So as I was reading this week for my class on the book of Matthew, I was repeatedly reading about Jesus and the people he was encountering, at least from what the author of Matthew was depicting and it started to make me wonder something. What is it exactly that we are to get/understand from the story of Christ? I mean I have essentially narrowed it down to two options. If there are others our there, please by all means, send them my way, I'd love to hear them and discuss them. I'll even treat you to coffee and we can talk about it.
1 | Are the stories of Christ to give us background information on this man and how he lived his life and we are to tell others about what he did. A small percentage of what Jesus did with his life here on earth is recounted by the authors and is for our retelling of the books Matthew through John to other people, believers and non-believers of Christ. That is one option.
2 | Are we as "christians" supposed to go out into the world and repeat what he did. Meaning learn from what Christ did and do it?
Well I guess we could say both are acceptable answers right? But then my confusion comes in when I think about what we are doing with our churches. As I have been reading Stanley Hauerwas' commentary on Matthew I started thinking about how Jesus rarely spent time with other people who were like him. (Yeah I get Jesus is God, but I mean, what I think we would consider today as Christians) I mean those people that were in the temple and "church" were the Pharisee's, Teachers of the law, and Priests, right? Yet the stories we get when Jesus interacts with them is rebuking them or telling them they are wrong for what they say and do. He spends more (most of his) time with people who do not yet believe him or have rejected him. This includes both his disciples and then the large crowds that hear him and learn from him. After he gets done speaking he tells them to leave and tell others about God.
I fail at this EVERYDAY. I spend time with people mostly like me in my faith. Not all are like me, but the majority are. So my pondering is asking what is the point of Jesus. If we are truly to do as Christ did, then why do we spend so much time focused on church and not on the things outside of the church. The people outside of the church. Our big Christian focus for the week is Sunday to help teach those who come to church, yet, if we look at our churches, the vast majority are people who already believe in Jesus and claim to follow him, myself included. So what are we doing? Jesus came for the sick, not the healthy. The sick are not in the churches. Tim Keller says in The Prodigal God, the church is filled with elder sons, the younger sons are not in the church. If that is true, which I think it is, then what are we doing with our focused attention to Sundays? Are we just waiting for the younger ones to come to the church? I don't think that is happening.
Just some thoughts.
I think this is why frustrated Christians, like myself, move to Spain ;)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I have had similar thoughts ovr the past few years... Maybe it all stems back to the misunderstood definition of "church"? It seems to me that the way that Jesus defined it, "where two of more are gathered" is sufficient. It doesn't seem to matter which two, or where... as long as the focus is a mutual attempt to understand/connect with God.
By this standard, some days I have had more church with a questioning child than I have in years with any congregation of "fellow believers" in any building. I am fairly sure that it wasn't a Sunday either ;)
I can't wait to get back to the states so sometime this summer you, me, and your lovely wife can have church in a coffee shop somewhere!
Say hello to Pastor Dan for me!
Ha ha - Where two OR more are gathered :)
ReplyDeleteGood stuff Garbs. Like spokenfromscratch, I believe it stems from a misconception of 'church.' The vast majority of Christians view church as the building you go to on Sundays; while this is absolutely a correct understanding, it's not a complete, biblical understanding.
ReplyDelete'Church,' in this sense, should be a place of fellowship among fellow believers, a place to worship and praise a living and active God... meanwhile 'church,' in a biblical sense, as your questions allude to - should be happening every day ... in our homes, at work, at the local bar/coffee shop/gas station/[you name your destination]...
I think a part of the problem is that our generation is plagued with narcissistic Christianity... the church should be a place to serve ... not be served.
As for your 2 options, I guess I would ask what does scripture reveal? My interpretations from scripture would lead me to say that both are 'correct.' Although I'm not sure number 2 should be phrased as a question - you can find verses throughout scripture that calls us to live as Christ lived; I guess I find 1 John 2:6 to be the most clear and concise: "Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
Thanks for the post Garbs, great thought-provoking questions.
bw