Christos<\/em>. \u00a0This is written to people who are defined by submission to a King Jesus.<\/p>\nIn the book of Judges the most damning refrain after each tyrannical, misogynistic, genocidal story is just this: \u00a0\u201cIn those days, there was no King\u2026each one did what was right in their own eyes.\u201d \u00a0And I would argue that if you were an outsider to most Western Christian communities today it would seem that this was actually the goal.<\/p>\n
We talk more with other people about the Kingdom of God than ever before, but rarely about the King, and the implications of being inside the Kingdom and under the actual reign of God.<\/p>\n
And we are paying the price.<\/p>\n
The Barna Group is a famous research company that surveys American Christians, and they basically ask us \u201cWhat has following Jesus changed in your life?\u201d \u00a0And every time the Barna group comes out with another survey, the answer is always the same, \u201cNot much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus people tend to buy into the same cultural idols and values, we divorce at the same rates, we are more segregated than almost any other sector of society, we use money the same way, we think of power, prestige, and status just like and just as much as other people.<\/p>\n
In other words, the biggest problem is that Jesus followers don\u2019t follow Jesus.<\/p>\n
Nietzsche once said that the world has only seen One Christian and they killed Him. \u00a0I get that. \u00a0It is easy to look around and see the inconstancy between Jesus and the people who follow Him. \u00a0And the question seems to raise itself more and more often. \u201cIs the Church really good for the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
I still think the answer is yes, but not in the direction that much of the evangelical world is headed.<\/p>\n
Last week I talked about the place in 1st<\/sup> Corinthians where Paul writes a church where a guy is sleeping with his step-mom, and Paul tells them that he has already judged this man, and they should kick him out. \u00a0Remember Paul wants them to do this because he wants the man to repent and be restored.\u00a0 Paul is fighting, not just for the church, but for the guy. \u00a0He wants this guy to be everything God made for him to be. \u00a0But look at what Paul says next<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people -not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. \u00a0In that case you would have to leave this world<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. \u00a0Do not even eat with such people.\u00a0 What business is it of mine to judge those outside\u00a0the church? \u00a0Are you not to judge those inside?\u00a0 God will judge those outside<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Expel the wicked person from among you.<\/p>\nDid you catch that? \u00a0What business is it of mine to judge those on the outside?<\/p>\n
If Paul were here today, I bet plenty of people would have an answer for that question.<\/p>\n
I grew up in the era of culture wars and battles for values; I have seen people who believe in God scream some of the most vile, hate-filled things at people who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I have also grown up in a time where less people are in any church, and more disturbingly where it seems like less Jesus is in His people. \u00a0We aren\u2019t creating disciples as much as we create attenders. \u00a0Because we don\u2019t judge each other inside the community, we don\u2019t look like Jesus, but I have noticed that for some reason we sure want other people to.<\/p>\n
Later on in this same letter Paul says, \u201cIf the Resurrection didn\u2019t happen, then let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, if this Jesus story is not true then Paul seems to think you should do whatever you want.<\/p>\n
The reason Christians hold other Christians to a certain standard is because we believe in the Gospel, and if you don\u2019t believe that story, then Paul seems to think there isn\u2019t a really good reason to do or not do much of anything.\u00a0 Judgment was always meant for those of us on the inside, not primarily for those on the outside.\u00a0 And I would argue that the Western church has reversed this.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nWe have churches filled with people who are Christians but don\u2019t look much like Jesus, yelling and screaming judgment at people who don\u2019t even claim to want to be like Jesus.\u00a0 On what basis? \u00a0They don\u2019t believe like we believe; they don\u2019t have the same story; they have no reason to try to live like Jesus.<\/p>\n
I know that the world needs to adhere to a kind of common grace toward each other; we need to care about creating at least a minimally decent society and cooperating with people outside of the church. \u00a0I get all that. \u00a0But what I think is that we don\u2019t get this basic truth: \u00a0Christians are to only judge each other, not the world.<\/p>\n
And the great irony of this is that the very thing Christians want, we are destroying. \u00a0We want to create a better world; we should take a hint from the story of God. \u00a0He creates a people who are distinct and loving, who submit to the Kingdom of God and the God of the Kingdom, to serve the world and challenge each other.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a community the world needs to see. \u00a0Yes, Jesus has something to say about our sexuality, yes Jesus has something to say about life and the environment and our finances, but He is saying those things to the people who are following him, so that the world would see a community living into the dream God has for everyone.<\/p>\n
In the Gospels, people who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus<\/em>. \u00a0He was distinct, but he was with them, and they loved him. \u00a0They also had this funny idea that he just might love them too, but when people talked about following Him, that is where Jesus turned up the heat; sell everything you have, become like a child, pick up your cross.<\/p>\nI am tired hearing church members condemn the latest public sin of just about everybody in the world except the people they are sharing life with.\u00a0 I am tired of belonging to a group of people who seem to be more known for what they are against, and then statistically participating in it at the exact same rate. \u00a0I am tired of us judging the wrong things, and ignoring the right ones.\u00a0 I am tired of Christians judging the world, and not each other, because the world doesn\u2019t need to be judged by the Church anymore. \u00a0They didn\u2019t sign up for following Jesus\u2026we did.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This post is by Jonathan Storment, and you can pray for him and his family as they welcome a new baby! Congratulations! Outside Christian Love \u201cIn those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.\u201d \u2013the book of Judges \u201cIt is grace, nothing but grace, that we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>This post is by Jonathan Storment, and you can pray for him and his family as they welcome a new baby! Congratulations!<\/p>\n