Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done (as long as we can afford it)

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth, as long as we can afford it… Never before have these words been more true to me than in recent years. Most church leaders prefer to hide behind the idea of the recession, sounding like an unhappy politician who keeps saying, “I inherited this mess”. Regardless of how we got into this situation or how long it took to get here, I am exhausted from listening to movement without achievement and an alarming trend that most churches subscribed to… At the end of the day, buildings, air conditioning, soft pews and beautiful bathrooms are far more important to the church than its staff. Period, game over, no discussion needed. We are not going to “committee” our way out of this. Talk, talk, talk and no action. Before any church will put a bullet in their building fund, they will run down and run out their staff. I sat in one meeting where I was told, “David, you don’t understand, we have a commitment to paying the building”. I responded with, “Thank God we don’t have that kind of commitment toward the staff”. All this commitment to a building that Scriptures clearly teach that God says, “I do not dwell in temples built with human hands”. What about the commitment, what about the promises we made to the staff? What about the fact that they count on us for their mortgage? This is where they live-how they exist-not a building that is massively under-utilized and if you divide the amount of hours most churches are in service by the average monthly mortgage payment, it only costs $225.00 an hour to keep running? Wow, what a deal…. Let me go a bit farther-reducing your staff or their pay for the sake of your building is a sin-a great sin-that God will hold us accountable for. The life of your church isn’t measured by what happens on Sunday morning. It will be measured by our love for each other-our undying commitment to never let each other down-to be and live Jesus beyond the limited scope and sequence of the “be kind to God hour” that Sundays have become. There is good news though. As churches continue to minimize their staff, we will witness a “redistribution” of spiritual wealth as leaders, pastors, directors and staff find healthy churches and start their ministries over again with people that actually get it. And if you are a staff member facing decisions like I am addressing here in this article, I applaud and support your decision to move on. Don’t allow a confused sense of misplaced loyalty to prevent you from finding a ministry home that honors its commitment to its people above all. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am just over-reacting. Really, David, don’t you think you are just a bit dramatic? No, I don’t think that at all. Truth be told, this is one of the reasons I enjoy secular employment. Sadly, there is more honor among thieves that in the church. What about you? You mad yet? Or does it really not matter to you? For those churches that have sacrificed and kept their staff intact, I celebrate that you are the great hope of the Christian faith. For those that think that buildings matter most, I look forward to roller skating or watching movies in your building in just a couple of years. David

Jesus of Suburbia

For many Christians, there is a great sense of pride in the idea that Jesus-the Christian version-is one of the most well-known and loved figures of history. But the pride is misplaced. Jesus is by far the most distorted, maligned, wrongfully quoted and misinterpreted figure in history. And what is worse, he is now being questioned as to whether he existed or not.

There is a new brand of scholarship, working in and out of Christian academia that states that Jesus is a myth of Christian invention. The idea comes from the fact that the version of Jesus that would be congruent with the 1st century teaching and mindset cannot possibly be the Jesus of Suburbia, the one often quoted and taught about in today’s church. While I don’t agree with the Mythicists about Jesus not being a true historical figure, I do agree that our present day Jesus is a Christian invention and has little or nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant Rabbi of Jewish heritage and training. The diverse presentation and understanding of Christianity’s Jesus is just one of the push points for the Christ Mythers. They say there is no way the recorded teaching and lifestyle of an authentic historical person could ever be distorted like this.

The point they miss is that Christianity’s main goal with Jesus is not to show his authentic lifestyle as much as it is about a Jesus that fits a denominational doctrine and creed. The problem starts early on as Christianity jettisons all things Jewish in preference for a Greek/Hellenized/Roman mindset. From the very start, they read and interpreted the New Testament documents wrong and have passed down this poor understanding to the unsuspecting generations of followers. What we have from our Christian heritage is a Jesus manifesting several personalities and temperaments.

Is Jesus angry, coming back to melt off the faces of everyone that doesn’t believe in him? Is Jesus a passive all loving Savior that says basically, “I’m ok, you are ok, we are all ok”? Is Jesus a Democrat or a Republican? Is Jesus conservative or liberal? Is Jesus the perfect model of a Jewish Rabbi who is Torah Observant or is he a Roman Emperor, with crushing power not unlike that of Caesar Augustus?

Depending on which Christian you ask, you will get a lot of different answers. I will suggest three steps here to get a more accurate and consistent view of Jesus, which will serve to reconcile him historically and provide a base of understanding for the books written about him. 1) Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, Torah Observant and completely and deeply committed to Judaism. There is no getting Jesus outside of this environment. 2) Jesus is neither Democrat nor Republican and does not have a vested interest in any government or country here on earth. The plans of Messiah are not dependent on the United States survival. Jesus spoke only of the Kingdom of God and how we could join him in spreading the news of the Kingdom. 3) To get the New Testament Documents, get with teachers that understand the Old Testament Documents. Christianity is in trouble, not from forces outside of itself, but from internal warring and division. But Christianity can be saved. Through open and honest dialogue with our Jewish brothers, we can begin to get a working knowledge of the background that Jesus operated in and how powerful and striking his remarks truly are.

David Fournier in the Senior Instructor at Restoring Grace. David teaches classes on Hebraic Perspectives, Early Christian Communities and New Testament Formations and Canon. David is available for your church, youth group, seminars and retreats. Email David at: dfour26@gmail.com

Why Christians Lost the Election

This past election was very painful for many Christians. President Obama was re-elected, Same Sex Marriage widened its acceptance and Marijuana became a “recreational drug”. There are a few other items we could mention, but this list kind of matches the distraught emails I received from many pastors across the country. Since the election, there has been a lot of interesting commentary about why “we lost the election”. Mike Huckabee says we lost because “Christians failed to turn out to vote”. That might be, but most exit polls I read stated that 69% (the low number) and 78% (the high number) identified themselves as “Christians”. I don’t think Christians failing to vote was the issue. Another pundit stated that George Clooney and Sarah-Jessica Parker pulled the vote to Obama because if they voted for Obama, he must be a cool guy. I have a hard time believing that George Clooney (I know he is a good looking guy) has that much pull with Christians. If that is the case, Bon Jovi was representing one candidate and Dave Matthews was representing the other, I like both those musicians… what am I to do? Another religious contributor said that the reason Obama won re-election was that “an estimated 6 million less white people voted in 2012 compared to 2008. White people would have favored Romney over Obama”. Recent articles are now calling us to believe that the judgment of God is now on America and we need to start hording goods because the end is near. That way, when God pours out His wrath on America, we will have plenty of water and canned goods. We al know as Christians, we are called to support a “survival of the fittest” attitude. Christians have been using the “we scare because we care” approach for quite some time, and it seems to have lost its pull. So if we combine all these thoughts, here is a condensed statement of reflection: Because Christians failed to come out to vote (primarily the white ones), and because famous celebrities spoke out in support of the axis of evil, and because now God is really mad about it, America will fall and Christians everywhere will suffer. This also will be accompanied by a large reduction of restaurant visits after church on Sunday, contributing to speeding up the economic collapse. Ok, a little tongue and check, but I think you get the point. We have a lot of fingers pointing a lot of directions and I would suggest not only are most of them wrong, they are participating in a useless exercise. What we could do that would be productive is examine what we can learn from this election and how can we get better at being what we are called to be: disciples. Perhaps this election isn’t about the collapse of America. Actually, from a Scriptural perspective, America doesn’t need to be on the scene for any of the end time’s theology to exist. Is it possible we are focusing our attention to a kingdom that may or may not fall while neglecting our commitment to the Kingdom that outlasts them all? I really believe we are… In the Old Testament documents, Israel agrees to a covenant relationship with God in which there are blessing for observance and consequences for disobedience. Many nations (I stress here many) rise and fall around Israel. At the same time, Israel finds itself in captivity and exile based on its obedience to the covenant. It’s prophets call Israel to action because it has lost sight of its commitment to the poor and the needy. Israel is warned that standing in open defiance to the covenant agreement would bring pain and suffering. At no point in the Old Testament documents is Israel told to support its nation above the commands of God. Israel’s national treasure was its covenant, not just its location. In the New Testament documents, Jesus delivers His covenant to us in Matthew 5-7, best known as “The Sermon on the Mount”. Jesus is very aware that Gentiles will be coming into the faith and He knew that there needed to be a covenant of behavior and practice. He gives us the Sermon on the Mount not as a guide, or His version of “The Ten Suggestions”, but as our covenant agreement with Him. I believe that disobedience to the covenant agreement with Jesus is bringing us the very same results that Israel experienced when it failed to live up to the covenant given to it by God. We want so bad to blame the evil presence, the immoral Americans, the liberal media. But is it possible in fact that we are the ones who are failing the mission Jesus gave us and we are simply reaping the consequences of our actions, instead of theirs? Another aggravating factor to me is that the more the pundits talk about “losing” America to the “liberal agenda” (whatever that could mean), the more it sounds like God is not in control. God’s control on this universe is not directly tied into the results of this election (or any election) and He is in control of all events. That is why I suspect the recent election will do more to wake up Christians than it will reverse the tide of liberal influence. Here are three things I think could be helpful as we push forward together: 1) Are Christians Democrats or Republicans? We are neither. We are disciples of Jesus, and when it comes to political or social issues, here is our statement: Name the issue and we will name our position, and our position will line up with our covenant agreement with Jesus. 2) As Christians, we need to earn the right to be heard in the marketplace by being a force for change in the marketplace. Our tireless efforts in assisting the poor, elderly, sick, disenfranchised and needy will re-establish our value in today’s society. 3) Unify our faith. There may be many different beliefs among us, but there doesn’t need to be different practices. There is an awesome opportunity for us to really flex our collective muscle. Can you imagine what we could achieve if we pooled our resources, our experiences and our will? When we start accepting that change made be what we need to be participating in, and that this last election could be our wake up call (rather than America’s wake up call) we can start making the steps together that will bring about a Christianity that Jesus would recognize. David