Categories Versus Lifestyles
I have been thinking a great deal lately about religion. Imagine that huh? What I have been thinking about is an amazing parallel that we can see in our culture and that in which Jesus lived. I have for this illustration set out three religious sects that we can find in the culture that Jesus lived in.....
First is the Sadducees. They were the uppercrust. They were small in number and held more power than what they should have. They had a big problem with the supernatural. For them if it was not in the first five books of the Bible it was not true. This life and moral code was all there was. Second is the Pharisees. These guys were cool with the supernatural, but they were big into external righteousness. It was about what you looked like on the outside. Third are the Essenes. These guys just decided to leave society and form a community of their own and if anybody wanted to get in, then they had to become just like them. They were the only ones who would "make it" and the rest would burn when the end came.
In short, that is a brief and probably somewhat barbaric description of these groups but it serves for the illustration. These groups, I think, represent three different types of people that consider themselves "Christian" today. We have people who while claiming to be followers of Jesus, deny the supernatural aspects of his life and reduce it only to moral teachings. We also have those who are ok with the supernatural, but add so many external rules that it chokes out relationship with God and replaces it with tradition. We also have people who would rather only hang out with people like themselves and just sit around waiting for the rest of the world to burn, living under the assumption that only their group is going to make it.
Here is my point. I find it interesting that Jesus did not belong to any of these groups. In fact, he made the Pharisees and Sadducees mad. The Essenes, were probably too busy with their own stuff to bother with Jesus. He did not fit into their box. I think about this alot because I feel strongly that we have reduced following Jesus to these types of categories.
Jesus did not come and fit into a category, he came to show us a different way to live. I think that part of the field manual for that is Matthew 5-7. It gives us a picture of what life can look like when we really live for Jesus and not reduce him to a category. This type of radical, yet profoundly simple faith is what we can recover. It is part of what LIFEhouse West is about and what we should all, as followers of Jesus, be about. We must understand that God is active and that he sent us his son to die for us and restore us to right reltionship with him. In the midst of that Jesus also showed us a way to live here that we can model and follow. This to me is part of the "now and future" aspect of the Kingdom of God that we can be a part of in Christ. We do not have to limit our lives to external righteousness or hiding away. Moral codes are great, but take away the reality of life after this and you have rules and that is it. We can actually walk through this world like Jesus did and see real change as we wait for the future Kingdom of God to come where we can enjoy eternity with God.
What a journey that we get to take, what an adventure, I am going, wanna come?
First is the Sadducees. They were the uppercrust. They were small in number and held more power than what they should have. They had a big problem with the supernatural. For them if it was not in the first five books of the Bible it was not true. This life and moral code was all there was. Second is the Pharisees. These guys were cool with the supernatural, but they were big into external righteousness. It was about what you looked like on the outside. Third are the Essenes. These guys just decided to leave society and form a community of their own and if anybody wanted to get in, then they had to become just like them. They were the only ones who would "make it" and the rest would burn when the end came.
In short, that is a brief and probably somewhat barbaric description of these groups but it serves for the illustration. These groups, I think, represent three different types of people that consider themselves "Christian" today. We have people who while claiming to be followers of Jesus, deny the supernatural aspects of his life and reduce it only to moral teachings. We also have those who are ok with the supernatural, but add so many external rules that it chokes out relationship with God and replaces it with tradition. We also have people who would rather only hang out with people like themselves and just sit around waiting for the rest of the world to burn, living under the assumption that only their group is going to make it.
Here is my point. I find it interesting that Jesus did not belong to any of these groups. In fact, he made the Pharisees and Sadducees mad. The Essenes, were probably too busy with their own stuff to bother with Jesus. He did not fit into their box. I think about this alot because I feel strongly that we have reduced following Jesus to these types of categories.
Jesus did not come and fit into a category, he came to show us a different way to live. I think that part of the field manual for that is Matthew 5-7. It gives us a picture of what life can look like when we really live for Jesus and not reduce him to a category. This type of radical, yet profoundly simple faith is what we can recover. It is part of what LIFEhouse West is about and what we should all, as followers of Jesus, be about. We must understand that God is active and that he sent us his son to die for us and restore us to right reltionship with him. In the midst of that Jesus also showed us a way to live here that we can model and follow. This to me is part of the "now and future" aspect of the Kingdom of God that we can be a part of in Christ. We do not have to limit our lives to external righteousness or hiding away. Moral codes are great, but take away the reality of life after this and you have rules and that is it. We can actually walk through this world like Jesus did and see real change as we wait for the future Kingdom of God to come where we can enjoy eternity with God.
What a journey that we get to take, what an adventure, I am going, wanna come?
posted by PJ | 10:58 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with you when you say that todays Christian is easily found in one of those three categories. It seems to me that if more so called followers of Christ would stop and look at the historical ramifications of past sects and groups and what they did and how it didn't "work", then perhaps a lesson is to be learned. If todays Christian could pause for a breif moment to reflect on how much competition there has been throughout time in just the church alone it might strike them as, "wow, What are we really doing and how can we really improve?" I beleive it is time for the reformation of the church. Is this the generation to do it? I think that it might be with leaders like Pastor Justin who has ideas and hopes for the future of our community.
And by the way, this has been the best read on this blog so far. Just a joy to read and thought provoking. The topic along side a Lambada of a wording stimulates the tiny electric zaps of literary genius. Kudos Master Qui-Gon.
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