mbjones

Coming back from lunch, my co-workers and I had an odd encounter. There was a man in sweats with a dog passing out flyers. Curious, I took one. It turns out that this man was a Christian of the far right fringe; his brochure claims that the end of the world is near, giving its date as May 21, 2011.

Folks and encounters like these both amuse and disturb me. It amuses me that they would make such brazen claims (against the clear teaching of scripture); it disturbs me because this is all that many hear or know of Christianity. For those with this or similar beliefs, I think it’s important to keep in mind a few scriptures (these are important — not just words of wisdom from Brandon).

1. Matthew 24:36 — “But as for that day and hour no one knows it –- not even the angels in heaven -– except the Father alone.”“ It’s parallel in Mark specifically says not even the Son — Jesus — knows. So…we have here a group claiming knowledge that Jesus didn’t even have while on earth and that it specifically says no one has. We are commanded to always be alert but there is never an expectation that we could possibly know, in fact alertness comes because it’s not something we will ever know. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 confirms this as well in Paul, specifically saying that the Day of the Lord’s return is like a thief in the night — at a time we never know.

2. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 — “But examine all things; hold fast to what is good.” Knowing the above (the exact day isn’t something we will ever know) makes examining this and any sort of prophecy extremely important. It is a scriptural mandate after all. 1 Corinthians 14:29 tells us that we should examine all prophecy given as well. Just because someone claims a prophecy (or some sort of secret knowledge) doesn’t mean we are to buy into it hook, line and sinker; we have a responsibility to be responsible with whatever was given.

3. Acts 17:11 — “…they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so.” Our number one way to examine any prophecy, word, etc must be against scripture. If the two do not line up scripture always trumps. The Bereans where known for testing all things against scripture and we’d be wise to as well. If we did, we’d know that claims like this are baseless as they go against the clear words of Jesus.

4. Deut 18:22 — “…whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.” It’s telling to look at groups that have made prophecies like this in the past. Remember the Y2K scare perhaps? There have been others too, and it’s groups like this one making the claim. Now this “word” won’t be proven true or false until May 22, 2011 but looking at past fruit I imagine would be telling.

Like I said, claims like the above disturb me. It turns people further away from Jesus. It distorts the Bible and the clear teaching of Jesus. It produces fear and madness — not the fruits of the Spirit — in peoples hearts.

I have more to say as well, but will hold off for the moment.

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

As I previously mentioned, I spent 7 days in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. Vegas, suffice it to say, is not my favorite place to be in this world (particularly where I was: the strip). Everywhere is a casino and it seems that the big seven sins are glorified (particularly greed, lust, envy and pride). Everywhere you go in fact, it seems that they are thrown in your face. It was quite meaningful then to read and meditate on the above verses.

You see Las Vegas (both physically and metaphorically) is the “city on a hill” that the world presents. It epitomizes everything the world holds dear and glorifies everything Christ doesn’t. Physically it’s a wonder to behold. The strip is lit as bright as day at night due to all the lights (as evidenced in the picture). The Luxor Hotel shoots an incredibly bright spotlight up to the heavens even (visible in the center of the picture). Metaphorically, we need look no further than its bold proclamation “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!” It appeals to all of our base and dark emotions as humans: the greed to get more and more from the casino machine, the lust to do what we want — see what we want — however we want, and the pride to know that its all OK here, to name just a few things.

It was both encouraging and emboldening then to read this passage (in the light of the surrounding Sermon on the Mount) and to know that this isn’t at all what the city of God is. To know that it shines brighter than anything the world can throw at it is so encouraging. Regardless of how bright the strip of Vegas seems to be in the darkest night — it’s all artificial and is nothing compared to God’s kingdom. And it’s incredibly emboldening to know that we can (and are) to walk in this light, shining before everyone that we meet regardless of where we are.

And so — this simple truth, that my life shines before people in contrast to the artificial light that the world produces, became my prayer throughout my days in Vegas. I don’t pretend perfection but I was able to have several encouraging encounters with folks. I would commend any one reading to contend as well for a life that shines brightly and in contrast to the light the world produces.

Written after one of my trips to Las Vegas

Remember back when you were a child? When everything seemed so simple? Rainbows had pots of gold at their end and the blue sky was blue because that’s how God painted it? Life seemed simple then. Anything seemed plausible and it took little faith to believe it. We could ask our dads a technical question and upon getting an absurd response — run with it.

I heard one child say, “Whenever I see sunlight streaming through the clouds, I think it means that God is speaking to someone.” This stopped me short. My immediate response is, “No — it just has to do with the sun hitting the particles in the clouds and refracting.” But then I stop and wonder. Why can’t it mean more?

Imagine being outside on a mild day. It’s partly cloudy and the sun is shining in the better half of the sky. A cloud moves in front. It’s a kodak moment to be sure. I’ve always liked looking at imagery from nature and relating it to faith. God has created it all and reveals Himself through all. If we ever seize to praise Him — the inanimate rocks will pick up the slack.

I picture in my mind many different images of God. Not only is He holy and supreme but He is also my (heavenly) Father. The clouds move past the sun — they shield us from the blinding radiance of the One who created all. And He speaks to us!

There is no question about it — God is supremely holy. He is perfect. Before coming to knowledge of Him my sins made me pitch black and a doomed vessel before Him. Even now, having been saved by His grace, washed clean by His blood my flesh still could not withstand His full glory. When Jesus took Peter, James and John onto the mountain, God enveloped himself in a cloud. Just as a taste is enough to change my life forever, the full glory of God would burn me to the core.

But then He talks! Streams of sunlight coming through the clouds — the voice (and glory) of God to His people. It’s not so unreasonable to think as such. God spoke to the disciples and His son on that mountainside and He speaks to us today if we choose and want to listen.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the things of this world. It’s so easy to get caught up in the technicalities, the sciences and the reasonings. It’s nice to step back and have the trusting faith of a child that God really does talk to His people. I know that the next time I see streams of sunlight filtering through the clouds the question on my heart will be, “What is God trying to say?”

This is one of the first pieces I wrote for the internet at least 6 years ago...

Julian the Apostate was the Roman emperor from 361 to 363. He’s called the Apostate because he converted from Christianity to theurgy and is considered the last Pagan emperor (he revived paganism in Rome as a counter to the thriving Christianity).

He was the author of many letters. In particular interest to me, he comments on the popularity of Christianity:

“These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their agapae, they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes.”

“Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity, and by a display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. See their love-feasts, and their tables spread for the indigent. Such practice is common among them, and causes a contempt for our gods.”

Variation from here. Originally heard in the sermon Jesus and Politics by Tim Keller

• For the interested, agapae = unconditional love.

It’s interesting to think that agapae towards the poor, both “ours” and “theirs”, was one of the primary identified catalysts behind Christian adoption (it’s no wonder there are over 2000 Biblical passages dealing with those on the margins of society). One can only hope we continue to re-discover that catalyst—over the past few months especially I’ve found it to be at the heart of missional living.

Yes. This was another old post.

This describes one of the more life changing events in my life. It happened 3 summers ago in Mozambique. I thought it pertinent for this site as my wife and I prepare to embark full time to Africa.

Every week without fail, Luis makes two trips: one to the Maputo jail and one to an AIDs hospital. While staying at the orphanage, we had the opportunity to join him in these missions. Today I’ll turn your attentions to our time at the AIDs hospital. Looking back, it was one of the more impacting times for myself (and I think that I’m not the only one of the eleven of us who would say that).

About the Hospital

The hospital was actually in the town we were staying in, Matola. It is divided into gendered floors, the bottom couple being for the newer patients and the upper couple for the highly contagious terminal patients. We rode a chappa to the hospital and upon exiting were met with an interesting site. The building itself looks kind of like any other bland government building – honestly there is not much to set it apart. It is surrounded by a fence with a gate but security wasn’t an issue. I expected to have to go through something in order to get in, but we just walked right on through the gate (I don’t think the security booth was even being manned by anyone at the time). Upon entering the hospital we were met with drab, dark halls on the bottom floor. It was rather depressing – in comparison our hospitals look like amazingly bright and cheery places. I remember the colors as gray scale and just blah. The second and third floors weren’t much better although numerous windows made for a much brighter atmosphere. On these patient floors, the stairs emptied into a kind of common room that had tables and chairs setup (it was here we talked to and prayed with the patients). On either side of the common rooms were the halls with patient rooms.

About the Patients

All of the patients here had AIDs. Most had other, secondary diseases as well, the most common being tuberculosis. Generally speaking, its not AIDs that kills people – its the opportunistic secondary diseases that their bodies can’t take care because of immunodeficiency. The onset of these diseases is generally what takes people to these hospitals to spend their final days. The patients on the two floors we couldn’t go onto where in their final stage of life. The highly contagious form of tuberculosis is mostly what we heard they had. The plan in future years is to bring HEPA masks and robes so that we can go onto these floors but lack of appropriate safety equipment kept us from talking with these patients this time.

The patients on the two floors we could go onto where dieing as well, some from diseases other than tuberculosis, I would guess. Many of them looked too weak to even be up and moving around, but come out they did. I remember praying for one woman, my hand on her shoulder as we generally did, and quickly moving my hand off in fear that I would break her. It felt like i was touching bone (and that’s all most of these individuals were – skin and bones).

Sharing and Praying

All eleven of us did not descend on the hospital at once; rather, five went the first week and six the next. I went in the first group. We had originally thought that we would just be going around to rooms, chatting briefly and then praying with the occupants. The common room was a surprise to us (as was Luis telling us that someone needed to stand up and share). I decided that I would take the opportunity to do that on the guys floor and felt led to share briefly and broadly about what I was reading in Isaiah and how their lives were important to us and more importantly, were important to Jesus. We then paired up and prayed for everyone of them. We next went up to the girls floor and did the same. As the “have something to share” thing to our group slightly by surprise, none of the ladies with us had anything in particularly to share so I once again took the lead. Rather than talk about the same thing I did on the guys floor, I decided that it’d be much more worthwhile to talk about Hosea. Don’t ask me why – it was a last minute change as when I stood up the Isaiah bit was still on my mind – but Hosea it was and it seemed to go alright. And after the sharing we followed the same routine, praying for everyone individually.

The Aftermath of the Visit

There were several important aspects of this visit. If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it right now – this was one of the most important things we did in my mind. At least, it was one of the most impacting things we did to me. For one thing it was one of the more emotional things we did. I’m generally not an emotional dude but it was impossible not to tear up, standing in front of these hopeless, dieing people and not tear up. Their environment just felt wrong and depressing. They really had no hope to ever leave that hospital. They knew there days were numbered and that there was pretty much nothing that they could do about it. And what where we to do? How where we to pray knowing that it would take one crazy miracle of God to ever get them free of that hospital? It’s important to be able to look deep inside of the dark and hopeless places and know that the light of God can penetrate even there and that’s what we were there to do, and what Luis is there to do week after week. It’d be easy to find places like this here in the states but we shelter ourselves off from it for no good reason. That’s definitely one thought I took away.

Other things I took away were much more trivial (or at least they feel trivial compared to the above). One – God will give you the words if you trust. Two – I want to be given the words more, I need to put myself in that kind of situation more, however you want to word that. Three – One of the oddest sites I have ever seen occurred on the ride to the hospital (because it happened on the way there, and with everything else going on, it’s automatically lumped with the hospital experience in my brain even though it doesn’t necessarily deal directly with it). As we were driving past a poor village, one much like the one I’ve posted pictures of with dirty roads and small poorly built houses that lack what we consider basic needs (running water, etc), I never expected to see a brand new, blazingly clean and white, four door Mercedes sedan pull out from its dirty streets. The contrast of rich and poor was never clearer (or more inappropriate, or so it felt). That will be a fuller conversation for another post yet it is tied intimately to the whole hospital experience, which is why I mention it here.

I would post pictures but I don’t have any of the hospital. It is illegal in Mozambique to take pictures of government building, monuments and officials and not knowing if the hospital falled into one of those categories I decided against whipping my camera out. Better a post without pictures than time in a Mozambiquan jail I think. The lack of color in this post is more fitting anyways to the environment of the hospital I think.

This is something I wrote many moons ago…again — edited for spelling/grammar and not much else.

Some time ago I defined missional as:

Being bent on making Jesus the number one priority and because of this seeing his/herself as sent on mission for Jesus.

Now, from that simple definition its obvious that Jesus is to be at the heart of missional living but worked out, what does this look like?

God’s Story In History

At a fundamental level, a missional heart looks towards God’s working in history. There are several broad motifs that can be used to describe God’s work: creation, fall, redemption and restoration. Creation of course refers to the formation of this universe and everything in it ex nihlio. Ex nihlio means “from nothing” and is important because it really is solely God that is the catalyst for all. John 1 says that all things were created through Jesus and that His life is our light (which parallels the creation event in Genesis). This is also important because right from the beginning man was created to enter into God’s story. Unfortunately though things weren’t just happy with no end. In spite of things being perfect originally, sin entered into the world — the fall happened. Man disobeyed God and unleashed a destructive force into the world that is tearing it to bits. Luckily, though, this isn’t the end either. In order to restore man and creation to Himself, God became flesh, moved into our neighborhood and died at our hands — the perfect sacrifice through which we have redemption. It seems like this is the end of the story for a lot of individuals and groups. God, though, wants to see all of creation restored unto Himself; according to His word — in the end it will be. In the meantime we are charged with taking the redemption He has granted us everywhere we go, seeking the restoration of all. We are to aid the restoration of broken places until His parousia (the return of Jesus).

This isn’t a pattern that just comes with Christ though — it is evident in the earliest pages of the Bible. When God called Abram (Gen. 12) and he followed, God ended His conversation with Abram letting him know that all peoples on the earth would be blessed through Him. Even before the redemption of Christ is understood, God’s heart to see His creation redeemed to Himself and restored is clearly visible.

Sodom and Gomorrah

To illustrate this more vividly, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah makes for interesting reading. We all know the story, right? These are wicked cities where no man cares for righteousness. Truth be told, “evil sexual deeds” are what they are most known for (and really, nothing else). Abraham pleads with God to stay judgement, dependent on righteous men being found within the city. Of course none are and the cities are destroyed (along with Lot’s wife who looked back upon it).

Nine times out of ten when you hear people talk about Sodom today it’s in regards to homosexuality and other such sexual deviancy (at least in my experience). While it’s true that this was a periphery issue which led to its destruction, sexual deviance was merely symptomatic of a much, much worse underlying problem (one we’d do good to make note of in our society). To flesh it out I’m heading to the prophets to see what they have to say about the nation of Israel in relation to Sodom.

49 “This was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were proud, had abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and committed abominable crimes before me. So, when I saw it, I removed them. 51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. You have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominable things you have done. 52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:49-52

This tells us several interesting things about the state of Sodom prior to its destruction as well as what directly leads to its destruction. Pre-destruction, Sodom was a nation incredibly blessed — they had an abundance of food and enjoyed “carefree ease” which tells me they really didn’t have a concern in the world (and sounds a bit like other nations I know of) — it seems people had everything they needed. God’s blessing though terminated on themselves (one way to think of this — no restoration occurred) and unfortunately this seemed to lead them down the path of pride which led directly to the unrighteousness that gets them destroyed. I find it interesting that the first piece of the unrighteousness puzzle is that they didn’t help the poor and needy among them. If we are to take the prophet seriously — this is one of the first warning signs of this deeper heart issue: pride. As we fill ourselves with pride our focus is drawn more and more inward until there is no concern for anything else. This resultant focus inward also ultimately leads to the “abominable crimes” before God as we only become concerned for our own personal desires/needs/wants.

There is one major point to take from these verses in regards to walking in God’s story in history and it is really quite simple: God’s blessing shouldn’t ever end with you. Everything you have and everything you are shouldn’t just flow inward — it should naturally be flowing out. You can’t/won’t do this if you have a proud and haughty heart towards God and those around you so don’t let that happen. At a very base level, we must check ourselves against pride. If we take these verses seriously this means asking (a) am I doing what I can to support the poor and needy of my neighborhood (either spiritually poor and needy or physically poor and needy)? and (b) am I performing any “abominable crimes” before God?

Ezekiel isn’t the only prophet that speaks of Sodom. Isaiah in numerous places echoes the words of Ezekiel and expounds upon them. Starting in chapter 1 at verse 10 Isaiah calls Israel Sodom and Gomorrah and continues to get seriously in their face. According the Isaiah, the Lord basically says he’s tired of their sacrifices and that He doesn’t want them. He says that He can’t tolerate their festivals and sabbaths and assemblies. God says He looks the other way when they pray. All of this would be pretty incredulous for the Israelites to hear as God had instituted it all and expected it of them. The fact remains though that they were doing all this while tainted with impure blood. Outward they had all the workings of redemption but inward they were vile, sinful beings. God’s blessing was extending no further than themselves. What does God call them to?

16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning! 17 Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

Isaiah 1:16-17

First and foremost — repentance from all the sinning. Secondly though they are to take the restoration they know with them and develop some since of a social conscience. In other words, their redemption doesn’t terminate with themselves; instead, they should turn it into restoration for others.

This though certainly isn’t the only place this theme can be found. Isaiah 58 is another great passage that speaks directly to this. It starts just as the Isaiah 1 passage calling into question the outward religious actions (this time chiefly fasting) when inner hearts are as black as night.

3 They lament, ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress your workers.

Isaiah 58:3

Just as before the problem is that everything is turned inward — it’s their own selfish desires that they are fulfilling. God’s blessing is ending solely with them. But what does God want?

6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke. 7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! 8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise; your restoration will quickly arrive; your godly behavior will go before you, and the LORD’s splendor will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call out, and the LORD will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’ You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully. 10 You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light will dispel the darkness, and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.

Isaiah 58:6-10

It’s the same theme repeated: restoration to those that need it. We even get echoes of the Great Commandment part 2 here: love your neighbor as yourself because they are your own flesh and blood. They are no different than you are.

Concluding Thoughts

To kick this discussion off I wrote that a missional heart is one joined with God’s working in history and it really is. The drive towards missional living comes from this understanding that we are a part of God’s story and that redemption doesn’t end with us — there is a clear drive towards seeing restoration around us. In the passages I used from the Old Testament this looks likes working towards getting ourselves straightened out (rooting the sin out of our lives) and then taking care of the poor and needy and sick and orphaned and widowed — essentially all of those on the margins of society. It’s important to note here though that this isn’t something we have to do (as if our own redemption is dependent on it). Rather it is something we should be driven to as it lies at the very heart of who we are now as redeemed beings. If we aren’t taking the redemption we’ve been given to those around us (seeking the restoration of all to God) we have some pretty serious questions we need to be asking ourselves.

As an aside, this developing heart I see in those around me is exciting. It excites me to see those in my community and like-minded communities join together to see actual change in the surrounding areas. It’s exciting to see money going straight to missional work and bringing Jesus to those that don’t know Him rather than padding ourselves with multi-million dollar buildings and technology systems that in the end don’t really matter all that much. It’s exciting to see the focus taken off of ourselves and placed where it should be: the cross of Christ which can then filter it to others. The cross is like a prism — focusing on it doesn’t render a reflection of ourselves, rather it refracts it to wherever is necessary. And I’ll end with that at the moment knowing full well that this topic of “missional” isn’t one that will be decided in just a couple of posts. Look for more coming in the future.

This was originally published several years ago. I did go through and make slight edits for grammar, etc.

A while ago, I had the opportunity to talk about Communion in house church. With the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter, it seemed fitting to do a communion service. As to what I said, I figured I’d write the general gist for those of you who might be curious or who missed out on the fun of that evening. The talk started with a discussion about what communion is. Depending on your background, you might have heard it labeled “the Lord’s Supper” or the Eucharist and as a practice it stems from Jesus’ last supper with His disciples before His crucifixion. Confirmed by the Gospels, this supper was the passover meal which proves to be interesting because Jesus takes specific elements from the Jewish feast and applies them directly to Himself. In truth, there is a lot more of the passover meal that points to Jesus then just this one part (but we are going to limit our discussion for the time being). The first passage from the Bible we are going to look at is Matthew 26:26-30:

26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” 26:27 And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, 26:28 for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 26:29 I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 26:30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Essentially, as you can see from the aforementioned passage, communion involves the giving of thanks to God for bread and wine, recognizing what those elements mean in the context of Christ and then sharing them together around the dinner table. We could pull more from these verses but I really want to take a look at both the why we do it and the how we do it which is fleshed out elsewhere in the New Testament. As such, we’ll now turn to 1 Corinthians starting in chapter 10 and continuing into 11. In these chapters, Paul is addressing specific concerns regarding the sharing of the bread and cup among the Corinthian church. To start things off here we are going to look at why we do it. In chapter 10, vs 16-17:

10:16 Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 10:17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread.

Two primary reasons for communion are found here: it is a direct sharing in the body and the blood of Christ and in this sharing we are united with Him as one. As for the first, it’s an opportunity to set aside a moment and remember Christ’s life, what He did and how and why He died. Partaking the elements of who He was (His body and blood) directly links us up with Him and allows us in some fashion to share in His life, death and resurrection as we reflect on it. Whereas the first reason applied more individually, the second applies corporately. To flesh it out, the model prayer for giving thanks for the bread sums things up better than I could:

As this broken bread was scattered upon the hills and gathered together and became one loaf, so may Your Church be brought together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom. (from the Didache)

I love this prayer because it so succinctly paints the picture: a loaf of bread is formed by the coming together of scattered grains from all over the countryside; likewise the church is formed by those of us partaking of the body of Christ and coming together to form a united “loaf” in the coming kingdom.

There is a third “why” to communion as well: it is an opportunity to hope for his return. In the passage from Matthew discussed earlier, Jesus says that He will not share this cup with us directly again until He returns (v29). And so, as we partake and remember and enter into what He has done, and are united, we also long for that time where once again Jesus sits and sups with His bride.

The final bit I talked about this evening is the “how” we do it. As far as “how” is concerned I’m talking about the state of our hearts more than anything else. And I’m not just talking about our individual hearts, but our heart as a community as well. To the individual response we turn first. When considering it, we need to keep in mind a couple of things the first being that we can’t share at the table of both Christ and demons. Sharing in the body of Christ is publicly picking who we choose to serve. It’s confessing “Jesus is Lord!” above all others. 1 Cor 10:21-22 says:

10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 10:22 Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we really stronger than he is?

Paul is referring here to the partaking of sacrificial meat of false gods. In our time, because we don’t do the sacrifices, it’s more of a recognition of Jesus alone. Not Muhammad, Buddha, Shiva or any other name a person might proclaim. This also singles out any idols that might be vie-ing for our hearts attention (such as individualism, consumerism, materialism, political freedom, etc). It must be Jesus only. And I harp on the “Jesus alone” because it’s quite important. Even acknowledging other idols or gods is a direct provocation of God’s jealousy. If you look at the scope of Israeli history, provoking God’s jealousy isn’t something to be done lightly or without consequence. The language of the prophets is harsh in dealing with Israel in the eyes of a Jealous God (exile, enslavement, genocide all come to mind when thinking back to the stories in the prophets).

There is another important bit to keep in mind as far as our individual hearts are concerned, and that is what they actually look like. Coming to the table of Christ with a heart darkened by sin, shame and any other sort of evil is strongly discouraged by Paul for a pretty straightforward reason: we eat and drink judgement upon ourself by showing ourselves guilty of the body and blood of Christ. That sounds harsh, I realize but look at 1 Corinthians 10:27-32:

11:27 For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 11:28 A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. 11:29 For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself. 11:30 That is why many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead. 11:31 But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged. 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world.

As I sat and meditated on this, the only conclusion I could come to is that a broken heart is the state required. This should be the result of careful examination. We all have sin, shame and evil inside that we need to be giving completely over to him, letting His blood wash us clean. This is what purifies us, making us righteous and worthy to approach the table of Christ. At this time of communion especially, if we are unwilling to recognize and do this and give it all over to God, Paul says in a fairly commanding voice “It’s on your hands!” Rather than being a worshipper at Jesus’ feet, we are like the soldier throwing the spear into His side on the cross.

That pretty well covers the state of our individual hearts. Next we need to look at our corporate heart (as the body of Christ). We need to keep in mind that Communion is something that we do together. It’s not something that I just do on my own because I can, but it’s an intentional coming together of the body in remembrance of Christ. As I’ve already shown, one of the reasons we even do communion is for the unification of the body. With this in mind, it’s important to remember that communion isn’t something that we can do with division in our midst. Paul addresses this specifically in chapter 11:

11:17 Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 11:18 For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 11:19 For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident. 11:20 Now when you come together at the same place, you are not really eating the Lord’s Supper. 11:21 For when it is time to eat, everyone proceeds with his own supper. One is hungry and another becomes drunk. 11:22 Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

This was a big issue to the Corinthians. Within that body there existed the problem of class warfare. The well-to-do were completely gorging themselves on the meal while the less fortunate in their midst where left with the scraps. The best metaphor I can think of at the moment is that of a potluck, but a potluck where you only get to eat according to what you bring. If all you can afford is a small side, that’s all you’re going to be able to take part of. If you can’t afford to bring anything, well, then you’re pretty much out of luck. Paul makes it pretty clear that any division like this isn’t of Christ at all. We need to be united and share in this together. I realize the example given here concerns classes (and isn’t something that necessarily affects our body) but it covers any sort of division, whether it be hardness in my heart towards a group of people, an unwillingness of some of us to accept leadership, the formation of cliches that lock people out or deciding to eat together but then going our own ways (like at solemn assembly). I’m not saying that any of this exists but we do need to be mindful of division however it might exist as we come as one to the table of Christ.

And with that we have a brief glimpse into what communion is, why we do it, and what our hearts need to look like as we approach the table of Christ.

This is a great article on one form of modern idolatry and it doesn’t come from an expected source. The director of CORE (the Center for Origins Research) at Bryan College writes how, in defense of creationism (and other apologetic type activity) we fall prey to idolatry:

I greatly fear that our faith in Christ has been replaced with an idolatry of apologetics. I fear we’ve stopped believing in Christ and started believing in arguments about Christ (or the Bible or creation or what have you). I fear we’ve bowed to the world’s demand that we believe only that which is rational. We’re certainly no longer content with merely saying “I don’t know.” We have to have answers, and endless (and often pointless) argument has become our substitute for simply telling unbelievers what Christ has done for us.

And the further danger of this:

While we thought we were teaching them to believe in Christ, we instead taught them to idolize our arguments about Christ. And when those arguments are shown to be incomplete, inadequate, or just wrong, that idolatry (which we thought was real faith) slips away. That’s why I want my students to know the truth about evolution. It’s not bogus. It’s not a failure. There’s lots of evidence in its favor. But that just doesn’t make it true. Have faith in the risen Christ, and it will not matter what scientists tell you (or anyone else, for that matter).

This is a good article and starts a necessary discussion of how we find ourselves trapped believing in idols rooted in our modernistic drive for reason. I have a lot of respect for this creation scientist and what he is doing.

Africa needs discipleship, and not just church planters, and definitely not just mission workers unwilling to truly invest in people. Churches are abundant, even in the poor areas, but so often they are syncretic messes (and often they are sponsored by denominations and congregations from outside of the continent so there is limited local oversite). Syncretism is the blending of traditions in such a way that pieces of each are retained and active. This can be very problematic for followers of Jesus as part of what He calls us to is a repentance (an active turning away from) from the track of the world (particularly idols and other ‘gods’ existing in our lives).

We saw this play out in our time in Cape Town this past may in that many of the folks that we met that said they knew Jesus went to churches where ancestor worship played a large part of the religion. It was Jesus and…this. It’s in the this where things get problematic because people make for themselves, often unwittingly because discipleship is non-existent, idols that open them to dark spiritual forces.

Many of you may not be aware of ancestor worship and its problems. Ancestor worship says that when we die, we still have a spiritual presence in the material word and can act upon it through our living descendants. People believe that their ancestors come to them as spirits and that they have to do anything that their ancestors say. It’s always the destructive path that the ancestors lead people on: drinking, drugs, promiscuous sex and the like are common things that people say their ancestors affect. People commonly seek both protection and aid in dealing with these spirits through witchdoctors, who are actually allowed to play a fairly prominent role in syncretic churches.

Syncretic churches aren’t the only reason Africa needs discipleship though. I mentioned previously that many African churches have some connection to outside churches and denominations but oversite is limited and we’ve tended to export our bad along with our good. One “bad” that we’ve exported is our western consumerist attitude that says not only that church is just another decision we make but the church we choose is dependent on what’s best out there (it’s fairly common within the western church to be based on ideas of “attraction” or what we can best do to attract people into our church).

One particularly bad case of this gone awry is seen in Nigeria (and many other places in Africa) where churches are quick to label children as witches in order to attract people in with their supposed power. According to the linked article, over the past decade in two of the Nigerian states 15,000 children were accused of witchcraft (1000 of them were brutally murdered and countless other brutally tortured). If it wasn’t bad enough that these supposed pastors use such false accusations to garner attention, they also often charge an arm and a leg to perform supposed exorcisms (often $60/session to people who make no more than $2/day). And what’s worse it’s often the orphan that’s targeted.

As I started by saying, Africa needs discipleship. This is why we are moving our family half way across the world. More than planting churches we seek to truly disciple leaders, training them to do the same, not in the ways of western churchianity or old African traditions but in Jesus who transcends all of these. He has a plan for this continent and these people; when they truly grab ahold of Him and Him alone, old ways will pass away, lives will be transformed and a whole continent will be closer to the kingdom of God.

One Day's Wages is a new organization seeking to eliminate extreme global poverty but having people donate just one day's worth of wages. Neat idea and vision. I look forward to seeing how they grow.