At a Distance

"And Peter was following him at a distance." [Mt. 26:58]


You probably know the story. Only hours before, Jesus predicted his betrayal and that his followers would "all fall away". Peter took exception, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." 


Infamous last words.


Of course it didn't help that Peter phrased this in reference to the others--ostensibly inferring that his devotion outstripped theirs. But let's not forget that, after Jesus reiterated his prediction, not only Peter but all the disciples vowed their fidelity.


Lets also not forget that Peter did put himself in some risk by "following him at a distance."


But therein lies the issue. Here was one who was content to be known as a close follower of Jesus--one of the three in Jesus' inner circle. When the chips were down, however, it was a different story. A story that ended in denial and bitter weeping. [Mt. 26:69-75]


And what is the application for us?


You may have heard that America is becoming a post-Christian culture (as Europe has become). You may know that the term "evangelical" is suffering from very negative associations. (As happened with "fundamentalist" before it.)


This has prompted many professing Christians to employ all manner of contrivances in order to distance themselves from such associations.


Of late we've watched several prominent Christians totter over the brink of denying historic Christianity outright.


Now my point isn't to address these specific instances. In some ways I can understand the bristle Christians experience when seeking to avoid negative caricatures at large; to evade the all-too-broad brushstrokes our society has come to depict us with.


But would we follow Jesus at a distance?

Management or Ministry? Part 1

I've been wrestling a little with the modern management-ministry model. You know the one: minister as CEO. It's amazing that books and writing on management have basically merged with those on ministry--they've become indistinguishable from one-another!


I don't want to name names, but there is a sense that if a minister were to attend a certain conference or read a certain book THEN they might experience God's blessing.


I know that management (or leadership) can and should be viewed as a valuable skill like any other, but does our minister-manager mentality have some flaws?


It made me think about a few things.


Recall the account of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8. Here was a man who was accustomed to fame and notoriety (even saying of himself that "he himself was somebody great"!). When he heard the gospel he believed and began spending time with Philip.  Seeing the miracles and signs performed him, we're told Simon "was amazed." When Peter and John came to Samaria, they prayed that the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit, and they did (something I'm not going to get into here!).


Simon's yearnings for fame and notoriety got the best of him, and he offered money to Peter and John saying,

"Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." [v. 19]

 Peter and John rebuked him saying, 

"May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God." [vv. 20-21]

Essentially they said his request was vile and that he had no business viewing himself as a minister of the gospel! Why? His heart was not right before God.


Does this episode not beg some questions of our current American church and ministry culture?

The Church of TSA?

I was going through airport security this morning and was dealing with my usual perturbation. There must have been 20 TSA employees milling around, hectoring travelers and making endless demands; loath to offer assistance, let alone lift a finger to help.

At one point I was standing there with one shoe on (my other one had to be rescanned) and my belt in my hand trying to gather all my loose change and boarding passes, when the row of bins had a pile up at the end of the conveyor belt. They collapsed together accordion-like. A free-handed TSA employee standing across from me chirped, “Let’s try to keep the bins moving along!” 

A tempered version of the following sentiment teetered on the tip of my tongue:

Have any of you ever considered actually lifting a finger to help? Or is that too obvious? You just prefer to bark orders and demands at people whose hands are already full?

I bit said tongue and kept the sentiment to myself as I hobbled into the seating area, dragging my stuff along like a scene from The Jerk.

I took one last glance into the security area and thought, “What a miserable impression that leaves one with! Dozens of people being paid to loiter around with arms akimbo or crossed; rolling their eyes and barking orders when they could—SHOULD—be serving and helping and extending understanding!”

And it occurred to me, “This is probably how people view the church!”

Ugh.

church | ch ər ch | n. – a bunch of people with no baggage who tell you all the rules you’re breaking and roll their eyes at your struggles, when they could—SHOULD!—give an ounce of grace; maybe even help! 

True? I hope not!

Battlefield Earth

The above video conveys a subtle but profound message. We see everyone from everyday professionals and people in the service industry to high profile entertainers (Jimmy Kimmel) and athletes (Kobe Bryant) enmeshed in an epic battle sequence. The ad ends with a deli worker (or is it a butcher) striding like Scarface toward the camera, emptying cartridges of ammo from two 9mm to either side before dropping both pistols nonchalantly. Fire and plumes of smoke fill the background, and the subtitle appears:

"There's a soldier in all of us."

What's the message? We all have an inner soldier, who yearns to enter the battle. What's the implication? There's a video game that can sate that urge. A video game! The "Call" is to let that inner warrior play war in a virtual world--to fight a virtual battle from the safety of his or her own couch.


Does this not beg the question, "It there not a real battle in front of all of us; one which our inner soldier must fight?" I would argue the answer is yes! How can it be otherwise?

Familiarity

"Jesus Rejected at Nazareth" / Jeff Watkins

⁵³And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴ and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" ⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." ⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Matthew 13:53-58

 The word "familiar" comes from the same root word as "family"--the Latin famulus actually means servant. In its broadest sense it denotes "household". 


It is intriguing that those of Jesus hometown and family so readily rejected him. Jesus remarked, "a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."


Thus the adage, "familiarity breeds contempt" is very true.


This drips from the account above. Those of Nazareth were so utterly familiar with Jesus that they rejected him. In fact, "they took offense at him"! Here Jesus was, walking around like a big shot--like he owned the joint. They knew his beginnings. They knew his pedigree. They weren't going to stand by and get too big for his britches (or cloak, as it were). 


Familiarity bred contempt. 

Prophecy V / How?

I'll admit that I'm running out of steam on this topic, but I wanted to end by addressing the topic of "How" because it is at this point that most people get tripped up on the topic. Also, by addressing this topic, I hope to relieve some misgivings which tend to spook those who would give consideration to the prophetic.


Discernment is paramount when it comes to prophecy. Throughout the history of the church, purported "prophets" have brought reproach upon the prophetic--indeed upon the Christian faith--by creating hysteria and misleading the masses through outlandish pronouncements.


This is unfortunate and palpably awkward. The world did not end on May 21, 2011, nor did it end in 1988 (though 1988 did mark the end of the world of glam rock!). At times the results have been outright disastrous, as in the case of David Koresh and his Branch Davidian sect.

Prophecy IV / Why?

(The Rebuilding of the Temple / Gustave Dore)

When addressing the question of "Why is the prophetic important?" I feel it is important to offer the rejoinder, "Why wouldn't it be?"

When Scripture so clearly states such things as...

"...earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy." [1 Cor. 14:]

and

"... I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy." [1 Cor. 14:5]

and

"... Do not despise prophecies." [1 Thes. 5:20]

... it seems like it would be incumbent upon believers to answer question like, "What does this mean?" and "How do I apply this to my life?"

Let's consider Ephesians 4:11-12.

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."

I would assume most Christians wouldn't demand an explanation of "why" regarding all of these roles of leadership in the church. (E.g. few Christians would have suspicions or misgiving about why the church needs teaching or teachers.) Since they are all commonly referenced in the NT, one would think that the basis of such confidence would simply be founded in Scripture. But why then would we ask "why" of the prophet and not of the teacher or shepherd?

I suspect this inconsistency results from one or both of the following:

1. Lack of first hand experience with the prophetic (or confusion regarding our experiences with it)
2. The natural equivalents of the other roles (i.e., we are more able to comprehend these other roles from a natural point of view)

Thus our receptiveness to the prophetic has more to do with our experience and natural reasoning than with the counsel of Scripture. But this shouldn't be the way Christians operate.

My first post on the prophetic was titled De-/Re-Mystifying the Prophetic. To re-mystify the prophetic, is to restore it to it's supernatural power. To de-mystify it is to restore it to it's understandable place in Christian life.