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Disciples of the world and for the world? Or are we to be Disciples of Christ for the sake of the world for Kingdom of God? We are conditional creatures at many times upon our journey choosing to cleave to our “Old Natured” way of “Doing” and “being” more for an ivory tower of pseudo “holiness” and skewed worldly glory…
As a
pastor in the post-modern 21st century church; I try to continually
be shaped in service for Christ and His gospel over and above culture… But it is not an easy task at all spiritually
and physically speaking especially when it goes against the grain. 2,000
something years ago; Pharisees like Nicodemus were just starting to break away
from that Old view of being a servant of God and began to see but a glimpse
into the unconditional, radical New view of Loving God and neighbor that Jesus
was trying to illumine and shape Nicodemus’ heart to hear, being the “New Moses”
that He was.
Being
in a “new” era of how the world both receives and perceives church… We have fallen away to standards that are not
Christ’s standards more than they are bound to the conditional standards of the
world. Trying to live against the grain
as a “church world professional…” and live more for BIBLICAL standards of
understanding and responding to the lifestyle of Grace will get you some “flack”
more than “slack.” You can count all of
your degrees and list them on a piece of paper… but if you’re not truly and
truthfully incorporating them as a disciple of JESUS why claim to be a pastoral
leader or “professional” to anyone?
I
thought a lot about the concept or perception of “higher” standards in recent
theological conversations about pastoral leadership in the “post-modern” church. Whose “higher” standards am I shaping myself
for? Christ or for denominational polities?
I have labels and do live into them as what makes each of us naturally
living in the world but not of it. I am
and firmly know that I am spiritually, definitely “evangelical” as well as I
firmly know and live into quite spiritually the confessions of the Lutheran
church in its “unfettered by the world view,” theologically.
How can
I live, however, into Christ Gospel if the world perceives and receives one’s
motives as “not fitting the mold?” This is the question and the characteristic
of catering to being conditional, and conditioning others to be encased into a
man-made artificial mold of the “Ken” and “Barbie” version of what the pastor
“should” be.
The
artist in me or my “bi-vocational journey” into ministry has always made me a
rebel or frankly one who does rebel (& sometimes like it!) I am a rebel, however, one with a cause and
that cause is Christ Jesus—His Gospel and His mission to be lived out unconditionally
through my conditioned heart to Love Him and neighbor, period! The only
conditional existing in my life lived for, shaped for Jesus as His disciple is
that I be and become accountable to my faith given through Grace.
It goes
way beyond the stained glass and people under the steeple mentality to be a
faith-filled pastor for the Gospel. I confess I do love sharing in tradition
and its fellowship but when it becomes something that is a hindrance to living
prayerfully past justification into genuine sanctification and God’s glory (our
lives’ response)… then I rebel against that grain! I rebel against that grain that paints the
gospel with tainted, self-righteous brushes and hardened lines, boundaries… You
may be able to contain a view of the sky on one solitary piece of canvas but
why can’t the heart be conditioned by and for Christ extending that boundary
into being boundless?
Our
human nature doesn’t know how to grasp God’s commands to us in understanding
being boundless through Grace by faith.
Our human nature doesn’t know how to grasp what truthful holiness or
sanctification means in receiving faith and truly living that Grace for the
Glory of God. Instead we have a lot of
graceless, professionally trained, “Ken and Barbie” formatted pastoral robots
or Pharisees bound to the structure of the worldly church and its doctrinal
prison over and above the Gospel and the people they are consecrated and
commissioned to lead and feed!
Jesus’
prayerful conversation with Nicodemus in many ways is one to be envied for the
plain fact is we WEREN’T there to witness but have sought prayerful authority
in the Word handed down to us as the Bible. Just the other day, I enjoyed
sharing my “secret” with my new boss that I am an ordained Lutheran pastor/
church planter... In all honesty I was
very scared to reveal this to her but I was hoping that my desire to serve in
the church in any capacity as well as the practical need to survive in the
world would shine through, and thanks Be to God it did!
I
started my technically speaking, third job outside of serving the Gathering
North & my newly chartered ministry, the Grace Hub Discipleship Ministries…
first at Debbie’s flower shop learning about God’s beautiful creations and my
fourth job this past Monday at “Living Faith” United Methodist Church as their
secretary. After that fateful reveal, I enjoyed a long conversation with a very
dedicated pastor who also like many in the Post-Modern church suffered a very
hard, character shaping journey into ministry.
What raced through my mind throughout her witnessing was a lot of “been
there,” “survived that” and so on. Being
and feeling oppression or lack of support when you try “Living (into your)
Faith” hurts on many occasions.
People
will often ask me, why do I bother engaging in online debates with people whose
hearts and minds are completely closed to being receptive to understanding and
loving neighbor beyond themselves? It’s
definitely not coming from a pre-packaged, man-made justification of social justice more
than it is coming from an incorporated life, conditioned by Christ to
unconditionally champion His Gospel through His gift of faith alive in the
gracious fruits of my humble life in service to Him for the sake of others.
How do
we perceive this overly used statement of Grace?: “16“For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes
in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” What is eternal life? It’s obviously entwined
to God’s sense of time and the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives, beyond the
self and for the other, plain and simple.
For what is Love? It’s a giant
abstract Word that is a Pandora’s Box of meanings for us all, beyond us
all. Known atheist and communist
founder, Carl Marx said that belief was merely an opiate to the masses. Perhaps
having faith is like a “drug” if you see it through graceless eyes and a lust
for control and power… The Grace given through the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus is a freedom that knows no boundaries but is ruled with a different
kind of law and conditions—Love.
Working with Debbie, the Gathering North's music
minister, at her flower shop, has been a teaching layer for me pastorally in not
only serving others, the blessing of getting to know her better but working
with nature, the beautiful things God created…
The earth as we know it, our little sphere in the midst of millions of
things He created that we have yet to even fathom were made for a beautiful
purpose. We are His children, are we
not? Or have we arrived and are just
living into a world that serves no real purpose accept our own?
My soul will only ever be a completed
painting through Christ’s love conditioning me, leading me to use myself to
love Him and neighbor. I am not my own and before Christ came into my life during
that fateful conversion experience, I did not know purpose! I had several
pieces of paper with many accolades documented, much time and money spent but
it didn’t really mean anything except to me, for me. We cannot live unto ourselves even in the things
we think motivates us to forge on and through.
Our lives are to serve a much greater purpose, don a much greater
meaning and mission!
It’s probably a few years off from
gaining enough funding to start a physical plant, but just like that same universally
shared thought of God’s Grace working in our lives… I am waiting for His lead
here as everything He has placed before my path has taught and shaped me into
beautiful things. Moments of guiding Grace that only I can understand in my
faith walk with Christ at the center, in the grey zone of the battle between
the Old Nature and the New.
We can’t lead and feed into an Old
Natured, conditioned church. We can’t
re-design it either by catering to culture and the world as mere chaplains to a
graceless gospel of our own divisiveness! To be a pastor for Christ and His
Gospel, you have to be a “rebel with a cause,” not a rebel with Satan’s curse…
I am an old fool for Christ but I know my heart has felt His glory in the beautiful
moments He has led me to experience to be conditioned to love unconditionally,
Him and neighbor.
Amen
Sunday March 15th, 2015;
4th Sunday in Kent; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;
Sermon by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 107:1-9; Numbers 21:4-9;
Ephesians 2:1-10 & John 3:14-21
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