When Jesus walked among mankind He took on the role of rabbi. As a rabbi He would speak to individuals, small groups, crowds, and other rabbis. I love what the gospel writers have to say about His words. In one place the Bible says this about Jesus’ speaking: “Did not our hearts burn within us as we listened to Him along the way?” One of my all-time favorites is where we are told, “The common people heard him gladly.” And Jesus Himself said this about His teaching, “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
I just finished a book called Live No Lies by John Mark Comer. While reading, there were multiple times my heart burned within me. Some portions made me feel as though they were filling my spirit and enlivening my soul. I want to share some of those words with you, because I think they are so fitting and vital for followers of Christ living in today’s version of Babylon.
“And by following Jesus together, not alone, we are able to (1) discern Jesus’s truth from the devil’s lies, (2) help one another override our flesh by the Spirit, and (3) form a robust community of deep relationships that functions as a counterculture to the world. In doing so, we’re able to resist the gravitational pull of all the enemies of the soul. (The devil, the flesh, and the world)
“But here’s a crucial idea we need to recapture in our generation: the church is a counterculture. It is as my friend Jon Tyson from New York City put it, a “beautiful resistance” to the world and its vision of a life of rebellion against God.
“This is Jesus’ vision of the church as a “town built on a hill” and his call to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” It’s Peter’s call to be “exiles” in modern-day Babylon and to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” It’s the church of Acts 2, Romans 13, and Revelation 3. It’s the confessing church under the Third Reich, the house-church movement of Mao’s China, the orthodox Christians in Syria today. Increasingly, it’s you and me.
“But what we mean when we talk about the practice of church is not just regular attendance of Sunday services in a religious building. I’m all for Sundays, now more than ever. After dozens of hours of secular programming coming into our minds all week long, we need the anchor of Sunday gathering to recenter our minds on truth and open our hearts back to God for healing and renewal. Every time I walk in on Sunday and see other followers of Jesus all around me, I remember: I am not alone. I’m part of the new humanity—the future rulers of the world, ordinary and flawed as we may be.
“But while church is not less than Sunday services, it is far more. It must be more to survive the Western spiritual apocalypse. Church must become a thick web of interdependent relationships between resilient disciples of Jesus deeply loyal to the Way.
“Whether your church is Anabaptist or Anglican; urban or suburban or rural; a megachurch or a house church; in a theater, cathedral, or living room — we must move beyond Sunday services and a network of loose ties to become a robust counter-anti-culture, not just against the world but for the world. Because we’re not just against evil; we’re for good. We’re for love, joy, thriving marriages and families, children brought up in loving delight, adults moving off the egocentric operating system to become people of love, true freedom, justice for all, and unity in diversity.”
I love the imagery of a “a thick web of interdependent relationships between resilient disciples of Jesus deeply loyal to the Way.” Whether you like it or not, the natural ground we inhabit right now is a spiritual battleground. You can feel it in your bones. The sociological statistics declare it loud and clear.
You and I are being formed. Each show we watch, each minute we scroll through our feeds, each shop we walk into, each hour we are at work, and even in the quiet time, there are spiritual and non-spiritual forces trying to form us into the image they want us to take on. And at the same time, the rabbi who formed us in our mother’s womb, died and rose from the dead to demonstrate His love for us, is standing at the door of our hearts, knocking. He desires to form us also into the imago dei — image of God. The image for which we were created. The image the world desperately needs us to be formed into. The image that will bring more fulfillment, security, joy, power, and vindication for all that has been against us our whole lives.
Please take some time today to open the door of your heart in silence and prayer; and allow His Spirit to form you through His words of Spirit and life.
By His grace and for His glory,
David
p.s. Over the month of December, please invite some people to church who don’t know Jesus or have a church family. It could make all the difference in eternity for them and it will be good for you.
Sunday Services - 8, 9:30, 11am
Christmas Eve services - 3, 4:30, 6pm
Sunday, December 26, one 10am family service (no childcare). Pajamas are encouraged.