Jesus was Just Lucky

Tonight Show host Johnny Carson used to keep an old embroidered cushion on the sofa in his office. It bore the slogan: "Timing is everything." Timing is important to comedy. It’s also necessary for miracles. Just consider this:

Acts 2 is famous for its narration of the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit. No doubt, it's fascinating to imagine those tongues of fire appearing as Galilean disciples suddenly speak in languages they’ve never learned. It’s exciting to envision Peter preaching to listeners from places like Parthia, Pamphylia, Egypt and Rome and seeing 3,000 converted. But have you ever wondered why all those mobs of listeners were visiting Jerusalem in the first place?

For nearly two thousand years, since the days of Moses, the Israelites had observed several feasts and festivals established at Mount Sinai by God Almighty. Without really understanding it, each year when people of faith took part in those ancient rituals, they were not simply looking to the past, but to the future. They were participating in events which would ultimately be fulfilled by the arrival of the long promised Messiah.

So Passover packed the streets of Jerusalem with men and women deeply familiar with the Old Testament. And during the final year of Christ’s ministry, all those crowds arrived to see Isaiah 53 fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ. They saw with their own eyes the actual Passover Lamb slain for the sins of the world. And they would depart recounting astonishing events they had witnessed.

Just a few weeks later came the Festival of First Fruits. It had been observed for some 1800 years as a celebration of the harvest provided by God. And so it was that in the year that Christ was crucified, First Fruits would bring another crowd of curious Jews to Jerusalem just in time to experience the baptism of the Spirit. Among other things, they saw people from all over the world curiously and gloriously changed- the first fruits of the Spirit. And they departed telling everyone they met.

For centuries the Jews had observed these events without truly grasping the true significance. But suddenly in God’s timing, Passover and then First Fruits brought multitudes to Jerusalem just in time to be... to be witnesses!

And as they departed, they traveled broad, safe roads built by the Romans a century earlier. Before the rise of Rome, travel was brutally painful and extremely unsafe. But the network of well made Roman highways policed by armed troops, ensured that travelers had a much better chance of reaching their destination.

And as they traveled those Roman roads, the Jews were able to speak with everyone they met because of the shared Greek language. Three hundreds year before Christ, Alexander the Great had conquered most of the known world, spreading the Greek language as the vocabulary of business and education. Before Alexander, people across borders could scarcely speak to one another.

"Timing is everything." And so it was that God used ancient Jewish festivals, arrogant Romans, and pagan Greeks to build an elevated stage on which Jesus Christ would preach his Gospel. Before Paul ever considered his first missionary journey, Christians were already beginning to turn up in strange, distant locations. And so the soil was already broken when Paul arrived to plant the Gospel. No wonder critics sometimes complain, “Of course Christianity succeeded where previous religions failed. Jesus was lucky enough to arrive at precisely the right moment."

But as someone has wisely noted, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” God's detailed, advance preparation over a period of two thousand years gave His Church all the advantages. So let’s not be slackers and waste the chance to reach our generation.

"What Does He See in Her?"

A friend called my attention to an opinion piece in which the writer explains why certain high profile Christian executives are not involved in local churches. Apparently, it’s too difficult to get things done in local churches. There are too many people with whom one must deal. So some famous CEO’s involve themselves exclusively as board members of para-church agencies.

In other words: Yes, we all know that the Church is the bride of Christ, but really...! What does He see in her?

In an era when many “church people” are prepared to commit only an hour a week to "church life," being serious about the local church requires way too much time and energy. There are weeknight functions that beg for involvement. There are sick and discouraged people who are so... well, so needy! And the church leaders are always demanding more: “Why not try a small group Bible Study?” And when you finally do accept a committee slot and it's time to make a decision, you can't just issue a decree or sign an executive order. You must spend extra time bringing the whole community along!

Who has the energy for all those troublesome people? And who has time for one more church-related event? The First Century church wasn’t like this, was it?

Actually, it was. There were snarky widows to be fed and utterly unschooled Gentile believers to be mentored. There were people who made promises they couldn’t keep, and church members who got caught up in sexual immorality. There were irritating people who had to be warned to get along. And worst of all, most believers got together in homes just about every night to break bread and share in God's Word. (When did they ever find time to go to the mall or catch a movie, anyway?)

Take a few minutes and read Acts or one of Paul’s letters to the churches. Read with fresh eyes and you’ll made a shocking discovery: we don’t need more efficient churches. We need more credible disciples.

Paul knew what it meant to be a powerful succesful leader, but he always made time for unsophisticated local churches. In fact, in Ephesians 4, Paul emphasizes that we will never, ever find unity or maturity until we experience the wonder of building up the church. Our spiritual gifts are not about vanity and self-actualization. They are specifically for strengthening the local church. Needess to say, that takes faith. It also takes time, energy and tons of patient love.

The Church is God's designated instrument for reaching and discipling the entire world. If we seem to be failing at that task in these United States, our reluctance to embrace the bride of Christ might explain a lot. More next week....

Goodbye, World!

When I was growing up, culture was something only a few intellectuals cared about. When somebody used the word, he was generally speaking of the opera or classical music. Being interested in cultural events required a certain degree of study or cultivation.

Today, the definition of culture has exploded to include motion pictures, rock music, reality TV shows, professional sports, styles of clothing and hair, and the internet! What's more, "culture" includes the most popular ideas of all those Hollywood and NYC celebrities- hooking up, getting down, shopping endlessly, catching flicks. And there are so many portals- televisions, radios, Ipods, theaters, magazines, billboards, shopping malls, etc., etc.-that our popular culture is an inescapable force in the lives of most Americans. You don't have to go to the theater and buy a ticket to be aware of the offensive ideas in a popular motion picture. Everybody discusses the controversy whether they've seen the movie or not. The ideas of the culture get into the atmosphere!

Sometimes we Christians don't how to respond to the cultural tide that is is sweeping over us. We don't like the anti-Christian rants. We are troubled by the sexual license. But frankly, we like a lot of the movies, music, television shows, fashions and electronics. We assume the culture is basically neutral and we must be discerning, so we wade through the sexual antics and drug jokes to enjoy a couple of hours of entertainment.

But change one word, and things become more clear. Just take that colorful word "culture" and replace it with a proper noun: "The World." That's what saints in the First Century (and the eighteen centuries after that) called the culture. In the New Testament, "world" sometimes means the Planet Earth, but on many other occasions it means the system of ideas that seduces men and women, opposes godliness, and destroys life. We say culture, they said "World."

And there is no doubt how saints are to address the World. John warned us all, "Do not love the World or anything in the World. If anyone loves the World, the love of the Father is not in him." (I John 2:15) Paul was just as direct: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)

When you understand what the World is, you get a lot more insight into what it means to be "holy." Holy people have been called to a higher path, and no longer follow the ways of the World. They are set apart. As Paul advised the Colossians, they have set their affections of things above."

As God calls you and me to reform the corrupt and fallen church here in the United States, one of the first steps will be reclaiming some clear biblical definitions.

• We do not adapt to the culture. We resist the ideas of the World.
• People oppressed by sin do not need therapeutic language. They need the Word of God.
• When I finally discover my true self, I will have spent years chasing after my Sin Nature. I do not need to express myself. I need to crucify my sin nature.

That probably sounds extremely old school. Think of it as being "fashionably retro." Better yet, think of it as being biblical, New Testamental, and transformative. Before you and I can rescue our neighbors from the power of the World, we have to overcome it ourselves.

More next week. In the meantime, be biblical.

Counter Cultural

There's an ironic pattern in the Scriptures that most of us never notice. That is, a large number of our favorite characters have rap sheets and prison records! What's that all about?

Joseph did some of his best work in a dungeon. Moses never made it to jail, but he was under investigation and was forced to flee his homeland. Samson was locked up by the Philistines. David spent years trying stay ahead of an arrest warrant. And of course, many of the prophets were threatened, arrested, cast into lion's dens and mud pits, etc., etc.

Then there's that criminal Paul who wrote the majority of our New Testament. Four of his letters are actually classified as "prison epistles" because they originated in a Roman dungeon. A fifth letter, 2 Timothy, was written later during Paul's final incarceration in Rome where he died at the hands of a government agent swinging an ax. Of the other apostles, 10 were executed by government agents and assorted enemies, and one other was sentenced to exile on a prison island. James, the brother of Jesus, was arrested, tried and executed by the government. And even before any of this took place, the founder of our faith was arrested, tried and executed.

Life is so comfortable here in these United States that we can't even relate to the folks who wrote the Bible. We think we're victims of persecution because popular TV shows depict Christians as ignorant buffoons. Happily for us, they don't arrest and prosecute ignorant buffoons in the country. We complain when problems crop up because it seems like God is breaking His promises that we would be rich and comfy, but where exactly did God post those particular promises? Not in the New Testament, I would daresay.

The prison records of so many biblical heroes remind me that the Church of Jesus Christ is counter cultural. We were never called to win the acclaim the secular culture, and certainly not to adapt to it. We are here to challenge that culture; to defy it and subvert it in the name of Christ. We use the term "culture," but the early Christians simply called it "the World." Overcoming the world was not about leaving the Earth; it was about defying the cultural machine that seduces us all with lies and false promises.

In an age when believers feel so sophisticated and trendy when our beliefs and convictions are affirmed by a Hollywood motion picture, I think about Paul languishing in a dungeon before being dragged down a dark corridor to a chopping block. The affirmation of the world is not at all what we really want or need. The affirmation of Christ will come to us when we wholeheartedly embrace his distinctive truth and stop trying to conceal it in the robes of pop psychology and positive thinking.

This is on my mind a lot, so I'll peel off another layer of this onion next week. In the meantime, stand firm.