The Heart of Jesus

“im going to church is fun and u go to learn about god and jesuse.” 

That’s a “sentence” that was posted on my friend’s facebook page last Wednesday night.  My friend is an eleven year old boy who’s growing up in really challenging circumstances.  His mom is trying hard to help him and his siblings break the cycle of family dysfunction.  She has a big job.

My friend (I’ll call him Douglas) was introduced to our church through a tutoring ministry we sponsor in his neighborhood.  He was instantly drawn to the volunteers who were genuinely kind and interested in him.  So naturally, getting tutored led to more.  He and his family requested transportation to our worship services on Sunday morning.  Which naturally led to more.  He and his family requested transportation to our Wednesday night activities which include a good meal and classes for all ages. 

And so last Wednesday night, after he got home, Douglas posted “im going to church is fun and u go to learn about god and jesuse.”

I write about this because I believe what our church is doing for Douglas and his family reflects the very heart of Jesus. 

The Jesus biographers (the writers of the four gospels) tell us that people were bringing children to Jesus so that he could touch them and bless them.  In the ancient world children were not considered to be very valuable, or even noticed by adults, until they were old enough to become productive workers.  (I think sometimes the same thing happens in our world.)  So the disciples were discouraging these people (probably mothers) from bringing their children to Jesus.  Surely the Messiah wouldn’t want to be bothered with the little disease carriers. It would be like the president ditching a Cabinet meeting to baby sit his sister’s kid.

The Bible says that when Jesus saw the disciples turning children away “he was indignant and he said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’  And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”   (Mark 10:13-16)

 

This is the heart of Jesus.

The gospel writer Matthew says that Jesus once looked out over the crowds of people and “he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”  (Matthew 10:36-38)

This is the heart of Jesus.

The gospel writer Luke records one of the first speeches Jesus gave.  It would be kind of like a politician publically outlining his agenda for the first time.  Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  (Luke 4:18-19)

This is the heart of Jesus.

In another important speech Jesus said… “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”  (Luke 6:20-21)

This is the heart of Jesus.

Sometimes some well meaning person will ask me why our church’s vision is to see our city transformed as we become more like Jesus and lead others to him.  Shouldn’t we be focused on “the church family?”  Sometimes someone will “correct” me by telling me that my primary job is to care for “the flock.”  Which begs the question, who does Jesus consider his flock?  Remember, Jesus looked out on the crowd and thought of them as his flock… his responsibility… his disciple’s responsibility.

So I tell people my job is to make sure the heart of the church is like the heart of Jesus.

By the way, Douglas and his brother and sisters will be baptized as followers of Jesus Christ next month.  I think they will be baptized, at least in part, because our church has a heart like Jesus.

Trying To Understand "Belief" and "Trust"

I’ve blogged about “Belief” before. (Can I Force Myself To Believe?)  Lots of other people have too.

I guess we could read from now on and write from now on and still not really understand fully the ancient Biblical concept of belief. 

Here’s one more attempt during a recent sermon.

If you would like to have a serious conversation about belief in Jesus Christ, please feel free to contact me. rob@zoarchurch.com

Bad Press for Preachers

This morning I felt a familiar feeling as I watched the morning news.  One of the leading stories was about Arthur Schirmer, a Pennsylvania pastor charged with murdering two wives.  When I heard the word pastor, that’s when I got the feeling. 

I want to be really clear.  This is a tragic set of circumstances and, if proven guilty, pastor Schirmer should be punished.  When human beings commit evil acts the public should be informed and justice should be done. 

But this morning as I watched the video (repeated somewhere between six and ten times) of Schirmer in handcuffs being led from his home to a waiting police transport, as I heard the news reporter strongly accent both syllables in the word “pastor,” I still got the feeling.  I guess I would describe it as cross between irritation and grief mixed with a little bit of nausea. 

Maybe it goes back to the early days of my ministry when I was the pastor of my first church.  It was the mid 1980’s and the church was a small congregation in the north end of Mecklenburg County, NC.  I was pastoring the church, commuting sixty miles one way to college and working side jobs to make ends meet, when the Jim Baker scandal broke.  You may remember it.

Jim Baker was the head of the PTL (Praise The Lord) empire based just inside the South Carolina line, not very far from my little church.  He went to prison after bilking millions from his TV parishioners and having an affair with a ministry employee.  I remember driving back from Charlotte one night after visiting someone in the hospital. 

My car was a 1970 something, nauseating brown Ford station wagon that I bought from another pastor for $75.00.  (Yes, I’m that old.)  The front was damaged from a previous encounter with a deer. I had to pull the grill out with a crow bar and tie the head light in place with wire.  It was a real peach!     

So I’m heading up the interstate in my station wagon with no air conditioner listening to one of the many radio talk show hosts waxing eloquent about Jim Baker, Jimmy Swagart, Robert Tilton and a few others.  (By the way, how would you like to be a preacher named Robert Helton when Robert Tilton was on the air.  Can you guess what nick name my fellow co-eds gave me?)

The thing about this particular radio personality was that he made it sound (unintentionally I’m sure) like all preachers are basically cut from the same cloth.  Driving back from praying with a sick person I found myself included in the list of preachers gone wild.  Suddenly I was being lumped into a pile of reprobates and charlatans.  And that’s when I got the feeling the first time.  I almost had to pull the nauseating brown station wagon over and… well… you know.

So I think that there needs to be a little balance brought to the media’s portrayal of clergy.  I want to respectfully point out that for every bad preacher on the six o’clock news there’s another thousand or so actually doing what preachers are supposed to do.  Those preachers don’t get much media attention.

I know a youth pastor who helps kids learn what it means to seriously follow Jesus, who stays awake all night for lock-ins (a long standing youth ministry tradition) and organizes a tutoring ministry for children who fall through the cracks.  I know a pastor who regularly visits home bound seniors, who prays with them and makes them laugh.  I know a pastor who visits men in the jail, prays with them and reads passages of scripture.  I know a pastor who helps homeless people feel like real human beings when she spends time with them listening to their stories and sharing their sorrows. 

The list could go on and on.  Maybe it’s inappropriate for me to brag on pastors since I am one, but I thought it might be helpful to bring a little balance to the media coverage.