, she does throw jabs at those who hold to what the scripture says. She excuses herself; “There's a spirit that overrides that for me.”

Well that’s just fine and dandy. She has a feeling that makes it ok. She thinks it’s right so she gets to ignore what God’s word says. Since it seems like she wants to attack our supposed legalism as if we’re Pharisees I’d like to bring this to light:

           

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

                                                                                    -Romans 1:24-27 ESV

            This is a New Testament letter to the city of Rome where homosexuality was prevalent. This seems to make it black and white for me. It’s wrong, it’s shameful and those who know and disobey God’s Word will be punished. In fact, not only those who know God’s word “deserve to die” but also those who approve of their disobedience. I just hope that impressionable young Christians don’t get caught up in her “spirit” that she seems to think excuses her from obedience.