Hey, Cobblestone,
Besides being in poor taste, it didn’t make any engineering
sense. The comedian said, “Ya know, after a plane crash, they find the black
box, and it’s just fine. So why don’t they make the whole plane like the black
box?!” Answer: black boxes don’t fly, and neither do airplanes that are made
like black boxes. Besides, they’re orange – the boxes, that is.
Jesus didn’t populate his church with perfect people. With no
one perfect but himself, how could he? Therefore, his plan from the get-go must
have been to make up the church with less-than-perfect people, leaving plenty
of room for sanctification and redemption. Rather than pretend we’re perfect –
or trying to build a plane like the black box – the best work we can do is
cooperate with him in the ongoing purification.
After a two-week break, we’re back onto the subject of
Redeeming Church. I’m sure you’ll agree that we, the church, are still a long
way from being without blemish (Ephesians
5:27), the condition in which Jesus will present his bride/church to himself at
the right time. How much time do we have to get there? Beats me. I try to
operate under the premise that it’s less than I would think.
When we think about the intersection of culture and faith,
which has been the overriding thought in this ongoing “Three R’s” series, it
would be silly to not think about the church. Jesus established the church to
bring the Abrahamic covenant to bear on all nations: “…in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis
12:3). By its very nature, the church will intersect with culture for the
purpose of bringing blessing – or be a flop. Jesus doesn’t do flops. So let’s
brush up on his plan for not-flop.
For a long time, the church didn’t intersect with culture
much. Even in my own lifetime I can remember a separation, the church seeming
to operate under the goofy notion that everyone who would be saved already had
been. Now that we’re kinda/sorta back on mission, the tactics are still a bit
sideways. The church gives a lot of advice – as if that’s all we’re required to
do. Have you heard what they say about free advice? It’s worth every dime.
Having raised a couple kids to adulthood, I’ve learned that giving advice can’t
compare with living a good example. Jesus’ not-flop plan for the church
involves us understanding that he is our life actually (see Colossians 3:4),
and living out the examples that flow naturally from his life in us. Three
categories of example leap readily to mind.
First, there is friendship with God. Going back to the
example of Abraham, in James 2 we hear, “Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called
a friend of God (verse 23). Oh, but that was Abraham, we’re tempted to say. But how did he become a friend of
God? By believing him. By taking him seriously. By putting, in the most literal
sense there is, one foot in front of the other in faith. Abraham was not God’s
only friend. Neither was Moses. Friendship with God is open to all believers,
and forms the basis for every other example.
The next two categories involve men, mainly. Women, please
don’t click out; I’d like for you to see this. We’ve been talking a lot lately
about the church as the bride of Christ. In Ephesians 5, bride-of-Christ talk
is intertwined with husband-and-wife talk, to the point that I’ve thought maybe
even Paul lost track of which was which. But verse 25 plainly says Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for her. Humanity is made complete, again, in
every marriage – as God said, it was not
good that the man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). Can you imagine an
alternate scene in the Garden of Eden, where Adam gets all up in the serpent’s
face on behalf of his bride? Yeah, that. Like Jesus for the church. Wives, does
that sound appealing to you?
And for the sake of holding the categories of living examples
to three – though there are plenty more – let’s talk fatherhood. Secular
sociologists might say I’m oversimplifying, but I would contend that every
major social dilemma we’ve identified – and some we’re afraid to – has its
roots in fatherlessness. The closing words of the Old Testament are beyond
ominous: lest I come and strike the land
with a decree of utter destruction (Malachi 4:6). The Lord’s remedy, or
alternative, to such a dreadful decree was to send John the Baptist in the
spirit of Elijah: And he will turn the
hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their
fathers. Bible scholars will, I hope, forgive my face-value understanding
of the verse, but it seems to make plain sense. Best I can tell, the prophet’s
work is still underway. I’m glad for every father whose heart is turned to his
children, making a way for his children’s hearts to be turned to him. But there
is so far to go. And the church should be leading the way.
Because no single church has to engage all the world’s
problems, the possibility exists for each church to engage what the Lord has
ordained for her. I write these letters to you, Cobblestone, and to no one
else. Jesus knows, in perfect detail, the scope of our work. For every
challenge, he provides the capacity to encourage, the capacity to learn how to
live out the examples.
There’s no intersection I know of that’s in more urgent need
of redeeming than the intersection of culture and Christianity. Deep inside, I
think non-Christians know that we Christians have the answers to their burning
questions, have that mysterious commodity left to us by our Savior: the peace
of Christ. And I think they resent us, rightly, for not being better merchants
of the commodity entrusted to our stewardship. How do we encourage others to
friendship with God? By proving that it’s possible. How do we drive toward real
humanity as it was always meant to be? By being little-j jesuses in marriage.
How do we heal the generations and defuse the spirit of anger loose in the
world? By doing everything we can in prayer and practice to help dads succeed.
And more. The doxology in Ephesians 3 is to
him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Amen (verses 20-21).
Indeed.
Except for some frightfully rare cases, the “black box”
records all that went wrong on the way to destruction. But Jesus plans for his
church to be writing, right now, the story of all that went right. May you be
encouraged and empowered, Church, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Grace and Peace (and confidence in the Lord),
John
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