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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
No longer lost
Jesus told a story about a rich man who wanted to inherit eternal life (Luke 18.18). But the cost was too great for. Jesus said that it was very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (18.25). This week we meet another rich man. This man finds salvation (19.9). What is the difference?
Zacchaeus is a tax-collector, in fact a chief tax-collector. This means he is probably an experienced contractor who has been collecting taxes on behalf of the Roman authorities for some time. But he is not very tall, and he wouldn’t be very popular. So he cannot get to the front of the crowd to see Jesus. But he is resourceful. He climbs a tree because he wants to see who Jesus is.
Who is Jesus? Zacchaeus finds out over lunch. Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house. And Zacchaeus is very happy to have Jesus visit. Others in the crowd are not happy. They don’t think Jesus should visit “sinners”. But we know already that tax-collectors and sinners are just the people Jesus does want to meet (15.1).
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5. Healthy Churches Need Praying Disciples
It has been very encouraging to notice the change in the way the Wednesday morning Reflection and Communion group pray. We have changed from having prayers said only by the minister, to an increase in prayers said by the congregation members. Different people pray for world issues, for our church and especially for people they know who are in need.
This is a good sign. Well, it is a good thing. It is an encouraging thing. Every time people pray it is encouraging. It means that they are believers. They believe that God hears their prayers. They believe that they can bring their needs to him. They believe that they can intercede for their friends – and indeed for the whole world.
Churches made up of people who pray are likely to be churches that are doing what God wants. It is hard to keep praying and not pray for God’s kingdom to come. Not to pray in line with what the Lord Jesus is doing. Sooner or later, people who pray will get in step with what God is up to.
Read more: 5. Healthy Churches Need Praying Disciples Oct 20
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4. Healthy Churches Need Brave Disciples
I was going to say fearless but that may sound a bit too bold. Fear is one of the common themes in the Bible. God keeps on telling his people not to be afraid. Especially when he or one of the angels appears to people. It is not always clear whether the encouragement not to fear works. People who run into God generally seem to be terrified. Rightly so, I suppose.
Fear is also about enemies. At least about people who treat us as enemies. Don’t be afraid of them the Bible says. And don’t be afraid of what they are afraid of. Or of what they say we should be afraid of. Better to be fearing God. Or to say it Peter’s way, make sure you are very sure that the Lord is Jesus, not anyone or anything else (1 Peter 3.14). Isaiah spoke of it in terms of conspiracy theories (Isaiah 8.12). Conspiracy theories just make you afraid. We certainly don’t lack such theories. Or reports that are meant to make us afraid. The popular TV news bulletins seem to be designed that way.
Mix all that with a receding respect for Christianity, and we could become quite timid. We could see ourselves on a small diminishing island of Christian values as the tide of materialistic atheism rises to drown us. Scary indeed.
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- Written by: Dale
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3. Healthy Churches Need Generous Disciples
One of the ways to show our cultural conversion is to be generous. If some of the present foundations of our society and culture seem to be in materialism, with values that are increasingly human centred, that is, self-centred, then culturally converted people will be building their lives on a different foundation.
In a landmark book (To Give or not to Give? Rethinking dependency, Restoring generosity, & Redefining Sustainability), John Rowell documents the development of ideas about giving to the poor in the history of the United States. He traces this development from what he calls Social Calvinism, a way of giving by persons to persons in their community but which distinguished between the "worthy poor" and the "wayward poor", through Social Darwinism (eliminating, or allowing the unfit not to survive), through to Social Universalism which eliminated both personal giving (the government took over responsibility for welfare) and any distinctions about whether people actually needed welfare help. The result of these welfare programs was a cynicism that the public support programs didn't work. "Compassion fatigue" set in.
Read more: 3. Healthy Churches Need Generous Disciples 29 Sep 13
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2. Healthy Churches Need Culturally Converted Disciples
One of the big debates going on in the world of missions at the moment concerns Insider Movements. This is the idea that people who are enmeshed in a close knit community of another religion remain in that community and religion when they become Christians. Especially if they are in danger of some kind of serious persecution. They act, behave and worship just as they have always done, while at the same time following Christ. They may or may not meet in fellowship groups. They are sometimes known as secret believers. Sometimes these groups are known as Insider Movements.
Understandably this has caused a fair bit of controversy. Is it possible to continue to practise one’s former religion (such as Buddhism or Islam) and at the same time be a follower of Christ? Part of the debate is that religion and culture are so closely connected that to become a Christian in these contexts would mean having to leave (or be excluded) from the society and culture one had been brought up in. In many contexts it would mean being killed.
How would we work out what to do about this?
Read more: 2. Healthy Churches Need Culturally Converted Disciples 22 Sep 13
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1. Healthy Churches Need Believers
It sounds so obvious. That is what Christians are, surely. You can’t have a church without people who believe, can you?
Well, you could. It depends on what you believe in. In what you trust. Both Paul and Jesus make astounding statements about the Israel of their day. A nation that had a wonderful heritage of God’s word and God’s action was characterised by unbelief. Jesus was asked by a Roman soldier to help hi s sick servant. The man’s belief that Jesus had authority to do it stunned Jesus. He had never met faith like that anywhere in Israel.
Paul reflected on why so many Gentiles had put their trust in the Messiah while so many Jews hadn’t. His answer was that one lot trusted God to put them right with himself, the other put their trust in their own attempts to do what God wanted.
If it was possible then, it must be possible now. Could a church be just “Rotary with a pointy roof”? The Archbishop of Canterbury says we are more than that. But how much more?
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What Healthy Churches Need
What are the things that characterise healthy churches? Here are some possibilities: Disciples; A Founder; God’s Word; Prayer; Meetings that edify; Fellowship; Breaking bread; Gospel; Leaders; Generosity ...
What would you add to this list? What basis in the scriptures would you have for your suggestion? I am interested in your views. Please let me know what you would add to the list (which is a bit random at this stage).
The idea of a healthy church implies unhealthy ones, which I suppose all of us know about. But what does healthy mean? It suggests some correspondence between the life of a church and what God intended his church to be like. Just as when we go to the doctor, the doctor has some standard of comparison as to what a healthy person looks like. Otherwise their treatment would be subjective and whimsical (at best) or (more likely) determined by profit.