God's dream for the world is not the church. At least, I hope this is not the case. History has proven that the church, though there are some exceptions, has a track record of dirtying the water and polluting the pure vision of God's Kingdom. The church often offers a counterfeit gospel.
God's dream for the world is not the Bible. For those of us recovering fundamentalists, we need to repent of "bibliolatry"--worship of the bible (and our interpretation of it) over the God of the Universe and the Christ who embodies this God. We use the Bible as a telescope--by looking in it and through it we are pointed toward the reality of God.
God's dream for the world is not a particular political party. Take a deep breath. God is not Republican or Democrat. To marry one political ideology is to betray power of the gospel and the nature of Jesus' incarnation. To declare Jesus as Lord in the ancient world meant, in effect, you were declaring Caesar not to be Lord.
God's dream for the world is not one particular tribe. The Catholic Church is not the answer. The Protestant Church is not the answer. The fundamentalist churches in denial of being Protestant are not the answers. It is time for us to pool our thinking, theology, and efforts and cease to view each other as the enemy. Fighting battles within the Christian army is a luxury of the 1950's--this simply is not the world we live in.
God's dream for the world is Jesus of Nazareth. And though we struggle to understand him in light of the church, Bible, politics, and religious tribes he is the author of our faith. In him, we understand God as father, our mission in the world, the nature of suffering, and the conviction that God's future is greater than anything we could ever imagine.
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7 comments:
Well said, Josh. It is far easier to hide in the corporate church than it is to individually model the life of Christ at home, at work, school, in our checkbooks, words, and thoughts. How much easier just to belong to the right group!
great one, two punch from Patricks outside the walls to this post. A few years ago I heard Rick Atchley say that the church should be like a group of rhinos (called a "crash"). It is unfortunate that so many have taken the role of gatekeeper in order to control everyone else.
Great post.
I am a bit confused about what exactly you are trying to say when you say that you hope that the church is not what God’s dream for us is? I think I do not understand you correctly, because a blanket statement like that is a total denial of what Christ died for. The “Church” was what Christ preached, and what he lived, died, and lived again to establish. The whole point of the apostleship was to establish the church. As far at the church being divided, separated, and polluted, the Master predicted this as happening with great detail. The gospel evidence is overwhelming to this fact.
I am assuming that I do not understand the heart behind your statement. I was hoping you might explain further! Please? I really want to get it!
I also don’t understand what you said about the bible being a telescope? Do you mean the God is afar, and to see Him we look through the scripture? Still, I think I am missing the heart of what you are trying to say. The bible is Christ. The only way to God is through the ‘Word’! And the Word is God. To me, the bible has always been a microscope, revealing intimate details about God's character and desires.
I’ve been known to be slow on the uptake, so it wouldn’t surprise me that I am missing the true message of what appears to be a denial of the gospel. I value your opinion and blog, and was hoping you could expound.
I would really like to hear your response to p. allan Frederick's comment because I share very similar thoughts on this topic.
Clarifying myself.
Jesus preached the Kingdom of God (see Mk 1:15 for example). His life was the embodiment of what the Kingdom life is supposed to look like. In John, Kingdom is called "eternal life."
Kingdom (reign, rule, the Way)was the message not the church (ecclesia). Go through and read the Gospels and see how many times Jesus ever refers to the church. Now go back and see how many times Jesus refers to the Kingdom of God.
I love the church but the church is not the end it is one means of bringing about the Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven." Hopefully the church's mission is to serve as catalysts for the Kingdom of God but I think it is important to note the distinction between the two in the Gospels.
In Churches of Christ, the Kingdom language has largely been ommitted from our theology because we are so focused on interpreting Paul and the church. Meanwhile the voice of Jesus is muzzled and ignored.
Hope this helps. This is how I see things. I may be wrong.
Right on. Good words and good post.
I *have* seen some abuse of the term "kingdom", though. ie: using 'kingdom' as a euphamism for 'church'. But only in charasmatic circles.
Keep on keepin' on.
I really like the way Josh words Christ's misson. I truly beleive the division of the church is a hinderance[please excuse my spelling] to the genral cause of a christian; which should be the same genral cause of Christ himself.That is the reason I choose to call myself non-denominational. Just like Christ did not preach the church, neither did he preach denomination.
I feel that to many people loose sight of God's true message by beeing conceared with who's doctorine is more accurate. If you ask me, the only doctorine that really matters, is that of Christ alone!
To sum it all up, "who cares what the pitcher is wearing, just keep your eyes on the ball!'
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