I Liked Jesus Better Then 3

“Spiritual renewal is an ongoing, never-finished work, but the tendency of a church — whether we are using the word to refer to a local congregation or an entire denomination or the so-called ‘church universal’ — is to consolidate its gains, make peace with the status quo, and take care not to offend either its own or its neighbors.” Thus Rubel Shelly in his new book, I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Christian… And I Liked Him Better Then. Shelly reminds me of AW Tozer — willing to set the place ablaze to get us back on track.

What do we most need to protest today? Which church would Jesus “join” in your community?

Shelly examines Jesus and the Temple protest, from John 2, and argues Jesus does things backward: instead of coddling the leaders or instead of currying their favor, Jesus does the opposite. Jesus railed against corruption among the leaders and in the very center of what made Judaism a “religion.”

So should we. “People with their spiritual priorities so obviously inverted have been led to believe that their church habits are equivalent to living a Christ-honoring, Christ-imitating lifestyle” (53).

Discipleship has become church membership; fellowship has become group membership; worship has become 11AM Sunday; evangelism has become getting people into a church building; communion has become a funereal ceremony; discipleship has become training seminars; leadership is a flow chart and an office; Bible study has become listening to tapes… wow.

What about this parable as a paradigm for which group Jesus would like?

⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

What does this parable say about us?

Rubel called this chp “If you love God, burn the church.” Yikes. Strong language. Then he finishes with being in the Holy Land, and every time he approached a memorable site a church was built on that spot … obscuring the site.